The date is 20th May 2007, 11:30 am.
Chengyu has just exited Yishun MRT Station, the station that he has alighted after taking the train that headed north from Toa Payoh MRT Station earlier in the morning. The girl that has been following him has also arrived here, but finds him missing as he guessed that the passengers would usually take the underpass located inside the MRT Station instead of the pedestrian crossing located outside, and being a person unfamiliar with the Public Transportation System like her might go with the flow of the passengers there. But as she heads to the escalator towards the underpass. She paused unexpectedly.
“Wait a minute. If that kind person-san wants to avoid me at all costs, he might consider going to paths others might not be willing to take. What if......?”
The girl went outside as few people went outside the station except for those waiting for the bus at the bus stop 10 metres outside the station entrance. She then looked around and finally found her target, Chengyu waiting at the pedestrian crossing serving the cross-junction outside the station.
“There you are! Please don't run away from me anymore, kind person-san, because I really want to talk to you for a while......”
She made her way there, and was careful not to make him notice so that he doesn't get shocked into running away again, but somebody else that she is hoping to meet have accidentally caught her eye......
“Is that......?”
The girl immediately made a run as fast as she could to the new target, and the target actually noticed her running across the pedestrian crossing that Chengyu himself is also in the middle of and stopped in her tracks. And as the girl ran past Chengyu to meet her new target, his worry turned immediately to frustration as his efforts to evade her has ended in failure, at least for the time being.
“Darn!! I tried hard to get out of her sight but ended up like this!! But wait, she isn't waiting for me at all for following me all the way here, she's actually......!”
“Lina-saaaaaaaaan!” The girl calls out to her new target, and the new target is surprised to see her.
The new target called Lina-san sports a moss-greenish shoulder-length hair, has brown eyes, and wears a light green sleeveless summer blouse that straps over her neck with a emerald-green short skirt that stops just above her knees, completed with a pair white flat-soled shoes that looks like a mix of femininity and sporty styles.
“No way! Is it really you??” Lina replied her.
“Yes! It is me, Reika!” The girl that is originally following him finally revealed her name. “I thought I missed you in the campus, but I finally got to meet you in person at last! I thought I can only talk to you through the campus chat-room, I'm so happy to see you face-to-face!”
“Me too! I've never expected us to meet in such a place like this!” Lina replied, making Reika and herself like two little girls meeting each other after a long time.
Meanwhile, Chengyu has just stepped on the other side of the crossing where the two are and watches from a distance, and is already furious inside at the sight of the two friends. This is part of Chengyu's own emotional defence mechanism that is invoked automatically when he is near behaviour that he deems unacceptable such as friendship and boy-girl relationships, and this is reflected in the anger that he is feeling right now.
“So that long-haired girl's name is Reika, huh...... Wait a minute! That name sounds so Japanese-ish, plus that accent that she speaks. Does it mean she really is......?? But I have heard cases of Chinese females adopt Japanese Names as their Western Names in front of their own surname before......”
“So, have you adapted to life here in Singapore?”
“Um... still in progress though......” was Reika's reply. “Although I arrived here from about two months ago, I am still trying to
understand the train system here, it's quite different from those in Tokyo or other parts of Japan though......”
“My wild guess just hit the bull's eye!!” thought Chengyu as he heard the conversation from a distance. “She
really is Japanese......! That accent and complexion has never got me wrong!!”
“Oh, I've heard that your childhood friend also came with you to Singapore to study here, right?”
“You mean Kentaro-san? He is here too, but I think he might be too busy trying to hook up local girls here to come and help me......” Reika replied with a shy laugh.
“I never knew he is such a flirt. Anyway, what course are you studying now, now that you're enrolled in New Hope Polytechnic...”
“Oh, me? Same school as you, Lina-san.”
“Really? School of Information and Communications Technology?”
“Yes. In the Information Technology Course. Kentaro-san is doing the same course as mine.”
Lina gave a wry smile.
“Oh? Too bad. I'm in the Mobile Business Solutions Course. Looks like I won't be going to the same class as you guys huh...”
“Don't say that. I heard that some of the modules require students studying different courses to come together as a class.”
“Yeah, I heard about it as well, but isn't that more for the Inter-Disciplinary Modules, Reika?”
“Oh, yeah. But that should be a chance that we can study in the same class like that? I would really want to learn a lot from you about life in Singapore though.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. My dad's too busy preparing for his new assignment in his new company to experience life here, and my mum's too cooped up in her new job as a part-time teacher in the Japanese Association to do the same.”
“Oh, I almost forgot to ask you, where is your dad working as here?”
“A senior financial analyst at the Yokomoto Bank. It's the same company that he works back in Tokyo, just that he is now transferred to the Singapore Branch to work in the same job specifically for Japanese companies that have operations here. The company told him that he is transferred here because he has a good command of English and can do basic Japanese-English translation of financial documents that are needed in his assignment. He has worked in the company for close to 20 years and this is the first time he has been assigned to a foreign land to work on a medium-term contract basis.”
This brightens Lina's expression.
“Oooh, financial analysts earn quite a lot, do they? Why didn't you do business administration and study number-crunching instead of studying a course like what you do now? You can earn as much as you dad does now.”
Reika smiled wryly at her suggestion.
“Uh... I'm not very good at crunching numbers or do numerical analysis as good as my dad does... I feel more inclined to do basic programming and create software like interactive recipes that can teach people... a bit like my mum.”
“Really? Does your mum do software programming too?”
“Not really, but she does more teaching than doing stuff like making software as she is not good at that. I would like to have a balance of making content and teaching people better than just simply teaching though......”
“So what does your mum teach over there at the Japanese Association?”
“She mainly teaches Basic Japanese to elementary-school kids attending classes there, mainly consisting of children of Japanese Expatriates there, so that when they go back to Japan, they can be able to fit themselves back into the education system there seamlessly based on what they learnt in those classes. It's mainly on a part-time basis as she needs time to take care of our house here while my dad goes to work and only comes back after 8 pm. As for my dad, he is on a 3-year contract assignment here as one of the five senior analysts here. It's not easy being on that job here since you need to have a good grasp of the British style of English used in this place and he has a degree from a United Kingdom university.”
Lina seems surprised at how Reika ended up studying here.
“Actually... I came here once for an operation to receive my bone marrow transplant, but I was mostly in hospital at that time so I didn't have the chance to look at places outside the hospital......”
“That's bad, I heard about the operation you had almost 2 years ago in Singapore when you told me about it via the messaging program that we used to talk through the internet. But are you really serious about going to find that person who has donated the bone marrow that saved your life?”
This sent another wave of shockwaves through Chengyu's mind when he overheard that conversation.
“That Reika actually received a bone marrow donation here in Singapore close to 2 years ago...... Wait! Isn't that around the same time I unwittingly donated my own bone marrow in hospital while I was warded for my injuries??? I don't believe what happened to me at that time and her transplant has anything to do in common but I can't take my chances just yet......!”
“And in that hospital, I was helped by another kind soul who helped find back my precious key chain that Kentaro made for me......”
This invoked another set of memories in Chengyu's mind as a unwilling eavesdropper of the conversation.
“She claims that someone has retrieved her precious key chain, but it can't possibly be her on that wheelchair! I'll never believe this kind of nonsense!!”
“...and that's why I decided to help more people as a repayment to the two kind Samaritans who helped me in the past so that more people can be happy. And since my wish to come here coincides with Dad's assignment here. The whole family moved here along with him so that we can stay together as a family, and take the time to get my diploma and find them at the same time!”
“Wow, that's very thoughtful of you, Reika. But I don't know if you can find that person to thank him before you can finish your studies here. I don't want to give you the cold shoulder, but given that your dad has limited time to work here before your whole family moves back to Japan, it won't be easy though......”
“Thanks Lina-san, but I won't give up until the time our family goes back when the day comes, I have so many support from my friends as well as Kentaro who is also here now. I really don't want to disappoint myself and those close to me by giving up that easily.”
Lina held both Reika's shoulders with her hands.
“Don't worry, Reika! If there's anything you need to help, just let me know! I'll try to help the best I can.”
“Thank you, Lina-san!” Reika replied with a cute smile. “You're a wonderful friend!”
But then she realised that Chengyu is standing a short distance behind them.
“Oh! Kind person-san! There you are!” she went to Chengyu, who for some reason wants to move but couldn't find the will to do so.
“Darn!! Why did she follow me all the way here!! I should leave when I have the chance and now that I've spurned that very chance I can get my hands on!!”
“Please, kind person-san! Please don't try to run away from me again.”
This made Lina curious and walked to where the two are.
“Who is that person?”
“Oh! He helped me with my donations back in Ang Mo Kio where I was trying to get people to donate to my can. If not for his help, I would've been stuck there without getting a single cent inside and may get detained by the organisers for that...”
“You mean you took their words of 'getting nothing in your can, you can't get home' kind of joke for real??” Lina laughed at that kind of suggestion. “You seriously can't believe that kind of nonsense! Last year some of my seniors didn't have a single cent inside their cans and yet they can get released on time! Seriously, you're believing in that kind of threats, I don't know if you can really differentiate between what's real and what's a joke, haven't you?”
Chengyu looked at Lina and saw that she also has a can on her hands as well, the same can both Reika and himself are carrying.
“Not good! Two against one this time......!”
“Hey, Mr. Nice Guy!” Lina tries to put her right hand on Chengyu's left shoulder, but the moment he starts to feel the pressure of that hand on his shoulder. His face instantly turns to extreme anger and his emotional defences swiftly charges into hyper-drive, causing all movements around him to slow down significantly.
During this realistically short span of time, he quickly grabs Lina's hand that is on his shoulder with his own right hand, pushes it away hard, makes two-and-a-half vertical spins out of their reach and holds his can tightly with his right arm while performing a claw stance using his left hand, aiming it directly at the two girls with his eyes staring sharply and angrily at them echoing a powerful and savage growl resembling a fierce wolf ready to attack its aggressors without any mercy.
By the time this stance has been shown to the two girls, less than ten seconds of real time passed, shocking them with the speed at this is done, then Lina suddenly realises the acute pain the swift move had on her right hand!
“Ouch! That hurts, you know!!” Lina gets very angry at Chengyu. “What's your problem!?”
“You'd better be careful where you put that hand of yours, young lady!!” was the thought running in Chengyu's head.
“Hey! You'd better apologise now, or......!” Lina steps forward, angered by the expression on Chengyu's face.
“Don't come near me! You're a recognised threat from this point on!! Come closer and I won't show any mercy on you!!” was his reply in his mind while growling even more loudly with the left hand ready to swipe at her if she comes any closer. But as Lina comes even closer getting more angry, he tries to back off even further, thinking that he has no reason to deal any damage on her.
“Stop right there, you moron!!” Lina tries to grab Chengyu, but Reika suddenly tries to hold her back.
“Lina-san! Please stop! I don't want you people to hurt each other, please!”
“Let me go! That moron has no reason to do things like that!”
“Please! He just helped me before. I know he has a kind heart.” Reika tries to reason with her friend. “I'm very sure he has a reason for doing the thing he did just now. Please don't aggravate him further, okay? I'm sure if you stop attacking him, he will stop as well.”
Lina looks at Reika, who shook her head in agony to try and get her friend to stop. Lina stops her aggression and said to Chengyu in a very annoyed manner: “I'll take account that you helped her before and let you off this time. Next time I won't be so easy on you!!
An very angry Lina brings Reika through the front entrance of the shopping mall while Chengyu looks on while still on the ultra-defensive stance.
“Bring it on if you can, wretch! You'll regret it all the way to your funeral should you really attack! Don't force me to deal the death blow on you should things get way out of hand!!”
After he has calmed down and recovers from that defensive stance, he starts to analyse the situation about the two girls from a witness's perspective.
“It seems that the reason why this Japanese girl named Reika, who was following me, suddenly ran past me was due to the green-haired girl named Lina that was presumed to be her friend appearing right outside the mall, and it is obvious judging by their conversation that the Reika and Lina knew each other way before the she came to Singapore and study in New Hope Poly. By Reika herself was even more strange... why had she claimed that she came here to Singapore almost 2 years ago to have the operation to have a transplant of her bone marrow? Is it because she can't find a match back in her home country? Worse, is that she claims to have the operation at around the same time as I donated my own bone marrow during my hospitalisation. The girl named Lina seems very aggressive for a girl who doesn't dress like a tomboy, in sharp contrast to Reika who shows no sign of aggression or enmity throughout the period from the time we met all the way to try and stop Lina from attacking me. But why the contrast, and why is she so obsessed with trying to approach me when I am doing all I can to stay alone to avoid hurting anyone as well as allow damage to my own heart? I still have no answer to this even till now......”
Chengyu then remembers Lina bringing Reika into the mall a while ago.
“If my analysis this time is correct, the two girls must've been trying to collect donations from people in the mall. That means they might be still in this mall, and maybe the only way to find any hint of an answer to my questions is through Reika herself. Thing is, I have not been able to hold verbal conversations with anyone other than my parents since I graduated from my secondary school with my 'O' Level Exams. Will doing something people normally have little problem doing such having a conversation with people my age even be possible for me??”
But since if he doesn't start doing something now, he might miss out on information that can help answer his questions, he decided to go into the mall, hoping to find them and see if he can get any information especially on the reason Reika came to Singapore to study and the relation to things that happen in the past.
The date is 20th May 2007, 11:15 am.
As he reached the third level of the mall, he started scouting around for the two girls, hoping to catch them chatting about their past and possibly finding any clues along the way, while at the same time accepting any donations to his can coming his way and giving stickers to the donors.
“Ugh! Multi-tasking like this is pretty tiring...... but I need to do this to find more information about those two, especially about that Reika. She may have clues to help me find some answers
to my questions......! But coping with that wretch named Lina is not an easy task if I need to get things done though......”
Looking around the third level took quite a while, and after some effort, he finally found glimpses of them walking around the sports store there. He sets there to try and spot them while trying to avoid their detection at the same time. Once he is there, he tries to utilise his heightened hearing ability that he has developed as part of his secret extreme training to try and hear their conversation.
“Wait a minute! All these two are talking about what's happening recently, nothing related to the answers of what I'm looking for! Have they realised that I was listening to them for answers? But they shouldn't have any knowledge about what I'm asking as I have not spoken a single word since the two met, they shouldn't be able to decipher what I'm thinking in my head all this time!”
Chengyu decided to continue the tracking discreetly while collecting donations at the same time, trying hard to listen to the two girls' conversations to listen for any clues to the answers he seeks regarding Reika's past and the connection to his own.
“I know this is going to be tough work, but for the answers, I can't give up just like that!”
Meanwhile the girls are talking about Reika's childhood friend while Chengyu tries to listen from a corner two shops away.
“How come Kentaro came here to study and tries to hook up girls here?”
“Um...... that's......”
“What's wrong?”
“He seems...... somewhat...... heartbroken......”
“Why was that so, Reika?”
Reika felt hesitant to speak.
“Um, Lina-san......” she musters her courage to speak. “Promise
you won't laugh at this, okay?”
“Okay, promise.”
“Thank you. Actually......” Reika starts to explain. “Kentaro-san at that time had someone he liked for a long time......”
“Ooooh! Who was that lucky girl then?”
“Uh......!!” her cheeks were red.
“Don't tell me you're the one he likes, didn't you??”
Reika sheepishly nodded her head.
“Kentaro-san confessed his love to me three weeks before my family set off to Singapore...”
“Oh my goodness! You're super lucky, you know that?” Lina seems delighted at what she just said.
“Really?”
“I thought that I was a sporty girl and have a not-so-bad body, so guys should be taking notice of me, but too bad they are not good enough for yours truly!”
“Um... I thought no one ever asked you out, Lina-san?”
“Hey!” Lina suddenly gets very annoyed, which caused Reika to giggle at her expression.
“Actually you should show a little more of your feminine side together with your sporty self. This way, more guys will take notice of you more often.”
“Enough of myself. So how did you answer that childhood friend of yours?”
“I think the answer was pretty obvious though, otherwise how would he come here to find local women here?”
“I guess you're right...... that means you must've rejected his confession.”
Reika sheepishly nodded her head.
“You know, I still have faint memories of a boy during my stay in hospital where I received my transplant...”
“You mean the time that waaa~nderful boy you always keep talking about that returned you your favourite red-ribbon keychain that Kentaro gave you on your 12th birthday?”
“Yes.I wonder if he is still around here now......”
“I dunno. Maybe he may not be around anymore, who knows.”
This has Reika scared stiff!
“Please Lina-san! Don't scare me with things like that.”
“Oh, sorry... I forgot you are afraid of scary talk like that.” Lina apologised. “But seriously, you think you're still able to find that same boy you met in that hospital? He would have been an adult by now if he's still around.”
“I believe he may be still out there somewhere, I really want to thank him for the kindness he showed me. And also to the one that donated his bone marrow to me too.”
“Looks like you have a really huge task ahead of you to do other than your studies, huh......” Lina said with a sigh.
Meanwhile, Chengyu is annoyed that he kept hearing the same things all over again about the transplant and keychain events that happened so long ago.
“I guess I may not be able to get much from them based on what I've heard from them so far......”
The date is 20th May 2007, 12:45 pm.
The three persons involved have been collecting donations for the past one-and-a-half hours and they decided to have lunch.
Reika and Lina were having lunch at the fast food restaurant near the front entrance, while Chengyu is also having his lunch at another fast-food establishment on the opposite side separated by a passageway to the front entrance. As a precaution, he finished his own food and left the restaurant ahead of the two girls after trying to hear their conversation without any success. However, at the other restaurant......
“Hey Reika, did you notice a very strange man going out of that restaurant?”
“Huh? Where is he?”
Lina points to Chengyu that was walking out of the restaurant on the opposite side.
“It's kind person-san.”
“What 'kind person' is he? That jerk looks more like a wolf in sheep's clothing!” Lina is obviously fuming at the sight of him. “And you actually think he is a kind person? He is a nutcase!!”
“Lina-san. It's not courteous to address him like that.”
“And after all the stalking he is doing on us, you think he's not?”
“That's not it!” Reika was flustered. “That's......”
“Anyway, I have an idea to prove whether is a kind person, a lecher, or a nutcase, okay?”
“Huh? How?”
The two walked out of the restaurant and exited the mall via the main entrance, but Lina suddenly told Reika to split up with her so that they can sandwich paths with Chengyu when he walks by. And sure enough, Chengyu is really walking past the 'trap' set by the girls.
“Where did those two go...... I have a bad feeling that I might be ambushed any time from now...!!” This immediately activates his emotional defence mechanism and prepares to attack in case of anything happening after this.
As he slowly walks by two pillars that the girls were hiding. Lina pops out of one of them and barks at him.
“Okay, moron! Stop right there!!”
“Darn! A trap?!” Chengyu looks back and sees Lina, and instinctively raises his left arm as his right hand is holding to his donation can.
“You can forget about that fake act of yours, jerk!!” Lina was seemingly not impressed at his stance. “Answer us why are you following us around the mall! Wrong answer, I'll call the police!”
“Darn!! You even want to get the police involved in that kind of matter? You must be bonkers!!” thought an angry Chengyu as he tightens his stance, ready to attack. But just then......
“Lina-san. Please let me talk to him, okay?” Reika showed up from behind another pillar and tries to talk to a very agitated and furious Chengyu.
“Kind person-san. Please tell us why are you so interested in looking for us.”
Chengyu couldn't even open his mouth when he needs to, need to say speak.
“I know you can talk, kind person-san. So please tell us why do you want to follow us around the mall.”
Chengyu then remembers that he did open his mouth to tell her “Do what you want. I'm getting out of here!” earlier in the day.
“So that means I might be able to open my mouth and speak, but I still don't know how I was able to do it. Until I can figure it out myself, I don't think I can just speak at will like normal people do!”
So faced with no option, he tries to concentrate his mind, but the result of this is simply a gathering of energy in his left hand and he instinctively swung that hand of his like the action of swiping something with a left claw, and that creates a seemingly large gust of wind that blew through the two girls, causing them to almost lose their balance.
“What the...??”
“Owww!”
Chengyu quickly used the space of their confusion to run off in the quickly towards the bus stop near the shophouses that were next to the mall and boarded the first bus that arrived there, and the escape was boosted with the sudden activation of his unknown power that slows down time dramatically.
By the time Reika and Lina knew what was happening, Chengyu was nowhereto be found.
“Where is he?” Lina looked around, and saw the person in the bus that has already leaving the bus stop, and this made her really mad!
“Moron!! Jerk!!! Don't ever come back, you bastard!!!”
“Lina-san. That was not very feminine of you, you know.”
“Who cares abot being feminine when he's on the loose!!! That jerk has ruined our afternoon and I won't rest until I catch him!!”
“But you just screamed at him not to come back.” Reika told her. “If he really doesn't come back, how are you going to catch him?”
A frustrated Lina just screamed loud and hard at the bus stop as a reply, Reika couldn't do anything but sigh at her actions.
“Lina-san sometimes has a bad temper that may put off a lot of men though, but she is still a very lively person and a good friend to me too. I hope she can find her Mr. Right soon.”
No comments:
Post a Comment