For Old Times Sake

1:00 pm

It's a warm day outside, just right to stay out a little for a whole day. Here we have Rono in his apartment reading one of the books he brought back from America. He's already halfway from finishing it all. It just been a week since he's been living in Japan! Sometimes he decides to stop reading from time to time, that ways he doesn't rush through the whole story. Right as he stopped reading, he had nothing to do at this time. Though he can watch the television but he wasn't that much into television. Sometimes he watches anime on television just to kill some time, but he rarely watches it. All the time he spent in his life on was school, reading and cats.

He goes over to his nightstand to pick up his phone. Directly goes to the messenger app and texts his friend.

Sakaki -Rono

Just waiting a few seconds was all it took for her to respond.

Hi Rono -Sakaki

What are you doing? -Rono

Nothing much, what about you? -Sakaki

Nothing I'm bored. -Rono

Same as you. -Sakaki

A short pause waited between the two, it was then broken by Rono.

Have any plans for today? -Rono

No, why? -Sakaki

Wanna hang out at the mall? -Rono

Sakaki surprised at the request, she thinks about it at first.

Okay but let me ask my mother first. -Sakaki

K -Rono

Sakaki goes down the stairs and runs over to the kitchen. Her mother is found in the kitchen making Sakaki lunch, which is a sandwich.

"Mother?"

"Hello dear, you're just in time for lunch."

"I've been meaning to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"I-Is it all right...if...I..could hang out with one of my friends?"

"Sure, who is it?"

"I-it's..Rono."

"Oh, is he starting to remember?"

"No, not yet, he said he had nothing to do so he invited me over to go to the mall with him."

"Oh..well okay, but eat first my dear."

"Thank you!" She said in a cheerful tone.

She goes up to her room first to get her phone that ways she could tell Rono that she would be coming. Of course, she has to eat lunch first then she can leave. When finished, the first thing she does is to go upstairs again, get different clothes, prepares herself by getting her wallet and the phone. Sakaki goes downstairs and goes to the front door.

"I'll be off! Bye mother! Bye father!"

"Goodbye!" They both said.

"Make sure to be careful!" Her dad said.

"Okay."

She closes the door and opens the small black gates of her house. Just as she closes the gate, she finds someone beside her. The boy looks at her with his brown eyes, it was Rono.

"Oh hi Sakaki, looks like I'm just in time."

"Hehe, it seems so."

"Let's go."

Time passed and before knowing it they made it to the mall. The mall wasn't as tall as the buildings around but the bright side is that it is three stories tall. Another wonderful thing about it is that there's a kids area and a food court. Around the city were many hotels, many video stores, many cafes, a few casinos and even some arcades with those crane games.

First thing that the two went to were one of the crane games in the arcade. Recently, the owners were putting in new stuffed animals in the crane machines. Most of the stuffed animals are kittens, cats, dogs, puppies and teddy bears. Only Rono knows about this, he heard some of the girls in his classroom talking about it a lot.

A day ago...

"Chihiro!"

"What's up?"

"Have you heard that the owners of that arcade we went to last time have been putting in new stuffed animals in the crane machines?"

"Wow really? Are they cute?"

"They are really cute, you want to go with me this Saturday?"

"I'd love to...but I can't. I have to babysit my little brother at home, both of my parents have to settle some things at work. I'm really sorry."

"Oh, it's okay." She said in a sad expression.

"I'll go next time for sure!"

"Okay."

In the background, Rono is found listening to the whole conversation about the new plushies. For the most part, he felt sorry for the girl who had plans with her friend, that girl is known as Kaorin.

Back to the present...

If only I had invited her along to come with us. Rono thought.

The first crane machine they went to had a few stuffed cats and a whole ton of stuffed dogs. The boy didn't seem to like dogs that much but somehow when he does meet one, he's actually good with them. He wanted either a stuffed cat of stuffed kitten the most. If you ever asked Sakaki which one she wanted the most then it would be a rather difficult decision. Every stuffed animal in the machine were adorable to her.

"Want to go first?" He asked.

"Sure."

She puts in the coin then the crane starts to the area of the stuffed animals. She slowly goes for the only reachable stuffed cat. However by luck, she manages to get a stuffed cat and a kitten as well! In conclusion, she has certainly succeeded.

"Wow that some great luck you got there Sakaki!"

She chuckles and stunned at the lucky catch she just attamepted. Suddenly, a voice of a girl is heard behind them.

"Miss Sakaki?"

They turn around and find out it was actually Kaorin!

"Do you go here a lot?" Kaorin asked.

"Not really."

"I see that you two found out about the new stuffed animals they had put in."

"Only I have." Rono blurted out.

"How?"

"I heard you talking with Chihiro yesterday about the new stuffed animals."

"You have, haven't you." She said looking down.

"Hey Kaorin, do you want to come hang out with us? We're going to the mall after we play a few more of these cranes."

"Really, is that okay with you two?"

"It's fine with me." Sakaki said.

"Thank you so much!" Kaorin said with a now bright expression.

Sakaki ended up winning a lot more stuffed animals than she had anticipated. For the others however, had won at least one. After that, the three went to the mall for some shopping. First for the girls then the second choice for the boy, just to make things a bit fair.

"Which clothing store are we going first?" Rono questioned both Sakaki and Kaorin.

"Let's go to that one right there!" Kaorin pointed.

"Okay." Sakaki said.

"Woah that is a big clothing store there." He commented.

"Yeah,it's a good choice for shopping. There are mass amount of clothing for both men and women. That's also the reason why there is more people in the the store due to the amount of content it has." Kaorin informed.

"So where do we start?" Sakaki asked.

"There are three sections of the store. The first floor which is where we're on is for women's clothing. The second floor is where the men's clothing are at. Last but not least is the third floor where all the babies accessories are available. An excellent place to buy gifts for other people if you ask me!" Kaorin said the last sentence with a wink to both Sakaki and Rono.

"Alright, I'll be on the men's floor if you need me. If you can't find me there, I'm either at the food court or in the babies clothing floor."

"Alright." Both of the girls agreed.

The three of them walked in inside the store just as Rono and Sakaki look inside the store with awe. It was a huge sight, never have they seen a store as big as this. The girls decide to walk Rono to the escalator which lead to the men's clothing floor.

"Bye!" Rono said

"Bye." Sakaki and Kaorin replied back.

It only took a minute for Kaorin to realize that she is now alone with Sakaki. In her heart, she looked up to Sakaki. Which then lead her to develop feelings for her as time came.

"Kaorin."

She snaps out of her thoughts as the tall girl said her name.

"Y-yes?"

"Is it fine if you show me around this place, it's a big store, I don't want to get lost."

"S-sure."

She leads her to the first destination which is the jacket area.

"Here is the jacket area where all the stuff you need for the winter is right here."

Most of the jackets were actually pretty. They were some with different colors, some for dressing into for some place fancy, there were also fluffy jackets for the snow. Alongside with that, there were also winter accessories for the winter too. What was on sale were skiing goggles, scarfs of all kinds, snow boots, gloves, ear muffs, thermals and thermal sweaters. Now that we got that out of the way, she leads Sakaki to a different area of clothes.

"Next is the dress area."

The dress area is where all the expensive and cheap dresses are sold. At this area, it didn't give interest to both of the girls. So they moved on to different area.

"Next is the undergarment sections. Nothing really special here except for the fact that this there are plenty of stuff here and this is also the only place where you can get your own custom bra size."

Sakaki immediately covers her chest area with her face now shaded pink. With Kaorin now noticing why Sakaki did just that, she walks her over to the last area.

"Finally, last but not least is the where the actual clothes are. As you can see, the normal shirts, pants, shoes, slippers and sleepwear can be found here. I'm guessing we should be looking here?"

"Yeah." Sakaki answered back.

Rono is found looking for new shirts and possibly for some new pants too. It was about for him to at least buy some merchandise from Japan again.

"Dang it, most of the clothes here barely have my size." He puts away the shirt.

"If only there were a store with more shirts of my size."

He walks out of the store and starts to walk on the second floor of the mall. At on end of the mall he sees a familiar face. A face that he sees everyday at the school. It was no doubt that it was Tod Fukushima.

"Hey Tod!"

He turns around behind him to find who called out his name. He finds Rono waving at him.

Look at that, it's Rono. Tod thought.

He runs over to Rono and greets him.

"Hey Rono what brings you here?"

"Oh, well, I'm hanging out with Sakaki and Kaorin."

"Sakaki is that tall girl from our class, right?"

"Yep, I presume that you know Kaorin?"

"Yes, we sometimes talk with each other during P.e." Tod replied back.

"Right on, so what made you come to the mall."

"I went to the store to get something for my little sister and also just check out some stuff."

Rono now became curious on how having a sibling feels like. He tells him to sit down on the bench with him.

"You have a sister?"

"Yes I do."

"Wow, I wish I had a sibling."

"What makes you say that?"

"Let's just say...I had tough relationship with other people when it comes to making friends."

"Hmm?"

"I don't exactly know what actually happened when I was still a kid."

At this point, the first thing that came up in Tod's mind was the fact that his friend maybe has amnesia.

"There's no way you can just forget your memories like that! How is that even possible?"

"I don't know, but what I do know is that I was always a lonely kid. I never had a friend before, I was so shy that nobody could ever notice me. After a while I got used to it, as if that's how I really am. Even when I was in middle school back in America, I still was the same as back then, not a single friend during those three years."

"Damn, looks like you had it hard didn't you?"

"Not exactly, I still managed to always get good grades. I've even became the only boy with great athletic ability, but that's not important."

He isn't the competitive type is he? Tod thought.

"So how'd you get to be friends with Sakaki then?"

"Oh that, she just came up to me."

"Weird, that doesn't seem like her. She's usually the silent type according to our classmates." Tod commented.

"The strangest thing of all, I felt as if I already knew her before. I felt confident, calm, happy, relieved and comfortable. I feel all these feelings when I'm around her. I highly believe that I have seen her before once in my life time before high school."

"Maybe it's just a coincidence, don't worry though. I'm sure someday you'll find out for yourself soon." Tod pats him in his shoulder.

"I have to go, I need to make dinner for my little sister back at home, my mom and dad had work to do. It's been nice talking to you, see you at school!" He waved goodbye.

"See ya." Rono waves back then watches him disappear into the distance.

I wonder if the girls are still down there, how about if I go babies' clothing floor. Rono thought.

Now the next destination is the babies' clothing floor. He gets on the escalator and slowly goes up the third floor. At first sight, it is possible to figure how many sections are there for the store. There were three which the first is the clothes, second the accessories and third the toys. He starts to look around at the babies accessory area where there are many cradles and food for babies.

Everything seemed to be fine until he finds a little girl jumping up and down. She had long brown hair that's reached almost halfway of her back. She didn't look too young for her to be a baby, she looked like she could currently be in grade school. The only things in front of her that could be her reason of jumping is the plastic jar filled with baby food. It was the only one so she tried so hard to get it, it is unlikely she would due to the height of the jar which stood four shelves above her.

He walks over to where the girl was at and looks at the jar. He reaches for the jar full of baby food and grabs it. The girl surprised by his action almost said something to him. She was about to give up and walk away in depression.

"I'm guessing you were trying to get this." He hands it to her.

"Huh, uh...thank you so much sir." She said nervously.

"If I may ask, what was your reason for getting that?"

"It's...for my...baby brother."

"I see. Where's your mother?" He asked.

"At home, she told me to buy it for her since she has to take care of my little brother."

"And your father?"

"At work."

He sighs.

"Well, be careful on the way home alright?"

"Okay, thank you for the help!" She thanked him before she ran to the cashier.

What an adorable girl, she reminds me of Chiyo. He thought.

Back to Sakaki and Kaorin...

Both of the girls are about finished with their shopping for clothes. Sakaki didn't get much but for Kaorin however, she bought a dress, three pairs for jeans and five shirts. In result, Kaorin had to carry two bags as for Sakaki, she carried one bag. Even though Kaorin couldn't talk to the tall girl due to the shyness she had around her, she had a great time with Sakaki. Shortly, the both made their way to the escalators which lead to the men's floor to find Rono. Next thing they knew, there wasn't any luck in finding him there.

Sakaki knew that Rono wouldn't leave his friends behind for his needs. The least expected place he would be on is the babies floor. On the men's floor they did the same. It wasn't long to find him, the girls looked in the clothing area and found him carrying something in his hands. That item in his hand are baby clothes for girls.

"Rono what are you doing?" Kaorin asked.

"Oh, I was just...thinking."

"No I meant why are you holding that in your hands?"

"Oh that."

It took him a moment to tell them the reason as of why he had the pair of baby clothes in his hands.

"I've always wanted a little sibling. I always felt lonely at the house, never had anyone to talk to except my parents. My whole life was a quiet one, I've been always alone by myself. If I think back to my middle school life, I don't even know how I got through middle school. Somehow I got along with other people without even trying to. It's as if they saw me as an idol, I'm no idol. Even with some of the school delinquents they got along with me too, of course I didn't talk to many but when it came to P.e, they would invite me to be on their own teams. By the end of middle school, it never occurred to me to have any friends. That's why I was always the lone wolf of the school. I always ate my lunch by myself, work on the projects myself and everything else."

After the long response, Kaorin and Sakaki now felt bad for what he went through in his lifetime. All the support he had were from both of his parents, nobody else.

"I'm...sorry." Sakaki said.

"It okay, that was all in the past. Besides, you all gave me the light of day. I never knew I would ever meet such nice people, in the process it was unpredictable that I would be able to make friends!"

He goes up to both of them and thanks them.

"Thank you so for all you both did to me."

"What did I do?" Kaorin asked again.

"You came to hang out with us, it may not seem that important to you, but to me...it really meant a lot."

"Really. Then you're welcome."

"Glad that I could help you too." Sakaki said.

"Now that that's off my chest, where do we go now?"

After the sad story Rono told them, it was decided to let him choose this time.

"Anywhere you want." Sakaki said.

"Alright, how about." He looks around to find the nearest book shop.

"That book shop, it'll just be quick I promise." He said as he pressed both of his hands together.

During the little trip to the book store, the tall boy bought the book he's been wanting ever since the last visit to the library. The reason why it was never bought by him was because of Yomi and Tomo's argument. When a fight or an argument occurs, he does what ever he can to stop it once and for all. He did just that when it was during his middle school life.

They walk down the hallways on the first floor of the massive mall. Rono looks around while walking, Sakaki looking at the stuffed animal stores and Kaorin constantly looking over at Sakaki while blushing. As they walk past by a photo booth, it gave Rono an idea.

"Hey guys, want to take a photo from the photo booth over there?"

"I-I don't know about that." Sakaki answered.

"Come on, it'll be fun."

He looks over at Kaorin who is looking at Sakaki and says her name causing her to snap out of her own world.

"What about you Kaorin?"

"I don't know."

"Okay I'll do it." Sakaki said.

"I'll do it too!" Kaorin exclaimed.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Rono exclaimed.

The three friends get inside the photo booth and look at the options shown on the screen. There were three options, one for friends, one for fun and last for couples. The third option made the two girls blush, Rono just pressed the button which he chose for the friends option.

"Please choose the type of outline for your photos." The announcer for the photo booth said.

Rono navigates through the different outlines that offers them. None of them seemed to catch their eye except for the last one. There was a kitten photo outline!

"I kind of like this one, what do you both think?" Rono asked the two.

"It's so cute." Kaorin commented.

"Sure." Sakaki said when blushing.

Thus, Rono, Sakaki and Kaorin chose the kitten photo outline for the pictures.

"Smile for your picture, 5...4...3...2...1...smile!" The photo booth announcer said.

It snaps four photos, each photo is different. The first one had Rono with Sakaki, second had Rono and Kaorin, third had Sakaki and Kaorin. On the first photo, Sakaki is found blushing once again not only because of the kitten photo outline, but the fact that she's with Rono in a very close distance; Rono hugs her with one arm as he smiles. In the third photo you could see Kaorin blushing a slight shade of pink on her cheeks as well. Finally on the fourth and last one had the three sharing a picture, Rono holds up a peace sign as he smiles at the camera and Sakaki and Kaorin are found blushing again but smile anyways.

The three leave the photo booth and check out the photos that came out of the slot. The girls look at the photos with themselves and get embarrassed.

"You two look good in the photos." He said.

"Oh no you look good in your photo, I'm no good." Both of the girls said with a blush.

They all start to walk around the mall again while having a friendly conversation about the new stuffed animal store opening up next week. All of a sudden Rono's stomach growls in hunger, it is heard by the girls.

"I guess it's time for us to eat isn't it?"

"Yes it is." Sakaki answered.

As they pass by a nearby food stand, there stood a hunger causing aroma that invaded the air around the stand. It is a mix of pastry and meat, it is no doubt that it is indeed meat buns.

"That smells so delicious!" Kaorin said.

"It decided, we eat here, my treat."

"Oh no you don't have to Rono."

"It's alright, I am the one who suggested us to come to the mall in the first place. Don't worry, take it as a token of my appreciation for you two for spending time with me."

The girls order their own meat buns to the cashier. Surprisingly, they all got pork meat buns. Very delicious for a person on a hurry, but since they weren't, it got ordered with the six pack of meat bun combo. As the the meat buns were finished, it was now about time to leave the mall. Out of nowhere, they were stopped.

"Wait." Rono said.

"What is it?" Kaorin asked.

"Can we please go to one more place, it's a place where I've been really wanting to go for a long time."

"Sure, I have to leave before 9pm though."

"Don't worry it won't take an hour, I promise."

He leads them to the place where he wanted to go to for a long time. It wasn't far but it was five minutes away from the mall. Now they made it, that place was a café. It wasn't any ordinary cafe but a cat café. Rono was extremely excited for this, as for Sakaki she blushes when she starts to imagine all the cats around her. It's been so long since Rono had pet a cat. The number one thing he likes the most are cats and kittens after all.

"Let's go inside." He said.

As they entered the building, the first thing they had to do is check with the cashier.

"Welcome to the cat café, how many people will it be?"

"Three people."

"Alright, that will be ¥1,500 please."

He pays for the girls once again without them noticing.

"Thank you." She puts the money in the cash register.

"Make sure to put in your shoes in the shelves and get the uwabakis from the basket please."

They go through the small hallway, there is a red line on the floor with black letters saying 'don't go beyond this point with your own shoes'. Next to the line is the basket full of the café's shoes. They take off their shoes and put it in the shelves beside them, then they put on the uwabakis and walk through the hallway which leads to the actual café.

"Wow! So many cats!" Rono exclaimed.

There are two sides for the café, one is the area where you can serve your own coffee, the other is where you can feed the cats when it's time or you can play with the cats.

"Let us go get some coffee first, then we'll play with the cats."

The three get the coffee from the counter along with some pastries.

"Come here little kitty." Rono said in a joyful tone.

Kaorin plays with one of the cats with enjoyment. However it isn't easy for Sakaki, every time she tries to get close to one of the cats, they run away in fear. It is not known why, could it be of her tall physical appearance? As Rono saw one of the cats run away from Sakaki, he decides to do something to make things better.

"Here."

He holds the cat in his arms to Sakaki.

"What if it bites me?"

"It's alright, I'll make sure that doesn't happen."

The strangest thing of all, is that when he's about to pass the cat to Sakaki, the cat starts trembling. The reason for the running cats is now known because how tall Sakaki is. The cat thinks that's she's about to harm her.

As Rono felt the trembling of the cat, he calms it down by shaking it a little just like you would do to a baby. As Sakaki drew her hand closer to the cat, the cat was now beyond scared. It all soon changes as she puts her hand on the cat's head, she rubs it softly. At this point, the cat starts to purr and all that fear has slipped away. The cat now trusts Sakaki and treats her like any other person.

"See you don't have nothing to worry about." He said to the cat.

Out of nowhere, the cat jumps out of his arms and into Sakaki's arms. Sakaki had the idea that if she wanted to pet a cat, Rono has to be there with her in order to calm the cats.

For the rest of the day, all went as planned out. Rono enjoyed it a lot, as for Sakaki she enjoyed all of it fully. When 8pm has struck the clock, it was now time to go. Sakaki pets the last cat and all of her friends leave the building with her.

"Hopefully we'll go there again next time, but this time with our friends."

"Yeah, someday." Sakaki said as she looked at the café one last time.

The three friends walk back to their homes but decide to do something quicker.

"Guys why don't we go through the shortcut." Rono suggested.

"What shortcut?" Kaorin asked.

"It's the shortcut through the park. Chiyo told me about it."

"Seems fine with me."

As decided, they walk through the shortcut through the park. The shortcut had wooden fences along the walkway. The ground was just natural dirt of the park, what surrounded them were many Cherry blossoms. When out of the trail, they end up in a grass field with a beautiful scenery I'm front.

"Now isn't that a nice view of of the sunset?" Kaorin said.

"It sure is." Sakaki said.

They leave the park and walk along the street that leads to each of their homes. Kaorin had to split up from them because she lived somewhere different than the other two. All who's left are Sakaki and Rono, obviously. Walking through the street just took a few minutes.

"Sakaki."

"Hmm?"

"Want me to walk you home?"

"If you want."

"Sure."

Both walk to Sakaki's house quietly, not a single conversation developed between. It was kind of awkward considering they were both friends since childhood. Except that Rono doesn't know it yet. At last they made it to her house safe and sound. Sakaki stops in front of the house.

"Rono." She broke the silence.

"Yes?"

"Thank you for all the things you did for me today."

"You're welcome, it's what friends do, right?"

"I guess so."

"Hey, what do you want to do tomorrow?"

"I don't know where we could hang out."

"How about your house? I bet there's a lot of fun things to do there."

"Okay, but I need to ask my mother first before that happens. Wait here."

"Okay."

She gets inside her house to the kitchen to ask her mom the question.

"I'm home."

"Hey sweetie, how's your day?"

"Good...I need to ask you something."

"Sure what is it?"

"Is it okay if Rono can visit us tomorrow?"

"Sure as long as you're okay with it. Is he outside?"

"Yes."

"Tell him to come in the kitchen to have dinner with us, your dad won't be coming back until midnight."

"Oh, how come?"

"Recently on the news, there was a homicide at Yokohama. The body was found five day later when it happened. Your dad has to wait for the body to be delivered to him, that way he can investigate how the victim got killed."

"How does father do it, how can he handle the horrific sight of a decomposing corpse?"

"He's brave, he knows when he should be afraid. After all he was a fan of the horror genre when he was in high school."

"I'll let Rono come in."

First thing she tells Rono is the confirmation that he indeed is able to hang out at her place. She then tells him to come inside to eat dinner, he accepts and comes inside the house to eat a delicious dinner with her and her mom.