Secondhand Memories (Pioneer English Cell Phone Novel)

Lost

Chapter 201

Lost

"Where are we going?"

I snapped out of my trance.
We were now walking through a grungier side of town.
The streetlights were dim,
houses were more ramshackled,
and there was an eerie silence that settled.
My gut churned and my mind told me
we weren't walking in the right direction.

I looked around. "The subway...?"

Where was the subway? It should be around here.

This place looked alien and unfamiliar at night.

Airu stepped a little closer to me. "W-where are we?" She whispered, slightly distraught.

"Daijoubu yo. It should be around here." I assured. I threw her a quick grin. "Let's just keep walking."

Japan is a safe place. No matter where you go, no matter how lost you are, safety shouldn't be a problem. Or so we all believed.

Chapter 202

Lost

Around fifteen minutes later, even I could tell we were really lost.

Even though I have been to the hospital countless times,
I've never walked to the subway station before.
My house was nearby,
so I just usually walked home,
or my mother would pick me up.

But this area was uncharted territory for me.

It wasn't a good situation to be in at all.

"Err..." I muttered. "Let's double back."

She nodded and tightly clung to my arm.

I wasn't sure what she was doing that for, but in this scenario,
I couldn't blame myself for feeling relieved to have company.

Was this a mistake?

Chapter 203

Lost

Unfortunately, all the small streets looked the same,
and soon we found ourselves in some back alleyways.

"Eto..."

I looked around us. Nothing looked familiar.

In Japan, small side street and road names
were numbers
and enough to confuse
even taxi drivers.
If I called my mom, I wouldn't know what to tell her,
and she would probably need half an hour just to find the street we were on.

I gave her a ring anyway.

I felt safer when I heard her voice.

"Okaasan?" I paused.

"I think we're lost."

Chapter 204

Lost

She told us she would be right there as soon as possible. If she can find the place.

With time to kill, the two of us sat down on the curb, our heads in our hands.

After a moment of silence, I glanced at Airu, only to find her grinning from ear to ear.

"What are you grinning about?" I asked, stupendous.

She nearly broke out in laughter. "This will be quite the story to tell."

"Some story..."

"The story of how Seiji has got no sense of direction."

"Hey! What is that! You're not going to tell anyone else about this! You got me?"

She giggled and covered her mouth with the back of her hand.

Our voices echoed around the street and against the houses a little too loudly.

"Shhh!" I whispered at her.

It only managed to crack her up even more.

"Urusei yo!" I reached over to clamp my hand over her mouth.
For a second she quieted down.
Then I realized what I was doing and jerked my hand back, now with a touch of lipstick on my palm.

Embarrassed, I apologized profusely. What was I doing? She wasn't Aoi.

But it was no use because she had resumed giggling.