Echo In The Way

Chapter 2: Restart

"Many people go there for luck, don't they?" "Well," he said, "You can say so, but every year varies." "Is that a gambit?" "I hope not," It is not a long walk, but throughout this period of time, Katsumi already mentioned most of the town. But somehow rather than the shrine, she knew everything Katsumi told him about. "Have you been to all these places before you moved out?" She thinks for a while, kicking a few steps outwards "If you meant the places you mentioned, yes I did went to some of them," she said, "But you know, it's almost a decade ago," Katsumi reckon, she mentioned about that she didn't really make any good memories throughout her childhood, reminiscing old stuff is always not a good idea, especially the bad ones. He quickly changed the conversation, "Com' on, let's speed up,"

Impression of the store for Hiromi is shocking. In her memory, there's no place that huge. Well-organized rows of shelves, endless products being displayed here and there. "Whoa..." she said, "Is this place new?" "It is, it opened a couple of months back, saying it was the biggest store in the region. It seems it made a name for itself." "It is not just huge, that's massive!" shouted, rushed toward the cart. "Hey, 'Lotte, wait!" "Aww, let me go and have a look, by myself. "You better not come back with a fruitful cart," "Oh, I'll not," she said, "Here I go!" She then went through the rows. "Yeah, she's going to come back with a fully loaded cart.

Since Katsumi needs to grab all the stuff he's going to need for the whole week, starting with the food. Choosing between ingredients and stuff is easy for Katsumi. Since he was young, his dad was already teaching him how to choose the best ingredient you can possibly find, same price and high quality. "This looks fresh enough," he said, comparing two potatoes on his hand. "Let's see, get the food, get the fruit... Oh, maybe I'll have a week of cereal breakfasts.

As he walked into the row where cereal and dried fruit take place, he heard sounds of packages hitting each other. He turned and saw Hiromi, well with a load of snacks of course. "You've gotta be kidding me," He quickly grabbed a couple boxes of cereal and walked towards her, "Hey 'Lotte, make it count, you'll end up buying the whole shelf." She looked down to her cart, candies, chocolates, chips and a lot more. "Oh," she said, making a stupid face to Katsumi, "These snacks caught me off guard."

"Do some snack control, you'll get fat,"

"AM I that fat?"

"No... I mean IF you eat like that!" pointed to her cart,

"These things?" she doubts, "I used to be like this, and I'm the fittest person in the room!"

"You can say?"

"You don't believe me?"

"We'll see,"

"Hey!"

"Alrighty, I trust you, okay?"

It's been a couple of hours since they went to the grocery store, "Hey," Hiromin said, "What are we going to eat later?" "You mean lunch? Do you have any ideas?" Katsumi usually cooks by himself, but since now having Hiromin with him, maybe that's not the best choice. But the fact that Katsumi isn't really sure about what sorts of restaurants in town is a huge problem. Reminiscing the banner, the one he saw on his way home, he quickly took out his phone and searched for the name, luckily enough he was able to find the brand new restaurant around there. "Heh, we're lucky enough," he said, "There's a new restaurant around here serving Asia cuisine, you down?" "Yeah sure, why not."

To Katsumi, it was a whole new experience, having the first time hanging out with a friend, and she's a female; having the first time going to the grocery with a friend, and she's a female; having the first time having a lunch with a friend outside, and she's a female. For everything he did today, it was all new to him. Regardless of how many times, he's not messing around. He knew this girl had been through a lot, and now she's back to this town. There's no way to let her down.

"You wanna try this out? It tastes good," Katsumi said, pointing to his plate of chicken rice. "Can I? Then I'll take a bite," Looking at Hiromi, somehow Katsumi cannot see that 'abandon' figure on Hiromi. From these two days of hanging out, he cannot believe what she used to be.

"Hey," Hiromi said, "Am I, uh... Bothering you?"

"Hmm?" he asked, clearly she's still thinking she has been bringing a lot of inconvenience to Katsumi. "Wassup with that."

"You know, I've been bothering you since Friday. I don't feel like you're happy about it." She said, "I think I should stop bothering you."

"Why would you say that?" he asked, "Friends are meant to be trusted, depends. You won't call me a friend if you don't trust me, ye?" "But..." "You're being friends with me, because you trust me. And I don't fucking care about what you want to talk about or talk shit to me, cause I'm here for anything. Are you clear? As long as I'm still here, I'm always here for you"

"Katsumi..." "Uh, I'm uh," Katsumi stopped right away, he knew that he had gone too far. Shit, what am I gonna do? "Thanks..." she said, "Anything?" "Anything is alright. Like I said, as long as I'm here."

Woo, I was lucky back there. He cannot believe he'll say such a thing to the girl he just met. They're taking care of one another. Hiromi never trusted somebody that much after she left the town. But from what Katsumi said to her, she could trust him even more. That caught her in tears, she covered her face. "Hey, I'm sorry," Katsumi said, "Did I talk too much?" "That's not it," she said, wiping the tears off, "I'm just so happy cause there's someone who cares about me." He smiled, "Don't be a crybaby, let's head back after this."

"Thank you for today, Katsumi," She said, after leaving the restaurant, "Thank you for being by my side." "Anytime, Hiromin. Anytime." He said. While they're on their way home, he remembered that Hiromi told him about the curry house. "Hey, um. About the curry house," he said, "I think I can come along and help." "Really? But you sure about that?" "Definitely, close to my house, someone I know. I can't think of any job that is better than that."

"Thank you! I'll text you about it!"

"You don't even have my number."

"Give it to me then!"

"Ask me,"

"Please?"

He sighed, "Don't spam me once you have it, promise?"

"Deal!" she said, with a satisfied smile on her face.