Tomohisa fixed the shades perched on top of the bridge of his nose as he drove on. He was getting really drowsy and needed a power nap and fast. Maybe when he reached his obaa-chan’s place he could sleep until the next day but now he still needed to continue driving. About 15 more minutes and he’d finally reached Chiba, the one place where he could think thoroughly. His obaa-chan’s place was still a bit further away but he really needed to eat, he heard his stomach complaining about half an hour ago. Luckily there was a small convenience store just up ahead. He parked his car at the side, the afternoon sun making him more drowsy when he got off.

There were only a few people inside the convenience store; as to be expected. He opted for a sandwhich and a bottle of soda which were both located at the back. He made his way over there where he saw a woman enjoying a strawberry ice cream cone with a basket hanging on her arm. He chose from the sodas inside the refrigerator. The woman he saw was humming softly to herself and he had to laugh quietly; it was the Doraemon theme. Turning, he viewed her from the corner of his eye. Pretty girl. Her skin was white, almost like porcelain, her shoulder length hair framed her face well. Nice lips, a petite nose and she had the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen! Enough of this, he had to get to his grandma.

He walked on ahead but apparently the pretty woman wasn’t looking.

"Watch it! Look what you've done!"

"Me?!” He was left with an incredulous tone. “You're the one who wasn't looking!" 

All Tomohisa wanted was to get himself some lunch and head on to his grandma's house/bookstore but what he got was a nuisance in the form of a pretty yet strong petite woman. Now he had to deal with the strawberry ice cream on the girl's shirt which wasn't his fault anyways!

The woman clicked her tongue and sighed as she dabbed the ice cream stain with her handkerchief. "I can't send you the dry-cleaning bill or anything anyways..." And with that, Tomohisa watched as the woman paid for whatever she bought before quickly disappearing outisde.

Literally… what just happened?! Tomohisa was still shell-shocked. It wasn’t even his fault! No use worrying about it now. With a shake of his head, he went over to the cashier and paid for his soda and sandwhich. He could see the cashier was trying his best not to snigger. It was a small convenience store, he was sure the cashier saw what happened.

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With a corner turn, Tomohisa reached the KINO bookstore. It looked more like a beach house than a bookstore though. It had two storeys and the ground floor was the interior of the bookstore while the second floor provided the homey environment. He removed his shades and entered the bookstore, the door dinging along with it hitting the bell.

“Konnichiwa! Welcome to KINO bookstore!” A young man only seemingly a few years younger than Tomohisa greeted him when he entered.

Tomohisa took in his surroundings first. The last time he was here, he was twelve years old. It was fifteen years later and things had not changed one bit.

“Can I help you sir?” The young man at the counter asked, his hands behind his back as he expectantly looked at Tomohisa. The latter walked over to the counter, looking around before asking;

“Is Yamaa Tomoe here? She’ll be expecting me…”

“Ah chotto matte ne…” The young man gestured, raising his hand before walking over to the spiral staircase at the back. He stayed at the end of the staircase so he could still keep an eye on Tomohisa. “Sumimasen Yamaa-san?! Someone is here to see you!” He bowed to Tomohisa with a sheepish grin, gesturing for him to wait a little more. They both heard footsteps from upstairs until Tomohisa could see a shadow looming at the second floor. A head poked in from the staircase space and Tomohisa came eye to eye with his beloved obaa-chan.

“Tomo-kun?”

“Hisashiburi obaa-chan…” Tomohisa smiled softly. He hadn’t smiled like that in a long time.

With joy, Yamaa-san went down the staircase and ran to Tomohisa’s waiting arms. “Ah my boy! I’ve missed you so much!”

Tomohisa relished the feeling of having his grandmother close again. Aside from his mother, she was the only one he could get comfortable with. “I missed you to obaa-chan…”

“Oh let me look at you…” Yamaa-san pulled away and placed her hands on Tomohisa’s shoulders to get a good look at him. “My my, the pictures you’ve been sending me don’t do you justice now my boy…”

At 27, Tomohisa was at the peak of his looks. Raven black hair, succulent lips, inclined nose; the face of a true Japanese ikemen!

“Come come upstairs! Are you hungry? What would you like? Bread? Curry?” Yamaa-san went on as she led Tomohisa up the staircase whereas the young man from before moved away, still offering that smile. “Oh by the way Tomo, I’d like you to meet Yamada Ryosuke, he works here at KINO.”

“Hajimemae Tomohisa-san.” Ryosuke bowed.

“Mm, yoroshiku…” Tomohisa bowed back before his grandma pulled him forward again.

“That boy is a joy to have here, he reminds me of you you know…” Yamaa-san chuckled. She brought Tomohisa to their quaint living room, ushering him to sit down. “You rest there and I’ll get some snacks…”

Tomohisa looked at his surroundings. The place gave that homey feeling to anyone around it. There was a small television in-front of the couch where he sat, also a coffee table. At the side was the dining room which would lead to the balcony overlooking the beach behind the house. Further into the corridor was where he supposed the bedrooms were. He suddenly heard the door to the bookstore open again followed by Ryosuke’s voice.

“Okaeri Maki-nee!”

“Tadaima Ryou, where’s obaa-chan?” Something about that voice perked Tomohisa’s ears up.

“She’s upstairs with--”

“Oh good! Obaa-chan tadaima!”

At that moment Yamaa-san resurfaced from the kitchen with a tray of cookies. She placed it on the coffee table in-front of Tomohisa then made her way to the staircase. Tomohisa was just helping himself to a cookie when he almost choked on the snack.

“Ah okaeri Maki-chan! Eh? What happened to your shirt? Why is it pink?” Yamaa-san questioned.

Maki sighed as she rolled her eyes. “I ran into some guy at the convenience store, he was cute, too bad he was clum--” She stopped just as she reached the end of the staircase. It was as if there were lightning bolts when she and Tomohisa stared at each other.

“You!”

“You!”

Confused, Yamaa-san turned to her grandson and then to Maki, her eyebrows furrowing. Maki straightened up, still holding the bags from the convenience store. “Did you just hear what I said?”

“What, about me being cute?” Tomohisa smirked. “Yeah I did, pretty much…”

Maki’s white face immediately turned a shade of red. “Well… I think I’m going to drown myself at the beach would you please excuse me….”

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This was the first time in his life that Tomohisa felt awkward and amused at the same time. He sat there on the couch beside the pretty-looking girl which he found out was named Maki (now changed into a clean shirt) while Yamaa-san stood in-front of them.

“I’m surprised you two don’t remember each other! You were playmates when you were younger!”

Tomohisa and Maki both turned to each other. There was a split second when Yamaa-san saw the recognition evident in their faces.

Maki turned away, looking at the window where she could see the beach. She remembered him now but that was a long time ago and they were just kids.

“Maki-chan, your okaa-chan and otou-chan won’t be coming back…”

“Eh?”

“Gomen ne Maki-chan…”

“Well anyways…” Yamaa-san spoke, snapping her out of her reverie. “Tomohisa why don’t you freshen up, you’ll be staying at the end room…”

“Chotto…” Maki spoke up. “That’s the room next to mine isn’t it?”

“Don’t worry honey I won’t peek at your side…” Tomohisa chuckled earing him a glare from Maki.

“Please don’t call me that…”

“Oh you two…” Yamaa-san laughed. She gestured for Tomohisa to follow her, leaving Maki grumbling on the couch.

“Anou, Maki-nee!” That was Ryosuke calling. She stood up from the couch and to the top of the staircase where he saw the young man expectantly looking at her. “Nani Ryou?”

“Anou… it’s 3 o’clock, can I fetch Mirai-chan now?”

“Ah, hai hai go on ahead Ryou, I’ll take care of the shop…” Maki gestured with her hands before going down the staircase. She replaced Ryosuke’s spot by the counter and waved goodbye to the young man. “No shortcuts okay?”

“Hai Maki-nee!”

Ryosuke had just left the shop when Yamaa-san came down the staircase.

“I didn’t expect for you and Tomo to meet that way again.” The elderly woman said, standing beside Maki.

The latter laughed slowly as she traced the spine of one of the books in-front of her. She wasn’t expecting that particular meeting herself. Now Tomohisa was going to think she was some kind of crazy woman.

“Maa, I guess it really was my fault too… I guess I wasn’t looking where I was going…”

“Probably my fault too…”

Both Maki and Yamaa-san turned at the voice. Apparently Tomohisa was done resting. He walked over to them now dressed in a loose fitting shirt and basketball shorts.

“Ah Tomohisa! Are you well rested now?”

“Hai… I’m fine obaa-chan.” Tomohisa answered.

“Oh well then this would be a good time for Maki to show you around…”

“Eh?!” Maki’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. Was Yamaa-san tired or something? Why would she let her (Maki) tour Tomohisa around!

“Is there a problem with that?”

“I’m fine with it…” Tomohisa said, a smirk growing on his handsome face.

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 Chiba was such a wonderful city. Tomohisa loved the breeze coming from the sea as the place was one of Japan’s number one ports. He and Maki were currently trekking around the neighbourhood just enjoying the afternoon sun as it was about to set.

“So why come here to Chiba?” Maki asked. They were just walking around some of the residential areas. “I mean, I heard from your obaa-chan that your dad’s some kind of politician back in Tokyo…” she let the sentence flow for itself.

Tomohisa smiled ruefully to himself, kicking a stone in-front of him. “I hate it there… everyone knows my father and they expect me to be like him…”

“Well aren’t you?” Maki challenged.

They looked at each other for a minute as if wanting to read each other’s minds. Tomohisa looked away first. They reached the area where steps led to the beach and chose to stop by the railings. “I am in no condition to be a politician. Why would I waste my time being good and bad at the same time?”

Maki laughed softly at that. “Touche…” She turned to him, the smile still there from her laugh. “So you came here to Chiba to escape that?”

“Well, not really… I came here to paint…”

“Ah so you pursued it huh?”

Tomohisa cocked his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

Maki breathed in before she walked in the direction of the beach with Tomohisa following she continued; “You were the one who always wanted to draw when we were little, guess you pursued it…”

They’d finally reached the beach where Tomohisa saw a mom and her toddler playing in the sand. The two people had seen them too and had started approaching.

“Maki-sensei!”

“Ah konnichiwa Akira!” Maki greeted the boy, bending down to carry him in her arms. The mother followed pursuit smiling to Maki.

“Konnichiwa Maki-sensei…”

“Konnichiwa Kobayashi-san.” Maki bowed as Akira hugged her closer earning a giggle from her. “Out for an afternoon stroll Kobayashi-san?”

“Un, Akira’s father had to work overtime so it’s just the two of us…” Kobayashi-san stopped when she noticed Tomohisa standing there.

“Ah Kobayashi-san, this is Yamaa Tomohisa, Yamaa Tomoe’s grandson.” Maki said, gesturing to Tomohisa.

The latter bowed his head politely. “Hajimemae…”

“Yoroshiku…” Kobayashi-san greeted back. “Akira come, let’s get on home…” She stretched out her hands and Maki handed the boy back to his mother.

“Bye bye Maki-sensei!”

“Bye bye Akira!” Maki smiled to the boy then waved to Kobayashi-san as they walked away. When she turned back to Tomohisa, she saw him smiling at her.

“Eh? What’s with that smile?” She had to admit. He looked good when he did.

Still smiling, Tomohisa shook his head and turned to the beach which was showing a lovely sunset. “I’m guessing you’re a teacher?”

Maki blushed. “Yes elementary…” It was a Saturday so no classes for them. They stayed in silence, just looking at the sunset which was taking Tomohisa’s breath away. After a few minutes, Maki turned ahead and walked back to the direction of the steps.

“Well, I hope you find your inspiration for your painting here…” she smiled. It was as if that smile shone brighter than the sunset… well, in Tomohisa’s opinion. He followed Maki’s path soon after one last glance at the beautiful sunset.