White Rabbit

Chapter 22: He Takes Care of Her

ESSENCE

I watch Reece carrying the woven, brown basket as we walk through the Shibuya shopping district and I glance down to the list in my hands that Reece made me hold. The two of us continue walking through the streets together, booths lined up on both sides of us and steam rising off of freshly made food from some booths, others containing workers that are lining up freshly picked produce. The wooden booths occasionally have decorations hanging from their ceilings, such as dreamcatchers or chains with feathers and charms, that dangle and hang in the corner of the booths' roofs. Rain water from last night occasionally drips down from the booths that have metal roofs and it spills on to the road as it runs down.

So far we've gotten an assortment of things from different booths -- milk, bread, eggs, butter, oranges, peaches, bananas, strawberries, green beans, peas, rice, and potatos -- all of which Reece is carrying in the gigantic, circular, brown woven basket.

"Come on," Reece nudges me in the arm and I nod, following him over to another booth.

I tilt my head in curiosity when I notice that we've arrived at a takoyaki booth and Reece orders one takoyaki plate.

"Takoyaki?" I ask in confusion as Reece stands there next to me as the middle-aged booth owner grabs a steaming serving of takoyaki as a giant cooking platform sizzles and crackles with food in the background while a younger cook works and he carefully wraps the takoyaki before putting it in a white, plastic grocery bag and handing it to Reece, who gladly takes it and hands the shop owner the money.

"Mhm," Reece nods and urges me towards another booth, "Come on."

"But--"

Reece balances the basket with his one arm and holds the white grocery bag with the very same hand and dangles it from his fingers as he uses his free hand to grab my wrist and tug me along. He drags me over to a rice omelette booth next and I become even more confused than I previously was. We stand in line for a few minutes before arriving at the front counter, all the while a slight frown resides on my face as I try to figure out what Reece is buying already made food for. He orders a large rice omelette and the elder shopkeeper nods, her black hair tied up in a bun with a piece dangling by her face and some grey streaks run throughout her hair. The shopkeeper walks to the storage area in her booth and bends down in her long, flowery, white, red, pink, and lavender kimono to grab a recently made large plate of a rice omelette. She walks back over to us and wraps it before putting it in a green, plastic shopping bag and handing it to Reece, who has to sit it down on the counter in order to hand the money to the booth owner. The booth owner nods and wishes us well as Reece grabs the bag from the counter and the two of us nod gratefully and wish her a nice day, thanking her.

"That's everything," Reece says and starts walking towards the exit of the shopping center.

"You could at least let me carry something," I say.

"You already are," Reece says, "You're carrying the shopping list."

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" I pout and Reece chuckles.

"Fine. Here," He says and hands me the green shopping bag and I hold it in my right hand with the shopping list.

"Thank you," I huff and he smiles slightly as he watches me out of the corner of his eye as we walk down the street.

I continue to follow Reece down the street, twirling the green bag around in my hand occasionally as it hits my right leg as we walk, which makes Reece shoot sharp glances of disapproval at me. I smile sheepishly and try to refrain from accidentally kicking the bag as we walk. My left hand reaches up to the necklace that Reece got for me because he promised that he would buy me something for dragging me along with him, which is mostly why I agreed to go in the first place. The necklace is a clear crystal with silver and gold metal caging around it in intricate spirals to hold it in its elongated, tear-drop form and attached to the necklace chain.