It seems my updates are more frequent now than when the story first began.
Let's hope it can stay this way.
Thank you for everyone's reviews, support, and even for taking the time to click and read.
Here's chapter 4, please read, enjoy and review!
Early the next morning, Toshiro was seated in a small café near the train station having an early breakfast, or it seemed.
The manager eyed him nervously as he dumped a heaping scoop of sugar into his coffee, and began stirring it in a rather irritated way.
"Good Morning table for three please!" exclaimed a customer who just entered the café. "This way please." the waitress guided them to the table next to Toshiro's.
Toshiro glared at the group for making such a racket so early in the morning, especially when he was in one of the worst of moods.
"Um, I think the table over there is much better." said the customer in a shaky voice, growing pale from the intensity of Toshiro's death glare.
'Damn it, she got away again and I wasted a hell of a long time in the police station trying to convince them. Where could she be now? I only have about five hours before I need to be at the hospital. That girl probably didn't get treatment yesterday either.' Toshiro thought as he picked at the eggs on his plate.
Pretty soon his thoughts were interrupted by a ladle making contact with his head.
"Oi, doc. Don't waste the food." a woman yelled at him.
"Ow, what the hell was that for?!" he yelled at her.
"You were wasting the food! Nevermind that, did you find Momo?" she yelled back.
Some of the other customers began getting nervous and began to scoot away from the area of the café they were in.
"How do you know abou- Ikeda sensei?" he gawked at his co-worker's appearance. She was wearing a ridiculously ruffled apron, her hair was messily held back with a bandanna, and was carrying around a huge pot of red bean sweet soup and ladle.
Toshiro returned to his poker face and said, "No, she ran away last night after making me a victim of one of her incidents."
A little annoyed with her shouting and ladle whacking tricks he said, "Don't you have to be at the hospital instead of hanging out here?"
"I only work the hospital's night shifts, during the day I work here at my café. Luckily for you working here can get you a lot of information. I got a lead on Momo. Since you let her get away you should take some responsibility." she said as she drank a ladle full of sweet soup.
"What is it?" he asked.
"It's six right now so you should have about four to five hours before heading for work. One of my drinking buddies said she got on the bus stop outside the station last night, and got off the bus with an old woman at the stop on Ume and Koori street." Ikeda told him.
Toshiro got up and paid for his breakfast, "Thank you Ikeda-san."
"No need for thanks, if you don't find Momo soon she'll be even harder to find later."
-
For There to be a Sunrise
-
Momo cracked an eye open, to see the blurry morning ceiling of the room Asagi-san lend to her. She lifted a hand to block the sunny rays from her eyes and rub them a bit to get the sand out.
'That's right. I'm staying at Asagi-san's place. Asagi-san is so nice; we stayed up really late till morning talking. She reminds me a bit of Okaa-san and my own grandmother. I wonder how today will turn out?' she questioned herself.
There was a gentle knock on the door.
"Come in!" Momo called.
The door opened and Asagi-san stepped into the room, "Good morning Takiya-san. Did you sleep well?"
Momo smiled cheerfully, "Yup. Thank you so much for letting me stay here!"
Asagi's eyes held a hint of surprise but that was quickly replaced by eyes shining with happiness, "No need to thank me dear. It was just this selfish woman trying to protect the young ones. Breakfast is ready, if you don't mine dining with this old woman."
Momo laughed, "Of course not Asagi-san! I should be grateful you took me in."
"Yuu."
"Huh?" Momo said in a bit of confusion.
"Please call me, Yuu baa-san. Asagi-san makes me seem like a fossil, don't you think." she smiled.
"Hai, Yuu baa-san!" Momo replied.
"You're probably wondering what's for breakfast aren't you? Today is Yuu baa-san's secret pancake recipe!" declared Yuu.
Momo giggled, "I wonder if Yuu baa-san's pancake recipe will be safe to eat."
Yuu pretended to be a bit offended by Momo's comment, "Are you making fun of the great Yuu-sama's pancakes? No breakfast for you.'
"Oh no, please forgive me Yuu-sama! I meant to say that your cooking skills are superb and no one in the entire city of Tokyo can surpass you!"
Yuu laughed, "Ok, enough of that, now let's go eat the pancakes before Shiro the puppy gets to them before us."
'Her smiles seem a bit sad, Yuu baa-san's. I wonder if she's thinking about her daughter that ran away from home sixteen years ago. It must have hurt a lot to have your only child hate you to the point they felt the need to break free.' Momo thought as she followed her down the stairs.
"Arf, arf!" a little white puppy pounced at Momo's feet as she came down the stairs.
"Aw, good morning Shiro!" Momo said as she scooped up the puppy.
The puppy snuggled against her neck.
"Shiro seems to have taken a liking to you hasn't he?" Yuu beamed at the two.
'Shiro is so cute! The man from last night had white hair too. I would love to see the expression he makes if I called him Shiro-chan." she thought to herself secretly laughing at the possible expressions.
'Why am I thinking about him again?!'
She put Shiro down, 'It's ok though. I'll probably never see him again anyways if he's given up like the rest of the staff. They always abandon me halfway anyways.'
"You're so lucky Shiro, at least you have Obaa-san when you die. Unlike me who will die alone." she whispered loud enough only to be heard by the puppy.
Thank you for reading and please review!
-Kaori-chan
