Stars Fell on Tokyo

06 | sakura

      "THIS WILL BE your room right here, Louanne. We don't normally have guests, especially those who show up out of nowhere but we like to keep it nice and inviting in case we do," Naoki informs as he sets her suitcase on top of the twin-sized bed.

      "Thank you for letting me stay here, Mr. Nao-I mean, Jiji," she caught herself mid-sentence.

      "No no, we're just grateful to know that our son is thriving in life. Honestly, it feels like forever since we last heard from him but he never once told us that he was a father now,"

       Louanne shifted awkwardly, the floor squeaked but her movement. She was also wondering why he never told them about her.

       "I'm sure he had a good reason," a reason that she may never understand.

       "Yeah, but I don't want to ruin the moment so I'll let you get settled in and I bet that you must be famished from your travels. My wife, Chō, makes the best spring rolls," he spoke humbly.

      "My father said that you own a noodle shop? Do you work by yourself?" Louanne asked.

       Naoki nodded. "I do and I've been running it for forty years-quite a while after Jiro was born. As for me working by myself, no. I have a few hands but since one of my employees was sick for a couple of days, hopefully, he'll show up tomorrow. He's actually your age."

       "Do you ever plan to get a bigger building someday?"

       "Not at all, people come with empty bellies and leave them full as they go. I'm grateful for the things that I have, the same thing goes for my family,"

     The way he spoke was not only filled with passion but there was wisdom. To him, family always has and always will come first. Her stomach grumbled again, probably for the fifty-fifth time and it motivated her to unpack her things a lot faster. 

      Her feet pounded the stairs as she hurried to the dinner table and with food being the only thing on her mind at this point. A few minutes later, there was only laughter and music at the dinner table as the three of them were able to catch up on the good times. Maybe a summer in Tokyo won't be so bad after all.

***

      The morning sun kissed Louanne's cheek through the window. She was used to hearing the crashing of the blue ocean waves or maybe even the seagulls squawking irritatingly but instead, she was awoken by the sun and the smell of breakfast. She remembered that she wasn't Hawai'i. She was in Japan and it was completely different from how things were there. The birds were singing from the rooftops and children were laughing as they played in the streets.

       Louanne rose up and sat in bed, letting out a croak as she stretched out her arms before she made the effort to crawl out of bed. Though the breakfast smell already snapped her out of her sleepiness. Once she made it downstairs, Sobo Chō was in the kitchen preparing the food.

      "You look well-rested, Louanne. I hope everything in the room was to your liking," she said.

      "It was very lovely," she took a big whiff of the air, "something smells absolutely delicious."

      "It's a traditional kind of breakfast. It should be ready in a few minutes so why don't you go wash up a bit," Sobo Chō maneuvered around the kitchen.

       "But where's Jiji?" she asked.

       "He went to open up the noodle shop,"

       "This early?" Louanne raises an eyebrow.

       The old woman nodded. "Yes, the early bird always gets the worm,"

      "I guess being a small business must be a handful," she said.

      "Oh, you'd be surprised at how enduring that man can be sometimes.

      After breakfast, Louanne wanted to take a stroll through the city, wanting to get used to the sights that came along with it. There were things that she had to admire and had to wonder why her father would leave this place. 

      She hadn't realized how far she wandered away from the house, instead, she found herself in the path of what seemed to be a thousand sakura trees, and thankfully it wasn't too far from the busy city. Behind them was a glistening river that lead right up to it.

     She walked up to one of the trees, her fingers grazing the bark itself. A welcoming breeze blew a pink petal toward her and landed in the palm of her hand. Louanne instantly wished she had brought her camera with her before she left the house. But now, she was living in the moment and she felt herself being surrounded by all the light pink. She never knew that Japan was looking this gorgeous in the summertime.

      It was more than that. She stepped out towards the river, not noticing a couple of boats rowing by. For some reason, Louanne knelt down on the soft green grass, firmly bracing herself as she extended her arms to the water when she inched closer to it. She shivered a little when her fingers came in contact with the silvery surface, creating a ripple.

      "B-Be careful!" a meek and timid voice quickly warned her, initiating her attention.

      Confused, Louanne paced back to the sakura tree. "Hello?"

      No answer.

     "Whoever you are, I hope you know that it's not worth sneaking up on a girl," she informed.

     Her guard was initially up but also her curiosity was getting the best of her again as she circled around the trunk. Quick footsteps followed behind her as she picked up the speed until she stopped for a moment and so did the footsteps.

     This gave her an idea. "I guess I'll be going then," she said in a sing-song tone.

     She took a large number of steps away from the tree, hoping to catch her mysterious person and go back to the river again. Once her back was turned, she felt a pair of eyes being laid on her before she can snap back around to see a head pop behind the tree.

      "You can stop hiding now. I know you're there," she said monotonously.

      Finally, a boy who looked to be around her age, though a bit taller in height. The boy's hair appears to be almost darker than hers. He didn't meet her gaze instead he kept looking down at the ground.

     "Who are you?" she asked him, taking a step closer to him.

     He doesn't say a word.

     "I'm Louanne," she told him calmly.

     He eventually looked at her, his fingers twiddling with each other. "My name is Kohei Isa,"

     "Kohei?" she echoed.

    He nodded.

   "That's a wonderful name,"

     A second to a minute of silence until he answered her again. "T-Thank you. I like your name too."