Chapter 18: Hope Became Hopeless
"What's your problem girl, did your father own this river or what? Did not have any name here so we can all fish here too." One of the anglers has a word with Misha.
"But Ifound this spot first, all the fish here are mine!" Misha yelled again and this time tears came out from her eyes.
"Hei hei, kid if you want to yell, just go home. The fish will run away because of you." Another angler yelled at her to go home.
"Tsk.. Tsk… Aya…" Misha cried and Aya pulled her up to the street. The anglers laugh and continue to fish.
Both of them stopped at a nearby park.
"Tsk… Just when I thought we didn't have to search for junk again, I thought I could have all the fish but it was just for a moment… Tsk…" Misha faces all red because of crying while Aya just stood there accompanying her.
"My mother… She's in the hospital, she needs a heart operation… We needed money for that, dad was just an ordinary security guard and not making much. We scavenge for junk and sell it for extra money but still not enough. Tsk… When we learned that a lot of fish were swimming down the river, we thought it was a miracle goldmine but it was just mere short term happiness…" Aya hugs Misha.
"It's okay, we'll think about another way." Aya tried to persuade Misha.
"Nevermind, I'm telling you not because I wanted your pity. I just want you to know the reason… I'm going straight home, bye." Misha walks in a hopeless state and Aya returns to her mother's cafe.
"Ding!" Cafe doorbell ringing.
"Ooh, early again now. Not with your fishing friend?" Tina asked while cleaning a plate.
"Yeah… Something came up." Aya opened her phone and scrolled through social media.
The bridge was viral on social media and had many responses. The reason there's so many people today is because of the news spreading social media like wildfire. While Aya put her phone down and stretched her body, she turned her head around and saw a man reading a newspaper, even the front page is the main article about the river full of fish.
"Ding!" The cafe doorbell rang. Raku went in while looking at his phone.
"Eh, you're not fishing with your friend today?" Raku is surprised to see Aya in the cafe today.
"There's a lot of people today at the bridge, she won't go there anymore." Aya looking at Tina.
"Yeah, I saw it too today. The power of social media and my article made the place popular." Raku said it proudly.
"You made the article?" Aya is surprised and looks at Raku eye to eye with mouth pouting..
"Y-yeah, why?" Raku is confused.
"(Can't blame him though, that's a public area and sooner or later people will discover it by themselves too.)" Aya mumbled to herself.
"Nothing." Aya, still pouting.
"Mom! I want a glass of milk." Aya ordered a glass of milk to her mother.
***
Misha is visiting her mother at the hospital. The heartbeat graph shows a low beat rate while her mother is sleeping.
"Tsk… Tsk… I'm sorry mom, we can't gather enough money for your operation. Just when I thought god gave us a chance, but it wasn't for long. Tsk.. Don't leave me mom…" Misha is crying at her mother's bed.
"Kclak" Someone opened the door. From behind, a silhouette of a mysterious man came in and staring at both of them made Misha stand up and quickly wipe her tears.
***
Today in the morning while walking to school, Aya walked past the bridge and even early in the morning people were swarming to fish there. Not to mention, there's people setting up kiosks to sell beverages and foods. No sign of Misha around.
"Ding-Dong-Ding-Dong"
First period of school was over, Aya quickly went to the main corridor where a third year class was. She was looking for Misha. Third year male students were staring at her while walking past her.
"Must be looking for her crush (Giggle)" A female third year whispered to her friend.
"Who's that lucky guy?" Another male third year said to his friend and teased each other.
Aya just stands there looking at her feet because of shyness.
"Looking for me?" A familiar voice was talking to her and Aya lifted her head.
It was the girly guy with measuring tape.
"N-no, I was looking for someone else…" Aya averted her gaze to the other side.
"I see, we still have time though." The girly guy put his measuring tape inside his pocket and walked away.
"M-mister?" Aya called the girly guy and he turned around.
"Yes? Call me Joseph and you are Aya, most students have known your name" He winked at Aya.
"Um, Joseph…" Suddenly Joseph held her hand and dragged her somewhere.
"Let's go to my club room, The Sewing club and we'll talk." Aya was supposed to wait for Misha but followed Joseph anyway.
***
"Welcome to our club, I knew from your eyes that you were interested in my offer." Joseph said it while spinning his body.
"Krrrukk…" Aya's stomach made a sound and instantly Joseph froze from that spinning.
"S-sorry! So embarrassing…" Aya covered her stomach with blushing in hot red.
"Tap! Tap!" Joseph clapped his hand.
Another member came out bringing a dessert to Aya.
"I'm sorry, it's my fault that you're hungry dragging you here at lunch break." Joseph was ashamed of himself because of his actions.
"Eat the dessert first, then we'll talk." Joseph smiled at Aya.
"T-thanks…"
Aya ate the dessert while Joseph was sketching something. His eyes sneakily stare at Aya while she's eating her dessert. Aya felt uneasy and adjusted her breast.
"No, no… I'm not staring at you in a perverted way, look here. I'm sketching a dress for you." Joseph showed Aya his dress design suitably for Aya figure.
"Iff shfo veuviful!" Aya spontaneously talks while her mouth is full.
"H-hei, eat first. Haha." Joseph smiled and continued to sketch.
After a few minutes Aya has finished eating. She licked her finger and wiped her cheek. While looking at Joseph who is focused on the drawing board.
"Um, I'm done. So… What do you want to talk about?"
"Oh! Already. Okay, here is the deal. I say it again, are you interested in being our model? You see, we craft our own dresses here. But not many girls in this school had a supermodel body, until you came and on the first impression we already know, you are better suited to our creation… All of it. Let's go to the wardrobe." Joseph dragging Aya again.