Road Trip To Nowhere (MxM) (ONC 2019 Entry)

SEVEN

"Even in bad times, you still have my back. It's hard to being brave for you, but it's worth it in the end."

-Bowie

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I forgot where we're at. "Benji, what is this place again?"

He turned to me while holding a stuffed panda. "Oh, we're in a store where all of this stuff here is imported from Japan. Neat huh?" He then grabbed a chubby cat inside of a banana peel.

"Interesting." It was silent for a moment before I started to think as to why we're here. "Are you trying to make up for all the times I had unanswered questions? Cause I told you I liked Chinese food?" He turned back around to look at me.

"What? What are you talking about? Pffft... yeah actually," he said while clinging on to the cat, hiding half of his face.

I let out a heavy sigh, "this isn't even from China, it's from Japan. I don't even know half of the stuff here. Like, what is that?" I pointed to what looked like a little plush boy with bright pink hair and hairpins. "Like, why does he have such bright hair for a human being?" I looked at Benji for a response, but he gave me a deadpanned look. "What?"

"Have you never heard of anime?" He tilted his head as he picked up a different plush with blue hair and an eye patch. "What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you see this?" I looked closer at the stuffed tiny person to see they had a grumpy face on.

"Um, that they look like a pirate?"

Benji bites his lip, "not even close, but okay." He puts it back on the shelf and grabs another one. It had long blonde hair and blue eyes. "What about this one?"

This one looked dead inside when you look at its face. "I think this one needs help."

Benji let's out a heavy sigh. I think he's getting frustrated. "You're close, but each of these characters is beautiful in their own way. They make the show so much better. Without them, then it would be nothing, but meaningless moments. Each character is fighting their own battle. Each one is unique in their own way." He pulls on my sleeve. "You need to watch anime." Is he serious?

"Is anime like medicine to you, or something?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

He lets go of my uniform sleeve. I was wearing my uniform from work but without the bow tie. It was the only thing I had that was clean. "No, it's just very moving in some aspects and it's also very beautiful. You should give it a whirl." He puts the little plush girl back on the shelf. "Okay! Let's go look at something else." He walked over to the display window that had all the posters.

"Are you planning on buying anything here?" He was looking at a poster which had seven boys dressed in blue uniforms with flowers around them.

"Yeah, but I don't know what it should be." He kept looking around for something, and I couldn't really keep up. So I did my own thing. I walked over to a display table that had teapots and teacups. Along with cat clocks and many other household items. Nothing really caught my attention, but the food on the shelves behind me did. I forgot that we didn't eat yet. I'm forgetting a lot of things today. This isn't normal for me. Am I sick?

My thoughts were then interrupted by some loud yelling. Everyone turned their heads to the front where the register is, and so did I. Some guy was yelling at the girl who was on the register. I walked up to them to see what the problem was since nobody else would. "Excuse me." They both turned to look at me. "Apologizes for interrupting you two, but what seems to be the problem?"

The guy only gave me a glare. He looked like he was in his early twenties. "It's none of your business cos boy."

"Cos boy?" What does cos mean? Is it some weird profanity children made up to sound cool? "Listen I'm just trying to figure out what happened, so please do tell. You're already in public." He made a grunting noise before turning and walking away. "You can't run away from your problems kid! It'll only make it worse." I looked back at the girl who was clinging on her forearm. "Are you okay?"