Chapter Two
"Guys, I'm gonna go buy a soda, okay?" Rika smiled at her friends. Miaka, Yui, Taka, and Liam were there with her. They had just gotten out of the movie theater and were heading to the shopping district to spend a little cash.
"Sure, hurry back!" Miaka was her usual vivacious, happy-go-lucky self, even more so since she was with Taka.
"Hold up, Rika, I'll go too." Liam wrapped an companionable arm around her shoulder as they headed over to the soda machine. Rika dug out some yen and put it in the machine and took out her soda. As she waited for Liam to do the same, she turned, leaning against the machine, and looked back at their friends. They seemed to be engaged in some conversation. Rika smiled at them, wistfully, happy for them.
"What's the smile for?" Liam raised an eyebrow at Rika.
"Oh, just look at Miaka and Taka. They are so much in love and you can just see it when they were together." Rika shifted her attention to Yui who was laughing at Miaka. "And when you see Yui and Tetsuya together too. Its like they have a special bond." She sighed wistfully, "I wish I could find someone like that."
"Oh hell yeah! Um.. I mean, me too... a girl that is... man what I would do then..." He dodged Rika's half-hearted slap and smirked. Then his face became more serious as he looked back at their new friends too. "But seriously, its like they all have some special bond. They are just so tight. They aren't anything like students in the US, and they are even different from those here too."
"Yeah..." There were times when Rika felt like an outsider among her own friends. She always seemed to be walking in on some conversation that they always hushed up. It was frustrating. The same thing happened when she and Liam headed back over.
"Hey Taka," Liam began, "how about we go check out some manly things while we're here." He punched Taka's arm.
"Sounds good." He smiled then turned to Miaka. He hugged her and kissed her forehead. "Now you stay out of trouble, okay? See you in a little while."
The boys headed off and the girls grinned at each other. "First thing," Yui announced, "Shoes!" Giggling, they ran off toward the nearest shoe store.
A little while later, they were walking along, chatting when a purse in a store window caught Rika's eye. "Hey guys, I'm gonna go check out that purse, kay?" Miaka waved at her to give her the go-ahead and continued talking. Rika dashed into the store.
Five minutes later, she exited with a bag in hand and saw... no one she knew. "Miaka? Yui? Where are you guys!" She sighed and leaned back against the store wall. "They forgot about me..." Now she felt even more like an outsider than earlier. She tried to shrug off the feeling but it was still there. That and the feeling of restlessness that had been plaguing her for the past few days. She decided to head in the direction they had gone in to see if she could find them. She started off down the street, alone.
After ten minutes of fruitless searching, she spotted a large building in the distance. "Well, might as well go see if its anything good." As she neared the building, she was able to identify it as the National Library of Japan. "Oh well..." Then she noticed that the building had some high steps, maybe she could see them from up there. She dashed up and looked back out over the crowds. Nada. Shaking her head, she turned around and looked at the library doors. "Might as well check it out..." for some reason, she felt like doing so...
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"How could you have just forgotten about her like that Miaka!" Yui stood near her friend at the entrance to the store where they had left Rika.
"Me! You were there, too Yui!" The truth was, Miaka felt horrible. Her friend may have already been there for two months, but she was still a foreigner. She didn't know where she was going. And it really was her fault for getting too caught up in her conversation with Yui.
"But I wasn't the one she told!" Yui paused and took a breath. "Never mind who's fault it was, we need to find her!"
Spotting a woman handing out fliers on the side of the street, Yui approached her. "Excuse me, did you see a short blonde girl wearing a green skirt go walking by?"
The toothless old woman seemed to be thinking. Then she blurted out, "Yes! She went that way." She pointed back the way they had come from.
"Are you sure?" Yui was skeptical as to this woman's integrity.
"Of course I'm sure. Would you like to buy some candy though?" The woman gave her a toothless grin.
"Sur-" Miaka began, eyes already wide over the candy. She was reaching for her wallet when Yui grabbed her arm and tugged her along, calling a thanks over her shoulder.
"Miaka! This is no time for your stomach!" Yui continued to pull her along through the crowd, looking around for Rika.
After going a block, she dragged Miaka over to another older woman. With thinning white hair and a cane, the woman had stationed herself outside a store. As such, Yui figured she'd know who went past.
"Excuse me, ma'am. Did you happen to see a short blonde girl around my age wearing a green skirt walk by?" Yui had her fingers crossed, hoping that the woman had seen her.
"Well let me see..." The woman appeared to be lost in thought. "Wait I think.. No... Wait... hmm... no." She continued to think but Yui had heard enough. Starting away, she was surprised when the woman suddenly said, "Yes! Yes I did. It was a few minutes ago."
"You did!" Yui was pleased. "Where did she go?"
"Umm..." Yui waited patiently for the woman to continue, though she was getting a little annoyed. Miaka was trying to get to the food in the store behind the woman and was pulling at Yui's restraining arm. Then the old woman said, "Oh yes, she went towards the library. Over there." She pointed towards the library and Yui took off, Miaka in tow.
"Thank you so much!" She called this over her shoulder as she quickened her pace towards the library.
"Why did she go to the library?" she wondered aloud.
"Maybe she was going to study." Miaka had finally gotten her mind off food, for the moment. The library had always interested her. After all, the first time she had gone in, she had gotten sucked into a book!
"Maybe, but wouldn't she had told us?" Yui was curious as to why her friend had gone to the library. Maybe it was just because they had never taken her there. It was a pretty impressive building so maybe she couldn't pass up going inside. Yui had a bad feeling about this though. A very bad feeling.