Top Secret Mission No. 13
"Crepes? Are you sure about this?"
Axel rolls his eyes. "Of course I'm sure, Roxas. Don't worry, I've been here before." He opens the gate without looking at me.
I step through after him, still groggy from my nap. Why did he have to wake me? "This is supposed to be a mission?"
Axel smiles like a kid who is about the pull a fire alarm and enjoy every second of it. "An important mission."
I sigh and look around. We're in front of a store and Axel is leaning on a giant cat that keeps waving at me. What is that thing so happy about? Is it a heartless?
I open my hand to summon the keyblade, but Axel clamps down on my wrist and shakes his head.
"Not here."
I pull my arm away and glare at him. If we're supposed to complete a mission we should get it over with. "What are crepes? Are they heartless?" All missions involve heartless, I just want to be prepared.
Axel shrugs. "Xemnas probably tells me less than he tells you. Come on. He said they were here in Harajuku." I have no idea what he's talking about.
And I doubt I know less than Axel.
"What is this place anyway?" I ask as we walk down the crowded street. People, real people, moved out of the way and eye us with suspicion. It has to be the robes. I told Xemnas they were a bad idea.
"It's called To-Key-O."
"Never heard of it."
"Most haven't. Xemnas found it on accident. 'Course he'd never say it was an accident. See," he points at a sign, "crepes."
The crepe fortress looks like a truck, and it has a colorful sign with pictures of food on it. Next to it is a beautiful display of artwork or food, or both.
I press my nose into the glass. "What are they?"
"Those are- crepe food. It's how you catch a crepe," Axel says.
My stomach rumbles. Crepe food doesn't look half bad. "I'd eat some."
Axel sighs. "Fine. After we find the crepes."
"What are we supposed to do with the crepes when we find them?"
Axel opens his mouth and closes, like a fish trying to breathe out of water, and consults the mission specs. "It just says to get two crepes."
One each. It makes sense. Axel and me can take down two crepes, no matter how strong. I am the keyblade master, after all.
The people in front of us talk to the keeper of the crepe fortress, and he gives them crepe food. My mouth waters at the wonderful smell, sweet and warm, like pancakes but better. I really should have eaten before we left.
When it's our turn, Axel smiles. "Two crepe foods please."
The crepe master points at the display of artwork.
"Are we supposed to take one of those?" Axel asks the man, who mumbles something I don't catch.
"Maybe we choose what kind of crepe food we want?"
Axel nods and we do. I chose one with ice cream, bananas, chocolate sauce and whipped cream, because I'm hungry. Axel chooses one with whipped cream, caramel and a piece of cake inside, because he thinks he's a girl.
"This will definitely get me a huge crepe," Axel says and a smile tugs at his lips.
I ignore him and take my crepe food.
Then man looks at us and holds out his hand.
Axel frowns. "What? I said I wanted that one-" he points at the crepe food with the cake in it. "Got it memorized?"
I roll my eyes. Is he ever going to stop saying that?
Finally, the man gives Axel his crepe food, and we leave.
Behind us, the crepe master yells something.
"Axel, did you give him any munny?"
Axel huffs. "No. Do you think we were supposed to?"
I shrug, and we hurry around a corner. "So where do we find these crepes?"
Although Axel is taller than me by a head, he slouches so much it makes him seem shorter. "It looks like there's a park over there."
I squint and notice something. A group of- no, they aren't people- are grouped around the entrance of the park. Some of them look like bears, or girls in dresses, but they can't be. There is something off about them. Something different. Groups of real people stand around taking photos of the strange ones.
I scratch my head with my free hand and lick some ice cream off of my glove. It's delicious. "Maybe those are crepes."
"Maybe," Axel says, but he isn't paying attention to them. He's eyeing his crepe food with a frown.
I frown too. If those are crepes they aren't hurting anyone. Not like heartless or Nobodies hurt people. They're just having their pictures taken with real people. Some of them are even eating crepe food.
"Think they'll attack?"
Axel sighs. "There's only one way to find out."
I take a deep breath, and we step into the crowd of crepes.
No one attacks us. A few of the real people even stop us and ask for a picture. I lick more delicious melty ice cream off my glove and nod.
"They don't want our crepe food," Axel says as we stand in the midst of these strange new beings.
"No, we better eat them before they melt."
Axel smirks. "Do you think it will be better than sea salt ice cream?"
"There's only one way to find out."
And we devour our crepe food like we haven't eaten in weeks. I wish I were a crepe so I could eat this all the time.
When we're done, Axel licks his lips and pulls out the mission specs. "Next: Ferris wheel in O-Da-E-Ba."
"Is a ferris wheel a heartless?"
Axel walks away like he knows where he's going, the faker. "Let's go see."
I frown at my now sticky gloves and follow.
