For a While

Night Patrol

It needs more than ten minutes for Akari to calm down. She gets down from her bicycle and walks around it. Her mind is empty but her heart is so heavy. Akari can still feel her hot breath in the cold night wind. She looks up, stares at the smiling moon in the sky.

How lucky. Akari does not say anything else with her inner voice. The short sentence is enough to show how envious she is of the moon, of the wind, of every trivial thing in this world that doesn’t need to feel such an uneasy feeling.

“Hey, you, over there! What are you doing at this hour?”

A circle of white light falls on Akari’s face, makes her take her eyes from the moon. Such a familiar voice for Akari. She thinks she has never heard of this manly voice somewhere before.

“Are you okay? Do you need help with anything?” The man in the police uniform comes and stands next to Akari. Looks at his face, Akari knows who this certain person is.

Akari is sighing right in front of the policeman.

“What are you sighing? You should be at home at this hour, little girl. I will help you reach home so you won’t be late for school tomorrow.”

“Aaah, can not you really recognize me? I told you that I am 21! I’m not a high schooler or something!” Akari raises her voice.

“I know,” answers the policeman.

Hearing his answer, Akari stares at him in confusion. So what’s the matter now?

“Someone at home might worry about you now.”

Akari laughs. She can’t imagine her mom worrying about her now. The lady in her house is now with someone she likes the most, her new priority. Even her passed husband, her first and true love, is nothing compared to this new man.

“Don’t laugh,” said the policeman in a low voice.

“You don’t understand.”

“I know. But it’s not the right time to laugh. If you don’t want to be at home at the moment, you must have somewhere else to be. I’ll help reach that place.”

“Like what? Like a cemetery? Haha,” Akari laughs, but her heart aches even more.

The policeman gets frozen by Akari’s answer. It’s not his first time hearing such a thing. In his whole life time, especially as he started working as a policeman, he can’t even count anymore how many times he has heard this depression word. But…

He never knew what to do.

Akari once again stares at the man in front of him. Still as neat as this morning duty.

“I see you’re on night patrol, Mr. Policeman. Are you alone all along?”

The policeman is a bit surprised by Akari’s question.

“I am. Why do you ask that?”

“If you are alone, than let me accompany you on tonight patrol!” Akari looks full of energy all of sudden. She makes so much movements and jumps around while taking her bicycle.

“No, you should not be on the road. I won’t allow you to do that.”

“I don’t care though. Now, where should we go?”

He gives up. Without any further discussion, he already knows that this girl won’t ever listen to him so he just follows what she wants. Akari and the policeman walk side by side. Akari asks so many questions about police duty to the one beside her. Until one time, she finally remember to ask him a crucial question.

“Oh, anyway what is your name, Mr. Policeman?” With her bicycle beside her, Akari keeps her eyes on him.

“Me? I’m Yoshikawa,” answers the policeman. He just gives Akari a short glance before focusing on the road again.

“Yoshikawa?”

“Yes.”

“Just Yoshikawa?”

Yoshikawa stops a moment. He knows that Akari wants to know his surname, but he feels a bit uncomfortable about it. Not that he doesn’t like her to know his name, it’s just they are not that close. Moreover, why does she want to know his name?

“Just Yoshikawa,” he stated.

“You know what, I can read the Yoshikawa on your uniform. Yoshikawa is not what I want to know. Tell me your surname!”

He does not answer directly. And it makes Akari mad. She can’t stop talking and forcing him to give her his surname. Until he can’t take it anymore, Yoshikawa finally tells her his surname.

He reaches his cap and takes it down a bit, so half of his face is hidden by the cap’s shadow.

“It’s Ryuji.”

Akari smiles until her eyes look like the crescent moon hanging in the night sky.

“Ryuji. Right. I’ll call you Ryuji from now on!” Akari puts her hands on her hips, feeling proud as if she wins over something.

“But I am older than you. You need to at least put a particle after my name.” Ryuji interrupts her, makes the girl’s happy atmosphere disperse.

“W-what?? No way! I must be older than you! I am 21, you know!”

“You keep telling me your age. It is weird since most women don’t like exposing their age openly like this. 21, huh. It should be around 5 years ago when I was 21. Wow time flies, huh.” Ryuji smiles faintly. On the other hand, Akari is so shocked.

“W-what!? You… you are 26?! Ain’t no way! I don’t believe you! No, no, there’s no way you’re 26. Right, you must be lying to me. Haha not so fast, boy. I know your trick!”

“Hahaha....” Ryuji starts laughing uncontrollably. He can not stop in a short time.

In the dark side of the road, under the moonlight, this alley was so quiet until it is filled by Ryuji’s laugh.

“Stop laughing! There is nothing funny.”

Akari is pouting. She couldn’t believe that Ryuji is too much older than her. She used to refuse the fact that she is no longer young. Now that she can finally receive that fact, she feels like everyone else is younger than her. Besides, Ryuji looks so young for his age. He is a man near his 30s. How could he have such a baby face?

“Haha… Sorry. The way you look so desperate knowing that I am older than you is way too funny. You know that policemen had to get in a special school and training for years, right? I was nothing at 21. Not even a policeman yet. Well, you are assuming that I’m younger than you, let me take that as a compliment. Haha, but it's still so funny.”

Akari is still pouting. Even Ryuji’s explanation can not stop her pouting.

“So, you’re an uncle.”

“…”

“…”

“HAHAHAHA…!”

Ryuji stopped laughing for a moment, but after hearing Akari’s statement he even laugh louder than before.

“Aaah, stop laughing!” Akari feels so embarrassed. She can feel her face burnt. She punches Ryuji’s shoulder softly.

“Hahaha… How can you ask me to stop laughing after saying such a thing. That is not fair. You can not call me uncle. We are just 5 years apart. I am likely your older brother.”

Ryuji raises his right hand high and pats Akari’s head.

“Let’s continue our night patrol and send you home quickly, lil sis.”

Akari does not answer Ryuji. Ryuji walks about 2 feet in front of Akari. She follows him in silence. Akari keeps her eyes on Ryuji’s back. A wide and steady back that reminds her of a figure she has missed so much.

The police station is getting near. Tonight patrol will end soon. Akari still doesn’t know where to go next. Should she spend the night in a hotel? But she forgot her purse.

Ryuji suddenly stops walking and looks back at Akari.

“Oh, I almost forgot. What is your name, lil sis?”

“Stop calling me like that. I’m not your sis or something,” Akari walks past Ryuji. “I’m Akari. Miyazaki Akari.”

Ryuji smiles and catches up with Akari to walk beside her. The police station looks more crowded than usual, especially at this hour. It’s already 1 am. Besides policemen, there are unfamiliar faces in there. From the glass window, Ryuji and Akari can see there is a couple talking to a policeman.

“Huh, who are they? It is very unusual. There must be something urgent. Miyazaki-san, let’s hurry head there!” Ryuji looks back and finds that Akari is about 2 meters behind him. She stops walking. “What is wrong, Miyazaki-san?”

Akari remains silence. She looks gloomy.

“Miyazaki-san--?”

“Akari!”