The center of the city was always busy, even during the office and school hours. It became busier after school, but it was mainly towards the late afternoon and in the evening that the streets became the most crowded.
I followed the two young men quietly from behind as we walked through the busy streets of the city, studying the two of them closely.
Shunsui Shigeizumi and Gōjun Shoran seemed very close to each other, and it was apparent that they shared a strong bond.
This caused me to ask them, timidly, out of curiosity, 'Ne! Ne! How long has it been since you're friends?'
They both paused down to look around at me, and it was the reddish-brown-haired young man who replied, 'Since elementary school.' Cupping his chin and looking upward, then, he added, 'We were around seven or eight, right?'
The other male answered with a nod.
For so long?!
I guess that there's even more depth to their friendship than I initially believed!
It brought a small smile to my lips.
I would never have thought that such a friendship could exist. I had never known this.
'But we're not just friends!' the reddish-brown-haired young man informed me, cheerily, sending his arm around Gōjun's neck and pulling him closer. 'We are like brothers! Or even better! To tell you the truth, Gōjun is the guy that I love the most in this world!'
He rubbed his cheek affectionately against the latter's face as he said this, and my mouth hung open at this action of his.
Gōjun's expression had scrunched up, and he looked away, though he didn't try to push the reddish-brown-haired young man's face away to stop the friction.
'Stop this, will you?!' he muttered. 'She's gonna think we're a couple!'
Pulling away, Shunsui asked him with a teasing smile, 'Aren't we?'
Gōjun grumbled something under his breath, while the other male giggled to himself.
We continued to walk for another few minutes, until we came across of a dessert shop and Shunsui exclaimed, 'Ah! I have a wild craving for a dessert today! Come with me!'
Gabbing my hand and that of Gōjun, he made a run for the shop, dragging us along with him.
The shop was very crowded. All the tables were occupied and there was a single counter across of the door, with a long queue of at least twenty persons standing in front of it.
'Wah! It's going to take us an eternity to reach the counter!' I said, watching the almost interminable queue, dreadfully.
'Not us,' Shunsui Shigeizumi corrected, and as I looked at his face and that of Gōjun, I cringed away at the look in their eyes.
Their expression was cold, their eyes demoniacal.
They informed me rapidly of what they wanted for dessert, and thrusted some money in my hands with the same haste, before they rushed away to stand by the far corner of the room, leaving me where I was.
I closed my eyes and giggled to myself awkwardly, even if what I really wanted to do was to sob bitterly.
It was only after a considerable length of time that I finally reached the front of the queue. There was only one man ahead of me, and then, it was going to be my turn.
The man, who was in his late twenties and who looked like a foreigner to me given his accent, asked for a chocolate brownie, and the woman behind the counter put one in a plastic container and placed it in front of him.
I noticed that she didn't put it in a paper bag unlike with her other customers, and her movements appeared brusquer that earlier.
As the man handed to her a note, unexpectedly, she put a hand up at him, telling him in a loud, harsh tone, 'We don't have changes for this sum! You're going to have to go get changes, and stand at the end of the queue again!'
Her expression was scornful, and she picked the dessert box up to put it away immediately.
The man looked put down, and I felt terrible for him.
He casted a wary look at the long queue that had formed behind us, before he asked the woman if he could simply collect the dessert directly at the counter after having changed his note.
The woman responded with an outright and spiteful "no".
Smiling uneasily, he turned away to leave.
Without thinking, I sent out my hand to grab the sleeve of his shirt, tugging at it once.
This caused him to stop and look around at me.
'Wait!' I told him, softly.
I didn't have enough money to change his note, but there was something else that I could do. Taking out a note from my purse, I turned to the woman and asked her politely for a brownie, slipping the note up the counter.
She fixated the man and I with disdain for half a minute, before she picked up the money note, reached out for the container she had just put away a minute ago to hand it out to me.
Turning back to the man, I held it out to him.
He took it, hesitantly, his eyes filled with surprise.
'Your money...' he said, making a gesture at me with the note in his hand. 'I can't repay you immediately. I have to-'
'It's okay,' I told him, in a reassuring tone. 'It's on me!'
'Are you sure?'
I nodded, and he smiled, said thanks, and walked away.
'This is why the poor will always remain poor!' came Gōjun Shoran voice in all of sudden, his mouth close to my ear.
My head snapped around at him on the spot.
I had not seen him draw up to me.
He was standing right next to me, and had placed one of his arms over my shoulder and leaning forward, his face at the same level as me.
I had not heard Shunsui Shigeizumi approach either.
The latter was holding himself on the other side of me, staring after the foreign man who had gone out of the door.
'They are too generous with their money,' Gōjun stated, and I shrank backward at his comment.
'Hey! You're blocking the queue!' the woman behind the counter grumbled to us at that moment. 'If you don't want anything else...'
Casting a searing glance at her over his shoulder, Shunsui told her, 'No, thank you, we don't want anything else! After what I have just witnessed, I've lost my appetite!'
'The same for me, here!' sustained Gōjun, and they began to usher me towards the door.
I stared at the two males in astonishment.
Surely, I had not expected them to react in any way.
The moment we came outside, a sober-looking old man dressed in a tie and suit came up to us, addressing Shunsui.
'Wakatono,' he said, bowing slightly in formality, 'I've been trying to reach you on your cellphone. You have a rendezvous with Miss Ga-eul in exactly ten minutes.'
'Oh right! I completely forgot!' the reddish-brown-haired young man exclaimed, holding the side of his head. Turning swiftly to us, he said, in a jumble, 'Sorry, guys! Got to go! See you tomorrow!' And even before he had completed his sentence, he was already scooting away with the man.
He jumped into the backseat of the car which was stationed on the side of the street, and in less than two, the old man had drove him away to his rendezvous.
Gōjun Shoran and I were left standing there, and I had the impression that I have just discovered the meaning of the phrase: Gone like the wind.
We turned to face each other, uncertain about what to do next.
I guessed that since Shunsui had said that we'd see each other tomorrow, my hours as a "maid-servant" were over for the day, and I was free to go.
'Well, I'm gone too!' Gōjun stated, digging his hands into the pockets of his trouser, his expression nonchalant.
He had been about to turn around to leave, and I had been about to do the same, but to head in the opposite direction, when, unexpectedly, I felt a small tug on the lower hem of my skirt, and I heard the voice of a child, calling me "Kā-san".
I looked down instantly, and my eyes fell onto a sobbing little boy of around seven-years-old, who had disheveled, light-brown hair.
Having come to a halt, Gōjun uttered, 'Eh?! Girls who come from a poor background are lewder that I thought! You have a child at this age?!'
I jumped backward at his comment, making a few waves of hand in front of my face, and exclaiming, 'Impossible!'
I was only seventeen. To have a child of this age, how old was I when I fell pregnant? It was not humanly possible!
But then, it occurred to me that he needed to be aware of this and that, therefore, he only meant to make a nasty comment!
I almost grimaced in cynicism.
'I'm sorry, missy!' the little boy told me, in-between sobs. 'From behind, I thought that you were my mother because of your hair!'
'It's okay,' I told him, with a tender smile, getting down onto my knees in front of him and putting a comforting hand on his head. 'Are you lost, little one? Who was accompanying you?'
'My father. We were inside of a shop that sells shoes. When I turned around, I couldn't see him anywhere. I ran out of the shop to search for him. And now- I'm lost!'
He began to sob harder, and I took hold of his hands, hushing him down, and assuring him, 'It's alright, don't worry! We're going to find him together!'
His eyes went wide at me. 'Really? You're going to help me find him?'
'Yes,' I nodded, with a reassuring smile.
He stopped crying immediately, brushing his cheeks and eyes dry with his arm.
Then, he tugged at Gōjun's trouser, exclaiming at him, 'Mister! Mister! Please carry me on your shoulders!'
'Huh?' uttered the latter, taking one step back; his expression awkward. 'I never said that I was going to help!'
'Please! Please, mister!' the little boy insisted, his voice almost excited. 'Let me sit on your shoulders!'
Against all expectations, he gave in. I stared at Gōjun Shoran in complete astonishment as he picked the boy up and made him sit on his shoulders.
His expression was grumpy, but I would never have thought that he'd acquiesce to the boy's request, and much less, that he would accept to help.
The little boy was grinning widely now, and he held out his hand towards me, for me to hold it.
Getting back to my feet, I took his hand, and Gōjun and I began to walk, searching for the little boy's father.
'You don't remember the name of the shop?' I asked the little boy.
'It was a huge shop, with lots of shoes!'
I smiled, awkwardly.
'Yeah, right! It's not very helpful!' Gōjun muttered, without any tact, his eyes traveling the crowd, most probably in search of anyone who would give the impression of having lost someone or something. 'There are countless shoe shops in the city. It could be any one of them.'
'Well, it doesn't matter, finally,' I decided, with enthusiasm. 'We're going to check each and every one of them!'
***
An hour later…
'We've checked all the shops in the area. He didn't recognize any one of them,' Gōjun pointed out to me, his eyes sharp. 'I think we should take him to the police station. Perhaps, this is where his father has gone!'
I was completely demoralized by now. I had been so sure that we would find his father waiting for him anxiously at the entrance of one of the shops we had visited, or somewhere on the way.
'You're probably right,' I sighed.
In all of a sudden, I heard a masculine voice calling out the boy's name in the crowd.
Looking up, I saw a man in his mid-thirties running towards us, his expression showing conflicting emotions of concern and relief.
'Otō-san! Otō-san!' the little boy, Yōsuke, cried out, and upon reaching us, the man sent out his arms towards the boy, who jumped into his embrace.
The man kissed the boy's head, telling him how scared he had been when he realized that his little boy was missing, and how desperately he had been searching for him everywhere. He, then, turned his attention on Gōjun and I, asking us where we had found his son, and thanking us for having stayed with him.
'I know that it's far from being enough to show my gratitude to you, but here!' he declared, holding out a ticket to us. 'I operate a boating business on the lake of the local public park. Since its Sakura season, we're operating a special young couple scheme. Any couple who manages to obtain a ticket, have right to an hour of boating on the lake free of cost!'
The local public park was situated in the northern part of Kokubunji; it separated the upper-class neighborhood from the busy center of the city.
The park must look extremely beautiful at this time of the year when all the Sakura are in bloom! I wondered how it would be like to hold oneself in the middle of the lake to watch the Sakura that surrounds it from all sides. It would certainly look surreal!
The divine view made it impossible for me to refuse to accept the reward.
Gōjun reluctantly took the ticket from the man, and I realized that, in fact, they were two tickets joined together. He tore it in the middle and handed one of the two tickets to me.
'Make sure that none of you lose his or her ticket! They can only be used together!' the man warned us, and on this final note, he was gone, with little Yōsuke waving us goodbye until they had completely out of sight.
Gōjun and I looked at each other's face.
Thus, the tickets can only be used together?!
It was a bit of a disappointment for me. I doubted that he'd be interested in this kind of activity, and I feared that even if he did accept, we'd both feel quite uneasy going boating together because we had just only met, and it was a scheme normally reserved for couples.
We both put our respective tickets away in our school bags, and we parted with each other on an awkward silence.
Thank you for reading!
Glossary
Otō-san - Father
Sakura - cherry blossom