Mission 'Life of Airi Arne' (II)

"What are you searching for?" Mr. Arne looked over at her from outside of the room.

' I can't get caught when I have easily found those…'

She tried to find anything as an excuse, then suddenly she noticed some photo album in that drawer. "Oh, I was... looking for photo albums, that's all."

"Ah, albums huh? Wanted to look through those?" Mr. Arne looked at her with a soft look on him.

"Y... yah."

'Ugh, I kinda hate betraying that soft gazed face.'

"Well then, take those with you, but first, keep those in your room and freshen up. Breakfast is ready so don't be late." Mr. Arne went back to the dining room after letting her know.

"Yeah, Sure."

Airi hid those papers she found in the drawer inside the pages of the album, and her phone inside her pocket. Then she made sure she locked the drawer, and left the room.

Returning to her room, she kept those things under the pillow, so that at a first glance, those things wouldn't come into anyone's sight. "It would be safe to go through those outside of the house prolly… imma head out somewhere after I'm done with breakfast. Right now I'm totally famished, so Imma grab a nice toast down there."

Airi freshened up and went downstairs to join those two for breakfast.

------

'Should I ask them before goin' out? If I should, then what excuse should I make? Doesn't seem like I have anythin' going on in the outer world,' she kept on thinking while munching on the toast in her hands.

'Ugh! I never had to do this 'seeking permission' thingy ever!'

'Maa always took me wherever I wanted to go during elementary, and sometimes Paa too. And after that…'

"Airi? Dear, something's bothering you?" Mrs. Arne asked her while she pushed the jar of raspberry jam towards her.

"Oh, it's… nothin'. I was just goin' through my books last night and... I seem to have some problems with my homework…"

'Right! I could have just used that as an excuse.'

"Well, I would like to go to the library after breakfast, I guess I should work on those problems I had as soon as possible, so is that okay if I go?"

"That should sound plausible right?" Airi wondered to herself.

Mr. and Mrs. Arne both looked at each other with a pleasantly surprised look as they nodded, "There is no way that wouldn't be okay. You didn't even need to ask. Feel free to go."

'Score! That was easier than I thought.'

"You would need something to eat between, right? Shall I pack some of the breakfast with you?" Mrs. Arne put down her food on the plate, and she already stood up to run to the kitchen.

"Take some cab fare with you before you leave, okay?" Mr. Arne suggested Airi, as he kept chewing on his food.

"Oh, you need some clothes for morning jogs...shall I accompany you to the shopping mall before you head to the library? Or, you might prefer to shop yourself…"

'And there they go all over-concerned.'

"RELAX FOR A BIT!"

Both of them stopped talking immediately as Airi shouted, raising her voice high.

Maybe too high.

"Oops, I mean, you don't need to worry that much. I am all good to bang...I mean, good to go."

Airi grabbed a toast from her plate, spread raspberry jam on it, and handed it to Mrs. Arne, "I won't take long, so no need to pack any food for me."

She grabbed another toast, added a generous amount of butter on it, and gave that to Mr. Arne, "The library isn't that far, so I would like to walk there."

"Okay, as you wish then." They agreed to her with an ear-to-ear smile on their face.

She suddenly noticed the unusual thing she had done just now.

She handed over the toast with jam to the lady, and the buttered one to the man.

'That must be another influence of Arne in me.'

'I guess that much care anyone can do to others. That won't be a problem. And anyone can know what they like just by looking at them eating, right?'

'Yeah, it should be fine.'

She suppressed those worried feelings clouding her mind, and decided to ignore those by giving herself an excuse.

She ate up the remaining toasts in her plate, while thinking how much loved Arne was. 'I hope I am not taking up what's not mine,' she kept that thought to herself while happily having breakfast with a family-like ambiance.

------

After breakfast, she went up to the room, took some books randomly from the table, grabbed those things she found in Mrs. Arne's room, and searched for a bag to put them in. Searching through the wardrobe, she found a backpack, of course, pink in color.

"Well, gotta use it for a while," she put everything inside that. She checked once more if she left anything behind. "Can't get caught by leavin' anythin' important behind."

When she was about to get out of the room, she stopped for a while wondering, 'Should I have changed into something else? I am wearing the same jacket from this morning.'

But then again, she recalled how flowery her wardrobe was. 'There is no way I could wear those.' So, she rejected the idea and got out of the room.

"I'll be off then."

"Oh, wait." Airi looked back when Mr. Arne called her back.

"Keep this money with you. Since your phone is broken, you won't be able to call if anything happens. So, if there's any need, call using telephone booths. I will buy you a new one soon, so bear with this for a while." He fished out some money from his wallet, and handed her those.

Airi took the money from his hand, "Thanks, will do."

"Then walk safely on your way out."

"Um."

So getting pocket money feels like this. Airi became too happy by getting this small amount of telephone booth money. No matter how little it was, this was her first time experiencing those.

After walking for a while, she started feeling tired. She was all nervous on her toes since morning, with all the searching missions, and morning walk on top of it.

"I should've taken the money he offered on the breakfast table I suppose. Was I too polite there?"

"Well, I should, after all, I'm just moochin' off of an unknown family. Wonder what's happened to the real Arne in this time?"

She walked for some more to reach the place where the library was, well...at least where it was supposed to be.

But to her surprise, in that place, there was a cute-looking café instead of a run-down library.