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'Whoa! That's the coolest thing I've ever heard! Hehe. Am sorry to have offended you, it was rather foolish and irresponsible of me to have said something like that... Can we be friends? You can call me A!'

The newly written scribble read.

Kenji scoffed in disbelief. But nevertheless, he scribbled back- 'It's fine; however please don't throw such words without knowing their actual meaning and learn to love your life a bit more. I am K'

As if, I love my own life, Kenji thought as he shut the book and returned it again.

The scribbles went on for a week. From likes, dislikes to hobbies, Kenji talked to A about everything. Well, almost everything. They didn't share anything personal and it was kind of a relief for Kenji.

But, talking to A was interesting for Kenji as he had found a reason, however tiny, to look forward to school.

Kenji walked towards the library at a faster pace than usual. He went to the Literary Section and grabbed the same blue book and turned to the last page, his eyes glistening with excitement to see if his pen pal had written to him.

His smile faltered as he didn't find a new message from 'A', scribbled with his messy handwriting. Kenji felt a bud of disappointment blossoming within him.

Guess I was excited a little too soon. He thought.

He sighed as he walked away to the terrace for the lunch break.

A week. It had been a week since A wrote to Kenji. Kenji would have been lying if he said, he didn't miss the stranger. He tried his best to suppress the thought of looking for A, but, his curiosity won over his conscience.

Guess he was lonely for too long.

With careful steps, he walked up to the librarian, Mr.Satoru.

"Satoru sensei..." [Sensei means teacher] Kenji called out. The middle-aged librarian looked up with a 'bored' look.

"What is it Ueda-san?" the librarian asked. [San is a Japanese honorific used with a person's name to express politeness]

"Umm, can you tell me about the last issuers of this book?" Kenji said, showing the blue-covered book to the librarian.

Mr.Satoru looked at Kenji with an unreadable gaze before moving forward to look up the list of issuers.

"Ueda Kenji, Nishi Akio. These two are the only issuers of the book since the last 2 years" The library said in a bored tone.

Kenji smiled. Nishi Akio. He bowed to the librarian and thanked him as he rushed to the computer room. He logged in to the school website as he proceeded to look for a Nishi Akio.

"Bingo," he said, as he found the student ID of Nishi Akio. It didn't have a picture, just a name, and a phone number. Kenji noted down the number as he went back.

Kenji anxiously held the phone to his ear as he stood near the booth after school. After 5 rings, someone picked the phone up.

"Hello?" a husky voice of a middle-aged man spoke up.

"H-Hello?" Kenji nervously replied back.

"Who is this?" the voice asked with an impatient tone.

"Umm, may I speak to Nishi Akio?"

"He isn't here! Go away to Seikai Hospital to find him! And don't call here ever again!" the man said in an angry tone as he hung up the call.

Kenji flinched at the loud voice as he put the receiver back. Rude ass geezers.

Kenji looked up the directory to see where Seikai Hospital was. Kyoto. It said.

It was far from Takayama. Kenji checked his wallet to see how much money he had left.

A part of him was yearning to hop on a train and ride away to Kyoto to meet Akio at the Seikai Hospital (it still confused him what the hospital was about).

But another voice kept saying 'Will it be worth it?'.

Kenji's curiosity won over his conscience. Again.

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