The Professional Chatter
I always did like the orange hue of the evening sky.
Especially when it fell on number I just got.
She’s on the messenger app, it even has a profile pic!
That’s a cute cat… I was expecting her but I’ll take a cute cat. I sighed.
“Hey! Watch out!”
I look back, an old man suddenly stopped me. I look ahead, only to find that I almost walked into traffic.
Wouldn’t want to get reincarnated into someplace new. I put the phone back in my pocket.
“Hey, Thank-“, the old man vanished. I looked around for a while, he was nowhere to be found.
Thank you regardless, old man. I should really pay attention while walking…
No more phone… wait, I do need the map! I really should memorize the locations by now…
I keep staring at the number, I mean the map, to go to Akari’s house. I do that while watching the road. Wouldn’t want anyone to worry.
Soon enough, I reached the house. Time passes really fast when you’re doing something you enjoy.
“Akari? Is that you?”
It takes me a while to register that question, “Yes?”
“What are you doing?”, as I try to walk up the stairs.
“Seeing the map.”
“You’re already at home!”, I almost fell down the stairs after hearing that.
“Akari!”, she rushed over and took my phone away.
“You’re not getting this back before you wash yourself and get ready for dinner.”
“But-“, I look at her eyes, they warned me to not argue.
“Yes.”, and not argue I did.
Alright, wash yourself properly. Get your phone back!
I try my best to forget this. There’s a giant mirror in there, I don’t like looking at it. It feels like someone else is staring at me…
I close my eyes, and get in. Hopefully no more accidents… I use my hands as my guide and make my way to the bath.
“It’s warm…”, I relax. The day was pretty good all things considered. It would’ve been great if it weren’t for those accidents but, it was good.
I make my way down, the smell’s amazing.
“I made your favourite.”, she has amazing ears, or nose. I hope I washed myself properly.
I look at the food, “Japanese curry!”, I’ve always wanted to try this out!
“Japanese?”, she chuckled as she put her plate opposite mine.
I put a spoonful of it, it was great.
“How is it?”
“It’s tasty, a solid eight out of ten.”
“Someone’s a harsh critic…”, she chuckled and kept looking at me.
“You never rated food before.”, right… an old habit, eight’s good but she probably doesn’t know that.
“I mean… it’s extremely tasty.”
“I like an eight out of ten. Eight’s your mother’s favourite number you know.”, she started to eat her food.
“Your father’s going to be late today.”, she passed the phone to me, “Open it after you finish your dinner.”
I nodded.
“Thank you for making the Ja-, curry.”, I get up and wash my plate.
“Just doing my job.”
“A great job, might I add.”
She drank water and I picked up her plate to clean.
“No…”, she held my hand.
“It’s fine. Take it as my thanks.”
She looked at my eyes for a while, “You don’t need to thank me…”
“You’re right…”, I pull away from her, “But I still thank you.” I washed all the dishes on the sink. Should’ve done it earlier.
“Thank you…”, I could hear her whisper.
That didn’t even take a while, I put the phone in my pocket and walked up. Wouldn’t want a repeat of the stair incident…
Suddenly, I hear a notification.
Akari’s phone never gets a notification. Which I found to be weird but he also kept forgetting his phone in his house so who knows what went on his mind.
Right, the notification!
It’s from Mary!
“Hey. Just wanted to make sure I got the correct number.”
Alright, what do I type. I usually chatted away in my original life anyway. A professional chatter.
“Het”
Wait, no. Edit. Edit.
“Hey. You’ve found the right number.(edited)”
That could’ve gone better. Maybe I should’ve owned it….
She sent a laughing emoji, that’s cute.
“I’m glad. Otherwise It would’ve been awkward.”
I sent a laughing emoji back. Professional chatter… This was way easier. Maybe I’m out of practise.
She’s not replying… I don’t blame her, I gave her nothing to reply with.
Alright… let’s see…
“So… What are you doing now?”, and sent!
Nothing better than the good old classic.
She hasn’t read it… she did read the laughing emoji… maybe she’s busy.
I go back to the other chats. I never opened them. It always felt like I was invading his privacy… or maybe I’m not that desperate yet.
Ichiro. That’s his brother. I wonder if they were so close, why hasn’t he called or messaged me…
I even mentally prepared for that.
She still hasn’t seen the message… Alright, might as well play… No! I have to study!
I open up the maths book, never thought I’d do these sums again but here we are.
Trigonometry, my old… friend.
Thankfully all the formulas are the same in this world. I guess some… most things are the same in this world. What am I even talking about?
Right, study… study.
Thirty minutes pass away. An hour follows soon after.
This is boooooring. The phone still hasn’t had a notification yet… was my laughing emoji that bad?
The phone suddenly makes a sound.
I rush to it, almost losing my footing.
It’s an ad… for football shoes. No, wait… Akari wanted these shoes and they just went on a discount. Right…
She still hasn’t seen my message. I sighed.
Can’t do much now… might as well study.
The phone made another noise.
“I was making your study notes!”, with an attachment of the notes.
I was in her chats and I read it way too quickly… I hope that wasn’t creepy.
“Thank you! Good luck with your studies!”
“You too!”, she then sent a winking emoji. I’ll consider that as a win and stop.
I’m usually much better at texting…
Can’t let her notes go to waste though. I turn on the computer and take a look at the notes. They’re great… I hope she didn’t spend too much time on it. I have to thank her much better when I do see her…
But I guess the best way to thank her now is by studying properly! Alright! You can do this!
After a while, I hear the door slightly open.
“I can’t believe Akari’s studying…”, whispers. I’ll just keep listening without telling them.
“I told you right?”
“Alright… we should buy some fruits…”
“I’m on my way!”
They suddenly stopped, I can guess why. I hope they don’t bring watermelons… Akari’s really lucky… I feel weird calling him lucky.
On the bright side! I’m getting a hand of maths! No less thanks to the notes Mary sent me.
“Here you go, son.”, the father gave me a plate of grapes. I do love grapes.
“Your mother rushed to the supermarket to get you this…”, he dusted my bed and sat on it.
“Thank you.”
“I know that you’re not a fan of grapes…”
What? I love grapes.
“They’re fine…”, can’t let them know amnesia comes with the love of grapes.
“So…”, he got up and put his hands on my shoulder, “I’ll leave ya to it. Good night son.”
“Good night.”
He turned back and smiled, and looked at me for a while before closing the door after him.
The grapes are really good.
Time passed away and I think I made a decent improvement. Time to sleep.
I don’t know how or why, but I fell asleep as soon as I touched the bed because that was my last memory before being awake by the sunlight falling on my face.
“No dreams today huh…”, I wonder what made me dream that… maybe because I finished the arc? It really felt comfortable…
I look at the phone, no new messages. Maybe a good morning…? No, that’d be weird. Time to get ready and tell her good morning and thanks personally. Should help my charm get perfectly to her.
The calendar… weekend’s tomorrow. I should probably tell Akari’s parents about this. They probably wouldn’t mind but there’s no point taking the risk and I should probably buy some snacks… and maybe tea? Isn’t that how it usually went.
“Akari! You’re going to be late!”
Right, school comes first!
“Yes!”
I ready myself as fast as possible and go hug… the mother. That came out of nowhere.
“Thank you for the grapes yesterday…”, I push myself back and look at her awkwardly. “They were great.”, I tap both her shoulders and rush outside. “Thank you! I mean good bye!”
“Goodbye…”
I didn’t turn back to see her reaction, not brave enough for that yet. But I really was grateful.
