Searching For The Sun

I open my eyes and find myself in an apartment.

In front of me is a rather petite woman with long, straight, slightly reddish black hair squatting down petting a rabbit.

With that kind of hair color she must get a lot of sun.

“Ah, P-chan what am I going to do? I got another email for the job I applied where they say I don’t have enough experience. Honestly how am I supposed to get experience if no one will hire me to get experience?”

Oh, I see.

Yeah, I’ve always thought that was a stupid way of saying, “thanks but no thanks we had someone else in mind all along.”

All of a sudden, the rabbit, P-chan I think she said his name was, runs off and stops right in front of me.

Now this is different.

Can he actually see me?

Oh yeah, I’ve read that animals were pretty keen on being aware of supernatural things.

I wonder why that is?

I stoop down, focus and pet him.

“Why hello there. Aren’t you a cutie”

“Thank you. You don’t seem like you are here to hurt my master.”

“OH! You can talk!”

The voice is not really coming out of his mouth but is kind of radiating from him, if that’s a way to put it.

It seems like telepathy but not really if that makes any sense.

“Of course, I can talk. It’s just that you humans can’t hear us normally.”

The woman comes over and picks up P-chan and places him in his cage.

“It’s ok,” I say to him, “We’ll talk in a little bit, ok?”

I wait for her to finish what she’s doing and leave.

Once she leaves, I go over to the cage and open it up to let him out so we can continue our conversation.

Well, I didn’t HAVE to let him out but, I just don’t wanna talk to him like he’s some sort of prisoner or something.

“Ok, here you go, P-chan was it?”

“Thanks, my name is Peter but, my master calls me P-chan because I’m cute.”

“Nice to meet you, Peter. My name is Michiru Kinzawa.”

“So, what are you? My master can’t see you and you can hear me. I have not met anyone like you before, not that I met may other humans other than my master.”

“You’re a pretty smart rabbit.”

“I’m not just a cute face.”

“Hahaha you’re pretty feisty.”

“Well, I’m a little worried about what’s happening here.”

“Ah I see. You’re pretty curious for a rabbit. You usually hear that cats are the curious ones.”

“You see, I was trying to protect my master from you.”

“Oh, is that right? That was you being all fierce and protective?”

“Hey, I’m a rabbit after all. The best I could hope for was to distract you while my master runs away.”

“You really must love her, don’t you?”

“I do, she has been a very good master to me. This is the best life I have ever had.”

“Well, don’t worry I’m not here to hurt her or you. I am a ghost who was given a mission by God to help put history back on course or so he said.”

“You actually met him?”

“I did. He was very kind and allowed me to see my fiancé, Shinichi, a little longer.”

“I’m glad to hear that. So, if you came back for a mission from God and revisit your fiancé then I assume that my master is a part of this mission.”

I get tired of standing up looking down at him so I go ahead and have a seat next to him.

I begin telling him the whole timeline up to now.

“I see. So, you’re saying that my master is a part of this plan then.”

“That’s how I ended up here. So, now that I told you about me, tell me about your master.”

“I suppose I can do that. I think I can trust you so far. My master’s name is Yoko Usada. She has lived in this town all her life so far. She has been working at a call center but has been working really hard to get a job doing something with those com-pew-ter things. She would work all day at the call center and then come home to do classes”

“I see. I guess that doesn’t leave her much time to be with friends or have a love life.”

“She does see some people she grew up with now and then. As for love life, if you mean having a mate then she doesn’t have one that I know of.”

“That’s a good thing for me. Well, it’ll be good for her as well.”

Peter cocks his head and says, “I don’t quite get what you mean.”

“Don’t worry about it too much. It just means I’m about to give her the dream she’s been working so hard to find.”

“Really? Thanks Miss!”

Peter begins hopping around in jubilation.

“I just want to take a look around here for a little while.”

“Sure, I’m just going to eat some dried grass here. If you need to know something, just ask me, ok?”

“Thanks, I will.”

I take a look around the apartment.

It’s not a really big apartment but, a little bigger than the one Shinichi lives in and has a similar layout.

There’s the usual T shape where you enter through kitchen turn left and into the living room.

The kitchen is nicely organized with a variety of spices along with a small container of uncooked rice.

In the fridge is full of a variety of fruits and vegetables with a bit of chicken and pork along with the liquid cooking items like soy sauce and mirin.

She has a pretty healthy eating habit.

It’s nice to see that she knows how to cook healthy food unlike the junk Shinichi was eating.

I finish looking around the kitchen and go back into the living room.

As I enter the room on the right-side wall, I see a bookshelf next to a table with a TV on it.

Obviously, I go over to the bookshelf.

I always felt you can a person by the books they read and keep.

On top of the bookshelf is a small house plant and a framed piece of mass-produced artwork of a famous European artist.

The bottom shelves are filled with computer related books.

A variety of books on things called PHP, Python and Java.

Java? Is that a book on coffee?

Why’s it in with the computer books?

Will it tell me how to make it tasty?

I take the book from the shelf open it up and…it’s more computer stuff.

Well, that’s unfortunate.

Maybe you need to drink a bunch of coffee in order to work on that program.

I dunno, I’m not a programmer or anything.

The top shelves have books more to my liking.

It’s filled with books on fortune telling, the occult as well as various books on candle making and aromatherapy.

I remember some of these, others are a little newer so they were after my time, obviously.

She’s a bit crafty too,

She’s a good choice God, I approve.

Along the opposite wall is a folding futon couch.

I assume that’s her bed.

As I face the couch on the left side in the corner is Peter’s cage and now, I’ve gone in a circle in this square room.

Well, I think I got a good idea about her so far.

I walk over to Peter and sit down.

He hops over to me and says, “Well, what do you think?”

“From what I’ve seen, I think we could have had a lot in common to talk about.”

“That’s kind of sad to hear.”

He lowers his head in a sad motion.

“Aw, don’t be sad.” I start petting him. “Listen, there’s no way to know if we would have ever met. I lived in a different part of the country, I think, and I was getting set to start my life in entertainment production and marry Shinichi.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“And speaking of living places, I wonder if she will be ok moving to a new town if it meant that she would have the job she’s been looking for?”

“I don’t know I’m just a rabbit.”

“Ah, but you’re HER rabbit and you’ve been with her for quite a while so you can probably give me some idea of how she would think.”

“I suppose so. Let’s see, I think when she started, she wanted a job here close to her family but it’s possible that she might be at her limits and will either give up soon or take the first one that comes along.”

“Yeah, constant rejection has a way of wearing you down. I guess there’s only one way to know now.”

“Oh? And what’s that?”

“I told you before silly bunny, ‘I’m about to give her the dream she’s been working so hard to find,’ and that’s what I’m about to do.”

“Ooooh.”

Just as Peter finishes his reply Yoko walks in through the door.

Wow, is it really that late now?

I look at the clock on the wall sitting above the TV and sure enough it is that late.

I peek into the kitchen and see her cutting a banana, placing the remainder in the fridge and heads to the living room.

Once she goes there, she notices Peter is not in his cage.

Oops, hope she doesn’t get spooked.

It seems she’s thinking if she closed the cage or not.

Peter comes hopping up to her.

“Here you go, your delicious banana.”

She checks the door to his cage, than goes back over to Peter and starts petting him.

“Well P-chan, I think it is time to give up on my dream of getting an IT job. I applied to every listing I could that I felt qualified for. I just keep feeling like I wasted my time and money.”

Looks like I gotta stop that from happening.

Hmm, I don’t want to shock her.

I know I’ll have the coin drop into Peter’s cage.

I kneel down and place my hands into his cage and begin to pray.

The coin falls from my hands and lands into a pile of hay in the cage.

“Another rejection I bet. I need to log in and delete my accou…”

I get up, peek over her shoulder and look at the email she’s reading.

Well, that’s a pretty perfect outcome.

She tosses her phone on the couch, reaches down, picks up Peter, raises him in the air and lets out a triumphant, “I DID IT P-CHAN!”

I’m glad I got to see this happy side of her.

She starts to hug him and he flails around.

“STOP! Please let me down.”

I can’t help but laugh.

Once she puts Peter on the ground, he sulks off to his cage to eat some grass.

“Uhg, I swear she knows I hate being picked up. Huh? What’s this?”

“Oh, uh, that. I had to find a soft place to have the coin drop and not spook her.”

“Uh, ok. Lemme cover it up a bit for you.”

“Thank a bunch, Peter. So, what do you think?”

“What do you mean?

“I made a prayer for her to get a job near Shinichi and it was answered.”

“Wow, that’s great.”

“Yeah, now it is all in her hands.”

“I see.”

Peter goes back to eating his grass and Yoko comes over, starts petting him again and says, “So, now what do I do? I know I was looking for a job but, I wanted to be here where my friends and family are. Is this really the only way? I don’t even know anyone in that area. But this is the job I have been looking for except not here. What should I do now P-chan?”

She reaches on top of the cage and grabs a small bag, pours some of the contents into her hand and offers it to Peter.

Peter starts eating the snack from her hand.

She starts speaking out loud again.

“I just don’t know. Is this really the only way?”

Peter stops eating.

“What are you talking about master! This lady gave you your wish on a silver platter!”

“Yeah, you’re right. I didn’t come this far to give up even if it’s not exactly what I wanted. Right! I’ll take it!”

This is just too funny.

She has no idea what he really said.

Just doing some self-affirmation.

Peter finishes up the snack she was offering him.

“Well looks like my master is going to take the job after all. I haven’t seen her this happy in a while”

“Oh, is that so? I’m glad she accepted the job. I just had to have faith that she’d do so.”

“Yeah, it would have been really bad if she didn’t accept. Maybe I would have had to get a bit spooky to give her a bit of motivation.”

“Y…you’d do that to her?”

“Well, it’s not like I’d so something out of some horror ghost movie. Just a little scare to steer her in the right direction. Besides, I am on a very important mission so I have to make quick adjustments in order to be successful.”

“I guess you’re right. So, what are you going to do now?”

“Hmmm, I will have to see about how I can get her in the same apartment as Shinichi.”

“I see. I’ll see you again, right?”

“Why of course you will. I just need to do a few more things.”

“That’s great. Take care.”

I close my eyes and go back to Shinichi’s room.

Once I open my eyes, I’m in his room and he’s already home.

His suit is hanging up.

I wonder how the interview went?

I’ll have to follow up later but, I’m sure he was great.

I look around the room and notice the business card still on his table.

Ah, there it is.

I wait for the right moment to grab it.

Just as I finish my thought, he leans back in his chair, stretches his arm above his head, gets up from his chair and goes to grab something to drink from the fridge.

I swipe the card from the table and fast travel to Mr. Momoi’s office.

Once I open my eyes I am in an office.

There is a couch next to the door that is facing a rather nice wooden desk and a very nice executive style chair with the back of it facing a window.

There is also a chair in front of the desk but, it’s nowhere near as nice.

On top of the desk is a stack of envelopes with some names on them.

I pick up the top one it has a name of Haruhiko Yoshimoto.

I open it and there’s a bunch of documents that are filled out when you join a company like normal and a map of the surrounding area.

I recognize the area that’s not too far from the apartment Shinichi lives in.

This is good.

Here’s some menus for the nearby restaurants.

A good variety there a little of each type from fast food, izakaya and a couple of nice sit-down places.

Next, I find a real estate listing for apartments.

I see they did think of everything.

Not much else in there so I’ll put it all back.

After I place the envelope back, I look through them to find Usada’s.

I pull out the real estate listing and place the business card in there.

That should take care of everything here.

Well, I think I am done here, for now.

I might as well head back and see how things went for Shinichi.