New friendship and past tragedies.

"Echoes of Love: A second chance."

[Chapter 33 Start]

We buried the cat in a nearby playground. Haruno was crying the entire time. It was a little weird. I know this may sound cold-hearted, but it was just a stray cat. I kept thinking "Why was Haruno crying so much?".

"What fate had engulfed little Myako," Haruno said.

Her sentence caught my attention. "Hmm?" I murmured as I looked confusedly at Haruno.

"Miki-san, Did you know her?" I asked.

"You remember the picture of the little girl where Myako was sitting right?" She asked, following it with "It was Jun-kun's little sister."

As she stared at the place where Myako was buried, she kept talking:

"Some years ago Jun-kun's sister Ayase, got sick from a fever. Jun-kun took her to the hospital the same one in front of the scene of the accident. After getting checked, when Jun-kun and Ayase-chan were heading toward their house, Ayase-chan noticed a starving cat on the roadside. It was Myako. After that day, Ayase-chan would daily come to feed Myako. She also introduced Myako to me. At that time, I didn't have Haru so I played with Myako and Ayase-chan daily.

One day, Ayase-chan went to feed Myako without telling Jun-kun. When she reached there, Myako was nowhere to be found. Ayase-chan kept calling for her but couldn't sight her. Little by little, She was standing in front of the road. Before she knew it, A car at full speed came in contact with her. It was death on impact. Jun-kun wasn't the same anymore after that. He hated Myako who would now sit on the place daily where Ayase-chan's corpse lay. And today, She went away the same way her caretaker did."

I was too stunned by what I was hearing. 

"Ah, I'm sorry. I was too engulfed in telling the story without caring, if you even wanted to hear it." She said as she wiped off the blobs of tears from her face.

"No, I did want to hear it. Jun-kun's my friend now. How can I not know of his pains." I said as I felt bad for Jun.

The sun had already set.

"I'm sorry for the troubles you had to go through today for me." Haruno said.

"No, It's alright. I feel guilty too for standing still and not doing anything for Myako until you asked me to."

"It's late at night and you must be hungry too. If you don't mind, I can cook something for you too."

I was too hungry to reject this delightful offer.

"If it's not too much trouble for you."

We went inside the house. Upon entering the house, we encountered a lovely face waiting for us inside. It was haru. He jumped at Haruno as soon as he recognized her.

"Woof Woof!"

"He must like you very much," I said as I got crumbled by the cuteness of Haru.

He jumped toward me and started licking my face. It was as if he knew what I said.

"We both are always alone in the house. So Haru's very excited to see someone else than me and Jun-kun."

"I want a dog like this too!" I thought with a delightful smirk on my face.

She pointed at a room and said "Please sit over there, I'll cook something for you in the meantime. If you need anything, please call me." as she wall towards the kitchen at the end of the hall.

I played with Haru for some time. She finally came. She entered the room with two bowls in her hand.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't find much in the kitchen so I cooked ramen. I hope it's okay with you."

"Oh, It's alright."

The ramen tasted heavenly.

"As you're Jun-kun's and Chako-chan's friend, would be my friend too?" She said with a smile. My face turned red.

"'S-Sure." I replied.

"Great! I wanted to go shopping tomorrow for groceries and new clothes. Can I have your number so I can contact you?"

And that's how we exchanged numbers. She didn't even ask me if I wanted to go shopping with her.

[Chapter 33 End]