A year ago...
Date - 20 August, 2020
Day - Thrusday
***
"Is this the house?"
Yomi stands infront of a luxury looking white coloured door of a very big house.
She looks up at the wooden door and noticed that there's no peak hole and there were no door bell either!
Am i supposed to knock ?
She looks at both left and right before giving the door last glance as she steps forward!
She passes the suitcase in her left hand from her right hand and brings her right hand closer to the door to knock.
As she knocks, the noise echoes a bit... Like it got repelled from something inside and came back to the door itself.
She steps back immediately and holds the handle of the suitcase with both hands once again.
The sun was high in the sky and its past 10 am already! The street behind her was filled with crowd and traffic.
People were walking onto the street and vehicles passing by fills the entire street with nothing but footsteps and the continuous noise of vehicle's horn!
But completely unbothered by the noise behind her she stared at the door after knocking and stand there in manner with a glint of hope in her eyes.
***
The white long sleeves dress which is plain with no design on it which is just a long frock that goes from her upper part of the body to the lower part, reaching her knees.
A white colour belt that has a square buckle warped around her waist tightly which also shows her slim and very good posture of her body.
The white colour simple pajamas which is quite tight around her thighs and knees makes her struggle a bit when she moves but also tells the fact clearly that she is poor and never experienced the fashion much.
***
Is anyone even in the house ?
She tilts her head and keep staring at the door for a moment then while biting her lips nervously she decided to knock once more.
As she steps ahead and brings her hand towards the door to knock once again... A sudden creaking noise from the door comes and the rounded handle which is on the left side of the door starts shaking.
And the next moment, the door opens!
Yomi's eyes widens and she immediately brings his hand down...
A young looking, tall guy steps out, while staying close to the door and blocking the entrance fully, he stand tall against her.
Yomi immediately backs off and clears her throat quickly and without wasting any time she bowed while bringing her head all the way to the 90° angle in a sincere greeting.
"I ... I am kasumi yomi"
"Its very nice to meet you"
She slowly raises her head and steals a quick little peak on his face and it stunned her all of a sudden.
The spilt second when she saw his face and those eyes which seemed to staring directly at her soul!
W- Why is he looking at me like that?
Yomi waits for a bit to hear if he says something to her in return but strangely he didn't said anything.
She pulls herself back and stood there, still can't decide wither this guy is being cautious or just don't want to talk at all.
After a few moments of silence where he simply stands at the doorway and stares at her while she can't even get to look into his eyes.
The wind blows slowly swaying her golden blonde hair gently and touching her face lightly which sends a sudden shiver throughout her entire body for a moment and her gaze went on to him instead his face.
He is wearing a white colour shirt and brown pants which seems very casual outfit but to her it something she only seen mens wearing only in some sort of occasion or something!
His sleeve's button was open but the sleeves wasn't folded up and it was wet and seems a bit dirty too.
He seemed very young but the moment her gaze goes from his outfit to his face that strange dead looking eyes which has dark circles beneath it she got a complete different feeling.
By looking at his face, even though he looks so young, she feels like she is facing a grown man!
It looked like he have his hair coloured blue to her which is just because of the contrast of darkness inside of the house and sunlight that has very brightness outside.
...
"I- I am from a nearby village kayabuki in miyama district, the one on the northern side of the city..."
Her voice breaks the silence which came out quite very slow barely above a whisper.
"I came to the city in search for a job but i couldn't able to find one!"
"My friend suggested me to meet you for that soo..."
She hesitates between every word she says and even though her voice was way too low to hear and the noise of rough wind blowing and the constant noise of horns behind almost blends her voice into nothing, he stayed still just there and listens to her.
"Do- Do you have any job for me ?"
"I- I can do anything!"
"I know how to cook and i can sew clothes a bit too..."
In the middle of the sentence she peeks once more at him and saw him still staring at her with the same expression without saying anything!
Did he even heard what i just said?
Her hands clenches onto the handle of the suitcase she is carrying and after a small pause she decided to repeat in case he didn't heard her first time.
"Umm..."
"I am kasumi... Yomi and i came from a village-"
"There is no job for you!"
He says all of a sudden cutting her sentence in the middle before she even start properly. His voice was enough to startled her so bad that she almost jumped out of the place she is standing because it's the first time she heard his voice since she saw him.
It was so dense and rough for a guy looking like his age, there was a strange vibration in his voice which didn't just stop her but almost makes her heart skip a beat!
But right after saying that without giving her even a second to think or say anything else he steps back and shuts the door right on her face!
The door closes leaving her completely shocked after what just happened within few seconds.
"HUH?"
"WHAAAAAAA!"
***
Few minutes later...
What was that !?
Yomi pouts with her mouth filled with a bread she is eating while sitting on the stairs right infront of the door. The suitcase sits beside her and the packet of bread she is holding in her right hand, flies off the stairs as the strong breeze comes once again.
The dust continue to go here to there as the vehicle in super speed passes by and strong wind comes.
The sun cast a hot and burning sunlight everywhere and despite the cold and strong wind that keeps blowing it still feels like very hot.
There is a tree just beside the stairs right infront of the right window of the house which was tall and dense enough to cast a shadow around the area which was cold and very comfy to sit in it.
He literally slammed the door right on my face!
I can't tell, if he was being rude or just don't wanted talk to me though but...
"But why does he had to shut the door right on my face!"
"Does he do the same with his parents?"
Yomi suddenly says out loudly! The annoyed voice of hers startied all of the passing by civilians and they started giving her a strange gaze as walks awau which she is completely unaware of!
She chews the bread and takes another bite from the bread she is holding and continue eating while staring at nothingness for a moment!
The sun was already high up and the street started getting empty either, the number of people are getting low and low as the noon approaches!
The strong and cold wind blows the tree next to the stairs she is sitting in the shadow of, it shakes roughly and a bunch of dried brown, red and orange colour leaves started falling down!
She looks up at the tree and suddenly a smile formed on her lips! Her iris widens at the sunlight coming through the tiny cracks between the leaves and cast a very beautiful shadow art on the floor.
Her iris colour which is red started changing with the contrast of sunlight hitting her left eyes directly but dispite the light casting right on her eye she didn't flinched or closes her eyes out of irritation!
The pace she was chewing the bread slows down, the left side of her cheeks fills up as the she gather all the chewed bread in one place just to adore the beauty of the current weather! Her lips were apart from eachother and her teeth was visible too.
The street started covering with the leaves as the constant noise of birds chirping somewhere keeps the environment so liminal and peaceful but despite this...
Yomi is completely unfazed by everything like she got lost in complete different world! The way her grip on the bread which rest on her right knee losens makes it obvious that she is lost in thoughts.
***
I didn't found any anger in his eyes or rudeness in his voice.
There was just something very strange in him!
Her eyes closes a bit as her eyelashes started covering her vision and her hair keeps swaying violently with another strong wave of cold breeze that comes from west direction with the rain cloud in the sky.
The dark and huge pile of clouds followed by more rain clouds can be seen clearly approaching ahead with incredible speed.
***
Should I try to talk him again?
But what if he just don't want to talk to me?
Maybe that's why he closed the door without saying much!
The bread she is holding in his right hand seemed a bit old and way too dry which also makes it harder to chew for her! She has to close his eyes sometimes and use the full power of her jaws just to chew the piece of bread she have in her mouth and swallow it!
I think...
I should try to talk to him one more time.
As she brings her gaze out of just staring at the tree's leave and puts the remaining bite of the bread she had left and started chewing it her both hands rest on her knee gently as she stares at the ground for a moment when...
All of a sudden she heard the door's opening noise from behind and she immediately turns around and saw him stepping out but this time he is wearing a complete different outfit and also holding a suitcase which she completly ignored!
She freaked out at his sudden appearance and tried to get up quickly to talk to him but she accidentally trips over her own dress and grabs the railing in the side to balance, meanwhile he took only a single glance at her and turns around to lock the door.
As she was busy balancing herself somehow, he tried to just walk past her while she was still struggling to stand properly but within a second she run ahead of him and blocked his way.
He stops and simply stares at her without saying anything meanwhile she is still trying to swallow the bread which is still in her mouth.
She tells him to stay right there with her right hand and leans down a bit and started slamming her right hand over her chest, after few seconds she somehow managed to swallow that piece of bread...
Tears started pricking at the corner of her eyes and she finnally took a breath after that and then finnally opens her eyes and saw him standing there and staring at her!
"I... I am so sorry!" She bows and takes her head all the way to her thighs almost touching knee showing a deep and sincere apology. Her dress curls around her stomach as she bows down that much causing wrinkles appears on that area.
As she raises her head back up her hair sways and fells right on her face covering the entire right part of face and some part of her left side!
She immediately shove the hair back and adjusted it so it doesn't fell back down!
"I am kasumi yomi-"
"Its very nice to meet you again"
Yomi greets him once again even but he doesn't seems any interested in talking with her. Her voice was quite breathless almost seemed like she is in a hurry.
She adjusted her dress while continuing...
"I am from a nearby village kayabuki in miyama district on the northern side of the city"
"I came here in search for a job and-"
"There's no job for you!"
He says while cutting through her words without even letting her finish again and tried to walk past her.
HUH !?
"Wait- Wait- Please wait..."
She turns around as he walks around her and rushed towards him omve again to block his way once again...
"Please! I- I am begging you..."
He stops and glances at her face once again which tells clearly that she is about to cry! Her eyes were wide and very teary.
He didn't said anything but he did stop at her call too.
Tears started filling her eyes, the contrast of the sunlight and the watery reflection makes it looks like her eyes changed colour from red to brown.
"I am looking for a job over a month and i couldn't find any!"
"No one wants to accept me in any kind of job because I am from a village..."
"M- My parents struggled with their life just to sent me to the city so i can live a better life but..."
"The life in cities is way harder than the life I ever imagined!" Her voice hitches here for the first time.
"M- My friend told me that if i ask you about a job y- you would help me in some way—"
"Please... You're my last hope!"
"L- Look..." She rushed towards the suitcase that is sitting on the stairs and opens it to grab something out of it meanwhile he didn't even bother to look back at her just stares at nothingness but despite this fact... He did actually waited!
The grip of his on the briefcase suddenly tightens...
***
She opens her suitcase in hurry, her hands were shaking so much, tears were already blurring her vision but in the worst position situation where her heartbeat is so loud she can feel it against her chest...
She searchs through the stuff she had in the suitcase which is nothing but a few sets of the same clothes she is wearing, another packet of bread which looks green on some parts and an old red colour handbag which is ripped in almost every side.
While searching through all of those stuff she kept grabbing anything that is in the way and throwing it away like its not hers, first that handbag, then that last packet of bread she grabs them throw it out of the suitcase carelessly.
Where is it...
I remember i put it here...
Ah~ there it is...
She grabs a pile of paper out which was buried beneath her clothes along with it an envelope accidentally slips out and fells out of the suitcase which she picks up this time and threw it inside the suitcase and rushed back at him with the papers.
Her dress gets drags accross the ground which even started getting cover in dirt but she didn't even think about it and reaches him.
"L- Look... I graduated from kitakuwada high and i was the t- top student in my too"
"I- I also know how too cook too I won the cooking compitation in my village three time"
She shows him the certificate of the school she graduated from six months ago and a medal made out of metal with yellow polish on it to make it look like gold medal for winning the cooking compitation 3 times in row in past 3 years!
He was actually looking at the papers she is showing to him but with absolutely no change in expression or any sort of emotions! Like a statue.
"A- And w- wait a second!" She tried to hands over the papers she is showing him but he just didn't move his hands one inch to hold it.
At this point she is breathing so roughly, it almost feels like she just completed a marathon, her face was covered in sweat and despite the wind which comes in every few minutes the tension didn't fazes even in a slightest.
She rushed back to the suitcase and grab something from the corner of the suitcase, it was something in a transparent packing on it, she grabs the papers she is holding in her left hand rubs back to him.
One of the many papers she is holding in her hands slips out of the pile and fells on the ground which says ...
(Congratulations Yomi Kasumi for completing the highschool with top 1% score in miyama district)
But she didn't stops to pick it back up and runs straight back to him.
She came back to him and shows him a handkerchief which has a very beautiful and incredibly detailed sewing work on it in the shape of flower with using only thread in more than 27 colours.
"I- I made this last year and it even won the compitation of best sewing design in my village!"
"I- I can also play many types of instruments and I can make any type of dish too..."
She waited for any sort of response from him but he is not saying anything but he does looking at the stuff she is showing him.
But after seeing no response from him she immediately walks infront of him and clasps both of her hand on her waist to bow as down as she can...
"Ple- Please... I- I will do any kind of job you give me-"
"I promise, I- I will never give you a chance of complain..."
A request that is more than a desperate request, it was a plea filled with a ton of emotions and desperation.
Her words were already unclear and her voice became rough and her sobbing increased enough to be noticed clearly.
***
"I told you, I don't have any (job) to give you!" He says with the same tone as before, there were no anger in it which shows that he is not annoyed but there were no emotions which can tell that he even cares for the amount of begging she did infront of him.
HUH...
She raises her head back and saw that he is already walking away from her after saying that once.
She watched him waking away without even turning back or saying anything else.
Tears finnally slips out of her eyes and slides on her cheeks, her lips were stays apart and a shock on her face that's what was visible but...
The amount of pain stayed in that heart, the amount of tears stayed in those left unseen by him, by everyone!
She frowns and her head went down, left behind in a despair, as she left staring at the ground, her hair falls over her face to cover the tears that is now falling off openly.
***
Wind kept blowing and the noise of leaves rustling with eachother keeps echoing, the only thing that touched her tears was the wind but she needed someone to wipe them...
People keeps looking at her with a questionable gaze but none stopped to ask her about it, the person she made her last hope, didn't even waited to see her tears...
When no one left for her and she found herself stranded in the middle of nowhere, her heart shatters!
***
I- am sorry mom! Dad!
I failed— yet again...
To Be Continued...
