Chapter 2: An Unexpected Coincidence

I was walking home after my day, but my thoughts were still spinning around the moment I met the beautiful woman.

"Why the hell am I still feeling this way?!" I told myself, trying to recuperate from the emotional tidal wave that came over me.

I'm not the kind of guy that falls for a typical romance anime cliché called "Love at First Sight"!

Anyway, I couldn't even focus so much on the books I picked up from the sections that has light novels in their shelves. I'm not much of a reader when it comes to books, but I did have time to read light novels instead since it goes with my nature as an Otaku. My head couldn't wrap around what I just experienced when I saw her.

"What was that…memory?" I thought. After I saw her leave the library and I went inside to spare myself from the embarrassing moment that we shared, I saw…something flash in my mind. I couldn't explain it properly, but more like I can't even start to understand what just went through my mind after I denied the fact that I'm falling for a cliché. I was not about to be part of that stereotypical romance circle!

I sat down by the riverbanks to try and cool my head off in the afternoon. It was a strange feeling for me. Like, it wasn't the emotion of "love". It was…peaceful and it felt like the feeling was right. What was it called again? I think the term was called "longing". Probably.

But the feeling wasn't really right for me. My friends back in high school often picked on me for being a single otaku and that I don't have the guts to get a girlfriend. Thanks a lot, Motoyasu for saying that, dick. It's not that I don't want to get into a relationship with someone, but I just haven't really found anyone I can have a connection with. Plus, I live by a certain code of honor that I vowed to always uphold: 'Just one for a lifetime.' I always did try to think to myself by daring people to question my choice.

Yeah, people would think of me as a genuine weirdo or an old-fashioned person (depending on the person, I guess). I looked above the sunset and the clouds rolling by the banks and it was a peaceful kind of silence, nothing else. I'm a rather philosophical person, from my own point of view, I guess. But I just decided on it, but it's not for being a gentleman or believing in a love that will last forever or any kind of stupidly overused clichés in romantic anime, shows, movies, etc. I felt like I was the only one in the world at that single moment. But the moment got ruined after I heard someone sniffling.

"Is someone crying?" I thought to myself as I was still trying to focus on the afternoon twilight, until the cries finally started to become louder. "Geez!" I said to myself and sat up to look around and find the mysterious person crying.

I wandered for a bit and then I heard it from near the side of the bridge, then I noticed a young girl crying

"Fueeeeehh…!" she cried out as the tears from her eyes wouldn't stop.

"Seriously? This is a first time for me to hear someone say 'Fueh' as they cried." I said to her from behind, then she looked up to me in surprise with tears still fresh from the side of her cheeks and a bit of snot running down her nose.

The girl has green hair tied into a single braid. You could actually mistake her for a teenager, or a middle school student, but I noticed something around her neck that would make you say otherwise, which is a College ID. She looked to be the timid and shy type that doesn't have much in confidence.

"What's the matter?" I asked the girl and she just kept crying out 'Fueh'. Honestly, this is getting us nowhere if she doesn't speak up. Plus, hearing that is rather…annoying to me. Not because of how or why she says it, but it's just…annoying. Like a nostalgic form of annoying. Why does that come to mind anyway? And why did I think it was nostalgic?

"Uhmm…" she stuttered a bit while wiping her tears with her own sleeves while still holding onto her bag. She tried to speak a bit while sniffling the snot on her nose. That was a little gross, but I still reluctantly listened to her.

Apparently, she got scolded by her Professor for having to presenting an unfinished presentation of her research and thesis. At least, I think that's what I could understand from her explanation. She was still whimpering a bit, which made it annoying to try and understand everything she just tried to say.

From the looks of it, she must be studying Major in Research, but I'm still not so sure about it since I just met her. I am studying in a culinary school, but I'm not so much on the uptake with Colleges since I decided to drop the idea as I graduated High School, which is fine and all, for me. College is nice and all, but since I'm not much of a sociable person, nor am I ambitious, I just take what I can get. Plus, Colleges are much more expensive that a simple culinary school, so I'm pretty damn lucky that I found Cooking to become my line of work.

"What happened to your presentation anyway?" I sat down next to her as I asked her about it.

Her head was downcast as she tried to calm her nerves. "I-I tried to o-open up the file on my flash drive…B-but it got corrupted at the last second…T-then t-that's when m-my professor started b-blaming me on it…" She explains a bit more while a bit of tears is still on her eyelids.

That sounds like a rough session for her. Maybe her professor always had it out for her, or probably some other stupid reason. She didn't need to get yelled for something that she couldn't control. I can be sarcastic or rather stoic, but even I know when a problem shouldn't be taken too seriously if no one had control over it.

I sighed and looked up for a bit. "I can see you have an ass for a professor." She was surprised a bit and for the first time in my life, I have never heard the words that escaped her mouth.

"M-My professor I-Isn't a bad person or anything! H-He's just…having a rough time dealing with me…" she spoke out in a rather upset tone.

Why the hell would you blame yourself for something you couldn't control? I'm just trying my best to lighten the situation, but it looks like she's got her own set of problems. One of which is her incredible lack of confidence and her means of coping with her problems in school by putting that professor she trusted so much on a pedestal.

I sighed heavily and proceeded to speak, "Look, I'm not trying to belittle your professor or anything, but do you really need to blame yourself for an unexpected situation that you had no control over? That's just ridiculous, to begin with." I'm no therapist, but she might need to see one for her issues in confidence or her problems in general, because I certainly can't tell people to "Get your life together!" like that an expect an immediate result.

She tried to speak, but she couldn't come up with anything else to say, it's either I made my point perfectly clear for her, or that she didn't want to interrupt my little explanation, or maybe it's both. Damn it, why is it always so hard to read other people's thoughts or the mood?

She tried wiping the rest of her tears on her eyes, but her sleeves were already wet enough as it is from the continuous wiping. I handed her a handkerchief, but hopefully she doesn't blow on-.

"Hmmmph!" she exerted as she blew her nose on the handkerchief.

It…

I sighed and I took back the handkerchief after she blew on it. It was wet and I just tried my best to ignore it on the pocket of my jacket.

"Wanna go to a convenient store?" I asked. She looked at me with confusion.

"Sometimes, you just need a little reward for every mistake." I explained, and she just nodded her head for a bit. Looks like I did something right. That, or she just didn't want to be rude by turning down someone after they help her out?

She got up and then we went to the nearest Lawson to buy popsicles, sit outside on the pavement and just hear her rant about her problems of the day. Honestly, it was a weirdly good feeling to help someone like this. After a few minutes later as we finished, she went home and it was already night time. That's one more weird encounter crossed off my list.

As I walked home, I also felt a weirdly deserved sense of accomplishment, which doesn't really seem like a bad thing, but in reality, I just got pulled into a weird coincidence that turned into a reality check for someone that looked like they really needed it. Oh well, that's one more thing done for the day.

As I got home, I started walking towards the couch to turn on the television as I searched for any kind of channel that can get my mind off the events that unfolded today. After stumbling over a game show, I stood up and started preparing my own dinner since I got hungry and a popsicle and taiyaki will not be enough to satisfy my hunger. I looked around my home for a bit and I felt something…missing.

Don't get me wrong. My house is nice and peaceful since I did get used to living alone after I moved out as I found a full-time job and found myself going to a Culinary School, which to this day, is still a weird option for someone like me who had no other goals or ambitions in life, other than supporting my own hobbies and interests. It felt like an even trade-off, at least. It was rough for a few months, but then everything started becoming stable. But…

I felt…unhappy.

I still couldn't wrap my head around it. As I was chopping a few veggies, I sighed for a bit as I reminisced of my family…I missed them, but did they miss me…?

It felt like one hell of a rude awakening to the real world, finding out that your parents gave up on you just like that.

I helped out my little brother when he became a delinquent. It was probably my fault for letting that happen to him. He got hit with pressure at such a young age. My parents relied on him to be successful in the future. They also gave him one hell of a rude awakening.

I did help him out in the end after he nearly got arrested by the cops. Let me tell you, having to take the blame and spend the night in a cell was not the best moment of my life, but I did help him out after I got bailed out by our parents. It was a few rough months, but I did the impossible, which was bringing him back in line by letting him experience my hobbies and interests to help him vent out his stress in the real world.

I can't tell if our parents ever appreciated me for it, or did my little brother thanked me for helping him out in a dark time. All I know is that my parents supported me financially after doing so. Now these days, I don't really visit them nor go home during the holidays. I mostly spend it alone at home and by myself. I never really had any close friends to be invited to their parties, outings, or any kind of occasions that they're celebrating. It's not a bad thing for me, but it does get pretty lonesome.

After I finished my meal, I went upstairs to take a bath. I sat in the bathtub and tried to remember the things that led to this moment in my life. "It's been one hell of a journey, I guess…" I said to myself as I washed my face with the bathwater. I never really tried to look back at my life at this point.

After my bath, I wore my tracksuit once again, turned off the television and went to bed. It's been a somewhat hectic day, plus I've got work tomorrow, so I needed sleep.

"Fueeeehh!" I heard from a distance. Was this a dream? Am I seriously losing my mind over what happened today? I sighed and just followed the noise.

For some reason, I saw the green-haired girl again being carried by…a giant chocobo…

"That's it. I am officially going insane." I told myself, yet the scene felt…familiar.

The green-haired girl was crying and the giant chocobo started talking about how she found her trying to swim in the ocean.

I couldn't hear what she was talking about when she explained why she was trying to commit suicide, but I felt like I didn't need to hear it or else I would've blown a fuse. I felt another familiar feeling…Betrayal.

I felt bad for her. She might've shown a lack in confidence, even if she sounded annoying and that she couldn't bring herself to admit that she showed a promise in her talents. But when I felt that familiar feeling, that's when I wanted to help her. I wanted her to be strong enough to stand on her own two feet again and to prove to the people that had kicked her down that she can become stronger than them.

"Will you join my party, Rishia?" the words that left my mouth at that moment felt genuine. I wanted to help her.

Suddenly, I woke up after the dream, my head was hurting like a bitch, so I went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. As I was walking down the stairs, I looked at the clock and saw that it was six o'clock in the early morning. I still had about three more hours before I head to work. I didn't know if I wanted to head back to sleep or anything. I went and prepared breakfast for myself and also made some instant coffee to greet the early morning.

After two hours of doing nothing but sitting in front of the television and eating breakfast, I took a shower, wore my work uniform and proceeded to take a train in the downtown area of Tokyo to a nearby coffee shop that a few college students tend to hang out. It's not an overly popular shop, but we are pretty well-known for our brews and concoctions in the morning and in the afternoon lunch rush.

As I entered the building, I was greeted by a few friendly faces. One of which is L'Arc, one of my old friends in high school. He was a pretty straightforward guy, but he loved getting in trouble. He was also like an older brother figure that found out about my hobbies and started hanging around me. Even though he knew that I was a recluse, he was being persistent, so I hung around him for a while.

By a weird stroke of luck, we managed to meet each other here in Tokyo again after I found out he was working part-time in the café that I went in out of sheer curiosity. He was basically an annoying person, but his energy was somewhat infectious, which makes him pretty open to anyone who wants to strike up a conversation with him.

The work I found is being a Barista. I still don't know how I managed to take up this kind of job, but L'Arc suggested this place because he knows the owner and that he wanted to find someone who knows how to cook. Since L'Arc heard what the shop owner wanted, he quickly rushed to suggest my name and to show off my skills.

"Come on man! You'll fit right in here!" he exclaimed as he tried to grab me by the shoulder and drag me into the place. A few hours later, and a demonstration of my skills in cooking, the manager was impressed. He offered me the job.

I would've declined if I didn't need to find work to support my hobbies, so I had no other choice but to accept it. The pay and benefits are good though, not gonna lie.

The managers name is Erhard, and that's how I managed to work here for about a year now. The employees are good people and we all respect Erhard, but he prefers to be called "Boss". But I ended up calling him "Old man" and the nickname kind of just stuck. He didn't mind at least. He's either used to it, or he's genuinely a nice person at heart.

It was a peaceful morning and it's really quiet. Even the old man reads a few books even if the shop is already open. The atmosphere is quiet and peaceful, so peaceful that a few of our customers tend to nearly fall asleep.

It was a pretty normal morning, until I saw the door open and see two familiar faces that I just saw yesterday. Wearing a comfy and light brown sweater dress, a pair of brown leggings, dark brown doll shoes, her brown hazelnut hair flowing freely from the early spring breeze in this peaceful morning, she looked so serene and beautiful that even the sun couldn't compare to the sheen of her lovely hair and skin.

The other person is wearing a mixture of a light green coat and a simple black long-sleeved shirt with a pair of light blue jeans and brown boots. The look compliments her braided green hair and the aura of simplicity and naturality that surrounded her entire being.

"W-what are you two doing here?!" I exclaimed in surprise as I pointed at them.

The three of us where surprised. What kind of coincidence did I just land upon?

End of Chapter 2

Notes: Thanks for reading through this. Hopefully I can make the next chapter a bit faster next time. I just had a lot to deal with a few weeks in quarantine. Till next time.