Chapter 3 - Mariya
That cooking session, for Mirai and Ryosuke was so much fun. They looked like they we’re playing, rather than having a test of cooking skills. Without minding the people around them, they didn’t notice that someone came to their ‘kitchen’ to give something to their teacher. It was Mariya, the one who spread rumors about her and Ryosuke.
She looked around and searched for Ryosuke and BINGO! She spotted him, wearing a strawberry printed apron, and was cooking with Mirai. She hated Mirai since Mirai was always with Ryosuke. She envied her because Ryosuke sticks to Mirai all the time.
“Thank You for passing this to me Mari-chan” Ryosuke’s homeroom teacher said “You’re such a good girl” she added
Mariya is the Vice President of the School’s Student Government Council. She was loved as a ‘Model Student’, though there are many rumors about her, her supporters would NEVER believe the rumors.
‘I’m just doing my job ma’am” she replied, did a graceful slight bow and excused herself. As she went outside the room, she mumbled “Mirai” then smirked.
On the other hand, their teacher announced that the given time was already over. It was already time for tasting. During that round, the dish that Ryosuke and Mirai made was the best, thus, making Mirai and Ryosuke the contenders for the contest. After that, their teacher permitted them to go home early. That day, Ryosuke had to clean the classroom while Mirai was in a hurry. Her favorite NBA team would be playing today; she didn’t want to miss the Championship game so she headed home earlier than Ryosuke.
“Ryo-chan, I’ll go home now” she said
“Are you sure you want to go home now?” Ryosuke asked, he was worried
“Of course I am! I’m already 18 years old, I’ll be fine. Bye!” she said then excitedly ran outside. Ryosuke was a little bit worried. This is the first time that they won’t go home together.
On the way home, Mirai saw Mariya, Mariya waved at her and talked with her.
“Hongo-san, how are you?” she asked “I heard you and Suzuki-san will be participating the upcoming contest” she added then smiled
“Yeah” Mirai replied then smiled
“So lucky right?” Mariya asked
“Really? I think it was because of Suzuki-san’s skills. By the way, could you give this to the new transferee? Kawashima-san was her name right? I forgot to give these books to her; I was planning to give this but I was called in for a meeting” she said then sighed “She needs these stuffs” she added.
“I’ll deliver it to her house then” Mirai replied, she wanted to help Mariya since she was too busy for the sake of the whole school. She can let the basketball game pass if it would mean to help Umika with her studies.
“Really? Thank you so much Hongo-san!” she said then hugged Mirai tightly while Mirai hugged her back.
“Here’s her address, thank you so much Hongo-san” she said and gave the book to Mirai then excused herself.
“Bye!” Mirai said then waved her hand. She was pleased, what she was thinking about Mariya being a bad girl changed. For some reason she wanted to be friends with her.
“Let’s see…Where is this place” Mirai mumbled while looking at the address. After that she started to look for the place. Though she grew up in that city, she wasn’t able to master the places, making it more difficult for her to look for Umika’s place, hours already passed but still she couldn’t find the place. Her stomach was already growling, she looked around and saw trees around her.
Before she knew it, it was already raining, she ran till she saw a rundown house, it wasn’t really in a good shape but at least it could protect her from the rain. She decided to stay there until the rain stops.
On the other side of the story, Kazuya was wondering why Mirai was still not home. She should be home an hour ago already. So he decided to ask the Ryosuke. He knocked and Ryosuke opened the door.
“Oh! Kazu nii-san, what brings you here?” Ryosuke asked
“Are you with Mirai?” he asked
“No, Mirai’s not home yet?” Ryosuke replied, his heart was beating so fast
“No, she’s not home yet. She’s not here?!” Kazuya answered. His voice was obviously getting shakey
“She should be home earlier than me; she said she wanted to watch the NBA Championship game” Ryosuke said
“Oh, I see” Kazuya replied “Thank you” he added then went home.
Kazuya was definitely worried so he decided to call her. Unfortunately Mirai’s place has no signal so he couldn’t reach her.
“Taisuke, Masuda” he called his brothers to the living room
“Aniki?” Taisuke went out from his room as well as Masuda “Nii-san?”Masuda said
“Mirai isn’t home yet” Kazuya said
“Oh, maybe she’s with Ryo-chan” Masuda said
“I was there just a moment ago, she’s not there” Kazuya said. Masuda and Taisuke was getting nervous
“Ah, then maybe they went out to go to the arcade. Ne?” Taisuke said his heart was beating so fast
“She hates wandering around when it’s raining right?” Masuda added
On the other hand, Ryosuke was worried sick, he couldn’t calm down. He was walking forth and back while clenching his fist. He didn’t know what to do, Mirai didn’t have a good sense of direction. She was tough but can be easily lost. He couldn’t settle down. “Where could she be? It’s already getting dark” he mumbled
“Ryo-chan what’s up? You look like a bee going forth and back that” Aya asked
“Mirai, she’s not yet home” he replied
“Maybe she was with a friend” she said
“That’s impossible, she wanted to see the NBA Championship game, onee-chan I’m worried” he whined like a child
“Maybe she wanted to go out and buy some stuffs” Aya said, then went to the kitchen to look for food.
That talk with Aya was not that helpful, instead, it added the nervousness that he was feeling.
“I-I should talk with Kazu-niichan” he mumbled then went to the Hongo’s house. He knocked and Taisuke opened the door.
“Yo! Ryo, you contacted Mirai already?” Taisuke asked him
“No, that’s why I’m here. We should start looking for her. Or at least report it to the police” he replied. You could clearly see the umbrella he was holding was shaking. He couldn’t put into words what he was feeling.
“I think I we should do that” Taisuke replied “I’ll ask my brothers to help” he added then went to his brothers, asked them to help him and Ryosuke to look for Mirai.
They then agreed since they were also worried sick thinking about Mirai.
They looked for Mirai though it was raining. They parted to look for her. Masuda went to all the basketball courts he could see, Kazuya looked for Mirai at the parks, Taisuke was at the restaurants and fastfood chains while Ryosuke looked for all the possible places Mirai could go. First he went to their ‘Secret Base’ where he and Mirai would secretly play as a couple. Mirai as the father (as usual) and him as the mother (as instructed by Mirai). Their secret base was a tree house built not too high. He climbed up then looked at the window, he was looking for a possible place where Mirai could go into.
All he was seeing was trees and houses. There’s absolutely no way she could get lost in that place but one house caught his attention. It was a rundown house, the roof was filled with big holes. For some reason, he felt like he needed to go there, so he followed his intuition. He went down then walked towards the place.
“Mi-chan where are you?” he mumbled to himself while tightly holding the umbrella to ease his uneasiness.
As he was getting closer, he saw a familiar figure. A figure of someone who was sitting down, more like squatting while wearing a skirt; he walked closer then he recognized the figure, it was Mirai who was squatting, with her was a blue bag which he remembered Mirai didn’t own. He was relieved, somehow all the tenseness he was feeling went out.
“Mi-chan!” he was running towards Mirai with a tearful eye trying to hold the tears that formed in his eyes. “I was worried you know?” he added
“I was just waiting for the rain to stop since I had no umbrella with me. What’s with that face?” she asked.
“You! I thought you’re already lost! You could have at least called me or one of your brothers” he said then hugged Mirai tightly “Don’t make me worry!” he couldn’t hold it much longer, he cried with awful lot of tears.
“Ryo-chan, it’s not like I’ll die okay? My phone’s battery died, that’s it” she said then tapped Ryosuke’s back lightly.
“Don’t cry” she added. Ryosuke let go of her and asked “Why are you here anyway?”
“Ah! I wanted to help Mariya. I was about to deliver this to Umika’s house, these are reference books which she could use since she still has not received her books” she replied then smiled brightly
“I’ll help you with that, where’s the place?” Ryosuke asked her
“Wait, I’ll search for it” she answered then tapped the pocket of her skirt, then searched the blue bag she was holding.
“I think I lost it” she said
“Can you remember the place?” he asked
“No” she answered. Ryosuke then dialed Kazuya’s number telling him that he already found Mirai. He also told Mirai to give the books to Umika the day after today since they have their classes. After that, both of them went home.
Kazuya hugged his sister tightly “Mi-chaaaan!! Don’t make us worry okay? At least contact me or Taisuke or Masuda or even Ryosuke. You also killed me, I was imagining you were abducted by some alien out there” he whined
“Sorry nii-chan. I’ll contact you next time” she said. She felt guilty; she had always thought that her brothers didn’t care about her. She was extremely happy since she knew they we’re worried about her.
“Sorry Masu nii-chan, Taipi nii-chan, Ryo-chan. I’ll tell you next time” she said then bowed
“Just don’t do it again okay?” Masuda replied
“Promise us” Taisuke added
“I Promise” Mirai said, raising her right hand then smiled
“Good” Kazuya said “You can eat now. I have prepared the dinner for you. But if you want to eat it later, you can heat it up” he added
“I’ll eat later onii-chan” she replied. Her brothers went back to their room.
Her heart was fluttering, she was extremely happy since she knew her brothers loved her. Also she couldn’t calm down, the image of Ryosuke who was hugging her, flashed in her mind. She still couldn’t forget the feeling of having Ryosuke hold her hand this morning, and his hug when he found her. Seriously, she thought this was all too strange for her.
“Thank you so much Ryo-chan” she said
“It’s alright, just don’t make me worry okay?” he asked while looking straight in her eyes clipping her hair into her ears.
“Okay” she said, her heartbeat once again raced
“Ne, we’ll have a practice tomorrow. You need to work out with your cooking skills” he said
“Ah, I almost forgot about that. Okay just tell me okay?” She replied
“Sure, So, I’ll go now, I bet my sisters are worried about me” he said
“Okay, Thank you again Ryo-chan!” then waved at Ryosuke who was going back his home.