Sunday, 6 May 2012

10:05 Local Time

===

~ Nobita Nobi ~

Almost three weeks has passed ever since we tried to seek the answers of the dream that I've had, and with little to no useful information derived from it. It was still unclear what the true meaning of my dream was, or who the girl in my dream was.

And yet, I haven't done anything particularly useful either. I haven't tried seeking for more 'truth' about my dream for the past 3 weeks or so, ever since we visited that shrine.

Maybe I might get the answer as I go along my life, I thought. I sat down on top the tatami mat inside my room with nothing to do. It was Sunday and there was no homework to scare me away. The manga that Doraemon and I had bought had been wasted away, all 13 chapters finished in no time.

Hmm, I thought that maybe, taking a good nap would do the trick. It truly was the best thing to do to seize the day.

I closed my eyes shut, relaxed every single muscle in my body and... uhh...

Usually, I would get into deep sleep a few seconds after I did those stuff, but it didn't work at all right now. Right now, it felt rather... empty.

I tried rolling to the other direction, the same thing happened. Maybe I have lost my instantaneous napping ability?

When I did all those things though, I heard someone was trying to enter my room. Because the sliding door kept getting stuck lately, this supposed 'room guest' was pulling hard on the doorknob, in which I yelled to prevent further damage.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"It's me, open the door please!"

Yeah, it was Mom again. "Ah okay! Don't force the door to open, otherwise you'll break it!"

"Okay, can you open the door for me please?"

"One sec!"

I tried to open the door, as carefully as I could to avoid breaking the door rails that were on their last legs at that point. After the door finally slid open, it revealed the spectacle of my mom standing in front of the small hallway carrying a relatively large unlabelled cardboard box.

"What is it, Mom?" I asked.

"You see, Michiko-san asked me to deliver these old unused mixers to her new restaurant."

I got confused as to who this 'Michiko-san' figure is, maybe it was my mom's acquaintance, a friend perhaps?

Of course, I asked her the question. "Who is this 'Michiko-san' person you're referring to? I don't recognize this woman's name."

She sighed... Which automatically tells me that I don't know something I should've known before. "That's Shizuka-san's mother, Minamoto Michiko... Who else?"

Ah! I never knew it was her mom's first name!

I scratched the back of my neck as I laughed it off, "Ahaha, I never knew it was her given name..."

"I'm actually surprised at how you didn't know that... I referred her as Michiko-san a lot of times and this was the first time you realized that it was Shizuka mom's given name?" She asked. "I bet that you didn't hear the news that Shizuka's mother had opened a new restaurant..."

Wait, a restaurant? What?

This is bad.

"Restaurant? She actually opened a restaurant?"

She opened her eyes, as if she had faced with something so unbelievable (Which she should, mind you). "Just like what I had assumed... You're always so careless about your surroundings." She asked, genuinely shocked.

"S-sorry..."

"Anyways, can you please deliver this cardboard box to a Korean restaurant next to the 7/11 in the main road? The building is fairly big, so you won't be having a hard time finding it." She told, "If you manage to find it... Congratulations, you would've found Shizuka-san's family restaurant."

I nodded to her address details, next to the 7/11 supermarket that is located on the main road north from our residence. It was an easy reference point to say the least.

I marched forward out of the house to my destination, carrying the aforementioned cardboard box (which was quite heavy) under the bright shine of spring sun.

I can feel the air getting warmer and warmer as we approached summer, the time of the year that will allow me to do some god-tier slacking off. Unless if there is going to be a demanding summer assignment, then I'd have to avoid those.

But who cares about assignments anyways? It was just a way the teacher forced their agendas on students, taking their rights to have a happy and peaceful holiday. Us students have lives too, you know!

This upcoming summer would also give me the chance to dig deep about the details of my dream, looking for further triggering factors that will make me remember about the details of this girl.

Yeah, even if the dream was truly meaningless (which I hope that it wasn't), at least I know the girl that I do truly have feelings for. I would give myself a freedom to stray away from Shizuka-chan if I must, regardless of it being Jaiko-san, Gian little sister...

But hell, just thinking about getting paired with Jaiko-san was such a nightmare that I could feel my body trembling by just imagining it.

But wait, 'a way to trigger the memory'? I have a hard time of a way to find the answer to that question. I mean, how would someone try to find clues about something inside their dreams?

Aren't dreams usually forgotten within a few days?

Is the memory of the dream would be triggered automatically when they found something that is related to the dream?

Then what would be the things that will trigger my memory about it?

Maybe when I see Shizuka-chan, another clue will start to appear?

The precise moment I thought about that though, as I was about to approach a T junction somewhere northeast of my neighbourhood, I came across the girl that I have just thought about.

Yes, it was no other than Shizuka-chan herself.

It was crazy how our relationship is getting a little awkward as of late, with her tendency to avoid me at any attempt.

At first, I raised my hand, as I was going to greet her, but my reluctance immediately prevented me from doing so. Still, I wasn't going to ignore my closest non-robotic friend that I've had.

"Sh-Shizuka-chan!!" I exclaimed. I stammered a little, but it was better than not saying hi.

She glanced back, surprised at my arrival. I can see her carrying a plastic bag full of 'stuff' that I decided not to peek at. "Nobita-san?"

Bravo! Communication has been established. Now I just must continue the conversation as I usually would. "Where are you going to, Shizuka-chan?"

"Oh, I'm heading to my family's... restaurant...?" she said, with a tone in between asking me a question or not at all. "Apparently my mom opened a family restaurant while I was away..."

Wait, even their own daughter didn't know about the existence of this family restaurant? How could all of this even happen? Is she as airheaded as I am?

"Did you know anything about it, Nobita-san?" She asked as we continued our journey to Minamoto family's family restaurant together.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I never actually know about the existence about this restaurant, until my mom told me about it." I replied, scratching the back of my neck, as I gave her a smile of embarrassment. "I'm actually more surprised that you haven't known anything about it, either."

"Yeah, my parents never told me about it while I was away. I'm actually a bit surprised at how the thought of opening a new restaurant got realized almost immediately."

"Have your parents talked about it before you went to Osaka?"

"I mean, how do I put it... I heard my parents talking about opening a restaurant and whatnot, in which I took it as a grain of salt..." She explained, "But then, unbeknownst to me, they actually did open a Korean-themed family restaurant."

"Surprising, eh?"

"Yeah, it was, that's why I gave my father such an unbelievable kind of look." She spoke.

"But it's fine, right? Your mother is a good cook." I remarked.

Now, I thought about giving her some praise...

"...Y'know, I like her cooking too!"

Yeah, that might sound cheap, but I think it works.

"Thank you! She told me once that she had considered opening a restaurant ever since long time ago, but my dad said otherwise. He would rather spend the money that we have at that time for other things."

"But how did your father change his mind as of late? Did he pay for the whole rent and the others? Or did someone from your family helped your mother paid for the bill?"

"Well, my uncle from Great Britain has expressed interest to invest in the assets that my mom would need to open the restaurant. Then again, I didn't take all of that seriously back then."

I smiled, hearing her last response to the series of conversation that I managed to start between her. It was quite short, but I enjoyed every moment of it, even though we were walking together, only a few centimetres apart.

Moments later, we arrived at the main road, at the street right next to the 7/11 store that my mom had used as a point of reference. I glanced left and right and so did Shizuka-chan to find the whereabouts of this family restaurant.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for Shizuka-chan to find the restaurant.

"There it is, I assume." She said, pointing to a roadside sign labeled 'Minamoto Family Korean Cuisines' written on top of a flashy red background.

We headed to the restaurant that Shizuka-chan had spotted before. It was a rather small and cosy building with a sizable parking space up front. It was empty though, as the building itself wasn't finished yet.

We then headed straight to the entrance of the restaurant, where a pile of empty cardboard boxes can be seen piled up on either side of the glass doors.

As we entered the restaurant though, the distinct smell of the glue that was used to stick all these wood texture wallpaper decorations went right through our noses.

I directed my glance towards the centre of the main room, and it doesn't take long time for us to finally meet the owner of this restaurant – Shizuka's mom herself.

At the same time, she looked towards us, "Oh hey guys!" She greeted, "What brings you guys here?" She asked.

Shizuka-chan walked towards her mother and replied to her, not with the proper answer to her question, but rather... "Mom, why don't you tell me in the beginning that you've opened a restaurant?"

"You haven't heard of it? I thought someone might have told you about it."

"There was no 'someone', mom... You should have told me about it before." Shizuka said "Because if you did, I would have helped you run this restaurant and perhaps, create a rather interesting kind of holiday."

"You didn't enjoy your stay in Osaka?"

"No, it's not that I didn't enjoy my stay in Osaka... It's just that I feel so lonely in Osaka that I would sometimes dream about being together with my friends here..."

I paused for a moment after hearing the phrase 'dream about being together with my friends here' that she had said to her mom. What did she mean when she said that? Did she have the same dream that I had?

There's no way it's me, right?

She didn't explicitly say that she was with me in her dream. But rather, she said that she was with her friends in here.

It could be anyone, all of us... Doraemon too...

...or Dekisugi-kun.

And the fact that she said such things without getting flustered adds up to the confusion. I mean, she would say things like 'I like you, Nobita-san' without getting flustered, or any hesitation at all back then.

We're both friends, so liking and loving each other would be a normal thing, right?

Argh, I got side-tracked for a moment there! Focus on what you're trying to do, Nobita! Focus... Focus...

Then again, I got distracted when her mother called my name out, "Nobita-kun...? What happened? You look a bit lost for a second there."

I roused myself up, the moment I saw both Shizuka-chan and her mother looked at me rather worryingly "A-ah! It's nothing!"

"R-Right... By the way, have you brought the mixer that I requested from your mother?"

"Yes, I did. Here's the box." I said, "My mom said that the mixer (The metal part that was spinning) itself needed to be replaced."

"Ah okay, good thing that I kept some of them just in case. Thank you, Nobita-kun!"

As her mother continued to work on the decoration that she has been doing ever since out arrival, I glanced around to realize that this restaurant was still miles away from completion. A lot of things still needed to be built, a few decorations here and there, but overall, I'd say this would be a great place to have dinner at. It makes me wonder how much time it takes for a person to do all these tasks all by herself.

I felt a strong urge to help Mrs. Minamoto, despite her not being my real mother, but I feel that it is my duty to help other, regardless of what my relationship I have with her.

"Excuse me... Shizuka-chan's mother... Can I help you with these decorations?"

Shizuka-chan glanced at me, seemingly quite surprised and bemused at my sudden offer.

Her mother was rather enthusiastic to reply though, "Oh sure, Nobita-kun!"

"Erm, what can I do to help you?"

"Umm, you can help by putting all of those paintings that are still folded and still wrapped inside those cardboard boxes." She replied, "Shizuka can help you place all of those things I think."

"Eh?" Shizuka replied, rousing herself back on track to what I've been discussing with her mother. "Nobita-san's helping place those things? I don't know what you have in your mind."

She looked at her daughter, "Well, just be creative. And make this restaurant look as 'Korean' as possible."

Something then clicked on Shizuka's brain. About what those 'clicks' were? I don't really have any answer to that question yet. But she replied with "Ah, sure!!" She exclaimed, "Let's do it, Nobita-san!"

She sounds enthusiastic, the first time for a while she did so towards me. It made my heart a little warm honestly speaking.

"Alright!" I replied.

We spent the next 2 hours decorating the restaurant. I was tasked to get up on the ladders and arrange the paintings just like what Shizuka had directed me before. This was also the first time I used a nail and a hammer, which went... well.

Yeah, I ended up hurting both of my left thumb and index finger (followed by a severe inflammation and immense amount of pain) which I tried to 'not cry about'.

Anyways, we eventually finished all the paintings and we moved on to the table decorations. This is where I think, Shizuka's knowledge about... this kind of stuff will get a good use on.

Sure enough, she did!

She knew exactly what she was doing, and I just followed along with everything she needed me to do. As a result, the table looked exactly what we wanted it to be, a classic Korean style decoration for the tables.

We finished right before lunch, and oh boy... the atmosphere in that restaurant changed almost immediately. The new lighting that has been installed suited the atmosphere really well.

"What is this atmosphere..." I remarked.

Shizuka responded. "A-Ah, it is the atmosphere that you'll feel when you enter those traditional Korean houses. Quite nostalgic for me, but not you I suspect."

Ah yeah, I need to keep reminding myself to the fact that Shizuka was a descendant of multiple nationality. She once said that she was of both British and a portion of Korean blood alongside her Japanese bloodline. I can tell her British blood by looking at her eye colour, in which would make her stand up from the rest of the crowd.

"Yeah, that's the truth really." I replied, "Now, let's find your mom and let her know that everything has been done."

We headed towards the back of the restaurant, where Mrs. Minamoto was overseeing the other delivery workers who arrived there to install some refrigerating units.

"Mom, we have finished making up the dining room." Shizuka said enthusiastically.

"Oh great!" She admired, "Well now that you have finished, I think I will give you both a little well-deserved money to get some lunch."

Ah it's a good thing that I got paid. It's not that I wanted to get paid though, don't get the wrong idea.

She handed us a 5000-yen bill for us to get some lunch outside. Not sure where we will be going through, but I think the nearest park from here has some options that we can choose.

"Thanks mom!" Shizuka exclaimed, "We are going now, see you later!"

"Thanks Mrs. Minamoto!" I added.

Shizuka's mom chuckled a bit after I said my thanks to her, "Haha, you don't have to call me 'Mrs. Minamoto' though." She remarked, "It is way too formal for you to call me like that."

"Uhh, then what should I call you with?"

"Just call me Aunt Michiko, I'll be fine with that." She said, "Or perhaps..."

"Y-yeah?" I stammered.

She leaned in closer and whispered rather loudly: "You can call me, Mother..." Shizuka's mom said, rather smug.

Shizuka-chan heard what she said, turned her back away from us and responded with a perplexed look, "I beg your pardon?"

"I thought you'll be more sympathetic at this, Shizuka..." She responded. "You always wanted him to ca-"

"Ahhh!! Moom!!! Stop!" Shizuka-chan cut her mother's tease with a panicked plea. She begged with a crimson-coloured cheeks, "I told you not to bring that topic up in front of him!"

That's when she bursts into laughter after hearing her daughter's response. "Sorry sorry!" She apologized.

"A-anyways, Nobita-san... Let's head to the nearest park to get some lunch!" She said, pulling (very hard on) one of my arms away from the kitchen.

"Okay okay, slow down there, Shizuka-chan. S-see you later, Aunt Michiko!" I exclaimed moments before Shizuka-chan pulled me away from the restaurant.

I stopped myself (which means that Shizuka-chan would also stop) right after we left the restaurant's parking lot. "Stop here for a second, Shizuka-chan!"

That's when she finally released her grip of my arms, "What do you want to do?"

"No, I just wanted to ask... Where are you going to get some lunch?"

Her dark blue eyes glanced away momentarily, before looking back to me. "To the park, maybe?"

"The park?"

"Yeah, that's the place where we can get some diverse food options. Why?"

"Why don't we go to one of the nearest fast-food joints instead?" I offered, "Or perhaps, a ramen restaurant?"

"Craving for some ramens, eh?"

"Not really, but I'd love it if we get some ramens today."

"Umm, sure I guess..."

I tried to backtrack a bit, to make sure that I don't pressure her to accept my decision. "If you want to get some snacks instead of full-blown lunch... We can get to the park though. I'm not forcing you or anything."

She paused for a moment, turned her head around trying to remember which ramen restaurant that she knew the most. "That's actually a good idea, to be honest... But I'm not sure which restaurant we should take."

"Anything would do,"

She turned back to me after some time, sighing softly. "I can't think of which restaurant we should take though."

"We can walk to the downtown in the meantime and find a good ramen restaurant along the way."

"Sure thing..."

We continued our journey downtown to find something to eat, a ramen restaurant that is. We didn't see many restaurants along the road that we took at that time, so there weren't many options that we could find. There were some restaurants though, but it was more of a Yakiniku restaurant which offered something that we couldn't afford at all.

Luckily, the sun wasn't shining as bright as before, as the sky was entirely covered with a bright grey-ish clouds that were floating high up in the sky. Which means that we don't have to worry about getting a drink earlier.

500 metres and still nothing from her, that included the words that we have exchanged along the way. It was getting rather awkward at that time we walked along the pathway.

I tried to spark a conversation with her a while later, about the experiences that she had while in Osaka. It was something that I should have asked long time ago, but it was surprising even for me that I haven't asked her anything about it until now.

"Shizuka-chan... Err, how was your holiday in Osaka?" I asked, but there was no response from her at all. I can't even feel her presence right beside me at that time.

I glanced left, to find not a single soul walking together with me. She should be walking on my left but, nothing.

I looked back over my shoulder and noticed that Shizuka stopped far behind. Her eyes were fixated on something that we have passed a while ago. As a partner in charge of accompanying her to get something to eat, of course I won't leave her alone in the middle of the street.

I approached her, "Shizuka-chan! Geez, you should have told me if you've found a place to eat."

I glanced right where her eyes were fixated on a while ago. But it wasn't a ramen restaurant that she was looking at.

But rather, it was a music school.

"Music school?"

She didn't respond to my question. She just lowered her head and continued walking as if nothing had bothered her before, "Let's go, Nobita-san." She said as she walked past me without ever taking a glance towards me.

I glanced over my shoulder towards the back, "Shizuka-chan?" I asked with an utter perplexity.

Her behaviour surely was puzzling. Why did she stopped only stare at a music school that stood there?

Surely there is something behind all that, right?

I followed her path and asked her, "What happened back there, Shizuka-chan?"

"None of your concern..."

From her downcast, I can feel that she was hiding something from me. A surging temptation to press her with the question came into my head, but even then, I know that I shouldn't push her too hard on this question.

It caused sort of awkward situation between us, with her still apparently showing a downcast, it is hard to spark a normal conversation between us.

But luckily, our initial goal of finding a ramen restaurant has come to an end.

"Oh hey, a ramen restaurant!" I exclaimed.

Shizuka-chan looked up, her downcast seemed to have instantly disappeared and instead showed a smile on her face, "Ah yeah, that's the restaurant that I'm talking about!" She replied. "Let's head in, Nobita-san."

"Alright!"

We headed into the not so busy restaurant and took our seat near the window. We took our orders and waited there in the table.

Shizuka-chan rested her head, looking to the outside of the window with a long and soft sigh. Clearly, something was bugging her mind.

But then, I remembered that I have took one of the pamphlets of the music school that she had stared before.

"By the way Shizuka-chan, when you stopped in front of the music school that we came across before, I took the liberty to take one of the pamphlets that the school had put in front of the gate. Feel free to check it out!" I said, putting the little pamphlet on the table.

At first though, I expected her to scoff at it and told me not to worry about anything.

But no, that didn't happen.

She slowly took the pamphlet and read the content inside the pamphlet. She was intrigued at 'something' but then held herself together and tried not to be dragged in by the influence.

"Really though, just tell me what makes you interested in that music school..." I asked, "I'm your friend you know, I want to help as much as possible."

She looked up, and replied after a sigh, "Well, it is complicated. But basically, I wanted to get enrolled in the music school."

"Well, you can ask your dad for permission, right?"

"Yeah, but you know... Every time, he said that he won't allow me to join any music school because of the failures that I've got in all these years. And the fact that I haven't improved a single bit is probably the reason why he won't facilitate my request again." Shizuka replied. "I mean, who is to blame here... All those teachers that had taught me won't even teach me how to properly play a violin."

I'll have to admit that what her dad said was true, she hardly improved for the past 2 years or so on her violin lessons. Her performances were still as enjoyable as getting a train or ship horn blaring right into my ears.

I mean, the problem lies right on her willingness to accept any form of criticism, in my opinion. Like Gian, she got mad every time we said that her performances were bad. Even her private music teachers were all tired of her insisting on her way of performing instead of taking what they said seriously.

"I can see why your father would want to stop you from entering more music schools, Shizuka-chan." I said, "The problem lies within you..."

Shizuka raised her head and looked directly at me with a face full of questions and bewilderment, instead of immediate anger. "Wh- what? Me?" She asked, as she couldn't believe a word of what I had said.

"Yeah, you. I mean, you never took any of what the teachers said seriously. You ignored every single advice that they had given to you if it not in your favour. You also get mad if we said something 'bad' about your performances." I said, "You're just like Gian..." I continued, knowing well that I've crossed some lines.

She shot up, smashing both of her hands on the table causing a small racket that caught the whole visitors of that restaurant completely off guard. Her cold blue eyes glared deep into me, she clearly wasn't taking any single word of what I have said to her, "What did you say to me?! How can I be like Gian?"

I held up my hand in defence, as I tried to face the other visitors and apologized for the inconvenience, "Calm down, will you and let me explain what I meant? I don't want us to be thrown out of here!"

She sat back down, her glaring eyes and disdain on her face slowly fades away. Instead, she showed a remorseful expression. "I-I don't like how you call me that, I tried my best to understand what my friend was saying to me, and I don't mean to get offended by any critics."

She then held both of her hands on top of her ears and rigorously shook her head out of annoyance, "

It was indeed true, she never really punched us for saying that her performances were all equally awful. She rather cried on most occasion or her beauty forced us to make some exceptions. I shouldn't really compare her to the utter awfulness of Gian.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made such comparisons with Gian. I do understand though that you tried to understand what we said, but after couple of times you cried when we told you that it is quite awful, we have no gut to say it out loud since then." I apologised, looking out to the window to avoid an eye contact with her out of embarrassment.

Shizuka however, didn't seem to respond to my apology. She was still tucking her head in between her arms and rested it on the table. It took her a while though to respond to my apology, "At the very least, thank you for making it clear that I haven't been able to improve in any considerable amount despite my intense lessons." She said with a rather muffled voice.

"Why do you like violins so much, anyways?" I asked, "Your piano skills are leagues better than your violin skills in my opinion. Why don't you just focus on the piano instead?"

She finally looked up and freed her face from the table, "Well, it's complicated to say the least..."

"Would you care to tell me everything? I mean, I will try to help you as much as possible within my own capacity if it means so much to you." I said,

She sat up, resting her head on top of both her hands. "It was when I was 6 years old. Back then, I was nothing but a curious young girl that was intrigued at how things work. Everything I see caught my attention, including violins that my grandfather happened to have kept in his walls for quite some time."

"Your grandfather was also a violin player?" I asked. "I thought he was a war veteran that ran a bookstore after he retired."

"Yeah, both my grandfather and grandmother were violin players. They usually performed in those group orchestras and made it a side job of his."

"So, his pastime jobs are your inspiration to take violin lessons?"

"Yeah, but there's more to it."

"What is it?"

"Well, I said to my grandfather when I tried to hold his violin the first time that I wanted to be a good violin player just like he was in his prime. I also said to him that I would want to play in a major orchestra before I was 20. After then, he helped me to become a good violin player, and helped me exercise until I was 9. I improved a lot in every aspect of the playing techniques and was able to play some simple songs. But then, something unexpected happened." Shizuka said,

~ Shizuka Minamoto - A flashback ~

It was the afternoon of June 9th, 2009. I returned home from school, and after I opened the door, I noticed that my mother frozen by the telephone by the living room door. Her face turned pale, showing a clear sign that she has heard something that was shocking.

"W-W-What?" She stammered,

I couldn't hear exactly who was on the other line with her, but from her watering eyes and her escalating breathing, it started to make me a little frightened.

"A-alright, I understand." My mom replied, not even saying goodbye before hanging up. What followed was a tense and weird atmosphere, as she stood there resting, visible tears in her eyes, contemplating on what she should do as she stood, staring into space.

I asked her, "M-mom? What happened?"

The moment I asked her, the front door slammed open. It was my dad, standing on the doorway as he was gasping for breath. His eyes were red, as if he had just cried.

"D-d...."

My mom rushed to my dad and hugged him. "I know. I think we should immediately prepare our stuff and get on the train to Osaka." She said, holding back her tears.

From there, the atmosphere was almost certainly grim and mournful. At first, I didn't know who or what they were talking about. Did something happen with my grandfather? We were supposed to meet tomorrow, did someth-

"Shizuka..."

I looked over to find my mom and dad looking at me, with teary-eyes and quivering faces I had never seen before.

"Huh? Are we still going to see grandpa to-"

~~~

"There were so many things that ran through my head when we attended his funeral. I was in tears when I know that I haven't and won't be able to fulfil my wish that I've made with my grandfather that one day, I won't be able to show him what I truly made of and how talented I am with violin."

Finishing her story, she brushed a small tear from her eye. Thinking to myself, it made me realize that there was so many things that I haven't heard on the day of her grandfather's passing. I felt really sorry for her and felt guilty for not giving her a proper support to improve on her violin skills.

"Shizuka-chan..." I muttered in response to Shizuka's visible downcast.

She perked up, giving me a smile, "Don't worry about it, Nobita-san... It's all in the past and now... My goal is to perform in an orchestra and show it to my grandmother."

I can feel the deep sadness behind her smile. I mean, how could she cover such a sad and tragic backstory with a seemingly innocent smile? Has she gone over all those things and moved on?

Her willpower that lives on despite the huge obstacle that she had gone through is what impressed me the most about Shizuka. It makes me want to contemplate on how lacking I am compared to the girl whom I had crush on.

"I will help you as long as it is within my capacity to help you, Shizuka-chan. And I'm pretty sure that Gian and Suneo is willing to lend you a hand in order to achieve the goal that you've been trying to achieve." I offered her. "No matter how tall the mountains are, we'll help you climb over it. No matter how deep and wide the ocean is, we'll help you sail over it. And no matter how thick the forest is, we'll help you find you a way through it. We're here for you, every step of the way."

Shizuka sat right back up, with her quivering blue eyes staring deep at my soul. She inhaled a little, as if she was moved by something that I have said before. "N-nobita-san..."

(She finds it a little hilarious that Nobita gave her a motivation that is a little out of the place, but she knows what his intention is)

"Th-thank you so much... Nobita-san..." She muttered, scratching her cheek a little out of embarrassment.

Just then, our food arrived at our table, startling Shizuka out of her embarrassment.

As I opened and split the chopstick in half, I said to her, "Well now at least, you have to convince your dad about the music school."

She chuckled. "Yeah, it is going to be a trainwreck. But I will try to get it done." She said, "Anyways, let's enjoy the food, Nobita-san!"

"Yeah, I feel really hungry."

Then we held up our hands and said in unison:

"Thanks for the food!"