Linking Pieces of the Puzzle. Part 2

To our dismay, Mister Mitamo was nowhere to be found within his store as we arrived. Misako patiently waited for him at the front desk of his store while I took a gander around his shop, seeing his current repairs. I was flabbergasted at the watches of his clients, ranging from cheap watches, all the way to top of the range items. I could tell he was a respected man in his field to be trusted with such valuable items. His store was small in size, one could step from one side to the other in four or five paces, but that did not reflect his love for his craft or timeless pieces.

“Does Mister Mitamo get a lot of customers?” I asked Misako.

“Not many these days, these are probably the greatest number of clients he’ll get for a while.” She responded.

“That’s a shame. I truly love watches, I wish others would pick up on the beauty of this hobby as well.”

I picked up a watch with etchings on the backside, initials were engraved inside of a heart. I believed it to be a couple that decided to mark themselves on the watch. My heart fluttered thinking about mine and Misako’s pocket watches. I speculated as to who the ‘M’ and ‘C’ was on our watches; either it was an anime I used to love, or some sort of person’s name. I wondered if the ‘M’ was in reference to Misako…but then I did not know who had a name starting with ‘C’. I cursed myself for losing my memories. I hoped my memories would return one day.

“How long have you been working for Mister Mitamo?” I asked Misako as I inspected more watches.

She took a moment before answering, I knew she wanted to tell me the whole truth, but she prevented herself from doing so.

“N-Not very long. A few years now. Why do you want to know?” She spoke.

I had to choose my words carefully, I did not want to make her angry.

“Have you always loved watches?” I asked her.

“I have.” She acknowledged, “Since I was a child, I’ve loved them.”

I was somewhat sexist in my question that followed:

“It is a very weird hobby for a girl to get into, that’s for sure.” I commented.

Misako threw a piece of bundled-up paper at my face. I regretted making the comment. I knew she had a reason for getting into watches as a hobby, but she was not going to tell me the truth. I was still just an acquaintance to her.

“What else do you enjoy? Besides watches and schoolwork.” I asked her, curious about her interests.

“I-I won’t tell you.” She stuttered.

“Why? Is it something embarrassing?” I asked.

She nodded, hiding her embarrassment.

“I won’t laugh. I promise.” I stated.

Misako took a deep breather. Then mustered the courage:

“I like video games!” She blurted.

I was speechless.

“You said you wouldn’t judge!” She yelled at me.

“I’m…not judging. I just thought you were going to say something out of the ordinary. Everyone plays videogames these days.” I explained to her.

“I-I guess. It’s still embarrassing.” She spoke.

“Embarrassing is admitting that you like to keep toenail clippings or enjoy eating your test-burnt or something.”

She let a silent chuckle out the sides of her mouth. I was glad I could make her laugh, somewhat.

“You’re weird.” She spoke, puffing her cheeks.

“Suuure, I’m the wired one, geek.” I said, teasing her.

“Hey!” She yelled.

I ran up to her by the counter, I felt playful, so I wanted to mess with her a for a bit. I stuck my face as close as possible to hers, and faked a ‘nerdish’ accent:

“I bet you suck at Home-Brawler 6.” I said to her, playfully.

“I could beat you in my sleep.” She retorted.

“Let’s make a bet, if I win, you have to tell me more about yourself.” I challenged.

“What kind of bet is that? Are you actually just a creep?”

“I knew it, you’re afraid that you’ll lose to me.” I poked my tongue out, pestering the girl.

“If you lose, you have to buy me a new videogame.” She spoke.

Our duel was set in stone with her words. I admit, I challenged her so that I could get to know her more. I had taken Missus Takahashi’s advice to heart. I wanted to be a friend that she desperately needed. Mister Mitamo finally arrived at work, walking in, he had a look of surprise seeing me there.

“David? What are you doing here?” He asked.

“What? I thought you-”

“He’s here to help you, Uncle. This poor soul has volunteered to help with some of the repairs.” Misako cut me off.

“Oh, you are a STAR!” Mister Mitamo yelled; I could see his eyes shine with gold.

“Y-yes. I’m here to help.” I conceded.

‘She lied again to me. Why in the hell did she want me here?’ I thought.

Mister Mitamo prepared the counter to begin working. Misako and I worked heavily into the evening, toiling away as Mister Mitamo put his heart and soul into his clients’ watches. I was left with the easy sections of the job- cleaning the small parts and components. I wanted to do more, but I understood that Mister Mitamo did not know the full extent of my abilities in watchmaking and repairs yet.

“Have you made any other watches, besides those two?” Mister Mitamo asked.

“As I’m told no. My father said I only made one. He does not recall me making an identical copy of another.” I replied to Mister Mitamo.

“I see… still… it’s very strange.”

“Why do you say so?’ I asked.

“Well, I just remembered that I used to have the exact same type of alloy used to make those watches. They are expensive to get a hold of. I was curious as to how you got a hold of them?” Mister Mitamo explained.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

I could not believe what I had heard. My brain raced to place new pieces of the puzzle into motion.

“It’s like I said. The alloys in those watches are very expensive to purchase. They are only discovered in large quantities in the Congo.” Mister Mitamo continued.

I nearly dropped a watch component that I was busy cleaning. - I had not thought about it before. Those pocket watches must have been expensive to make. And I knew my family was not well off, since my mother was long-deceased, and my father was a single parent of three children. I kicked myself for not realizing it sooner.

“Then, I couldn’t have made those pocket watches!” I yelled.

Someone else must have made the watches, I was too poor to get a hold of those materials.