"Restaurant, Clock Hotel, tomorrow." I read the text out loud while showing my screen to Roxanne. The message I have received only comprises three words with no emojis or markings. It looked dull at first, but now I have realised that someone is behind this mail, maybe a scam or something we know.
I assume that the email comes from Nickson, but he sends his messages like a grade school boy who just receives his phone and tries it for the first time. There is also a possibility that the person who has sent this message is a relative of his. They might refuse to disclose their name, considering that they send a message to the person they do not know.
"What kind of secret organisation did you sign up for, Yuki?" Roxanne snatches my phone away from my grip and attempts to search for the mysterious contact number through the internet. The sender seems to have prepared any precaution as we find out that the profile is temporarily inaccessible to the public.
"If there is such an organisation, then you would be dead on the ground," A defiling grin etches on my face as I grab my cellular phone away from her. Roxanne rolls back and hides upon witnessing such a sinister sneer from me.
"Do not mess with my phone, got that?" As I say the line, Roxanne backs out from her seat and gives me a weak nod, still afraid of me.
"I guess we already have our plans straight for tomorrow," Roxanne reverts to her usual self and resumes to the topic, giving me a wink. I return her gesture and blink one side of my eye, trying to follow the flow of the stream.
We have nothing to do other than wait for the next day to come by, so we continue distributing the tasks and sign our documents inside the student council room before going home.
Once we have arrived, the two of us do our habitual routine like writing my chapters, watching movies (for references), play games, and pass the time by chit-chatting with one another. We try planning the event that is about to come for the next day, but we have never concluded.
The following day comes crashing through my window, waking me up in an unruly fashion. I can hear the chirping of birds near the nest and not the roosters waking me up. All the automobiles roaring from the streets accompany the sound, making it even worse to my head.
"Screw you, morning people!" I throw an alarm clock through the window by instinct, and only I have realised it once it crashes on something, probably someone passing by the road.
As soon as my clock hits someone, that person soon screams in pain, sharing his agony with the neighbours.
"Yabai! I didn't mean to hit you..." My voice trails off in the distance, with my face forcing out a faint smile. (Yabai is a Japanese slang word to describe something positive or negative)
Who knew that my toss would hit someone just now? I would never do such a cruel thing to the Japanese!
I bolt outside and meet with the man, gritting his teeth and groaning in pain. His hands are palpating the bump on his head because of the impact of the alarm clock. Fortunately, the wandering man is fine for now, but the alarm clock is not. I can only grieve at my gadget lying around on the street, with its spring loosen and screws cluster.
"I am really sorry for hitting you." I express my gratitude and bow at the bloke.
A familiar face flashes inside my mind as soon as I lock my eyes to the bloke. It almost looks like the man resembles someone else, but with ragged clothing and a beard that has never shaved throughout his life. His clothes appear old, yet his skin is still white as snow.
The man stares at me with narrowing orbs, scrutinising my every move. He then trudges forward and bows as if begging for forgiveness.
"No. I should be the one to say sorry to you," The peculiar guy beckons his hand with a beam, telling me there is nothing to worry about despite his reddish bump visible on his head.
He is a man of focus, commitment, and sheer will since I have never seen him flinch during our conversation. The guy just grips his hands tight and transfers all of his agonies through his arm while meeting me in the eye.
"Are you sure you're alright?" I lean closer and gently touch the hill on his head.
The man attempts to jolt back at first. But upon seeing my worrying face, he offers his head for me to touch. After a few seconds, I ask him to wait for me and race my way towards the fridge for an ice pack to mend his wounds. I gingerly lay the container right above his hair and let the cold do its magic.
"Thank you." The lad turns his face to me and gives me a slight nod. I return his favour and incline my head, showing him it is part of my job to tend his wounds.
The ice cube soon melts on the bag and drenches the man. But he takes no notice of this event and continues to thank me while going off on his way.
But before he passes towards the street, he glances around for the last time and shouts, "Can you come to the restaurant at the Clock Hotel later?"
If this is where he works, then I would gladly take him up from his offer. I give him my thumb, raising high. Luckily, the address of the diner feels strangely familiar to me. It almost feels that I have heard it somewhere from before.
And then the thought hits me. The place that the man has said comes from the text message. It also says that we need to visit the restaurant inside the Clock hotel later this afternoon. Nobody knows why the two of us, Roxanne and I, should go there. But you know what they say, risk lights up our way!
I take my phone in a panic and call Roxanne while scurrying with my two feet towards my school. The traffic lights are not helping me get past the streets, and I am already running out of time to arrive at my class on time.
The face of my best friend eventually appears from my screen as soon as she answers the call.
"Yuki, you better be calling about something important or else I will smack these papers of mine to your lovely face," Roxanne scowls through the phone while she answers the queries of the surrounding students.
"I would not talk to you in the first place if I am just going to say hi," I retort to her statement, knowing that we are all busy with our work as officers of the student council. If we ever have the time to fool around, we would do that inside our abode.
"What is this about, then?" The crowd coming from Roxanne seems to feel rowdier than ever before, knowing that their first class has ended.
"I think I found our first lead, private," I mimic the voice coming from soldiers (not really. Peace to all the cool soldiers out there) and act as if we are on an impossible mission to catch a bad guy roaming around the streets.
Despite me not knowing her facial expression, Roxanne bends and shakes her head from up to down as she goes to the flow of the conversation.
"What did you find, sergeant?" Her voice has turned into a masculine man.
Putting her sound into a more descriptive sentence, I hear a bass oboe tuning in my ears as I answer his question.
"I met a man just now, and he invited me to his restaurant, over." We are now talking like the people who have their walkie-talkies with them. It feels even more amusing as the people I pass over have their optics glaring at me with worry.
"That is wonderful news, over. The man you saw must be our target, over!" I can make out her voice puffing out for air as she zooms towards a room. Having a guess, Roxanne enters the student council room, thinking that she will meet me there. "Oh, I thought you are already here. Where the heck are you, Yuki, over."
"That is one of my problems, over. I am late and currently careering my way towards our school, over." The madness never stops until I land my two feet on the grass in front of the entrance. The guard, who tilts his head in confusion, permits me to enter the schoolyards.
"Have you forgotten that we need to show up inside the office by nine?" After her words, silence fills the call, following the beeping, annoying sounds.
Later, at that exact time, I sprint the doors open and pant my way onward to my desk.
"All that running, yet I am still late!"