The Prince and the Paladin - Akitoya

Chapter 1: A Trip to the Bookstore

It was a crisp autumn afternoon in Shibuya, Japan. The leaves of the trees shifted to all sorts of browns and reds and oranges, and a chill laced each gust of wind. Couples walked down the street, holding hands to keep their fingers warm, leaves crunching underneath every step. In this district of the city, a heavy scent of coffee wafted through the air, creating warmth on the chilly day. 

As they entered the book shop, the smell of old paper accompanied the warmth of the heated building. After a stop for coffee and boba, the Tenmas had finally made it to the final stop of their outing: Ink & Paper, Saki's favorite bookstore in town.

Taking a moment to appreciate the warmth of the building, they soon went their separate ways to find what they wished: Saki towards the romance section and Tsukasa straight to the fantasy section.

Toya Aoyagi walked gingerly around the store, a paper cup of warm black coffee held firmly in his hand, not looking for anything in particular. Tsukasa had asked him if he wanted to go shopping with him and his sister, Saki, to get some new books after she had completed all of the ones she had on her shelves back at home. While he was fond of stories, he didn't have anything on his list of to be read. He decided to follow Tsukasa to the fantasy section.

Saki found all the books she wanted relatively quickly, piling them up in her arms, joining her brothers in the same section. She began going through the books in her arms, barely balancing them, when her eyes caught onto one of the books on the shelves. 

"Look at this one, Toya!" Saki Tenma exclaimed, grabbing the book and waving it around. He looked up from where he was browsing, taking mental note of the last book he saw before making his way over to the girl. Her pink and yellow hair shined almost as brightly as her smile as she handed the book to her brother. "It looks like something you would like! I didn't actually check the summary or anything, but I thought you might be interested in the binding."

It was true; the binding was a work of art. If Toya were to guess, it was genuine leather, stained in a gorgeous warm shade of brown. In gold, the words "The Prince and the Paladin" were etched into the cover. 

Nearly losing grip of the pile of young adult fiction in her arms, Saki said, "I don't know how much it is, though. You might have to go up to the front or find someone who works here to get it checked."

Toya turned the book over in his hands a couple times, running his slender fingers along the texture in the leather of the spine. A couple aisles over, Tsukasa was speaking with one of the workers about some play that he was recently working on at Phoenix Wonderland. Toya quickly went in the direction of his voice.

When he approached them, he was hesitant as to not disturb the conversation. The worker was decently tall with orange hair, though Toya couldn't see much as he was turned towards Tsukasa. As Tsukasa spoke, he struck poses that correlated with the events in the story. The worker didn't seem very amused, and when he noticed Toya, he was glad to have an escape.

"Yes, can I help you?" the boy with green eyes asked as he closed the distance between him and Toya. With the worker closer, Toya noticed a piercing in his left ear, a chain connecting his lobe to his helix. He raised the leather bound book in his hand. "I can't seem to find the price for this. Could you help me?" He asked bluntly.

The worker reached for the book and inspected the front and back cover. As Toya watched, he saw a nametag reading "Shinonome A." pinned to the worker's shirt. After a moment, Shinonome handed the book back to Toya. 

"I'd have to check the database to see if it's even for sale. Let me know when you're ready to check out so I can ring it up for you," he said.

Toya gave a polite smile. "Thank you, Shinonome."

They exchanged nods before Shinonome walked out of the aisle. Tsukasa quickly took notice and started to follow, yelling about how he hadn't yet finished his story.

Saki came around the corner, her pile larger than before. Toya approached her quickly to catch some of the books from the top of the pile as they started to slide off. "Oh, thanks so much, Toya. And did you figure out the price of that cool book?" She asked merrily. Toya only shook his head, taking a few more books from Saki's arms. "I hope it's not too expensive. I'm done looking around if you are. Where did my big brother go?"

Toya failed to suppress his smile. "Tsukasa chased after the worker that helped me with my book. He said he didn't get to finish telling his story." 

Saki found it equally as amusing. "That's so like him. I think we should go find him so we can get back home. I'm starting to get really tired."

It wasn't difficult to find Tsukasa since his voice carried over the entire store. Shinonome was again relieved to see Toya. Saki walked past the two of them to talk to her brother as Shinonome asked, "You all set?"

Toya only nodded before following the other boy to the counter, his siblings trailing behind. 

"Is this going to be all together or separate?" Shinonome asked, gesturing to the stack Saki was carrying. Tsukasa was the one to respond. "This will all be together."

Toya shook his head. "I'm wanting to pay for my own book."

Tsukasa replied, "Can't I do one thing for you, Toya?"

Toya responded, "I wouldn't want to be a bother. Shinonome has to look it up and I wouldn't wan that to mess with any of the other purchases."

Tsukasa looked defeated.

"Let me get this searched up for you then," the worker said, sliding the book across the counter to read the title and type it into the computer. The blue haired boy rocked on his heels while he waited, praying that the book would be available for purchase. When the screen on the computer changed, the ginger smiled.

"Looks like you got lucky. This is the last in stock of this title," he explained. "That'll be ¥2,000." (AN: For reference, this is about $12.43 in American dollars.)

Toya quickly grabbed a couple bills from his wallet and placed them in Shinonome's hand, their fingers brushing momentarily. The cashier smiled as he filed away the money. 

"Have a good day."

The Tenmas took a while longer to check out as Tsukasa tried to make conversation, obviously irritating Shinonome, and Saki had 8 books to get checked. Before long, the group completed their shopping and headed to the train station to make their way home.

Toya was eager to begin his book.