[Ar.2] {C.4}
It was bright morning of Saturday for Rono. Up and awake for a new day. Something bothered him since the night before. Kanaye barely made any progress on getting closer to Tomo, he would always shy away. Even if he planned on asking something simple. Which tired Rono and bothered him that he could barely help Kanaye on his troubles. He cares for his friends very dearly, that he's willing to help them on everything including relationship problems.
Rono was on his bed, still in his pajamas with his phone by his ear. He had the need to talk with his parents, just to hear their voice again. It's been almost an entire month since he first moved to Japan. Things went smoothly after getting used to the environment, differentiating from the environment from the United States in California. It was mostly hot throughout the entire year, even if it was autumn, sometimes it would be hot as a oven. The seasons were way different from Japan as well.
"How are things in Japan so far?" Asked Rono's mother, Aiya.
"Great, thanks to both of you." Rono responded.
"Something makes me think that the reason you wanted to move back was to live under your own roof, so you don't have to follow our rules, wasn't it?" Aiya asked.
"No mom! Nothing of a sort! I just felt like spending the rest of my life here, in my home town. That's all." Rono said.
"If you say so. How's school?" She asked the second question.
"Just right, although the English classes here are easy. Now that I speak both Japanese and English. However comparing the English lessons from here to America, they're both way different." Rono informed.
"I'm impressed. You've come a long way Rono, I'm proud of you. Maybe when you get back, you can teach me a bit more English. I still don't feel confident with my English, especially with my accent." Aiya said.
"Sure, I'll be sure to remember."
"How's Sakaki?" She asked.
"Sick." Rono said bluntly.
"What?" Aiya said in disbelief.
"She started feeling ill ever since yesterday. When I was about to go to sleep, she texted me the night before that she had a fever." Rono said.
"That's horrible." Aiya commented.
"I know. I'm planning on visiting her after breakfast. I'm worried to be honest, even though it's just a fever, I'm still worried." Rono said in a concerned tone.
"Well the two of you were always so close to each other ever since little kids, so that's to be expected." Aiya said.
"I guess so. How's dad?" Rono asked.
"Your father's working hard as always." Aiya said.
"Any chance that he got injured during work?"
"Do not worry, still healthy as an ox." Aiya smiled through the phone while thinking of her husband.
"Good to hear, I think I'll have to hang up, mom. I need to see if Sakaki's doing well or not. I'll talk to you soon!" Rono said.
"Bye honey." Aiya said.
"Bye mom." Rono hangs the phone up.
He gets himself ready by putting on his clean clothes, combing his hair, and brushing his teeth. Next, he goes to his kitchen to cook up his first meal of the day. But before he opened up the fridge, Neko-san appeared out of the hallway. Surprising him as she mewed.
"Neko, you're awake!" Rono picked her up and placed her in the cat bed located by the table.
Usually every night, she would sleep by the kitchen where the cat bed was. However, last night she decided that it would be best that she slept on top of the bed where Rono was sleeping. It was the middle of the night when he took notice. He shrugged it off, patted the cat and went back to sleep.
The moment when Neko-san was placed on the cat bed, she walked away and went into Rono's room. She hopped on his bed and curled herself, now falling asleep.
"You sure like sleeping in my bed don't you? I'll leave the food in your tray, in case if you're hungry. I have to leave after I eat breakfast, I need to check on Sakaki due to her illness." He said, informing the cat who was sleeping.
Rono prepared his meal by cooking himself fried eggs, white rice, three sliced sausages, and freshly squeezed lemonade, containing a good source of vitamin C. He doubled the serving size so he could serve himself and give a serving for the ill Sakaki. When finished with his first meal of the day, he left cat food on Neko-san's tray, packed up the food for Sakaki along with the lemonade, and left his apartment to visit Sakaki.
"Achoo!" Sakaki sneezed.
"Bless you Sakaki." Sakaki's mother, Ayano, said.
"Thank you." Sakaki said, grabbing a clean tissue to blow her nose in.
"Tell me, how did you get sick in the first place?" Ayano asked.
"I don't know! All I did was walk home from school with Rono and it just happened!" Sakaki replied, but started coughing after she finished.
"Honestly, you should take care of yourself more. No matter the situation! It should be time for you to eat breakfast now. I'll go downstairs to cook something up for you." Ayano stood up, walking out of the room.
"Thank you." Sakaki said, before taking a nap once again.
Just as things seem to be going well, there was a problem. When Ayano checked the refrigerator, there was barely any food to cook with.
"Oh great, now I have to go to the grocery store." Ayano said.
The doorbell suddenly rang.
"Who could that be? Yuudai?" She said.
She walks to the intercom, presses the button and starts speaking.
"Who is it?"
"Rono Takayama here!" Rono said in his usual cheerful voice.
"Rono! Come right in!" Ayano said, walking out of the front door and opening the gate.
"What are you doing here?" Ayano asked.
"I'm here to check on Sakaki, I also cooked up some food for her."
"You did? You're a lifesaver! I was originally going to cook Sakaki breakfast today but I checked the fridge and barely found out that we had to buy more food!" Ayano said.
"I'm glad to help then! Is Sakaki up in her room?" Rono asked.
"Yup, she's asleep by now. Wear a cough mask before you enter. Do me a favor and watch out for Sakaki while I'm gone at the grocery store alright?" Ayano asked.
"I will!"
"Great, I'll be back shortly." Ayano said before she closed the door. She leaves the building, leaving Rono and Sakaki alone.
By approaching the door where Sakaki was behind, he remembered to put on a cough mask. So he wouldn't catch Sakaki's illness. Rono slowly opened the door to prevent the noise from waking her up. Upon entering, he closed the door slowly and sat down on Sakaki's desk. His eyes focused on his dear friend, who was still in her sleep.
I hope she's sleeping well. He thought, before looking through Sakaki's cat magazines.
In Sakaki's dream...↓
At the start of the dream, she appeared at a park. It looked like it was at least five in the afternoon, judging of how the sun was close to setting to later turn into dusk. There was something strange about her surroundings. Nobody except for one person was there with her. It was a boy who sat on one of the swings, only him. He was playing alone, looking down towards the ground, wondering what he would do next. To Sakaki, he looked very familiar. She walks closer to the little boy, it was then when she realized that the little boy was actually Rono in his child form!
Rono! Sakaki thought.
Due to her generosity, she sat at the swing beside him. So she could give Rono some company.
"You having fun there?" Sakaki asked to the little Rono.
"No. I have no one to play with." He said in a glum expression.
I can see that, it's strange that there are no kids around. Before we met as little kids, he would always play by himself. One of his traits that I found of him was the fact that he would not communicate with other kids socially, from what I saw. Sakaki thought.
The small boy continued looking down at the sand that he hovered over with the swings. The only time he would talk to kids his age was when they ask him if he was going to get off the swing any time soon. As always, he would say that he was still using it. If there were kids using the swings before him, he would play by himself, trying to avoid the others.
Sakaki thought that it would be best if the younger version of Rono would have fun at least once. She was once placed in a similar situtation like his, knowing how he felt, she didn't want Rono to have the inability to talking with others.
"I sure would use some company by the sand box!" Sakaki said, catching Rono's attention.
"If only there were someone here who could play with me!"
Rono fidgeted, trying to urge of talking.
"It could be anyone!" She said.
Sakaki could obviously notice Rono trying to resist of keeping his answer. His body started shaking between the swings he was on. Sakaki had no choice, but to take matters to her own hands. She stands in front of the little boy and squats down, which soon caught his attention once again.
"Excuse me, would you like to play with me for a little while?" Sakaki asked politely.
Rono couldn't help but to not deny her request, especially after his mother told him to always be polite to girls and to adults.
"O-Okay." He simply said.
"Great, come with me." She said, grabbing his hand.
She leads him to the sand box and let's go his hand when the two stepped in.
"Now, shall we start building a sand castle?" Asked Sakaki.
Rono nods and starts building the castle along with Sakaki at his side. With the bucket for sand castles, he fills it up with sand and places it upside down to form the shape. For the first time, a smile finally formed on his face. Sakaki smiled at the sight and petted Rono's head, causing him to blush.
I always wondered, what exactly happened when he was over at America? She thought.
As soon as she stepped out of the sand box. She instantly woke up, constantly gasping for air.
Dream ends...↑
"Sakaki!" Rono yelled before he approached her.
"Rono! What are you doing here?" She said.
"I came here to visit. More importantly, are you all right?" He asked in a worried state.
"I'm fine, I just didn't expect I would wake up when I stepped out of the sandbox." She said, massaging the side of her head.
"Sandbox?" Rono questioned.
"Um, forget what I said." Sakaki returned nervously, with a blush of embarrassment on her cheeks.
"Right. Your mother went out for some errands, so she left me in charge of you. I brought food for you!" He smiled when he took the two bentos, and container with lemonade out of his bag.
"How nice of you, thank you." Sakaki simply replied.
He opens up the bento and places it on her lap where the sheets cover her long feminine legs.
"I made fried eggs and lemonade for you as well." He added.
"You remembered that I liked fried eggs!" Sakaki said.
"Duh, why wouldn't I?" He said, taking out a fried egg from the bento with his spare chopsticks and offering it to Sakaki.
"Open wide, say 'Ah~.'" He asked, which embarrassed Sakaki, who then obeyed.
"Ah~." Sakaki opened her mouth, then Rono placed the fried egg in there, ending it up on being eaten.
"Did you make this yourself?" She asked.
"Correct."
"It's delicious!" She complimented.
"Thank you! Now, time for you to eat the rest." Rono said.
"What about you? Haven't you eaten yet?" Sakaki asked.
"I already have, everything here is for you. Enjoy it while it's hot!" Rono smiled.
Sakaki nods and proceeds to eat the home cooked food. It was then in the middle of eating, Sakaki questioned him.
"Rono, you mind if I ask you something?"
"I don't mind, go ahead." He said.
"How were things for you in America? How did you learn the language? How is America different from here?" Asked the curious Sakaki.
"Things for me, I wasn't great when it came to talking to other people. When I first made it to America, I didn't know how to speak English. So the school I attended to got me into a program for foreigners, for people who didn't know how to speak English. Luckily, I was able to learn the language rather quickly. Took only three years, to be specific on the time."
"Was it that easy for you to learn the language?" Sakaki asked.
"Believe me, it wasn't easy. I had to learn the vocabulary, the grammar, and the pronunciation especially! I'm just glad that I was able to pull it off. It was only on my second year of middle school that I finally felt confident with my English."
"But at least you learned a new language in the end." Sakaki said.
"I guess you can say that. Now...differences, huh? The cultures from America and Japan are quite different actually. You don't have entrance exams when you move from elementary to middle school. After we finish lunch, you can either play basketball or soccer before the bell rings. Most schools are indoor, while some are separated into different buildings. One of the cafeteria, a building with classrooms of any subject. If you lived far away from the school, there were school buses that would pick you up from your house and drop you off at school. Lastly, every school has an A/C and heater."
"Lucky! They get to take off their jackets in class during the winter!" Sakaki said.
"Yeah, but I kind of like Japan's school system better. It just sticks to me."
"Understandable." Sakaki said.
All of Sakaki's questions were answered. Now it was Rono's turn to ask the questions.
"Now that you have the answers, you'll have to answer my set of questions. What happened to you when I was gone? How was school for you?" He asked.
"Don't laugh when I answer the first. I-I" She paused before she could answer.
"Cried when you left. You were the one and only friend I had, with the fragile heart I had back then, it was expected. I don't know if you know this or not but, before we became friends, I was bullied because I scared kids that were below my size and I was always alone. After you left, they continued, it was then when I stopped going to the park. School was the same for me before we met, I would always eat by myself, rarely talked to people, and avoided collaborations. It wasn't really anything special, really."
"Sakaki..." Rono paused, he suddenly lunges towards Sakaki, only wrapping his arms around her, ignoring the fact she was sick.
"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that I left you behind, this time I'll keep the promise. I'll never leave you again. From now on, I'll always be by your side! Remember that!" He said while hugging Sakaki tightly.
She smiles as tears of joy drips down her cheeks.
"Thanks, I'll remember." Sakaki said, who returned the hug from her childhood friend.
