For His Happiness

Chapter 4: I got your back

February 10, the day before Kiku's birthday, at the same time, there was a sale in an anime store.

Alfred once told me there was a time when his half-witted brain took over his memory. Well, more likely the time when he almost forgot about Kiku's birthday. He promised Kiku and himself, that he'll buy him a gift, "something that would totally blow your mind!" he would say. But then, whatever he was doing at that moment, it made him forgot that the celebration was getting closer until that night when he went to bed, he opened his eyes as he felt the nerves in his eyes popping out, forming tiny red branches of dendrites around the sclera. (This is a bad description! I regret putting it here!!)

"Oh, f*ck!!!" he cursed himself out loud. "I forgot the gift!"

Lucky for him, by the next morning, he passed by an anime store with a big sign at the top that said "SALE!!! Only Today!" written in an Asian font with character designs from popular animes surrounding it. It was his chance!

As he went into the store, the entire place was crowded. Everyone was loud and obviously in a rush. Otakus, fangirls and fanboys alike, giggled and squirmed every time they claimed every piece of merchandise. Some were stuffing their bags with a dozen or more costumes. Others stopped by and read one of the mangas from the shelves before they placed it in their bags. Artists were rooted in the drawing supply section where they gathered papers, screen tones, and pens. Interestingly, they were also selling body pillows as he saw a girl carrying a Hatsune Miku Dakimakura.

Alfred made his way deeper into the store, squeezing himself in while the crowd tried to get themselves through to the cashier. He saw multiple sections of mangas, anime, cosplay, supplies, novels, and even a game section. Alfred remembered Kiku already brought the latest edition of his favorite video game, so he passed that area until he reached an open spot where action figures were on sale.

The section wasn't really that crammed full compared to the other ones. Alfred skimmed over the shelves, trying to find the perfect merchandise for Kiku's liking. Apparently, the store had most of the characters from most anime shows as they were set in alphabetical order as well as the title of the cluster. That is until there's this one group where it isn't considered as an anime: Vocaloid. From what Alfred recalled, Kiku was (and still is) one of the biggest fans of Vocaloid, and when the blonde sought for a specific character, he found his Holy Grail at the very top of the shelf: Kiku's favorite, Hatsune Miku, and it was the only one left!

"Jackpot!!!" he thought to himself while reaching for the action figure in the box. Just then, when he grabbed the package, at the same time, someone grabbed it as well.

Alfred jerked his head to the right and saw a man (or a girl) in a red shirt with Chinese symbols written on the front. He (or she) had a pair of amber brown eyes, and a long dark brown hair tied into a ponytail.

"Um, excuse me, but I had it first." The blonde said to the stranger.

"Yes, but I saw it first." The stranger said, a little more demanding. He (as what Alfred assured his gender was) had a strong Chinese accent.

"Ok, but I grabbed it first," Alfred argued, trying not to cause further conflict with this man, specifically with an Asian. "How about I give you a hundred bucks and you can buy all the stuff you want?"