Sakaki's house
It's a warm and sunny day at Tokyo, as usual, it's best to spend time outside. Our main character is already dressed up for his plans with Sakaki. He thinks it's his first time hanging out with a friend at their house. In reality, it really isn't, due to the memory loss of his childhood. Sakaki on the other hand, waits for Rono patiently, but is soon called by her mother.
"Sakaki! Come down and let's cook up some lunch for the the two of you while we're waiting!" She yelled from the kitchen.
"Coming!" Sakaki replied back from her room.
She goes downstairs to the kitchen to make lunch with her mother. For lunch they start cooking ramen. Not the ones from the convenience store but the homemade ramen made from scratch.
Right when they were finished with the ramen, it wasn't long until Rono made it to the house. He presses on the intercom button to let the owners of the house that he is there.
"Hi, Rono Takayama here. Is anybody there?"
Sakaki was first to hear the voice of her friend. She lets her mom know about it and asks her if it's fine to let him in now. She nods and tells her to open up the the door. Sakaki does what her mother told her and replies to Rono on the intercom.
"Hello Rono, let me open up the gate."
She opens the door, walks to the front gate and opens it to let him in.
"How's your day?" He asked.
"Great."
They both walk inside, close the door and Rono gets his shoes off and lays them on the side of the door. Sakaki leads him to the kitchen where her mom is at.
"Good afternoon Mrs. Sakaki, you look nice today."
"Why thank you Rono. We're going to eat soon, all we need to do is let the food cool down. While you're waiting for that you can go with Sakaki and do whatever you want, just don't break anything."
"Yes ma'am, but where's Mr. Sakaki?"
"He's at work." Sakaki answered for him.
"What does he work on?"
"He's a forensic pathologist."
"He has to work on the weekends?"
"Sometimes, my husband is part of the investigation on the recent homicide from Yokohama. The body he is doing the autopsy on barely got delivered to him today at his laboratory." Informed Mrs. Sakaki.
"I'm not surprised, these things happen very frequently around the world. Somebody dies everyday, it's truly sad."
Sakaki and her mother are surprised by his sudden comment. Both stare at him silently eye widened.
"Er..sorry about bringing that sort of thing up. Is it okay if we go up to your room Sakaki?"
"Uh..sure."
They go upstairs to her room while they are waiting for the food to cool down.
"It's been a while since I've been to your room. I've only saw a it for a bit, but I never explored through it."
"You really want to know more about my room? There's nothing interesting in here for you to see."
"I'm sure that's not true, there must be something interesting here."
He looks around her room and something catches his eye. There is a magazine under her pillow of the bed. Without Sakaki knowing why he got over to her bed, he pulls out the magazine. Sakaki immediately notices and silently panics and runs over to her bed.
"Please don't look at that!"
She tries getting it out of his hands but Rono turns around and reads the title.
"Daily Cuteness."
He flips a page of the magazine and finds a picture of kittens in a basket, the other page has another picture of two cats playing with a ball of yarn. After a short stare at the pictures, Sakaki takes away the magazine. She hugs the magazine against her chest and blushes of embarrassment.
"Please..don't read it...it's embarrassing."
"What's so embarrassing about that? Nothing embarrassing about reading a magazine."
"It's not that...it's just."
She pauses for a moment before she tells him the answer.
"I'm..not used to telling people what I like."
"Why not, it's normal."
"You don't understand, everybody sees me as a different kind of person, they see me as a 'cool' and 'tough' person. In all my life I was bigger than the other kids, I wanted to be a cute little girl. If I reveal my obsession to them, then they might make fun of me."
She looks down, her eyes start to develop tears. It was at this point, that she was about to break down in hard and cold tears. Rono notices and puts his hand on her right shoulder. She looks up to his face now surprised.
"Don't worry Sakaki, you should never be ashamed of the things you love. If it comes to people making fun of you, tell me and I'll take care of it.
"How will you do that?"
She was sobbing a bit but wasn't crying.
"Remember the story I told you at the mall, trust me I'll take care of it no matter what."
He decides to cheer her up which resulted him to give her a nice, heartwarming hug.
"We are in this together, I'll make sure nobody hurts you or any of our friends."
She embraced him tightly now feeling better each second.
"Thanks Rono."
It took a whole minute for them to part.
"Now that that's out of the way, let's go eat the ramen your mother made for us."
"Okay."
This moment reminded Sakaki back when they were kids and when things like these happened to them. Sakaki used to be the one to protect Rono from danger, now it is Rono's turn to do the same.
Both walk downstairs quickly, get in the kitchen and find her mother waiting for them on the table. Her mother smiles at them when she sees them come in.
"Hungry?" She asked.
"Yes ma'am." Rono replied.
They sat down on the chairs of the dining table and began eating peacefully.
As they finished with the ramen, Sakaki leads Rono upstairs to her room.
"What should we do?" Rono asked.
"Anything you want."
"Hmm, where do you keep your stuffed animals?"
"Oh, um..I keep them in my closet."
She opens the closet of her room, it shows a bunch of stuffed animals in it.
"A lot of stuffed animals you got there."
He looks around the pile of stuffed animals, then found one that he adores just by looking at it. It was a stuffed animal of a cat.
"Oh my gosh, it's a cat." He picks it up and looks at its eyes.
"Her name is Pama." Sakaki said.
"Pama huh? That's a nice name!" He smiles.
Wait, I feel as if I already said that long time ago. Why am I keep on having this feeling in my heart? He thought.
"Um, so you give your stuff animals names?"
"Y-yeah, is that wrong?"
"No, not at all, I just think it's cute."
"Thanks."
"You know, when I was America, I found something from the past that even I didn't recognize. It was my stuffed bear, just by hugging it, I suddenly remembered how I always had him with me whenever I was afraid, his name was kiroki."
"That's cute, we have so much in common don't we?" Sakaki said.
"Looks like we sure do. Maybe that'll make our bond even stronger?"
"I think it will, I'm glad we understand each other. " She smiles at him, he smiles back.
"Me too."
They stood there in silence having nothing to do the next minute.
"What do you want to do now?" Rono asked.
"I don't know, anything I guess."
Soon, Sakaki's mother calls both of them from downstairs in the room with that kotastu. Both of the teens walk downstairs and meet her there.
"What is it, Mrs. Sakaki?"
"Could you both please do me a favor?"
They both nod to her.
"I'm have a handful of chores I have to do for the house, due to that, I don't have enough time to get the groceries for next week. I was wondering if you could get it for me, I'll give you the money to buy it for me of course."
"Well do it." Sakaki replied.
"You would?"
"Yeah I'll go with her. Besides, we have nothing else to do."
"Thank you, you're all the best."
And so, Sakaki and Rono leave off to the nearby convenience store by the neighborhood. It didn't take long to get there, just eight blocks away from the Rono's apartment building. In his surprise, he never knew there was actually convenience store by his apartment building.
Inside the store had mostly groceries than home supplies. You have everything you need in the store. There's vegetables, dairy items, sodas and drinks, quick snacks, coffee, school supplies, cleaning supplies and pastries.
A familiar face appeared in between one of the aisles. A little girl with pigtails of orangish hair observes a pack of pencils in her hands. It's our one and only child prodigy, Chiyo.
"Chiyo!" Rono yelled out.
She turns around to see that Rono and Sakaki by her left side.
"Hi Mr. Rono and Miss Sakaki, how are you today?"
"Good." They both said.
"What brings you here?" Rono asked.
"I just realized that I needed more pencils for school, what about you?"
"We came here to do some errands for Sakaki's mother."
"Is there any way I could help?" Asked the pig-tailed girl.
"I guess, we don't have too much to buy but I think you can help find the stuff on the list." Sakaki said.
"I'll do my best!"
Rono splits up the items on the list to three parts. One for Chiyo, Sakaki and Rono himself. With teamwork, anything can be done faster. After that, they all got united together again to spend it to the cashier. It was now time to leave the store and go home.
On the way home, they came across something on the street. It was a cat with gray fur. Sakaki and Rono blushed at the cat in front of them. Usually Rono pets the cats right away, but he felt different about this. He knew that there was something off about this cat. He looks at his eyes and suspects some kind of hostile aura from it. Without suspecting it, the tall girl with long black hair approached the cat.
Don't tell me she's going to pet it. He thought to himself.
"Sakaki don't do it!"
It was too late, right as she held her hand closer, the cat bit her hand. She hasn't reacted as it happened, all that she did was look at the cat gnawing on her hand. It's wasn't long until her hand started bleeding. Without the cat noticing its surroundings, out of nowhere, Rono opens up the cat's jaws, picks it up by the fur on its back and throws it over the fence.
"Disgusting, I need to wash my hands after this." He said quietly.
He looks over at his friend with the slightly wounded hand.
"Are you alright!?" He approaches her worriedly.
She looks at her now slightly bleeding hand.
"Yes I'm fine."
"Does it hurt Miss Sakaki?" Chiyo asked.
"It doesn't hurt at all."
"Let me check your hand."
He looks at her hand now gushing low amounts of blood. The damaged skin now peeled back from the bite. Luckily the cat hasn't bit on any of the major veins, other wise she would of been bleeding mass amounts of blood.
"It's not too bad, but minor." He stands up and helps Sakaki up.
"We need to clean up the wound, who knows what that cat has eaten."
"If only I bought a medic kit, I would of treated her right away." Chiyo exclaimed.
"None of this is your fault Chiyo, go home safely. I have to get Sakaki back home, whatever you do, do not get close to that cat at any costs!"
"I'll follow that, but please let me go with you two." She said with a convinced face.
"What about your parents?"
"They're at work, I'm home alone."
"Well, it's fine I guess, let's go right away!"
When running, it reminded Sakaki of a memory she had when she was younger.
Flashback...
Most of the time when they both play around at the park, it usually ends up in running. When it came to playing a game of tag, Sakaki usually lasts the longest in running away from Rono.
"No fair, there's no way I'll catch you!"
"Not with that attitude you're not!" She chuckles along with Rono.
"How about you try to tag me instead?"
"Either way, I'll always end up catching you in the end shortly."
He sighs in frustration.
"Let's play something else."
"Fine with me." She smiled at him.
Whenever there was a school festival, both of the strong bonded friends would run all the way there. As usual, Sakaki runs faster leaving him running behind her struggling to catch up. He always tries his best to catch up to her. Especially when playing something that involved in physical activity.
Sometimes when Rono's parents came over to visit Sakaki's house for while, Rono plays with Sakaki. Due to their close friendship, it lead Rono's parents to become good friends with Sakaki's parents as well. They had an excellent friendship as well. When it was any of the kid's birthday, the other's would come over to celebrate as well. The dads would drink beer with each other for fun while the moms would talk about random things that happened in their lives.
One time, Rono asked Sakaki's dad for advice on how to become as fast as her. In return, he didn't exactly know how she became the way she is.
"How do I become as fast as Sakaki?" Rono asked.
"Why do you want to know?"
"She always wins every time when we play tag."
"I would tell you if I knew how."
"You don't know?"
"Not a clue, but what I can tell you is this. Always believe in yourself, make sure to work hard in order to achieve that goal, nothing is impossible. Remember that Rono."
"I will!" He said happily.
End of flashback...
The three friends run to Sakaki's house. Mrs. Sakaki opens up the door and the first thing she saw different in all of them was the bleeding hand on Sakaki.
Why do I feel as if I already did this before. Never had I actually wanted to run this fast for something in my life. It's kind of fun. He thought.
With short notice they made it.
"Oh my goodness, what happened to you!?"
"We'll explain later after we treat her."
"Let me get the medic kit, Sakaki, come with me." She runs to the bathroom with Sakaki to get the kit.
First thing they did was wash Sakaki's wound with soap and water. Then pulled out a clean towel to give pressure to the hand to stop the bleeding. After that is done, a clean cotton ball covered in rubbing alcohol is needed to treat the wound that way it eliminates some of the germs. Sakaki flinched in pain as her mother treats her wound with it, soon it went all away in a matter of seconds. Last but not least, her mother bandages Sakaki's hand where the minor cut is.
Chiyo and Rono waited patiently in the living room with the kotastu. Immediately as Sakaki and her mother came back, the two stand up and ask her a question.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine."
They both sigh in relief.
"Say, I haven't seen you around, are you Rono's sister?" Asked Sakaki's mother.
"Oh no, I'm not his sister!" She replied back as she moved her hand sideways.
"My name Chiyo Mihama, it may not look like it but I'm in Sakaki's class."
"So how old are you?"
"I'm ten years old!" She said proudly.
"So you're a child prodigy?"
"Yes she is." Rono said.
"Well, welcome to the house, we're glad to have you here."
Chiyo giggles in happiness.
Oh my, why is Chiyo's laugh so cute? He thought.
Chiyo decided to hang out for a bit at Sakaki's house. During the time, Sakaki's mother made green tea for them. Pastries were served also on the kotastu for snacks. Through out most of the day, Chiyo began to chat with them about how the first week of school went for them. The little girl missed her friends from grade school.
After she was done talking about that, Sakaki's father came back from work. He heard some noises from the living room. Three voices are heard, one he knows is his daughter, another is a boy, last is an usual voice which he never heard. It sounded if it were a little girl's voice. Tiptoeing to the door, he opens it slowly then slides out of the way quickly causing the others to look his way.
"Hi Mr. Sakaki!" Rono said out loud.
Sakaki's father sighs in relief.
"Hello Rono."
He looks at the right side of the kotastu and finds a little girl he's never seen before.
"Am I dreaming or did we have another kid?"
"No we didn't." His wife said from the kitchen.
"I'm Sakaki's friend, Chiyo Mihama."
He didn't seem convinced at the response.
"Is she some kid you picked from the park home?" He questioned his wife who was in the kitchen.
"No sweetheart, she's one of Sakaki's friends. Fun fact is she's a child prodigy at our daughter's high school!"
"Impressive, how old are you?"
"I'm ten."
My god she's a genius. Sakaki's father thought.
"Anyways, what happened with your hand Sakaki?"
"A cat bit me."
"It was a stray wasn't it?"
She nods to her father.
"I thought I told you to never pet a stray. I'll let you pet cats but not the ones that live in the streets, things like that just like on your hand can happen."
Sakaki looks down now disappointed.
"Look, the reason why I'm telling you this is to keep you safe. I would give you a cat if I wanted to but your mother is allergic to cats. If you get a house of your own, then you'll be able to do just that."
"Okay."
"Well enough talk from me."
He walks inside the kitchen with his wife in it.
"Hun." He calls her.
"Yes?"
"Have you started cooking?"
"No, not yet. Are you hungry?"
"Yeah but how about we eat a burger from McDonald's with the kids, you deserve a break from making dinner."
"Fine with me."
"Right."
He goes back to the living room to announce the news.
"Change of plans everyone."
They look at Sakaki's dad in curiosity.
"Let's go get burger from McDonalds."
"Oh really now? It been a long while since I've eaten a burger." Rono commented.
"Well now is your chance!"
"I need to let my parents know first." Chiyo informed.
"You can use my phone to call your parents." Rono told Chiyo.
"Thank you."
She calls her parents on Rono's phone. She waits until her parents pick up the call until they finally answer.
"Hello?"
"Mom?"
"Chiyo! Who's phone are you using?"
"One of my friend's."
"Okay. How's your day?"
"Great so far. I wanted to ask you something."
"Sure what is it?" Her mom asked.
"I'm at my friend's house, they asked me if I could go with them to eat at McDonald's. Is it fine if I could go?"
"Hmm, are any of the parents there?"
"Yes."
"I'll let you go, but let me talk to the parents first just to make sure. Don't eat too much."
"Okay."
She hands it to Sakaki's father to work things out for their plans.
"Hello?" Sakaki's father said as he walked out from the living room to the kitchen again.
Chiyo discussed on what was her moms response to the idea.
"What did she say?" Rono asked.
"My mom said that I could go!"
"Awesome, but why is she talking with Sakaki's father?"
"Every Time when any of my friends want to take me somewhere, my mom and dad talk to my friend's parents first to work things out. It's just the same with my grade school friends Miruchi and Yuka!"
"I guess that make sense, hopefully we get to meet them someday."
"I'm sure you both will."
As the discussion ended, Sakaki's father came back in with his wife.
"It's all set up, quick trip to the bathroom before we go anyone?"
He looks at the three high schoolers, it is now assumed that they are now ready to go.
"Alright let's go!"
The family and friends go out the door then into the car to go eat a burger from the fast-food restaurant.
The McDonald's restaurant was somewhere in the city of Tokyo. Since there are no drive-throughs, you have to eat inside the restaurant. Sakaki's dad parked his car in a six story parking building close to the restaurant. When did so, they all went in the elevator down to the first floor that way they can finally go walk outside where allthe markets are.
The McDonald's they went to had two floors. The main floor is where you can take order the meal, you can also sit on the chairs if you wanted to. When you go up the stairs is where the second floor is found, there are only tables with chairs that can you can your meal at, of course there's a bathroom for each floor.
Like everyone does, they order the meal for the family. Regular meals were ordered, all except Chiyo, she ordered a happy meal for kids. As they waited to get called by the employee who has the order they had for the family, Rono felt paranoid. He felt as if something big was going to come up soon. This event is isn't going to be a good one, it will be something life threatening. Never in his life has he felt this before. The heart started racing, he breaks a sweat without moving and starts to shiver in fear. Nobody but Sakaki noticed him in his physical state.
"Rono?" She asked.
He snaps out of it finally now gasping for air until he slowly starts to recover.
"You alright?"
He is now fully recovered and his paranoid self finally gone.
"Yeah."
"What happened?" She said quietly to not let the others know.
"No idea."
"Are you ill? We can go back to the house if you want to." She said worriedly.
"That is not necessary, everything is fine Sakaki, I'm all better now." He cleared things up.
"If you say so, tell me if you need any help, okay?" She winked at him which isn't like her.
"I'll make sure to tell you."
Finally the order of the family has arrived, the employee at the counter calls their number. When the meal has been picked up, they all go upstairs to the second floor to eat the meal. All eat happily except for one. The boy pondered why he felt paranoid down back there. All was going fine, so why the sudden feeling?
I just hope...that everyone will be safe when time progresses. I have to focus on my surroundings during school from now on. He thought.
