Shopping Trip
Author's Note: Bear with me, this chapter is kind of long. Also, this is a filler chapter.
…
Joe stepped out of the van, and stretched out. After being on the trip for an hour, they had finally made it back home.
Yomi and Kagura both slowly got out of Yukari's car, and fell to the ground on their hands and knees.
Joe walked over to Kagura, "Surely it can't be that bad the second time around" he said
"It's worse the second time," Kagura said.
Joe winced.
…
After they all retrieved all of their stuff from the vehicles, they all went home (Joe stayed at Chiyo's house) and Joe and Chiyo went to sleep. The vacation had put a serious strain on the both of them.
…
The next day, Chiyo woke up to Joe already at the table on his laptop.
"Good morning, Chiyo-chan" Joe started out
"Good morning, Joe" Chiyo responded "What are you doing on your laptop already?"
"I'm looking for my own apartment. Though I talked with your parents, and they said as long as I'm still looking for my own apartment and paying them rent, I can stay here."
"Well, that's nice" Chiyo said. In truth, she was happy that Joe would be able to stay for a least a while.
Joe's laptop gave him a warning that the battery was low.
Crud, Joe thought.
He closed up his laptop and went to go take a shower while Chiyo ate her breakfast. He checked his chin, where hair was beginning to grow. He pulled out his shaving cream from his bag (the one he had brought from America, that also contained his special soda), pushed down on the top to get some cream out, and got nothing.
Double crud, Joe thought.
"Oi, Chiyo-chan" he yelled from the bathroom. "I think we need to go shopping"
"Yes, we do" Chiyo responded. "All the stuff we brought to the beach house is completely gone."
Joe came out of the bathroom to see Chiyo sitting there, frozen solid.
"Chiyo?" he asked. As he got closer, he saw why she was frozen solid.
A huge cockroach had gotten right up on the table she was sitting at, and was almost staring at her, as she stared back.
Joe's eyesight became intensely focused. He ran back into the bathroom, grabbed a flyswatter he had in his bag for situations like this, and came back out.
It almost seemed like the cockroach saw the flyswatter, because he immediately went flying right at Chiyo.
Chiyo screamed, shielded her face with one arm, and closed her eyes.
WHAM!!
"He stopped watching me" she heard Joe say.
Chiyo opened her eyes to see the flyswatter had caught the cockroach mid-flight, and had squashed him right at the edge of the table. His guts were smashed out.
"Ewww" Chiyo said "How can you handle stuff like that?"
"Because the bugs we worry about in America are not cockroaches, they're centipedes. A bug that has about 20 legs. And the way it moves just creeps you out. Cockroaches don't creep me out, centipedes do."
Joe then cleaned up the guts of the cockroach he had just squished.
Chiyo wrote up a list of stuff they needed, got some money from her parents, and they both left the house.
Neko-san, this entire time, had still been sleeping up on Joe's futon.
…
Chiyo and Joe walked all the way to the shopping mall in the middle of town, and met up with Kagura, Kaorin, Sakaki, Yomi, Osaka, and Tomo right in front of the building.
"Well, that's awkward" Joe said, "We're here for food and some other stuff. What are you guys here for?"
"Food for Mayaa" Sakaki said.
"I came with Sakaki-san" Kaorin said.
"My boyfriend is out visiting his hometown in Germany for the rest of the week, so I need to pick up the groceries" Kagura said
"I came to look for a few more dieting tips from others, as well as picking up some food for myself," Yomi said
"The women's clothes store is having a super sale," Tomo said.
Everybody looked at Osaka.
"I can't remember why I came," Osaka said, and everybody sweat-dropped.
…
Everybody went inside, and decided that grocery shopping should be the last thing they do.
…
First stop, book shop for Yomi, as well as looking at books.
Joe went looking at the player's guides, as well as to check out the new manga out (translated in English for easier reading, of course)
Yomi went for the dieting books.
Sakaki went for the "Healthy Cat" books.
Kaorin pretended to look at something, but was really watching Sakaki, blushing the entire time.
Nobody really knows what Osaka was staring at.
Tomo was also looking at some new manga, but was more interested in the humor than anything else.
…
Tomo laughed "Yomi, you gotta come read this. This fat character is sensitive about her weight, like you!"
From the checkout counter, Joe's eyes darted over to the diet section of the book store, and followed the movement of Yomi from that section to where Tomo was standing, and watched the tackle of Yomi against Tomo.
"YOU REALLY KNOW HOW TO GET ON MY NERVES, DON'T YOU!" Yomi yelled as she began choking Tomo.
Chiyo, Kaorin, Joe, Kagura, and even Sakaki just sighed at the normal fighting between Tomo and Yomi.
Joe paid for his strategy guide, as was leaving the building.
"Heh hehhh" Tomo laughed evilly as she got out of Yomi's grip, and kicked her off. "What you don't know is that I stole a secret weapon"
"Ha! Don't make me laugh. You don't have any secret weapon!" Yomi yelled.
Tomo had a very evil look on her face, as she pulled out a soda can. Yomi instantly recognized the label.
"No, you didn't…" Yomi said, barely audible.
Tomo opened the can.
…
Back at the entrance, Joe heard the sound of a can opening that he only recognized as his secret soda.
He whipped around to see…
"Oh, no" he whispered
…
Tomo had guzzled down the entire soda.
The store's security had now surrounded them both.
"We are going to have to ask you to leave" one man said, as he grabbed Yomi's arm.
Another man, who was in Tomo's 'surrounded' group, went to grab her.
It almost looked like he had grabbed at thin air. Tomo had almost vanished instantly.
"You guys are going to have to be faster than that," Tomo said from behind the man.
Instantly, she zoomed out of the store. Books and pieces of paper went flying from the sheer wind force of her body going by.
Joe's eyes widened as he felt the 'whoosh' go by him. He then saw it.
Her speed, he thought, is amazing. She moves so fast that even my movement sensitive eyesight only catches a blur.
He then got the look-to-kill on his face.
But that's all I need, he thought.
Tomo had stopped out in the middle of the mall.
"I could go shopping at all the stores at once!" she said, and looked over at Joe.
"But then again, I do owe you for punching me in the face." Tomo said, with an evil grin.
Joe turned, and just kept 'the look' on his face.
Tomo then vanished.
Joe stood there, and waited.
He then got punched hard in the face by Tomo.
Crap, he thought, I thought I could see her.
Tomo just stood there, eccentric at what she had just done.
"Sweet Revenge!" she yelled
Joe went sliding on the floor back into the bookstore he had just been in, and slid right into a bookshelf, which then rocked, and knocked a whole bunch of books on top of him.
Tomo was now standing outside the bookstore and laughing.
"I finally have my revenge. I was waiting for the perfect moment to get it!" Tomo said
The only movement inside the bookstore was Chiyo running over to the pile of books that lie on top of Joe. She reached to pull them off of Joe, but the pile started moving, and Joe stood up out of the pile of books.
"Joe-san, are you ok?" Chiyo asked.
Joe raised his head. A dark aura was seeping out of his body. Chiyo took two steps back in fear.
"Chiyo-chan, no matter what happens" Joe said "she fully deserves every last bit of it" and he walked slowly out of the store.
Tomo just stood there with a grin on her face as Joe came back to where he was originally standing.
"Come back for round two, have you?" she said in an arrogant tone.
"You caught me off guard last time. This time," Joe said, and he cracked his neck "No mercy".
Tomo's body vanished again.
This time, Joe saw it coming, and jumped out of the way, while leaving his right hand open and out to catch Tomo as she ran by to try to hit him. He caught her right arm.
He then grabbed the same arm with his left hand, and started swinging her around. Joe then swung her up into the air. Tomo was now airborne, and unable to use her speed.
Joe started running in the same direction Tomo was flying, and formed the seal of the tiger.
…
By this time, Chiyo, Yomi, Sakaki, Kagura, Kaorin, Sakaki, and Osaka had all gathered outside the bookstore to see what was happening.
Chiyo gasped as she saw the seal of the tiger.
"She's gonna get it" Chiyo said.
…
Tomo managed to get her body flipped around in air, so that she would at least land on her feet. As she hit the ground, her legs bent to 'catch' her full body weight.
Basically, she landed, and went to the squatting position.
Close, Tomo thought.
A noise came from behind her. She looked back to see Joe with his pointer and middle finger from both hands shoved up her…
The pain hit her right at that particular moment. She had just been hit full power by the…
"Thousand Years of Pain!" Joe yelled, as Tomo went screaming and belly-flopped a yard from where she had been hit.
…
Sakaki gasped and put her hands over her mouth.
Yomi covered her ears to protect herself from Tomo's screaming.
Kagura put her hands over her eyes, as if to say 'I didn't want to see that'
Chiyo winced.
Osaka looked mortified.
Kaorin's face turned white.
…
Tomo couldn't move. The pain in her butt was so intense that moving her legs would make it hurt even more.
Joe undid the seal, and walked over to Tomo.
"Mess with the bull, you get the horns, Tomo-chan" Joe said.
"Just you watch, I'll get you…" Tomo stopped yelling, as the way she had yelled made her butt hurt even worse.
…
"Full Power, too" Chiyo said
"What?" Yomi asked, who seemed to be the only one able to speak after that particular moment.
"Tomo-chan was in the squatting position. Not only that, but Joe had a good running speed when he hit her. Tomo got hit full force by that attack. Something tells me she'll be walking funny for a while." Chiyo explained.
Yomi got a mixed feeling of pity and joy. Sorry for Tomo that she got hit full force by it, and joy from the fact that she deserved every last bit of it.
…
Joe walked away from Tomo and back toward the group.
"Sorry you guys had to witness that" Joe said
"Where in the world did you learn that?" Kagura asked in shock.
"I picked it up from Naruto. It looked like a painful attack that anybody in the real world." Joe said "I used it in college when some guys tried to haze me into joining their group."
"Joe then had the entire college turned on him, until I came" Chiyo said "I explained to everybody that he would only use it if he really got angry with you."
"I still don't feel like I've thanked Chiyo enough for that one" Joe said.
Yomi, with the biggest grin on her face, walked over to Tomo.
"Does it hurt?" Yomi asked
"WHAT DO YOU THINK?! OF COURSE IT…" Tomo got a shot of pain again.
…
"Ah, the pet store" Chiyo said, and Sakaki instantly blushed as she ran inside. Kaorin, Kagura, Osaka, and Chiyo all followed her in. Joe and Yomi sat down on a bench.
They both watched Tomo slowly walk (if you could call it walking) to where they were sitting. As she passed Joe, she gave him an "I hate you" look.
"So, tell me, Tomo-chan" Joe said, as he whipped out his notebook, "are you feeling any sort of weird side effects? I mean, from the soda," he added as Yomi snickered.
Tomo just continued to give him the "I hate you" look.
"I take that as a no" Joe said, and he wrote in his notepad.
After putting it back into his back pocket, he noticed something behind Tomo. He moved his head slightly to see…
A light shine down from heaven right at what Joe was looking at. A little bit of drool dropped from his mouth, and he slurped it back in.
Yomi noticed this, and looked at what he was looking at.
"A video game store?" she asked, and looked back to see an empty spot where Joe had been sitting.
She looked back at the video game store to find Joe already walking out.
"That was quick," she said as she walked over to Joe.
"I forgot," Joe said "it's the summer, so…"
He then had streams of tears flowing down his cheeks. "They don't release any good games! Why does life have to be so cruel?"
Tomo then came hobbling over, with an evil grin on her face.
"In pain, are we?" Tomo asked in a loathing tone.
"I was, but then I remembered how much pain you were in, and I feel so much better now," Joe said with a smile.
Tomo popped a vein in her head.
"But," Joe continued, "I did manage to get a Nintendo DS charger and Laptop adapter that work with Japanese electric plugs."
"Hey, we're finally done!" Chiyo yelled as they all went up to Yomi, Tomo, and Joe.
"They didn't have a whole lot of new animals in there," Sakaki said, obviously disappointed.
"Well, that's alright, Sakaki-san, there's always next time," Joe said, trying to cheer her up.
"What are they all staring at?" Kagura asked.
Everybody looked inside the video game store that Joe had just been in to see every last guy looking right outside to where all these girls were standing.
"Uh, nothing…" Joe said, knowing precisely what they were staring at. "Let's just go on to the next store."
"It's the best one, the women's clothing store, with a half off sale!" Kagura exclaimed.
All of the girls walked off (Tomo hobbled off), and Joe watched as every guy in the game store got a disappointed look on their face as the girls left.
Glad I left that group a while ago, Joe thought, as he followed after the girls.
…
Joe played his DS on a bench outside the store that the girls had gone into. He ended up beating his game in the hour and a half it took the girls to shop.
"It would have only been an hour," Yomi said, "but Tomo had to hobble to all the clothes she wanted, and trying them on was a big pain for her"
Joe just smiled. He was also really trying to hold back his laughter.
…
They stopped quickly (five minutes total) for Joe to pick up some shaving cream.
…
Finally, Joe stopped right outside an arcade, and smiled.
"Hey, you guys, since this is our first shopping trip together, we should have a dance off" he said, as he pointed to two Dance Dance Revolution Pads that had the game playing.
Everybody agreed, and they paired up.
Yomi vs. Tomo
Sakaki vs. Kaorin
Kagura vs. Osaka
and the last round, Joe vs. Chiyo
"I can't dance," Tomo complained "not after what HE did to me" Tomo pointed an accusing finger at Joe.
"Oh dear, Tomo" Joe said with an evil smile "Are you saying that you are going to let Yomi beat you?"
Tomo got angry, and hobbled over to the dance pad.
…
"Tomo, you give in to peer pressure way too easily." Joe said with a smile.
Tomo hadn't gotten any perfects at all. In fact, a few times, she had frozen up from dancing due to pain.
Yomi managed to get a decent score, with two perfects.
…
Kaorin thoroughly enjoyed her dance-off against Sakaki, although she didn't score any perfects at all.
Sakaki managed to score 16 perfects.
…
"How do you play this?" Osaka asked.
"You watch for the arrows to come across the top of the screen, then hit the same arrow," Joe explained.
"So, if I hit an opposite arrow, that's bad" Osaka stated.
"Yes" Joe said with a sweat-drop.
Osaka seemed to have the basics down, but she had one problem.
Every time she would look at the screen to hit one arrow, she had to look down to hit it. And by that time, 6-7 arrows had already gone by.
Kagura managed to score 15 perfects.
"Always chasing Sakaki," she said with a laugh
…
Finally, Joe vs. Chiyo.
"Love Shine?" Joe asked Chiyo
"Sure, let's do that one" Chiyo said
"And I believe we're tied" Joe said with a smile.
"Yes, we are" Joe said, and started the song
"Tied?" Kagura asked
She never got a response.
Joe almost seemed to be flying through the air. He was using not only his feet, but also his fists to hit the mat and score perfect after perfect.
The girls looked over at Chiyo. She was moving her tiny legs fast enough to also score perfect after perfect.
All the girls had their mouths gaping open by the end of the song.
Tied. Total perfection from both players.
Both Joe and Chiyo were breathing heavy. They looked over at each other with big grins on their faces.
…
Finally, after getting back to Chiyo's house, Joe simply took a shower, and fell into his futon. Neko-san was still sleeping on his pillow.
In English: "Neko-san, why does shopping with girls have to be an all-day affair that completely wears me out?" Joe asked.
Neko-san just looked at him weird.
In English (again): "So you don't know either. Good, as long as we're on the same page"
And Joe fell asleep.
…
Author's Notes: Finally, this chapter is done. R & R please!
Next Chapter: Tomo does stupid, and Osaka does smart.