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Post by Alan Pantell on Sept 24, 2018 2:21:01 GMT
When just a moment ago, he could have sworn he was flying, Alan was now staring at the ceiling of a small hotel room. Ample sunlight was flooding in through the window. Feeling somewhat groggy, he sat up and looked at the digital clock next to him. Eight in the morning. “Well, that’s no good,” he muttered to himself, “but… I’m already sitting up. Going back to sleep would just be a waste of energy. So!” He quickly stood up, braving the head rush that followed, and began to wonder what he wished to do today.
“I was gonna head to the entertainment district… damn it,” he spoke the clenched teeth, “...what kind of heartless monster would do that, anyway? Never mind. Let’s check a map.” Unplugging his cell phone from its charger, he made a quick search for attractions in the nearby area. “There’s, uh… hm… they’ve got a mall. There’s gotta be something I’d like in there…”
He got dressed, put on his hat and backpack, put one foot out of the door, and then hesitated.
“Hmm… should I eat something?”
He spent a few seconds lost in thought, as if seriously pondering whether he needed food to live, then shrugged.
“Mall.”
With that, he left the hotel room behind.
Tokyo, and especially Shibuya, had always been fascinating to Alan. The streets are jam-packed with people, the sidewalks similarly saturated with stores. There were so many places of interest to explore, so many secrets hiding in plain sight. Someone could walk down the same alley three, four, five times, and still find something each time that they hadn’t noticed before. For this reason, the idea of going to a mall in the area made him more excited than it would anywhere else. Yeah, he thought, trying not to think about anything unnecessary, and failing, This place’ll last me for a while…
He shook his head to get himself to stop. He had arrived.
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Post by Adrian Boriker on Sept 24, 2018 2:36:39 GMT
"I'm not so sure about this,"A small figure in a blue hoodie, with the hood up, said to Adrian, and eighteen-year-old male, who was secretly a Digimon Tamer.
"What part?" Adrian asked the small... human? "Coming back to the mall, or the get-up?"
"Both, really." It had been a month or two since the Elecmon incident, where he and another Tamer, Leith, had tracked down, battled and defeated a rogue Elecmon who had been attempting to steal the mall's electricity in order to Digivolve. That now Fangmon was probably still in the Northern Prominence...
Doesn't matter now; Adrian and Shoutmon, the latter of which being in a convincing disguise, were now wandering the mall just to hang out. They rarely got to do that these days...
"Don't worry, Shoutmon; if people spot you, we'll just head into the bathroom and you can chill in the V-Pet. But let's just try this out first okay?"
"Only if I get to eat whatever I want."
Adrian chuckled. "We'll see..."
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Post by Alan Pantell on Sept 24, 2018 3:39:09 GMT
"I wonder if they have Wetzel's Pretzels in Japan. I wouldn't put it past them, considering the Baskin Robbins I passed on the way here..." Alan put his hands up behind his head as he entered the expansive mall, almost immediately coming into contact with a passerby. He put his hands back at his sides shouting back at them, "So-- gomen!" Admittedly, it would have been a better idea to study up on Japanese before coming here. He could read enough to get by, but that wasn't very much at all. "Ah, well. Anyway, the food court shouldn't be too hard to find. I should just keep walking."
Saying that had turned the young man's attention, once again, to his stomach. He hadn't noticed that he was beginning for feel mildly sick from hunger.
"The food court better not be too hard to find. I should... I should jog, I should, definitely, definitely jog," he stammered, and took off. In the distance ahead, he noticed he was approaching a corner. However, this did not deter him. Turning his body to once side, he began to strafe, determined not to end up in a head-on collision with his soulmate without so much as eating a piece of toast. He leaned to one side, so that he would be able to get a peek around the corner before the rest of his body caught up to him. This maneuver would have been no problem for him, had he not been suffering from a blood-sugar deficiency at the moment, but he was, and ended up falling over his own two feet, smashing his ear onto the cold, hard, floor.
"Ooo… ow... I landed on my glasses..." he coughed.
Finally looking up, he couldn't help but see another young man, about his age, standing over him, alongside his abnormally small friend. Alan noticed this, but who was he to judge? The frequency of dwarfism in humans is small, but by no means nonexistent.
Alan got up from the floor, dusting himself off, and waiting out yet another head rush.
"Eh- d...daijoubu desu!" he spoke, putting on a fake smile, but burning up with embarrassment on the inside. He remembered his stomach once more.
I don't know how to say this...
"To... be..."
Choose your battles, Alan. You're not gonna just figure it out NOW.
With a sigh, he caved to his own reasoning. He felt bad about not making an effort to learn the language.
"Do you... speak English?"
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Post by Adrian Boriker on Sept 24, 2018 12:41:18 GMT
"So what should we do first?" Shoutmon asked. "I think we should head for the food court and chow down!"
"How about we do that second?" Adrian suggested. "I really want to check out this gaming store here in the mall-" Adrian was then interrupted by someone completely falling on the ground face first.
Which was still not the weirdest thing either of the two had seen before. Of course, Adrian would bend down to help this person up. "Are you okay?" He would initially ask in Japanese. The young man would then say that he was alright... in iffy Japanese, before asking if Adrian spoke English.
"Yes, I speak English," he would reply. "My name's Adrian, by the way. This is my friend... er... Sho. Yeah, Sho."
"Don't mind me asking, but did the floor look good enough to eat or something?" 'Sho' would ask the male.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Sept 24, 2018 15:47:19 GMT
Alan laughed. "I don't know; I wasn't looking at it. I can tell you with one-hundred percent certainly it didn't taste very good, though."
For a brief moment, the words "But I'm sure you have a better view than I do," popped into his mind, and stayed precisely where they had been created.
Jesus CHRIST, Alan, don't be an ass!
Once again, he shook his head slightly to regain his senses. "Sorry about that. I, uh, never ate breakfast this morning," he said. "I'm Alan. It's nice to meet you two, even if I'd rather it happened a bit differently." As he finished saying this, he put his hand on his lower back, signaling that it still hurt a bit. This pushed his backpack upwards slightly, at which point he heard a faint crinkling sound coming from inside.
He mouthed the words "Are you kidding me?" to no one but himself, then quickly removed his backpack and opened it up, revealing two small bags of potato chips, sitting right on top, right where he had put them days ago. He removed them held them up for the pair to see, a stoic expression of defeat on his face. Defeated by himself, yet again.
"These would have bought me some time," he observed, in a shaky, quiet voice. There was humor in the situation, of course, but... just once, he wanted to laugh at something other than himself.
He couldn't let the interaction end like this, for his own sake. It would bother him for the rest of his life, to some degree, to know that there were two people somewhere, named Adrian and Sho, whose only experience with him involved him tripping over himself three different times, in three different ways.
"Before I forget, I should ask: can either of you direct me to the food court? I know there are maps around, but, I might as well... " he trailed off, realizing he was overexplaining himself.
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Post by Adrian Boriker on Sept 24, 2018 18:43:58 GMT
For a split second, Shoutmon didn't like the look in this man's eyes. It was as if he was about to call Shoutmon short but never did. So, he didn't have a reason to hate him.
"Well it's nice to meet you too, Alan," Adrian says, shaking his hand. "Are you from America? I have a couple friends who are from there, as well." He mentioned that he didn't eat breakfast this morning, which had Adrian curious. "Didn't eat breakfast? Were you in a rush or something?"
Alan then pulled out two bags of potato chips from his bag. "I doubt they would've done much... chips are just junk food after all."
Suddenly, Shoutmon grabbed the bag of potato chips and began munching away, much to Adrian's dismay. "Sho! Ask before you just take someone's bag of chips!"
"Shorry..." He says with his mouth full. "I wuth hungry."
Adrian sighed as Alan asked if he knew where the food court was. "Yeah, I know where it is. Follow me."
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Post by Alan Pantell on Sept 24, 2018 19:50:15 GMT
"Oh! Thank you!" Alan said, as he quickly placed the remaining package of chips into his backpack and began to walk alongside the duo. He continued:
"Yeah, I'm from the States, but I decided to come out here on a... solo outing of sorts. I won't be staying for very long. I rarely get out of the country, much less alone, so I'm really excited about exploring. I suppose that must be why I skipped breakfast. I figured I'd be able to just get something here. Heh. I suppose I have a bit more trouble functioning independently than I thought, but, uh... practice makes perfect, right?"
He picked his head up, which had been unconsciously drifting towards the floor as he spoke.
"Don't worry about the chips. It's like you said, they wouldn't have done much..."
Alan was finally beginning to relax. Little by little, his confidence, and, as a result, his composure, was returning to him. After a few more seconds walking in silence, he realized that he should probably turn the conversation over.
He turned to look at the others and asked, "How about you two? You both from around here, or...?"
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Post by Adrian Boriker on Sept 24, 2018 20:30:13 GMT
"A solo outing? Like a vacation?" Adrian curiously asked the American. "I guess that makes sense, we get a lot of tourists here in Tokyo. And don't worry about it, I still have no idea how I'm going to function after this school year."
Adrian saw this kid as one of those 'socially awkward' types of people. He had plenty of friends who were like that, so he had confidence that Alan will find his way here in Shibuya.
The question of where Adrian and 'Sho' were from came up, and Sho didn't hesitate to respond. "Adri here is born and raised here in Tokyo. Me, however... I come from a 'foreign country,' kind of like you." Hopefully Alan wasn't catching on...
Before they knew it, the group had reached the food court. There were loads of chain restaurants like Burger King, Dairy Queen or Pizza Hut (albeit they were in Japanese,) and original restaurants as well. 'Sho' had his eye on the McDonald's that this mall have. "Let's get McDonald's burgers, Adrian!"
"You want McDonald's?" Adrian asked. "Why don't we go to one of the authentic sushi restaurants here?"
"We had sushi last night; I want a burger!"
"Why don't we see what Alan would prefer?"
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Post by Alan Pantell on Sept 24, 2018 21:23:38 GMT
Alan smiled.
A "foreign country," huh? Well, if he doesn't think I've heard of it, then I probably haven't.
Taking another look around the area, he considered his options aloud, so that the others could hear his thought process.
"I would be thrilled to try out some authentic sushi, as previously, I've mainly only had the cooked stuff. California rolls and the like."
He paused to gauge Adrian's and Sho's reactions. Well, Adrian's reactions, anyway. Sho's face was impossible to see from this angle. Alan kept is finger raised in the air, and his mouth open, to make it clear that he was not done rationalizing.
"Furthermore, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't understand why a tourist would go to Japan, only to eat at their McDonalds."
It was clear he enjoyed rationalizing a little bit too much. He did it to himself all the time, after all.
"However, and this is important: I'm starving. The fact of the matter is, there's a risk I might not like the authentic sushi. I'm all for trying new things, but at the moment, I need something that I'm familiar with. And so, I choose burgers."
His rationale completed, Alan returned to his previous timid demeanor, his eyes moving between Adrian and Sho for approval.
"Is... is that alright... for now?"
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Post by Adrian Boriker on Sept 25, 2018 2:03:08 GMT
Both Adrian and Shoutmon sweatdropped when Alan began over-rationalizing a simple choice like 'where do you want to eat?'. It got to the point where 'Sho' was starting to get pretty annoyed. Finally, he made the decision to go to the burger place, much to Shoutmon's joy and Adrian's dismay.
"Whatever," Adrian says, "I like burgers as much as the next guy, but nothing's better than a high-quality Japanese meal. At least it'll be easier on my wallet..."
"That's the spirit," Shoutmon cheered, jumping up and down as they went over to the McDonald's.
"He... really likes food," Adrian told Alan, in case he thought it was a bit weird. As they walked over, a friendly young Japanese woman asked, in Japanese, "Welcome to McDonald's! How can I help you today?
Adrian translated what the woman said for Alan, before asking, "Just tell me what you want and I'll tell her, along with our order. Okay?"
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Post by Alan Pantell on Sept 25, 2018 2:45:15 GMT
"Okay," Alan replied, as he looked up at the menu past the register.
Let's see... "Biggu Makku." Oh! The menu's almost entirely made of loanwords! It might as well be in English! Even with that in mind... my order remains the same. As if I even needed to look at the menu to know what they have.
He turned back to Adrian.
"I'll just be getting a Big Mac and a bottle of water." He reached into his pocket, opened his wallet, and, after flipping through multiple US dollar bills, found and retrieved the required amount of yen. He handed the money over to Adrian.
"There you go. I'll get us some napkins and whatnot and find seats, which..."
He took another look around, noting that the crowd seemed rather spread thin, considering where they were.
"...shouldn't be too hard."
With that, he took a step away from Adrian, and stopped.
"...If I could do both, I would," he added, barely loud enough to hear, and, after a moment of silence, continued walking away.
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Post by Adrian Boriker on Sept 25, 2018 19:39:29 GMT
Adrian nodded towards Alan, confirming that he understood what he wanted. When he went to go look for a spot to sit, Adrian would then give the order:
"Hello... I'll take one Big Mac... two plain McDoubles with cheese... two medium fries... A bottle of water, and two large Coca-Colas... and finally, fifteen cheeseburgers."
The McDonald's lady did a double take. "I'm sorry, did you say FIFTEEN cheeseburgers?"
Adrian nodded. "All from the Dollar Menu... my friend here has a big appetite."
"Okay, then..." The McDonald's worker entered some numbers into her register before looking back at Adrian. "That will be 2,500 Yen, please." After paying the employee, Adrian would grab a tray and get drinks for everyone. Afterwards, he and Shoutmon would go find Alan and sit with him.
"Be prepared: Sho here wanted fifteen cheeseburgers. And I'm betting he'll eat them all today."
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Post by Alan Pantell on Sept 25, 2018 20:29:19 GMT
"Is that so?" asked Alan. "In that case, I should... probably get more napkins."
He got up and began to run back to the napkin dispenser. Remembering that he still hadn't eaten anything, he slowed to a brisk walk. In the interest of saving time, he reached into the dispenser, pulling out about a three-inch-thick pile, and brought it back to the table with similar haste.
"Alright," he said, separating his own burger from the pile, realizing leaving it there for much longer would only lead to disaster, "you have my attention. To tell you the truth, I was hoping I would get to see something crazy happen today."
He began to unwrap his own burger, holding it ever-so-slightly away from Sho's general direction. He took a slow, cautious bite, while keeping his eyes trained on the small, hooded figure, so as to not miss a thing.
"Don't hold back on my account. I'm a slow eater."
Alan had no idea what he was about to see, but that idea excited him, to some degree. All he could do was hope that whatever it was, it didn't involve vomit. That would be a bit of a mood-killer, to say the least.
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Post by Adrian Boriker on Sept 25, 2018 22:18:30 GMT
"Yeah. You go do that," Shoutmon said to Alan when he commented on getting more napkins. They were probably gonna be needed.
At last, the food arrived. It seemed normal at first... until the fifteen burgers came up. Shoutmon was drooling slightly at the sight of that much food! This would DEFINITELY keep him satisfied for a while!
"I would ask you to try and hold back, but I doubt you'd listen anyways," Adrian says as he looks away from his friend.
Shoutmon would unwrap each individual burger, one by one, until eventually they were all in one pile. And just like that, he'd shove them into his mouth, one by one. To an individual, this would probably be a hell of a sight to behold! Shoutmon made munching noises as he'd shove each cheeseburger into his mouth at a rapid pace.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Sept 25, 2018 23:03:32 GMT
"Y...y-yikes," Alan chuckled just before he took another bite out of his Big Mac. He found that he was having a harder time chewing this one. He didn't consider himself to be queasy, but he wasn't completely immune to things like messy eating noises.
"I... guess I can at least tell you're not just hiding them in your jacket," he said, "but if you did, I suppose that would be obvious sooner or later."
He took another look at the partially-eaten Big Mac.
No point in losing your appetite now. I need this, after all.
With that, he took another huge bite out of the burger, chewing quickly and with great force. Next, he opened the bottle of water and took a few sizable swigs in order to facilitate the chewing process. Eventually, he had gotten the whole thing down.
All things considered, Alan once again felt rather silly.
Well, he thought, I wanted to see someone eat a large number of burgers at a, frankly, upsetting pace, and that is most certainly what happened. What's wrong with that?
…
A lot of things, actually, but that's besides the point. The point is... now what? Do I thank them and leave? Do I ask for their phone numbers? Is this just... it?
He knew that he had quite a few unanswered questions, but he considered most of them... rude, to say the least. There was, however, one question he felt he wouldn't be wrong in asking, even though he was doubtful that he didn't already know the answer. Any other answer wouldn't make sense, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he needed to make sure of it.
Alan finally raised his head and spoke up:
"Was I... interrupting something?
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