At first she was hesitant to provide him with such a large sum of money. But after convincing her for a while, she finally agreed to lend him the money.
“Here!! Don’t spend it recklessly and only spend per your requirement. Try to save as much as you can.” She nagged as she handed him the money.
“Thank you mom! I’ll spend it wisely.” He replied enthusiastically.
And as soon as he got the money in his hands, he hurriedly rushed towards his room.
**** ****
As he sat beneath a giant tree to shade himself from the hot rays of sun, he took a peak at his watch. It was already 10:10 and yet there was no sign of Akashi’s arrival. They had agreed to meet at exactly 10 AM at the community park.
Hiro had reached the park even before the time they had agreed to meet. Having reached the park even before 10, he had been waiting for Akashi for almost half an hour.
“Just where the hell is that big moron? How can one be late in the time set by themselves?” Hiro mumbled feeling all annoyed.
Feeling restless, he took a peek at the sky above him to calm him down. Lumps of white clouds in different shapes and sizes were aimlessly floating in the vast blue sky.
Buzzing noise of cicada and rising temperature of the surrounding was indicating the arrival of summer season.
“Cat!! Pft- hahahaha.” He chuckled as he noticed a lump of cloud which resembled the face of a cat.
“She too used to make such stupid assumptions in the past whenever she witnessed a strange looking cloud. I guess I kinda picked her habit as well. I wonder what she’s been upto.” He mumbled as he began to reminisce his past upon witnessing the cat shaped cloud. “I just hope that she’s doing fine.”
Just as he was reminiscing his past, a gentle gust of warm breeze blew past him. He immediately closed his eyes as some of the leaves from the trees above started to fall down. 𝙚𝙙𝙤𝒗𝒆𝒍．𝒄𝙤𝙢
“Sorry for making you wait dude. While leaving the house, I got caught by grandpa.” Akashi spoke in a state of breathlessness.
“Why were you caught by your grandpa? Did you do something mischievous” Hiro questioned while trying to open his eyes. As he opened his eyes, he found Akashi covered in sweat. He looked extremely exhausted and out of breath. “Why do you look so tired? Did you run or something?”
“Yeah I had to run away from him.” He replied, gasping heavily.
“First off all, take a moment to breathe properly.”
“Inhale!! Exhale!!”
Akashi began to inhale and exhale deep breaths to stabilise his breathing. After few inhales and exhales, his breathing finally stabilised.
“Now tell me why did you need to run away from your grandpa?” Hiro questioned as Akashi stabilised his breathing. “Did you steal his money or what?”
“No it’s not because of that reason. He just wanted to play Shogi(Japanese chess) with me today.”
“Well you could have come after finishing a game too. That way you wouldn’t have to run away from him.” Hiro mumbled.
“If only it were that simple. Once he starts to play, he won’t stop until he feels satisfied.” Akashi exasperated. “Also I did actually steal about a 1000 yen from his coat.”
“So you did steal money. Stealing is not a good thing Akashi.” Hiro was really upset to find out about his misdeeds.
“I’ll pay him back hundred fold when I make it as a pro.” Akashi replied without an ounce of guilt. He wasn’t even a bit remorseful towards his actions.
“No Akashi!! You don’t steal money. You steal once and it’ll become a habit. So you’re going to return back the money you stole from your grandpa to your grandpa.” Hiro erupted.
No matter the reasons, he didn’t want his friend to take the path of thievery under any circumstances. “Let’s go to your house and give him back his money. You’re also going to apologise to your grandpa for stealing from him.”
“Okay I’ll give him back his money and I’ll also apologize to him. But can’t I do it later? Like we’re already here, so it would be kind of wasteful to go back again.” Akashi began to make excuses. He wasn’t willing to go with Hiro that very moment.
“No we’ll head to arcade later. First we’ll return him his money back. Quick!! Let’s head to your house.” Hiro sternly denied his request and forced him to lead him the way towards his house.
**** ****
After about 20 minutes of bus ride, they arrived at his house. It was a typical Japanese style house made up of wood.
“I’m home.” He yelled as he entered his house.
Just then a lady in her thirties made her way towards the front door.
Black, short hair which barely reached her shoulder hung freely as she walked towards the front door. While looking at Akashi with her black monolid eyes, she spoke;
“Why have you come back so soon? Didn’t you say that you’d be going to arcade with your friend?”
“I’ll go after a while. Also this here is my friend Takahashi Hiro.” Akashi introduced him to his mother.
“Hello Hiro!! I’m Akashi’s mom.” As she introduced herself, she greeted him with a sweet smile in her face.
The lady infront was non other than Akashi’s mother. Hiro immediately bowed his head down and introduced himself to Akashi’s mother.
“Hello Mrs.Nobara, I’m Takahashi Hiro. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He introduced himself and greeted Akashi’s mother while bowing his head.
“I know about you Hiro. Akashi speaks a lot about you. Hiro can do this, Hiro can do that. Whenever he starts to talk about you, he just won’t stop until his mouth gets tired.” She laughed as she began to reveal about Akashi’s words about him.
“Mom!!” Akashi exasperated as she began to reveal his secrets.
“Okay!! Okay!! Come inside and have a sit. I’ll bring you some watermelon.” She invited them inside.
“No! No Aunty! You don’t have to do that aunty. We’ll be gone in a while.” Feeling all nervous, Hiro tried to refuse her hospitality.
However she kept on insisting him to come inside and have something to eat. She wouldn’t let him leave on empty stomach.
Giving in to her insistence, he agreed to her offer.
As they walked inside and his mother left their sight, he whispered on Akashi’s ear;
“You remember right? You need to return his money and apologize to him.”
“Yeah!! Yeah!!” Akashi hesitatingly nodded his head.
They then headed towards the room at the left side of the hallway.
Knock!! Knock!!
“Come inside.”
A deep and hoarse voice came from inside the room. As Akashi slid the door open, he witnessed Akashi’s grandfather sitting infront of the sliding window, basking in the morning sun.
His short silver hair glowed ethereally as the rays of morning sun fell on top of it. With a slightly tanned skin, the wrinkles in his face and hands flowed like waves of sea.
Despite his age, his brown eyes were still gleaming with vitality. As if he’d live for another 20-30 years, he looked very young for his age.
“No matter how many time I witness his appearance, he feels very young to me. If it weren’t for his wrinkles and silver hair, people might mistake him for a 40-50 year old. He looks too young for his age.” Hiro whispered as he witnessed the appearance of Akashi’s grandfather.
“Would you believe me if I tell you that his real age is 84?” Akashi whispered.
“Huh 84!!” His eyes opened wide in shock, he couldn’t believe Akashi’s words.
Even though he had seen his grandfather previously, he looked the exact same as the time when he took part in their first prefectural tournament finals against Ronden elementary school. For this whole time, he never asked of his age and neither did Akashi ever mentioned about it.
“What are you two standing over there for?” His grandfather spoke in his hoarse voice.
They quickly walked towards him and sat with their legs folded.
“How have you been Hiro? It’s been such a long time since I last saw you.” He questioned him about his wellbeing. “I heard that you won the national championship the other day. Congratulations for your triumph. And I’m sorry that I couldn’t make it.”
“Oh no! You don’t have to be sorry grandpa. It’s all my fault for never visiting you. So the one who should be apologising should be me grandpa. I’m sorry grandpa.” He bowed his head down and apologized to Akashi’s grandfather for not visiting him.
Even though they had been friends for so long, it was his first time visiting Akashi’s house. And it was his first time meeting with his mother as well.
Just like him Akashi had never visited his house as well. Although he had met with both of his parents.
“Oh no, no, you don’t have to be sorry about it Hiro.” Akashi’s grandfather felt uncomfortable about Hiro’s apology.
Just then Akashi too bowed his head down and apologized; “I’m sorry grandpa for stealing your money.”
“Hahaha…., I’m very glad that you’ve apologised to me for your misdeed.” As Akashi bowed his head down and apologized to his grandfather, he burst out in laughter. “I already knew about you stealing money from my coat’s pocket. I just didn’t want your father to hear about your misdeeds that’s why I didn’t react. But I’m really glad that you realised your mistake by your own.”
“Grandpa actually-”
As he was about to say something, Hiro lightly pulled his t-shirt and stopped him from completing his sentence.