Repaired Beyond Recognition

Chapter 7

"So, you think they're going to make it a Library?" Kuji was referring to the new space that had a skeleton of a building propped in the middle of the town's commercial side. The children were sitting on the train leading out of town with Ryouko's dad, Kyoto.

"That's what the worker told Papa, right?" She turned to her father on the seat.

"Yeah, but then the guy next to him said it would be a movie theatre." He shrugged.

"I wonder if it would be ready by the time the festival rolls around. You know, so they can have some sort of grand revealing since no one knows what it is." Ka-Chan looked up from the book she was reading.

"I don't know if a month is long enough…" Kyoto reached into his bag of snacks he got from the snack lady and tried to crunch as politely as possible, then offering a piece to Matsu, who sat across from his daughter.

"All I know is, it better be a theatre so we don't have to leave town just to see a decent movie." Kuji crossed her arms. The long sleeves of her coat managed the smack Ka-Chan and Matsu this time.

"Hm, So any idea the movie you want to see when we get there?" Kyoto looked out the window to see how close they were to the city. "We still have twenty minutes though."

"Ugh, I wish it didn't take so long to get to the city." She rested her head against the back of the seat with a dejected sigh.

"Kuji-San, are you alright, you seem more agitated than usual."

"She's just excited about going to the movies Mr. Ryuu." Ka-chan explained. "We've never actually been to a theatre. We usually just watch them on DVDs."

"What do you mean by 'more' agitated than usual?" Kuji narrowed her eyes at the bearded man.

"Um, I meant-."

"I guess you never went out much since you only get to see your parents once a month and a week of summer and winter vacation."

"We are starting to see them more often now…Dad especially."

"I'm so glad we don't have school tomorrow." Kuji unintentionally broke up the moment. "I want to shop after we see the movie and with so many interesting stores in the city we'll be there all night."

"All night?" Kyoto slumped into his seat.

"Dad? That's OK with you, isn't it?"

"Hm? Uh, yeah I'm just more used to spending time fetching you out of a tree and getting lizards out of your room than walking around a store."

"Well, at least you don't have to hunt for lizards anymore, right?" She laughed at her dad's expression.

"As far as I know…"

"The mountain, we passed it, didn't we?" Matsu looked out the window only to see trees surrounding them.

"Yeah, sorry Sakura. You'll see it on the way back." She looked up at the window she was next to. "We came out the tunnel not too long ago." The trees were starting to become further and further apart.

"It was on the other side anyway. You'll see it on the way back if it isn't too dark."

The train pulled into the station with a metallic screech followed by the sound similar to escaping steam. The station was crowded and filled with the chatter of a hundred conversations.

"No! Don't push the red button!" A man yelled into his cell as the group pulled by him, trying to exit the crowd of noisy commuters. The city was bright and sunny in contrast to its breath revealing cold. The chatter had decreased a great deal even with the substitute of the occasional beeping horns.

"Oh, it looks so beautiful!" Kuji cried, clasping her hands together as she set her eyes on the theater across the street. It wasn't the first time they were in the city, but it was the first time they would actually go in the movie theater. They would usually just shop and get something to eat. After a few seconds of gawking she rushed across the marked pass to catch up with her unimpressed companions.

"I wonder what's good." Ka-Chan looked at all the large posters the best she could, but the act was a difficult chore due to the people that kept getting in front of the short teen.

"Do you need a boost?" Matsu asked sweetly.

"No, I got it. Thanks anyway, Matsu-Kun." She said, pushing her way through the crowd so she could see them all individually.

"There's a lot of action movies…" Ka-Chan noted to herself.

"What kind of movies do you like?"

"Romances."

"This one! We have to see this one!" Kuji pointed to a large poster of a man in a trench coat with a gun with a tropical backdrop lit up in an explosion. "It's the perfect combination of action and comedy and romance. This director is really good."

"The schedule says it starts playing in five minutes. What do you guys think?"

"Kuji-Chan should know."

"Let's hurry. I don't want to miss any previews." Kuji rushed in to take in the full effect of the building.

"Wait!" Kyoto sighed. "You'd think if she was such a movie expert she'd realized you have to pay for a ticket first…" He said as he went to the window with a snoozing employee.

The lobby was dimly lit with the scent of freshly buttered popcorn. The only bright ones were the spotlights trained onto the movie posters.

"Oh, neat! An arcade!" Ryouko ran up to the group of claw machines, gaming cabinets, and money machine sectioned off from the rest of the building.

"Ryouko-Chan I don't think we have enough time for that."

"I know I was just scouting t out for after the movie." She said as she joined Matsu in the line to the concession stand.

"Maybe I should be the one to hold the tub of Popcorn…" Mr. Ryuu said as he glanced at Matsu.

"Hm?" The poor pink haired boy tilted his head. "If you want to, but you should probably sit in the middle then."

After they purchased their goodies they gave the man guarding admittance to the hall of double doors. The room with the large screen held to the wall was half full by the time the projector had started turning. The first clip warned against cell phones and talking before glazing over the other theater rules and the consequences offenders would face. A plethora of previews showed just before the actual movie. The genre's ranged from a demonic romantic comedy to a documentary about mollusks.

"Sakura? Can I have one of those?" Ryouko whispered in the middle of a commercial about a slash flick.

"Shhh!" A man behind her glared at her.

"But the-."

"Shh!"

Ryouko slumped into her seat. The movie finally started two announcements later. It really was well done. It had a few clichés, but what film doesn't? Everyone seemed to enjoy it, until this one scene came up. The love interest in the movie was thrown off a sailboat by a large wave created by a building crashing into the sea. A large piece of wood had fallen on her and pinned her down.

Kuji looked away from the screen. The burning agony had resurfaced itself. She started to feel like she couldn't breathe as the bass filled music reached her ears. Her mind began to race, she couldn't focus as her eyes began to blur.

"Kuji? Are you alright?" She looked up to see Matsu and Ryouko looking at her with concerned looks. "Should we go?"

"N-no, I'm just a little thirsty." She reached for her drink. The pain had subsided as she kept telling herself it wasn't real. She looked back up at the screen. The hero's best friend had pulled the large debris off the unconscious body and started to swim to the surface. Everything was OK now, for Kuji anyway, the hero still needed to find the unfortunate octopus that had swallowed the key to the secret weapon room.

"That was unexpected." Kyoto sat in shock as the credits began to run after the hero's best friend who had woken up from a two day coma and shot the evil murder villain guy. They didn't even look at one another until they left the dark room. They chatted up about their favorite parts of the film. Kuji skipped about even more than Ryouko when she raved about the amazing cat plot twist. They threw the left over trash away and walked out into the still light fall sky.

"We've still got a lot of time." Kyoto looked at his silver watch.

"You said you were alright with going to the mall, right?" His green-eyed daughter asked for the second time.

"Yeah, but just in case you have your cellphone with you, right?" The girl nodded and giggled happily. He sighed and ran his hand through his short hair.

The next destination was the size of a small village. It was two stories and had more stores than their hometown had houses. Luckily, the mall wasn't half as crowded as the train station was, but there was still quite a crowd.

"Well, at least it won't be stressful if we get separated…" Kyoto thought to himself before he recognized the others had left him behind.

"What's going on over there?" Matsu noted the predominantly large gathering in front of the book store. There was a propped sign that stated the names of a couple of special guests.

"Professors Sam and Gale Yuki." Ka-Chan spoke the names as her mind worked to remember where she heard of them before. "I think they helped make that documentary we saw in the previews. Wasn't it based on their first book?"

"Yeah, they're behind a lot of major discoveries in their field of marine biology." Kuji looked through the crowd and noticed the couple at the head of it. "I've read that one."

"Don't you want to meet them?"

"Not really, I don't think I'll get the chance with everyone else here, but I do want their latest book." She started to wade through the sea of people. "Wait here, I won't take long." She pushed enough of the spectators over to get to the cash register with the said book pilled and propped next to it. The cashier was reading the jacket flap when the new customer arrived.

"Excuse me?" She tried to be polite, but the man at the cash register remained inattentive. "Ahem. I want to purchase this."

The man sighed through his nose and looked up at her. "What would-." He stopped mid-sentence once he saw her face. "Uh." He made a double take to and fro the sleeve flap.

"Is there a problem sir?" She tapped her foot as she lost patience.

"No, ma'am." He shook his head to clear it and took her book to scan it.

"Mm hm." She raised a brow as she tapped an annoyed foot. Then she left as soon she got her change back. "Lazy weirdo." She mumbled as she opened the book while walking away. She wanted to see the oh so important passage he wanted to read before attending to his customers. She suddenly felt bad once she read the passage. It was a dedication to their daughter who had died in a drowning incident and above it was her photo. She had black hair, a sophisticated smile, and a black and maroon hoodie.


"It's simple Kuji-Chan, you just have to double the recipe." Ka-Chan placed the paper on the kitchen counter.

"Do really have to? It's just us this afternoon." She changed the dials to preheat the oven at the proper temperature.

"Matsu-Kun's here and you know how much he likes sweets." Ka-Chan went to reach for the ingredients in the cabinets. "I always double them up ever since we had a brother."

"Hey, hey! I said no helping! I'll find the ingredients myself!" She shooed her shorter sister off the step ladder. "Go play Monopoly with the other two."

"Are you certain? It's not that-."

"Go! I can handle the kitchen layout. Go play with the others!" She watched Ka-Chan leave with lips forming a scowl before she turned back to the chocolate chip cookie recipe. She scanned over the instructions several times over before collecting all the ingredients. "This looks easy! Why haven't I tried this before?" She hummed to herself as she poured the wet substances into the dry ones. She started to stir vigorously, whipping her hands on her whale-printed apron after she rolled up the dough balls and put them on the parchment covered cooking pan.

"Ugh, this is the worst part!" She moaned hers eyes peeking in the oven glowing with a pulsating heat onto the edible circles. "It's taking too long…" She stood up from her lean, looking around to occupy herself. She started to hum in an aggravated tune, eventually coming up with a cheery cookie ditty as her mood lightened with the wondrous baking scent.

"I just can't stop." She said as she pulled the pan with her blue and tan oven mitts. "Can't stop, stop baking coookies~." She stood in triumph as she let them dry. She hummed more to quell her impatience, but whipped out her cell to play Tetris for a minute as she did so.

"Taste test time!" She said as she plated them. "Come in here!" The three pilled in one at a time. Matsu seemed slightly more excited than the other two.

"Did you let them cool?"

"Yes."

"You used the baking eggs right?"

"…Yes."

"And the non-salted butter?"

"I'm pretty sure I did."

"Did you find the baking chocolate?"

"Yes!"

"And you put parchment on the pan to-."

"Yes Ka-Chan! Yes! I did all the stuff you wrote down. Can you please tell me how it tastes now, please?" Kuji had her sassy 'hands on hips' pose to alert them her patience had worn thin.

"They look delicious Kuji-Chan!" Ryouko took up the cookie with the most chips.

"They smell good too!" Matsu picked up two.

"They do look and smell great." Ka-Chan picked up one of the smaller ones. "You stirred them thoroughly too."

"It's a good stress reliever…" She mumbled.

"…Egh, Uh." Ryouko, Ka-Chan, and Matsu all had strange looks on their faces.

"What? What's wrong?" She asked nervously her hands twiddling with her apron.

"Did, did you forget the sugar?" Ka-Chan forced herself to swallow the bite she took but couldn't bring herself to eat another bite.

"It'll taste good with lots of sugar." Matsu took another bite after getting some sugary drink to down the rest of what he took with, but did not attempt to get another.

"B-but…A put a whole lot of it in there. I even put a tiny bit extra!" She held the bag up from the surface behind her. "See?"

"Uh, Kuji-Chan?"

"What Ryouko?"

"That's salt…" The sleepy-eyed girl had placed the rest of her cookie back onto the plate.

"Wha-." She looked at the substance and hung her head after reading the bold letters. "I, really hate baking cookies…"

"Oh, Kuji-Chan everyone makes mistakes." Ka-Chan walked up to her sister with Ryouko and patted her on the back supportively. "It's OK."

"Yeah, you'll get it next time!" Ryouko smiled reassuringly at her black and blue haired friend.

"You really think so?"

"Of course, if there's one thing you're not it's a quitter." Matsu said as he took another sip of his drink. "Pretty soon you won't be able to stop yourself from all the baking, just like swimming."

"I doubt it, Matsu-Kun." His taller sister said dryly. Her tone was more unpleasant than the mistake that sat on the table between them.


These lines are really annoying to apply...