CHAPTER 11:THE REQUEST

After recuperating, Kai helped his friends out the door. He told them that he couldn’t see them again. They left and that was it. He had no friends besides Sensuke now. Kai finished working and went to sleep. He woke up and began work again.

During his break, Kai could not go back to the schoolyard so, he decided to go to an arcade. He hadn’t had any fun for a while. Unfortunately, most of the arcades were closed during school hours but he finally found one shortly. Once Kai entered he had to show a pass given to him by his father which granted him access to the games amongst other things. The pass showed that his was visiting from a foreign country and that he was not attending school. Kai looked at the selection of games. It was a pretty old arcade so they still had some of the older editions of Street Fighter. He was actually smiling as he played for he hadn’t played a game in years due to his forced studies.

After his break, Kai returned to Mr. Akama’s restaurant. He began mopping the floors and began thinking of Ai. This was what he was doing when they first met. Kai really wished he could talk to her again. His quest for friends had failed and now he was back where he started. He wanted to ask her out on a date but, wasn’t sure of her response.

Sensuke could see Kai, leaning on his mop with his eyes in a daydreaming state.

"Ok, Kai, out with it. What’s on your mind that’s distracting you from your work?" said Sensuke after smacking Kai in the head.

"It’s that girl who returned my apron the other day." said Kai.

"Ah jeez, you’ve been here how long? Over a week here and you’ve fallen in love. You sure believe in love at first sight, don’t you?" said Sensuke.

"I guess."

"So, what’s her name and tell me about her."

"Her name is Ai. Her kindness and beauty were that of an angel’s." said Kai.

"Aren’t you exaggerating just a little?" said Sensuke, frowning.

" Not at all. You know, I’m thinking of asking her out."

"You retard! Do you know where she lives? Does she have a boyfriend? Does she even remember you?"

"Well I don’t know, but she did say I’ll see you soon." said Kai.

"Ah heck. Don’t you know anything? She probably just wanted to be friendly."

"I see. Well maybe, I can just talk to her. You know, to get to know her better."

"Right. Still, how are you going to find her if you don’t know where she lives?" said Sensuke.

"Well, she’s been coming past here everyday for some reason but, I’ve always hidden in the kitchen when she walked past. Maybe, I can talk to her when she comes by."

"Good idea, you coward. Though I should caution you, maybe she knows self defense so don’t say anything that’ll make her mad." said Sensuke.

"You’d be no use to us with broken limbs."

"Thanks for the advice. I’ll just wait until she comes by."

Kai continued working a few hours, sweeping the floors and washing dishes. At around 3:30pm, Ai walked by. Sensuke poked his head out the window.

"Hey, Kai! She’s coming. Get ready!"

Kai straightened his hair and walked out the door with a bag of garbage as an excuse to go outside the restaurant. He saw Ai in a track red and blue tracksuit running and pretended to look overwhelmed.

"Ai! What a nice sur..."

Before he could get another word out, the two collided on the sidewalk. The bags of trash fell to the ground. Kai, assuming he had turned the situation into a debacle got up and decided to walk back into the restaurant without saying a word.

"Hi Kai," she giggled, "You were saying?"

Suddenly, Kai’s head whipped around.

"You still want to talk to me? After I knocked you flat on your ass?"

Realizing how he was speaking, Kai now knew his second chance to start conversation had ended. He began walking very quickly back into the restaurant.

"Hee hee. You are a strange boy." she said.

"Go on."

She was acting as if none of the bad things had happened. Kai decided to play along.

"Anyways, what brings you around here?"

"I’m on my way to my swimming practice. I’m sort of late though"

"Oh, well uh, I, I, was..."

In the window, Sensuke was pointing to his watch and making signals to hurry up.

"I see. Listen Ai, are you busy later on this evening?" asked Kai quickly.

"Well no, why do you ask?"

"I um, was wondering if you would like to do something to do this evening?"

"Oh? You mean a date?" said Ai.

Kai froze and looked at the ground to hide the redness on his face.

"A date? Th, that’s c,crazy. You people jump to conclusions too fast! Just cause some asks if you want to..."

"Sure." she said giggling.

"...first you want this....now you want a date and furthermore I... wait a minute, what did you say!?" Kai screamed. "I said I’d be glad to do something with you."

"W, well that’s great, what time?" "How about seven?" she said.

"That’s great! That’s when I get off work but uh, isn’t that a little late? It gets dark pretty soon." said Kai.

"Well, there’s a lot of people who stay out at night since it’s Saturday. Besides, you look strong. You could protect me, right?"

"Um, sure. I’ll protect you. By the way, where do you live?" asked Kai.

"Oh, I’ll give you my address." she said.

Ai took out a pen and paper and wrote down her address on the paper and gave it to Kai.

"So, I’ll see at 7:00?" said Kai.

"Right. I’ll be waiting outside my apartment building."

"Great, then I’ll see you later."

"All right, I look forward to it." said Ai and she continued walking.

Kai looked at her until she got to the end of the street and turned the corner. Kai went back into the restaurant. "YEEEEESSS!" yelled Kai.

He began dancing around as if possessed while shocked customers and waiters stared.

"Nice going, Kai." Sensuke said sarcastically.

"A, a date? That’s crazy!" Sensuke said mimicking Kai.

"Oh, shut up, will you?" Kai laughed.

Sensuke continued mopping the floors, laughing.