Fate of Pandora - Book II

Quick Detour

"I know, but it's not that easy." Coalt looked down.

"You're working on those two jobs to be able to live here, right?" Ayame asked him and he nodded. It wasn't like he could get any important job with good pay while he was a recent immigrant with no contacts - even if he had the work-visa and everything else normal in his passport, he didn't know anyone important, and nobody knew about him. He had thought he could rely on a friend from his father to help him establish there, but he ended up with a door shut in his face when he first arrived in Japan.

"If you need a better job, I will see if I can get something for you!"

Coalt looked at her in surprise. "How?"

"I have contacts. I can ask my boss if he knows of other restaurants or chefs that need workers, and give a good impression of you," she said with a smile. "Of course, it may not work. But if you can get a better job, you can come here on some nights to help Midori. What do you think?"

"Yes, that might work." Coalt would appreciate it very much. He turned to the old woman and made it clear. "If I can free my nights, I can come here a few times during the week. For today, I'll fix what I can, but it won't be much. Be sure to keep all this furniture; you don't need to throw everything away."

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" The woman hugged the boy again. "You donating your time for the orphanage is greatly appreciated!"

"Gah!" Coalt soon discovered he couldn't judge Midori like one would judge a book by its cover. She was a healthy older woman, and as strong as a bear.

After the quick chat, they returned their focus to recovering the old building as fast as possible. Ayame salvaged as much food as she could and helped to prepare dinner for everyone. Meanwhile, Midori followed Coalt to tell him what the most important things to fix first were. He did his best for not knowing when he could come back to finish the rest. Because of the herd of children coming and going to talk with Midori, the two didn't have an opportunity to tell her their story about the other ring bearers.

The old woman felt something at her feet and when she looked down, Kairi was leaning on her.

"Oh, you're back already? Where is Toya?" The cat answered with a meow and the little boy walked up to Midori. "There you are. Have you rested well?"

The boy rubbed his eyes, still sleepy. "I was scared. What happened?"

"No need to be scared. The earthquake is over," the woman said, and patted his head.

"Earthquake?" Toya was confused. His attention then turned to the tall young man, who was fixing a door back in its place after changing out the twisted screws for new ones.

"This one was easy. The closet here has the same problem. If the wood isn't damaged, I can just change the screws, too, and-" He crossed eyes with the small boy. "Oh, you're awake." Coalt found it weird that the boy kept staring at him. Little Toya walked to him and raised his arms, but Coalt wasn't sure what it meant. "Er..."

Midori giggled at the boy's reaction. "I think Toya wants you to hold him. He likes tall people to carry him, so he can be up high."

Coalt shook his head and kept working. "Sorry. I'm busy now."

When he turned his back to them, Midori held the little boy up and placed him on Coalt's back.

"Hey, wait! What are you doing?" he complained when he felt the boy grasp his hands on his shoulders. The moment Midori released Toya, he managed to climb up Coalt's back and sit on his shoulders, his arms now holding his head. Coalt turned to Midori, who was laughing at how fast the boy got a hold on the young man.