Roxas sauntered through the town, hands in pockets. He glanced at the stalls as he passed, the vendors yelling from all over to get passersby to buy their merchandise. Roxas kept walking, not interested in the jewelry, fish, or supplies they had to offer. He was just browsing.
He found an old lady's table, and she was selling flowers. She grinned a toothy grin at him, and said, "Hey there, young man. You want to buy flower for your sweetie, hmm?" She motioned to a rose. "How about rose? It is the sign of love."
Roxas smiled at the rose; it was pretty and he wanted to get it for Fox.
He pulled the coins out of his pocket, and glanced up. "How much?"
The lady chuckled, and said, "For you? 5 Denari."
Roxas looked at the coins and bit his lip; he didn't know what the heck each one was worth.
The woman chuckled and said, "It's the small silver one."
Roxas picked out a small silver one and handed it to her, smiling. "Thank you." He said, and picked up the rose. She chuckled at him again, and put the coin away. "No, thank you."
Roxas picked up the rose and pocketed it. It was a perfect gift for Fox; he pictured her wearing it behind her ear, and smiling at him. He grinned at his vision, and then put his hands in his pockets again.
Just then, his stomach growled. He scrunched his mouth to the side in hunger and then looked around for the nearest restaurant.
There was one just about in front of him, and so he smiled hungrily at it. It would be good to get a little bit of food in him.
He walked into the restaurant and looked around; it looked fairly average, so he probably wouldn't have to pay too much. He walked in and took a seat.
A waiter came up to him and asked him for his drink and food orders.
Roxas looked up at the kitchen, and then said, "I'd like a water, an apple, some eggs and a side of toast," he said, smiling and thinking how good it would all taste.
The waiter wrote it down and Roxas waited for the waiter to come back with his order. He aimlessly scratched at the table and looked around. So far, he thought Hokkaido was a pretty nice town.
Suddenly, he got a bad feeling. He didn't know why, but he felt that something bad was going to happen. He stiffened and looked around slowly. The only person he could see was the waiter, coming to him with his food. He relaxed and forgot the feeling immediately as the smell of the cooked food wafted over him. There was quite a lot, and even though Roxas was very hungry, he still asked the waiter for a doggy bag.
The waiter nodded and left Roxas to eat in peace. He licked his lips, and dug into the eggs. He took a bite of one of the pieces of bread, and then washed it down with the water.
He sighed happily, the feeling of hunger slowly receding. He finished off the last of the piece of bread, and then ate more eggs.
The waiter came back with his bill and a box. Roxas was already quite full, even though he still had the whole apple, about half the eggs, and two pieces of toast left. He put it all in the box and closed the lid before checking his bill.
"300 Denari?" he exclaimed. That was insane! The rose was only 5 Denari. He guessed that the water would be about 20, and so was the apple. The eggs and toast would be about 40 each. Altogether, it would be about 150 Denari total, plus tax. This was double what it should be! He checked the order again; it was his bill; it wasn't a messed up order. He checked his money, and he only had 180 Denari left.
"Damn it," he muttered. He took a breath, swallowed, and prepared for what he was about to do. He placed the bill on the table, and put 120 Denari on top, picking up his box and walking hastily away from the table.
He glanced over his shoulder, and saw the waiter pick up the money and count it, looking at the bill. "Hey!" he said, looking at Roxas. "You didn't pay in full! Get back here!"
Then, Roxas took off as fast as his legs would take him out the restaurant. The waiter chased after him.
Roxas ran and ran, panting slightly and carrying the food box under his arm. The waiter was gaining on him quickly; he was much older than Roxas.
Roxas glanced around quickly, and turned down an alley. He looked side to side, and saw a bunch of boxes. He leaped and hid behind one, just as the waiter ran past his hiding place. Roxas chanced a look out, and saw the waiter rush down one of the alleyways.
Roxas took a breath and sighed. So much for a fun and relaxing day, he thought to himself.
He pursed his lips, and told himself that no matter what, he could not tell Fox about what had just happened. He looked over, and noticed that this place he was hiding in felt very familiar. He squinted around and stood up; he had never been here… but why did it feel so recognizable? Then, he tripped over something; it was a sword. Suddenly, some of his memories came flooding back.
This was his sword; he had dropped it when he came to this town. He had been transported here somehow, and then something had hit him on the head and knocked him out. He picked up the sword; it was fragile looking but in fact very durable and easy to wield. It was called the Oathkeeper, and Roxas smiled at it, happy at having been reunited with his weapon. He strapped it to his back so he wouldn't have to carry it, and then walked out of his hiding place.
Roxas looked up at the sky, and noticed it was getting slightly darker; he would have to get back to Fox's shack very soon.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets, and held the food box under his arm; his right hand brushed the rose in his pocket. He had forgotten about that in the midst of everything; he'd have to remember to give it to Fox.
He got to the edge of the city, and looked up. He found the trail quickly and climbed up it. Before going into the woods, he looked back at Hokkaido. It was actually quite nice here; except for the people. Fox was right about them. He had to be careful next time.
He walked on through the woods and came out at the clearing. Fox was sleeping on the grass, snoring slightly. She had a rock as a pillow, and was sleeping on her side.
Roxas felt a smile grow on his face as he watched her sleep. She was so pretty… He took off his jacket and laid it on her, careful not to wake her.
Then, he decided that since she had helped him, he wanted to do something for her that would impress her. He looked around and saw the shack. He walked inside and looked around; he said to himself, "I guess Fox won't mind if I cleaned up this place up a bit." He said into the shack.
It really was quite messy; there were dirty dishes on some shelves, the ground was dusty and had many pebbles on it, and the bed looked like it hadn't been made in years.
Roxas decided to start with the dishes. He grabbed all of them, stacking them on one another. He carried them outside carefully and put them down by the creek. He sat Indian style, and got to work cleaning them. He hummed a tuneless song while he worked.
It didn't take even 5 minutes before he had them all clean and dried.
He stacked them all on top of each other, sparkling clean. He carried them inside, and laid them all on a shelf. He smiled at the clean dishes; he was amazed that he could even clean at all.
He looked around and decided that he should sweep the ground first.
He spotted a very old broom covered in cobwebs sitting against the wall in the corner. He wrinkled his nose and brushed them away before grabbing the broom and sweeping out all the dirt, leaves, dust, and grime.
It wasn't long before the whole shack was full of the stifling dust. Roxas coughed and threw open the window to air out the shack some more.
He finished sweeping, and then sat in the sun a bit and washed off his face and hands in the creek.
He glanced up at Fox; she was still sleeping and was slightly smiling in her sleep, holding the jacket's arm against her chest like a teddy bear. Roxas smiled and then stood up, getting back to work.
He went back inside, and took the sheets off the bed. He brought them outside, found which way downwind was, and shook them out; careful not to get any dirt anywhere near Fox.
After cleaning both the top and bottom sheets out, he went back inside and put the sheets back on, tucking them in. He smiled at his work, very happy with what he had done. He looked around and decided he could clean her bow. He wondered if she would show him how to use it sometime. He took it off of a peg on the wall and grabbed a rag from inside the shack. He took them down to the creek and gently washed it, taking the dust off of it, too.
After it was cleaned and dried and sparkling like the dishes, he went back inside and put it back on the wall. Roxas looked around at the shack; it looked much better, being clean like this. There were no more cobwebs; nothing was dusty, dishes stacked neatly on the shelf… He hoped that Fox would love it and thank him for it; he loved talking to her and hearing her voice. To him, it was the voice of an angel.
His stomach grumbled again, and he frowned at it. It had only been an hour or two and he was already hungry again! He sighed and grabbed the food box.
Suddenly, he had a perfect idea: He could make the food for him and Fox!
He looked around quickly, and found some flint in a box under Fox's bed. He took it outside and gathered some tinder. He made a small fire, and put the eggs and apple on top of a rock over the fire to warm them up, gently pushing them around with a stick.
