“You really will be alright, Mirai-chan?”

For the nth time Mirai heard her mother ask as she was waiting their butler loading her suitcase into the car baggage. She was going to depart to London that morning.

“Mom, it’s not like this is the first time I travel to Europe, you know,” she smiled reassuringly.

“But usually you’d have at least Tokine and Hayato with you so I and your father would not have to worry,” her mother replied mentioning her maid and butler assistants. “Now, you’re going alone.”

“Don’t worry, Auntie,” this time Yuri spoke for her. “I have had my men make sure each of accommodation for Mirai-chan in London is perfect. Also,  Saaya-neechan would be close since she livesonly in the next city to London.”

“Yeah, Mom, don’t worry, okay?” she convinced her mother. “I need to go there for my study’s sake, and it’s only for a week.”

Her mother still reluctant to let her go, but once her father emerged from the front door of the mansion and urged her to get in the car, her mother could only hug her briefly before letting her go. She bid good bye to her mother and Yuri. Maids and butlers of Shida house bowed in sync as the car started glided away.

“Thanks for letting me go alone, Dad,” she turned to the man beside her.

Her father smiled, patting her head, “It’s hard, you know, but I need to learn to do that since you’re now an adult.”

She hugged her father happily, “I love you, Dad.”

“Love you, too, my baby daughter.”

She jokingly countered, “I guess I’d never get change of status from being the baby daughter.”

Her father laughed briefly, “You’ll forever be the baby of our family. The only one.”

After dropping her in the airport, her father departed to his office. She was standing alone in the entrance. Staring at the boarding sign, she inhaled a breath. It would be her first solo travel. She was a bit nervous, but she was determined to go. She was Mirai. She had to chase for her dream until she got it in her hand, no matter the risks.

**********

She woke up with a smile. She was already in London, staying in a luxurious hotel Yuri had reserved for her. She had just arrived last night, but she couldn’t wait to walk around the city despite her tired body.

Getting up to sit, she grabbed her personal digital assistant. She checked onto her schedules. Yes, she had planned the activities she would be doing in London, which most of them was watching the plays of Royal Shakespeare Company, and shopping. She didn’t explicitly wrote her main goal of visiting London for she wasn’t sure yet how looking for Ryosuke would progress.

Her first schedule for the day was visiting that certain college. Her smile widened by itself, hoping that in a matter of hours she would get to see Ryosuke again. Adrenaline rushed in her vein as her excitement leveled up.

She was wearing a baby blue blouse under the knee-length brown winter coat and for the bottom, she chose a pair of dark jeans pants. After putting on her low boots, applying light make up and securing her small strap bag on her shoulder, she was ready to go. Down the lobby was the taxi driver that would take her to the college. She was friendly chatting with the driver during the trip, asking some about the city and the college.

She wasn’t sure if Ryosuke was in the campus that day, but by the information she and Yuri had gathered, he was most likely still working with his team for the coming business competition, and the best place to do that was the campus.

She looked so small walking among these people, but it didn’t make her feel inferior. Confidently she trudged onto the pavement road leading to the building.She casually approached a girl, which she guessed a Caucasian, asking in a fluent English whether the girl knew Ryosuke Yamada.Unfortunately the first girl didn’t know. When she had asked several people and got nothing, suddenly someone tapped on her shoulder. She turned around to find a girl a head taller than her with shoulder-length blonde hair.

“Sorry, but I heard you’re looking for someone. Maybe I could help you?” the girl asked in British accent.

“Yes,” she answered then explained in the same languange. “I’m looking for Ryosuke Yamada. He majors in  Business Management here. Do you by any chance know him, Miss?”

The girl broke into smile, “Ah, yes! I happened to be in the same team with him last semester.”

She smiled back in joy, “Really? Do you know where I can find him?”

The girl seemed to be thinking shortly before answering, “I saw him in the student lounge just now.”

Her heart swelled in anticipation hearing the information, “Could you tell me where is that?”

“I’ll take you there,” kindly the girl offered. “I’m Nancy, by the way.”

She reached out to shake the offered hand, “I’m Mirai Shida. Would it not trouble you?”

“Oh, no problem. I have free time,” Nancy shrugged and gave her a code to start walking.

She walked at Nancy’s side while they were making small talks. It turned out that Nancy had ever done a group project together with Ryosuke and a few other friends. Nancy told her that Ryosuke was quite a charming figure in their major, and with the latest achievements he made, he got himself a spotlight in the campus.

They reached a door with the name display written Student Lounge. She had read it in the campus directory that this was the place where many student activities were held. Once the door opened, she saw a lot of people busy with their own business. Nancy lead her to a more secluded area where more people that seemed to be in discussions caught her sight.

“There he is!” Nancy suddenly exclaimed.

She followed where her new friend stared at and met a view of a discussion group, but she couldn’t see Ryosuke. However, after looking more carefully, she recognized his figure. He was one of the two smallest men in the group. His back was facing her so she couldn’t see his face, but she just knew it must be him.

“Yama—“ she hadn’t had the chance to call him when suddenly Nancy called out.

“RYOSUKE!”

She got surprised at first at how Nancy called Ryosuke by his first name, but she quickly realized that it was not Japan where people called someone’s first name only if they are close. In here, calling each other with their first names was common practice.

Since her call wasn’t heard because of the noise around, Nancy walked up to the group but she herself was frozen in her spot. Suddenly nervousness took over her confidence. She was supposed to follow Nancy and greeted Ryosuke and his friends, yet she could not make even a step forward.

From where she was standing, she could see Nancy reach the group and greet them. It seemed that they all had known each other. She could hear Nancy’s voice, but she could not make out her words just because her attention was absorbed solely by the man she thought to be Ryosuke. She watched every detail and gesture of that man. At a point, after Nancy half turning while pointing with her thumb at her direction, she anxiously held her breath.

That man’s head moved, like in a slow motion, turning to look at her direction. The moment she saw his face, her eyes widened and immediately blurred as tears started welling up. IT WAS REALLY HIM! It was indeed Ryosuke! Despite her shock, she also noticed the surprise in his expression when they met gaze. He broke the connection up when Nancy said something which he replied with a smile and a thank you.

Her attention diverted from him when Nancy returned, telling her to wait for a moment and then bid her good bye. She thanked Nancy before they parted. Just as Nancy left, she turned to see Ryosuke only to held another breath as she found out that he was already walking towards her. She gulped tensely, and her heart started getting violent the closer he got. When they were standing face to face, she just realized something. She remembered in the magazine pictures, he still sported black hair, but the Ryosuke standing before her had dark brown hair and was wearing a black frame spectacles. The new look of his captivated her.

“Mirai?” he addressed her, no smile on his face, instead he had a questioning gaze.

Her hands uncosciously gripped the strap of her bag. Tampering down her nervousness and mustering a smile, she greeted, “Yamachan, long time no see.” She was back using her Japanese language.

“What are you doing here?”

Upon hearing that question her giddiness vanished, so did her smile.

Perhaps noticing the change in her expression, he immediately added, “It’s been a while. How have you been doing?”

Noticing how his tone softened and his lips curved up slightly, she regained her joy to see him. She smiled at him, “I’m fine,but it seems that I come at the wrong time?”

Instead of answering her, he asked more, “Are you in vacation or...?” he hanged his sentence.

She caught up. “Ah, it’s... I’m here to study. I’m going to watch Royal Shakespeare Company and see if I could learn more from them.”

“So... you’re taking acting as your major?”

She nodded, “Yes.”

“Where are you staying?”

She mentioned the name of the hotel.

“I know that place,” he remarked then suddenly asked, “Can I borrow your phone?”

To answer him, she took out her phone from her bag and handed it to him.

“I’m saving my number,” he said while working on her phone.

Without him seeing, her smile widened. He gave his number even without her needed to ask.

“Here,” he handed the phone back to her.

“Thank you,” she never ceased smiling.

As she started to think that they would be able to converse more, she found out how wrong she was.

“Mirai, I’m really sorry,” he said. “I’m in the middle of an important discussion, so I can’t talk to you for long.”

“Oh, okay,” she was too lost to think another answer.

“I need to go back now,” he tilted his head slightly, indicating at where his friends were.

“Okay,” she replied, trying so hard to prevent herself from frowning.

“I’ll call you later. Enjoy your time here,” he gave her an apologetic smile in the end before leaving her all alone.

She didn’t have a choice but leave the lounge.

Her heart clenched in pain. She thought on how cold Ryosuke treat her just now? They hadn’t met for years, and she had come all the way from Japan! She almost cursed him. How could he leave her just like that?

She was still sulking while walking out the campus. She felt really dejected. What should she do after that? She wondered. It was so sad that she had taken the long trip wishing to see the man she loved, but his response was far from her expectation. Or perhaps she had wrongly assumed that he would warmly welcome her? They were best friends since they were kids after all. Or... were they still best friends?

Her reeling thought interupted when her phone buzzed. She grunted, not in the mood to talk to anybody. Still, she checked on the gadget. Turned out, it was a text message. She uncosciously tightened her hold on the phone once she read the sender ID.

It was from Ryosuke.

She suddenly felt nervous, and again her heart beat faster. She opened the message, read it carefully, and eventually broke into a happy twirl. She literally twirled on her toes with a huge smile plastered on her face. She reread the message to make sure she didn’t read it wrong.

Up for dinner? I’ll pick you up at 7 tonight.

She held the phone to her chest, feeling so relieved for the first time. After a few seconds, she started typing a reply. She had to retype her reply for several times because she wasn’t satisfied, and still had not found how she should answer without giving an impression of being too excited. In the end she settled on the shortest one.

Okay.

With that, she bounced her way towards her next schedule: visiting the famous theathre.

**********

Ryosuke was putting on his jacket when his phone played the song which told him a new text message was received. He read the message, and eventually smiled.

What should I wear? Formal or casual?

It was a message from Mirai. They were going to go dinner together in an hour, and based on her text he bet she was in the middle of choosing her attire. He couldn’t help but relay a memory of them going out for dinner before he departed from Japan years back. The last night he was in Japan, he invited her to a dinner since he wanted to make their friendship up before they parted. Since he forgot to tell her to wear casual clothes, he was surprised to see her wearing an exquisite satin dress when he picked her up in her house. She had to change into casual attire before they eventually went to eat in a small restaurant. That was purely his fault. In their life, dinner invitation meant that they would eat in a grand restaurant where every guest had to dress in formal attires that she must be assuming his invitation was the same.

Just casual.I’ll be in the hotel lobby in about half an hour.

He was about to send the reply before deciding to add, And don’t forget your coat.

He walked out from his apartment then down the road towards the hotel Mirai was staying at. At first he wondered, why did she choose a hotel that was quite far from the Royal Shakespeare theathre. The hotel was closer to his college instead. With the latter thought he eventually realized that probably watching the plays was not her sole intention of coming to London. It was rather obvious that she came also to see him, but he wasn’t sure how he should respond to her if later she revealed it to him.

When he arrived at the hotel, she was surprisingly had been waiting.

“I hope you don’t mind if we’re gonna walk to the cafe,” he said, gaze softening.

She smiled and shook her head, “I don’t mind.”

They walked side by side. Subtly he observed her as they stepped in silence. She was wearing a knee-length light brown coat without a scarf, a bootlegs black jeans with a pair of light brown low-boots. In her hold was a small leather clutch bag. It was the simplest fashion he had ever seen on her, still she looked good in those. Also, the new thing from her was her hair. The last time they met, her hair was still cut short above her shoulder since she prefered sporty style. Yet, now, her hair was long. Both her long bangs were made into a small braid and tied together behind her head while the rest were let down until above her waist. She looked way more feminine than years back.

“Where are we going to eat?” her question pulled him out of the daze.

“A simple cafe owned by my friend,” he answered without looking at her as he felt his cheeks warmed.

He brought her to one of his favorite cafes. He c