Crystalline's double update! Yay!
Chapter four.
The sun was bright in the sky that Thursday afternoon, and Ukyo smiled to herself while she walked through the park on the way home from her father's restaurant. It seemed to be a busy day at the park, with all the children running and their parents chasing after them and smiling to themselves. She watched as a little girl ran up to her mother with a bunch of flowers and jumped into the woman's arms. The lady laughed and hugged her little girl tightly.
Ukyo felt a pang of jealously for the girl. It was in moments like that that she missed her mother the most. The worst part was that she had been just a baby when her mother passed away, so she had no memories of her.
She sighed; being in her childhood home always brought these kinds of feelings and thoughts. She tried to push them away as she needed her mind to be clear; she had an important issue to resolve at the moment. Thinking about the past wouldn't help her decide her future, after all.
Ukyo realized she had been standing in the middle of the park this whole time, watching the mother and her daughter, and shook her head while she started walking again.
Oh, momma, what should I do?
She prayed silently to the heavens, wishing her answer would come to her in a whisper. She wished she could talk to her mother; ask her for advice. She had tried talking to her dad, but it wasn't the same. The man did what he could, though. Raising a child on his own hadn't been easy for him.
She was so lost in thought that she almost missed the sight in front of her. A boy stood behind a large map, his jet black hair sticking out above the paper. She recognized him immediately.
"Hey Ryoga." The boy jumped at the sound of her voice, peering from behind the map.
"Ukyo? Does that mean that I'm in Osaka?"
"Yes, you are;" she chuckled.
The boy let out a sigh of relief. "I was worried I wouldn't make it in time." He said. "Could you take me to the bus stop?"
"Sure… But, when do you have to be in Kobe?"
"Uh, today. I'm kinda in a hurry…"
"Okay…" She started walking towards the bus stop, considering the option of going with him. On one hand, she had nothing else to do that afternoon; but on the other, he would start asking questions again and she didn't want to deal with that right now. "You think you can find your way there?"
"Yeah, I remember where I have to get off the bus." He said nonchalantly; he didn't seem upset because she wasn't going with him.
"Great. I'm still surprised that you actually made it here after two weeks, so I guess I'll have to trust you, huh?" She smiled.
"You said so yourself, miracles do happen;" Ryoga gave her a cheeky smile and she laughed. Shaking her head amusedly, she guided the lost boy towards the bus stop. Fortunately, he didn't ask any questions this time. "Thank you very much, Ukyo." He bowed politely once they reached the stop.
"You're more than welcome, honey. If you manage to stumble across town after your job is done, pass by my house and I'll feed you." This statement made him laugh, and he nodded eagerly.
"I'll try."
Waving goodbye, she left the boy to his luck… if he had any.
Sleeping had turned out to be a hard task the past couple of weeks, but that night had been the worst. It was the anniversary of her first downfall: eleven years had passed since she had been left behind. Her second downfall? Not yet there, but getting closer…
She remembered the date, the weather, what she was wearing, what he was wearing… The look on his face when the yatay took off and she ran after it, while he waved goodbye with a mouth-full of okonomiyaki, ignoring her tears.
No more crying over that, goddamn it! She had promised herself that she wouldn't cry over that day anymore, but every time she recalled it, she'd lose the battle.
"It's not worth it…" She mumbled against her pillow. She turned her head around and gazed at the dawning sky across the window, listening to the chirping of the early birds, the humming of the crickets and the calm rhythm of her breathing.
Forget… You're here to forget…
Later that day, she was tidying the house, trying to distract herself from that faithful date, when she heard a knock on the front door. She hurried downstairs and peered through the blinds. She almost choked on her tongue when she saw Ryoga standing on her porch. Not in a million years she would have imagined that the boy would actually find her home, but apparently he had done so.
She opened the door slowly, still blinking in surprise.
"Ryoga?"
He had started to smile at her but his expression rapidly turned into worry.
"Ukyo, are you okay?"
His soft voice and the way he looked at her made her cringe. She had forgotten she'd been crying all night, she probably still looked all puffy eyes and red nose.
"Uh, yeah, I might be catching a cold." She lied almost expertly. "Please, come in."
Ryoga sent her a suspicious look but said nothing as he entered the house.
"I'm sorry I came by unannounced, but I happened to stumble by and I wanted to thank you again… and see how you're doing."
He said the last part in such a hurry she almost missed it.
"That's so sweet of you." The lost boy merely shrugged. "And I remember offering food." This made him chuckle. "Would you like some tea?"
"Um, actually, I wanted to see your dad too, to thank him for all he's done."
"Well, he's at the restaurant right now. Do you want me to take you there?"
He doubted, taking a long, long look at her face, and then nodded.
"Can we have that tea first?"
Ukyo smiled politely, though she didn't like that look on his face. She turned around and walked briskly to the kitchen.
"Leave your coat and backpack in the hall!" She said before he started to follow her.
She set the teapot on the stove and took two cups from the cupboard while Ryoga sat on the round table, probably gathering the courage to ask her whatever he had in mind.
"Just spit it out already," she said calmly while preparing the tea.
"What?"
"I know you're itching to ask me why I've been crying."
"Am I that obvious?" He cringed. "And you just admitted you lied to me."
"Yes… and yes."
"Why?"
"Why I've lied or why I've been crying?"
"Both."
She smiled to herself, shaking her head. Taking the cups to the table, she wondered why on Earth was the guy so set on finding out about her situation.
"I've lied because I didn't want to talk about it." Ukyo sat after setting his cup in front of him, taking a sip of her peppermint tea to calm her stomach. Nervousness wasn't good for digestion, it seemed. "Why do you even care?"
This seemed to catch him by surprise. "Uh… well, just because we're kinda friends, and you're obviously upset about something, and I'm worried… and you're being nice to me as of late, so…" He shrugged.
Ukyo could not help the little smile that tugged at her lips.
"You have nothing to worry about, you jackass, but thanks anyway… and I'm being nice because I want to." She added inside her cup before taking a sip.
"I didn't mean to be rude…" He apologized softly.
"I know, you were just being honest."
"I…Well, yeah."
The pretty chef chuckled. She had no idea why he was so interested in what was going on with her (and worried, too, to her surprise), but she had to admit that it felt kind of nice. Of all the people who knew her in Nerima, he had been the only one to actually ask her how she was doing or what was going on with her. Even Konatsu had stopped calling, making her check up on the restaurant every now and then.
But she shouldn't been so surprised; after all, Ryoga had always been the most honorable, kind boy she'd ever met. He might be a spineless, bone-deep-shy jackass, but he was also goodhearted and offered his help to whoever needed it; even if that whoever was a rival.
"So…" He started, clearing his throat.
"I'm not ready to talk about it yet…" She said softly. "But I appreciate your concern, Ryoga."
The lost boy shrugged; he was letting it go for now but Ukyo knew he would not stop until he found out. Maybe he was just curious, but it was making her feel cared about, and she definitely could use some of that right now.
They were finishing tea when she noticed something she hadn't paid attention to before.
"How come you're so clean?" She asked, looking at the boy's clean clothes and shiny hair. He looked curiously at her, and a bit offended, and she felt she had to elaborate. "I mean, haven't you had to work? I remember last time; you were a walking pile of dust."
"Public bath-house." He muttered, embarrassed.
Ukyo nodded, "You were lucky to find one around, huh?"
"One of the workers took me there last night… I think he got tired of watching me walking down the sidewalk every five minutes for over an hour…" He sighed dejectedly and Ukyo laughed. "Hush, it's not funny."
"I'm sorry, I know it must be hard for you," she apologized, sobering up… just a bit.
"I'm used to it… and tired of it."
"But you're getting better, right? I mean, you've managed to find my house!"
"Eventually…" He rolled his eyes. "I've been walking for three hours before finally getting here."
"Oh… That sucks."
"I know, but still, I have to stick around for a while and I really wanted to thank your dad."
"That's really sweet of you, Ryoga."
"Yeah, well…" He started poking his index fingers together and blushing like mad. "I wanted to… to ask him something as well…"
Ukyo nodded, encouraging him to keep talking.
"Well, you see, the company has scheduled three more demolitions this month and my boss wants me to stay close, so I was wondering…"
"I'm sure my dad won't have a problem with you staying here, Ryoga." She smiled encouragingly.
"I know, and that's the point, I don't want to abuse of your hospitality. I was thinking about asking him about helping me find a place to rent in Kobe…"
"Oh," well, that was unexpected, and she didn't know if she should feel disappointed that he didn't want to stay with them or relieved. "I'm sure he'll be happy to do so."
"I hope so; it's the first time I have to stay in the same city long enough to find a place to live, and I have no idea what to do." He blushed at his own admission.
"We'll help you, Ryoga," Ukyo assured him while taking the empty cups to the sink, then an idea popped in her head. "By the way, how are you going to stay in the same city for a month? It's not like you can lock yourself in your apartment all the time."
"I know, and that's what I said to my boss, so he gave me this…" He took something from his pocket and rested it on the table. "It's supposed to tell me what road to take and if I'm going in the right direction, but I have no idea how it works."
Ukyo walked around the table and took the little object in her hands: it was a cellphone. Ryoga was surely talking about the GPS. His boss had been smart.
"This was a great idea, actually," she giggled. "Now you have to learn to use it… let's see."
She turned the little thing on and waited. When it was ready to use, she slid her finger on the screen and the menu appeared, then she tapped on the GPS application. A map of Japan was displayed in front of her. She tapped on a little round spot that read 'Osaka' and the map widened to show her the city. She tapped on a little square at the right that read 'pictures' and the map changed into pictures of houses and roads.
"Wow!" She gasped, "This is really cool! Look, you can see all of Japan from here."
"Really?"
"Yeah, all you have to do is touch the spot where you want to go, see?" She put the phone on the table in front of him and showed him. "You try."
"Okay…" He lowered his index finger to the screen and…
CRACK!
"Uh… I guess this wasn't supposed to happen…"
"You think?" Ukyo said ironically while looking at the poor blackened and cracked screen. It wouldn't surprise her if the thing started to smoke in any moment.
"Great!" He burst out. "What am I going to do now? My boss is going to kill me…" Ryoga whined, thumping his forehead on the table, making the little thing jump.
"Calm down, you jackass! You're going to break my table!" Ukyo slapped the back of his head and he sobered up. "Let's go to the restaurant first and then I'll take you to the mall; there are a lot of cellphone's stores there, maybe they can fix this."
"Really? Would you do that for me?"
"Yeah… and maybe they can teach you how to use it without breaking it into pieces… jackass." She bopped him on the head again, just for good measure. He barely noticed.
"Thank you, Ukyo…" He bowed.
"Uh… yeah, whatever. Let's go." She hurried to the hall and put her coat on while Ryoga took his things. She didn't want to tell him that she was doing it for herself, as well. She'd been trying to keep herself occupied the whole day, but thoughts had invaded her every now and then anyway… and she had to admit that she had come to enjoy the boy's company when he wasn't wailing about something or daydreaming about Akane.
She had been in Osaka for three weeks now and she'd been alone for the most of it; she had gone there for that, after all. She had needed to be alone. But that day she had found loneliness not so appealing, so she was grateful that the lost boy had happened to stumble across her life again.
Ryoga wasn't so bad, she found herself thinking as they walked down the street. He had helped her in a time of need, when she had gotten herself lost by trying to cut down the road to the bus station across the forest; and he had been kind enough to offer his ear whenever she needed to talk to someone. He'd been worried about her, he'd said, and that had made her feel cared for. Ryoga could be a great friend, if she let him; and her father was right, she could use a friend right now… Maybe she should try to hang out with the lost boy.
That afternoon might turn out to be quite interesting.
