Meeting You Again

CHAPTER - 3

My eyes flickered open only to see the man sitting in front of me, across the wooden table enjoying his seemingly warm cup of tea while making annoyingly loud slurping noises. He barely noticed that I was awake, taking the support of a huge box beside me I decided to stand.

At the same time a shilling pain in my leg made me jolt and I fell back with a thud, this seemed to have caught the attention of the man as he threw his cushion aside and made his way towards me.

When the face of the man came within my line of sight I could see the wrinkles surrounding his face, his hair black and a few greys streaks scattered unevenly, his height short and his clothes crushed.

Even still his face symbolized peace to some extent. The man stared at me with a lopsided grin.

"Looks like you're awake now, young man. Your slumber worried me enough" he said indirectly telling me that I've caused him enough trouble

"Ah..yes my apologies sir and thank you for taking care of me, now if you will excuse me" I said as I stood up to leave

"Now young man I am afraid you cannot leave until you tell me why the doctor said that you're malnourished" he asked

Wow this was intrusive of him..like why do you wanna know if someone's malnourished or not they could bebroke like me and moreover the food they sell here is gross. The food I ate at that eatery made me afraid of Japanese cuisine because earlier when I came here the food tasted much better.

I still remember the sushi I ate in Tokyo it was so damn good.

"Young lad , are you poor. Do you not have any money" he inquired

"That is not the case sir. Actually I....

And then Luka went on told him everything from being a foreigner to the very much believable story story he cooked up about his "Dad's" transfer and him needing a admission in the school near the mountain hill.

this is the whole thing. Sir" I said

''You've suffered enough for a day young man but I refuse to believe that there exists someone who will not like Japanese food. Let me cook you something''

"That is hardly needed sir" I said but to be honest I was hungry. My stomach almost growled at his offer

"Save it. Are you sure you want to get admission into Horou High School" he asked

"Yes sir I really would go there if I can" I answered I wonder why he asked that

"I am a senior teacher there I can help you if you want and by the way I think you can get in without my help too. Just know that I am not doing anything illegal or shady" he said

"That would be great sir. I look forward to your help" I replied..so that's the reason he looked somewhat familiar.

Oh I remember he was the homeroom teacher when I transferred to that school. Should I ask him whether he remembers me. I can try right

"That I'll do. I'm going to cook an absolutely delicious meal now you can watch the television if you want"

"Oh and I didn't quite catch your name young man" he added

"I am Luka Tsukino sir." I told him hoping he'd remember

"That's a nice name you have" he replied stepping off to where I think is the kitchen.

How even will he remember that was almost ten years ago.

I am pretty sure I am forgotten by everyone else too. Luka quit hoping that he will remember you, even by him you are forgotten as though you never existed in the first place. You see for you he was and is your one and only but I doubt that's the case with him. Quit thinking that he will say your name and engulf you in a hug as soon as he'll see you, quit thinking that he missed you as much as you did him. He might even despise the thought of you coming back even if it was for him.

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"Here comes the food. Here take these" The man said as he handed me a pair of bowls and spoon.

My mouth shamelessly watered at the sight of the appetizing food in front of me.

"Thank you for the food sir!"

"Luka you know I prefer to be called 'sensei'. I hope you can call me that if you don't mind"

"Yes Sensei"

"Do you know Dekisugi, the one who placed second in the quiz show last year? He is my student and Takeshi, who had a singing battle with the world famous singer Mr. Fuji, Gian was so happy even though that kid, he lost. He was brave since he was a child and what about Sunio do you know him? That kid, his family is the richest in town and he is the youngest Japanese to ever own a Rolls Royce Boat Tail" he bragged, the names were familiar and somehow I didn't find that irritating.

"Do you know Shizuka Minamoto the pianist and cello player. When she was a child, she used to play violin but she wasn't very much good at it, more like she was terrible. I was the one who suggested that she should try cello instead. She is my student too and you know Nobi-- "

he added but  was interrupted by the ringing of my cell phone. The call was from an unknown number.

"Sensei please excuse me" I said as I received the phone call.

"are you Mr. Luka" the voice asked

"yes I am. May I know what business do you have with me"

Luka was overjoyed as the voice informed him that he had landed a job as a barista at a café near the school. He had asked the inn owner and the eatery owner, whose food was bad enough to make him want to puke  to inform him if they or someone they were familiar with had any kind of job opening but he'd never imagined that those people were actually helpful and he'd get a job this soon.

He also read a text message asking him to get his ID and other documents from where he had applied for a new Id after asking the inn owner where he could get a new one as he had tricked him into thinking that he was a poor scammed tourist. The inn owner had told him that his nephew worked for the government and he'll arrange that.

The text message had told him to come as soon as possible so he was thinking of the most believable lie he could feed this 'sensei' guy. He didn't enjoy lying but he had to in order to survive here.

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