Honoka and Maki walked side by side back to Maki's house. The rays of the sun filtered throughout the park. The spring flowers were in full 's eyes went to the leaf branch of a neem tree which was swaying due to the wind. Her thoughts went back on what happened 30 minutes ago, when her dad said to make the decision, she was too shocked to respond anything so Maki came inside suddenly surprising her dad and aunt and took Honoka away, she figured a few minutes alone to herself is what the doctor ordered, but now Honoka seemed to remain in silence forever so she had to do something.

"So," she started trying to make a conversation.

"So?" Honoka asked urging Maki to continue what she was going to say. Maki wanted to lighten the mood so she decided it was not best to bring in the previous topic

"Say something else, something funny, you dont want her to become tensed again, something funny-" went on in her mind.

" What will you do now Honoka-chan?" she blutered out, before she could stop herself, she cursed herself "i'm such an idiot, now what,"

"Well, sorry forget-"

"It's okay," Honoka said with a forced smile, "I can't escape the truth," her smile soon vanished.

"What do you think i should do?" Maki stopped walking and looked at her

"You must decide that yourself, it's your life."

"Yeah, but-"

"Just like your father said we'll respect any decision you take," Maki said.

'uh, if you say it with that face," Honoka started looking at her ,tears had formed in Maki's eyes she turned away from Honoka to rub them.

"It looks like something got into my eyes," Maki said trying to laugh it off but ended up hiccuping instead.

"i can't be weak in front of Honoka she needs to make a proper decision, but why are'nt the tears stopping,"

Honoka hugged her "It's okay Maki-chan you're right it's my life, i must make a decision, it's just that," she buried her face in Maki's shoulder "i don't want to go away from you, you were my first friend,"

Maki gently stroked her hair "Me too, i don'nt want you to go, after all you were my first friend too," Honoka looked at her in confusion

"But, i thought you already had a lot of friends, i did see many girls coming to your house," It was true many girls used to come to Maki's house, they used to play together whenever they come over,

"Yeah, but that was after i met you," Maki said going and sitting under the cherry tree ,wordlesly Honoka sat next to her.

"Before meeting you i did not have any friends," Honoka looked at her in surprise, but Maki's eyes remained on a patch of flowers growing nearby.

"You see, since i'm in a rich family i was taught to behave that way, dad always said to maintain my standard, pretend as if we were from some royal family, because our family had a name in the society and mama and papa wanted to maintain it, so i tried to be that way,but maybe i tried too hard," Maki's eyes wandered off to the cloudless sky, Honoka was listening to her intently.

"I liked flowers you see since they always seemed so peaceful, once you pluck them it's life ends, i used to pass by your aunt's house everyday after school, i did'nt go inside though, since there was no reason to, once it was my mom's birthday and i wanted to give her some flowers, so i stood outside the shop, before i could go in

*flashback*

"Welcome, welcome ,"Honoka's aunt greated her when she came in "so, how may i help you,"

"I would like to buy a bouquet for my mom, but i'm not sure which flower she likes"'

"Hmm," Honoka's aunt said thoughtfully "could you tell me what else does she like?"

"uh, she likes music, tea and she's very peaceful person," Maki frowned she really did'nt know her mother all that well but why she was asking this information was beyond her, she saw as the older lady , placed a beautiful bouquet of colourfull flowers on the table in front of her with a smile.

"I think your mom will like these flowers,"

"Really?" she asked

"Yup, i'm positive she'll like them.

*end flashback*

"You see that day, my mom told me she liked the flowers a lot, so i was impressed by how your aunt gave the correct flowers even though i didnt't say much details about my mom, so i visited your aunt's shop everyday, not like i wanted flowers everyday but because she told me i could, i did see you sometimes but you always were in a bad mood, so i did'nt try to talk to you, one day your aunt said she wanted me to meet someone and the next day she introduced me to you and you know the rest,"

Honoka who kept quiet the whole time asked "and you got more friends after meeting me,"

Maki nodded.

"But how?" Honoka asked in confusion "I really did'nt speak to you much,"

"A little help from your aunt but mostly because of you, trying to cheer you up i new how having a real friend felt like, so i started speaking more and gradually made friends,"

Honoka smiled "Aunt knows how to speak to people and she knows all the qualities of flowers so i guess based on them she gave you those flowers,"

Honoka frowned quickly " I guess everyone has thier own share of problems huh?"

Before Maki could answer a loud cry got thier attention.

"What, who's that?" Maki asked.

"I dunno, come let's find out," Honoka said, both of them got up and looked around the garden and after some time they came near a bush, because the voice was the loudest there, they went around the bush to find a small girl crying.

"What happened, why are you crying?" Honoka asked bending down in front of her, she looked up at Honoka, her pink eyes full of tears, her hair was all messed up.

"I can't find mommy and daddy," she said and cried even more

"Now, now it's okay don't cry," Maki said trying to calm her got up and extended her hand to her

"Come on let's go look for her together," The girl hesitated before grabbing the took some time to fix her hair properly.

"So, what's your name,?" Maki enquired

"Joy, Joy Amina," she replied.

"Ok, Joy when did you get lost from your parents,"

"Mommy and daddy took me shopping, while they were shopping i went to see the teddy bears displayed in the toys section, when i came back they were gone, i thought they came to the park as we were talking about coming here after shopping but, now i can't find them she said rubbing the tears from her eyes,

"Come on cheer up, you can't find them if you just keep crying," Honoka said

"Show us the place where you went for shopping," Maki added. The girl showed them a huge mall, Honoka and Maki sweatdropped, it was the biggest shopping mall in town they knew finding her parents won't be easy but they reassured her that they'll definitely find them, they did'nt want her to cry again in front of all the people, they might think they were the ones making her cry,. They went inside the mall and looked everywhere, luckily the girl had a picture of her parents in her purse so it was easier for them, they asked everone about her parents but none knew thier whereabouts.

After an hour of searching, they sat down exhausted, finding two people among thousands of other people was not easy not to mention the shopping mall had 8 floors and about 20 different rooms in all floors, and all the rooms are big too having clothes, some having cosmetics, food, gadgets, and many other things and it's always packed with people.

"Where could they be," Maki wondered looking at Honoka who was trying to cheer Joy up with a cotton candy.

"People may we please have your attention," a voice said from a loud speaker, everyone including Honoka and Maki stopped whatever they were doing to listen to it, " A girl has got lost, and her parents are looking for her, so if you find a girl named Joy Amina,please bring her to the first floor at the lost kids section, she looks like -"

Maki and Honoka did'nt hear the rest and rushed to the first floor dragging Joy along with them, they ran al the way from the 5th floor to the first foor bumping with everyone along the way, but they never stopped, and found the mentioned room, they opened the room, the door hit the wall with a loud bang which got the room occupants attention, a women who had tears in het eyes and a worried looking man turned towards them. Joy's eyes lit up

"Mommy, daddy ," she shouted running towards them. Her parents too came to her, her dad lifted her up, while her mom hugged her

"Joy dear where have you been, we were so worried, we looked all around for you," her mother said

"Don't run off like that,"her dad said relieved that his daughter was safe. After a while of the reunion,

"Mommy, they helped me find you," Joy said pointing towards Honoka and and Maki, the said girls who were about to leave, stopped on the mention of thier name.

Her mother smiled grateful at them " Thank you so much umm,

"Honoka, "Maki," she said simultaneously.

"Honoka-chan and Maki-chan," she said completing her sentence.

"We must reward you for your help, so name it what would you like?" her dad asked. They shook thier heads

"No, it's okay, we just wanted to help," they said

Joy's father did not agree "If it was't for you, we would have never found Joy, we can't let you go until we reward you,"

"Yeah", her mother agreed "Come on girls don't be shy just Tell us what would you like," before they could refuse again Joy ran over to them, catching thier hands,

"Come on Honoka-chan, Maki-chan have lunch with us,"

"That's a good idea Joy, atleast let us treat you to lunch," her mother offered, they two realized they were out of options, and they were hungry so,

"Alright, thank you," they agreed. They had lunch at a big restaurant they were allowed to pick thier favourite dishes, or forced to pick in this case. Soon the table was filled with a whole lot of food enough to feed ten people.

"Would you like some dessert after this," the mother asked.

"Ah, no i can't eat anymore," Honoka said

"Me too," Maki added.

"Oh, come on your growing girls, you must eat properly," her dad said.

"Yeah, Honoka-chan!" Joy exclaimed enveloping Honoka in a big hug, which made her almost to fall off the chair but she balanced herself.

"Joy dear , you made Honoka-chan to almost fall off, let her go," her mother scolded, but joy did'nt let go of her.

"Joy-'

"It's okay," Honoka said hugging Joy back

"I love Honoka-chan and Maki-chan," she said , which made them smile.

"Aww, we look you too," Honoka said, Maki nodded smiling.

"Now, don't trouble them too much," her mother took Joy away separating her from Honoka causing Joy to pout .

"See, so much sandwich on your face," her mom signed rubbing them away with a tissues.

"Oh, Joy lovesi Mommy and daddy," she exclaimed.

"That, came out of nowhere,"

"We love you too," they replied, giving her a hug. Honoka quietly observed this.

"Mom, i want that ice cream," another voice could be heard, Honoka turned to see a boy with his mom.

"But, you have cold, now mom dosen't want you to catch cold", his mother reasoned.

"Mom, when will dad come," another voice said ,Honoka saw that side

"Soon, he'll finish his work early today," a girl's mother said taking her hand and going out of the restaurant.

"Dad, i want a become a chef," a boy who was next to thier table said

His mother grinned " Did'nt you say you want to be a pilot yesterday, after going on the aeroplane,"

"Uh, forget that, I'll be a chef," the little boy said, His parents laughed a bit, hearing his quick change of mind.

"Mom and dad huh?" Honoka thought looking at many other families "If only i could be like that,"

"Honoka-chan," Maki looked at the ginger in concern "Are you ok,"

"I'm fine," she said "Come on we should go home, i dom't think i can eat anymore," she said patting het full stomach.

Maki got up too "Yeah me too, " she looked at them "we should be going", she said

"Huh, so soon!" Joy whined.

"You can stay little longer right," her mother a long time they let the girls go, but only after loading them with gifts, toys, clothes and whatnot there was so much stuff that they brought them cycles to carry all of thier protests that it's too much they found themselves sitting on the cycles, it was almost 5:30 pm, so they decided it's late and they should head home.

The golden evening rays shone on the bell of the cycle.

"Bye, Honoka-chan, Maki-chan let's meet again someday and play together," Joy said waving goodbye to them, as her mom and dad stood beside of them knew how that will be next to impossible with Honoka's problems, but they waved back anyway and headed home

Rays of the setting sun surrounded them casting the whole place in orange light, only the golden evening air along with the pedalling noises could be shadows could be seen as they moved along.

"Hey Maki-chan, " Honoka called slowing down a bit causing Maki to slow down as well.

"What is it Honoka-chan ?" she asked, looking at her but Honoka was not looking at, her eyes remained on the sun which was slowly setting behind a mountain in the west.

"I-" she paused "I wanted to go home," she said her voice loosing it's edge "I need to do something,"

Maki watched her as she tried to avoid eye contact with Maki, she sensed something was wrong

"Can i come too?" she asked, without waiting for a reply she peddled in Honoka's aunt's house direction. Both of them were silent, on thier way back they slowed down when they reached the place. Honoka got off the cycle and headed to the house looking very determined, Maki did'nt ask why, she had a feeling that she already knew the reason.

Honoka walked upto her aunt's house and opened the door without ringing the bell, she knew it was open still 7 in the evening. The sudden action alerted the house members, her aunt, dad and grandmother came in front of didn't say a word until she came forward her hand on her chest, taking a deep breath she stared at her father.

"I have made my decision," she said. Thier eyes widened, thier full attention on her now, Maki stood near the entrance the sun setting behind her, her shadow cast over her eyes and she looked down as Honoka uttered the next few words.

"I'm coming with you to Tokyo,"

So that's the end of this chapter, yeah i know i didn't abandon this story it's my first story and i of course plan on completing it, i had tests the whole week and we'll be having continuous tests the next three weeks.

So, about mysterious surpriser sorry about not updating it but the next chapter will take a while,

i just realized how much i missed this story so that's why i wanted to update this.

I hope you liked this chapter until next time and don't forget to review.