Chapter 25: Look out Tokyo Part 3

Bobby waited outside of Nicole's room, leaning on the wall next to the door while inside, Nicole was in the bathroom looking at her hand playing around with a make-up container. She looked at her self in the mirror and thought. For anything that happens today, Dawn. I'm very sorry, but I just have to do this.

She then unscrewed the container, looking at the white cream inside, where she then dipped her first two fingers into the mixture and rubbed the cream over her cheek.

"So, where are we going to next?" Odd whined, but shoot back up when Yumi glared at him.

She took out her map. "Well, there is a shrine a few blocks away, from there. We will be heading there next. Or do you have any complaints, Odd?"

He shook his head. "No, not at all; there is just something about a Japanese girl in a shrine maiden outfit that gets my eye."

The three shook their heads. "Well, let's get going," Ulrich said as he help up his camera and smiled. "I still have a lot of pictures to take, and I need at least need one with you in it, Yumi."

Yumi waved one of her hands. "No thanks, I don't need to be photographed."

"Come on, Yumi; the picture won't add twenty pounds," Odd chuckled.

Yumi frowned as Dawn giggled from that. "Maybe we should take a group picture, you camera does have a timer, right?"

Ulrich nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea, Dawn."

"Unless you're afraid of getting your picture taken, Yumi," Odd chuckled.

"Let's get going," Yumi snapped back as she started to walk off.

Odd looked confused. "Ah, did I say something wrong?"

Ulrich patted his friend on his back. "You, no! When have you ever done that?"

Ulrich and Dawn chuckled while Odd rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah; make fun of the comedian."

Nicole then stepped out of her room, revealing to Bobby her skin was now white. "I see you brought that make-up along with you."

She nodded. "Yeah, you never know when I could use it. I know you don't like me wearing it..."

Bobby shook his head. "No, it's not that I don't like you wearing it; I just don't like how you need to put it on to have other's accept you. You should be treated like the person you are: kind, smart and strong willed," then she noticed him rubbing the small scar on his hand, the scar she gave him when she bit him years ago.

She gently smiled from seeing that. "Yeah, I know; but let's just go have some fun," she replied, grabbing that hand in hers and pulling him off to the elevators.

The four arrived at the shrine; Ulrich and Dawn took a few pictures of the statues and structure, Yumi was checking out the charms and Odd was checking out the shrine maidens.

Ulrich then aimed his camera at Odd and grinned. "Hey Odd, I know someone who would love a picture of you looking at other girls."

He shook then looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about, I was just checking out the scenery."

"Yeah, right," Ulrich replied as he aimed the camera at, Yumi. "Say cheese."

Once she realized he was aiming the camera at her, she put her hand out to block her face. "Come on, Ulrich."

"Hey, guys; what's going on over there?" Odd asked, pointing out some people at the shrine, watching some of the shrine maidens walk down a pathway."

"I'm not really sure, but this looks really familiar to when I studied Japanese culture," Dawn replied.

From there, a man and a woman walked down the path behind the maidens, where the woman was wearing a white dress. "It's a, wedding," Yumi exclaimed.

"This can't be a wedding," Odd replied, "Where's the cake or the buffet?"

"Seriously, Odd; you need to stop thinking of food," Ulrich replied.

"I can't help it, it's just my nature."

"Oh, wouldn't it be great to get married here?" Dawn asked.

Ulrich and Yumi looked at each other, and then quickly looked away from each other, both of their cheeks bright red.

But Odd was able to catch it, he elbowed Dawn in the side. "Hey come on now, Dawn; you're giving the Lyoko lovers ideas."

"Odd!" Ulrich replied.

Yumi forced a cough. "Well, we still have a schedule to keep; so let's keep going."

Bobby and Nicole were walking down the city streets, listing to the tune from the crosswalk as they walked over to the other side. Nicole loved the change from people looking at her in disgust to trying to check her out. "It's nice to be treated normally once in a while," she commented.

"But my parents, Dawn and I have always treated you like a normal person," Bobby replied.

She giggled. "I know, I just meant in public. It feels weird to be accepted so easily. So come on, let's have some fun while we can. It's not everyday we go to Japan."

He smiled at her. "Sure, so where do you want to go first?"

"Well first I want to see if I can find a square watermelon, and then..." she replied, but then they both saw some Japanese teenagers dressed in bizarre outfits. "Huh, and people make fun of the way I look?"

"Some people can be very strange," Bobby replied.

Sebastian and Jeremy worked on their computers. "I don't understand why you are helping me with this, Jeremy; you should relax today."

"No way, and pass up a chance to work with you."

"Compliments will get you everywhere my friend," Sebastian chuckled. "But you should spend some time with Aelita, something tells me tomorrow will be a very interesting day."

"I rather have her relax in the baths with Peeacee for now; besides, two brains are better then one."

Will nodded, but then his eyes went wide as he saw the data. "Oh no."

"What's wrong, Will? Is there something else?"

"No, I discovered how to destroy Xana once and for all," Will replied, but in a worried tone.

"Isn't that a good thing? That's what we are looking for," Jeremy commented.

Will exhaled. "Tell me what you think then, I'm sending the data to your laptop."

The loading bar hit one hundred and appeared on his screen. Then after scanning the code, his eyes went wide too. "No way, there has to be another way; there is a ninety-five percent chance..."

"I know, so we better find a better way before tomorrow's match," Sebastian replied.

"Right."

Peeacee and Aelita relaxed in the steam room. "So, how do you think the boys are doing?" Aelita asked.

"Don't worry about them, I bet even now they figured out a way to finally to get rid of that evil virus."

"I hope so; my Uncle Anax originally created a virus as a guardian boss of Sector Five, but it would be great to finally get rid of it."

"Yeah and hopefully have Bobby back to normal, safe and sound," Peeacee added, but then looked over at Aelita. "You don't have to answer this, but from what I heard you used to have a crush on him, is that true?"

Even from her skin a shade of pink from the heat of the steam, a faint blush could be seen on her face. "Well, that isn't uncommon around his school; he is so helpful, always putting his needs aside to help another; he even helped me find my classes on my first day of school when everyone else would just ignore me."

Peeacee giggled. "Yup, that sounds just like Bobby. He's a guy you just can't hate. So, did you ever ask him out?"

Aelita looked away. "Well, no; I never got up the strength to do so, but I could also tell that Nicole and Dawn had a crush on him so I didn't pursue it. Not sure if he knows himself about them."

"I doubt it too; he has always been blind when it came to relationships;" she giggled. "But I better get out now; my body doesn't do well if I stay in steam too long."

"But you're not even sweating yet," Aelita commented.

Peeacee smiled nervously. "Let's just say, my body works differently than yours."

As Nicole and Bobby went window shopping and time flew by, he would notice that she wasn't acting like herself. She would go to clothing stores of her own free will, where usually he and Dawn would have to drag her in kicking and screaming; not to mention trying on perfumes or make-up.

Besides that, every time she would want to go anywhere she would either grab him by the hand or wrapped her arm around his then pull him off.

The sun started to set in the distance while only a short walk away from their hotel. "Well, I think that is everything for souvenirs," Nicole replied. "Is there anyone I'm missing?"

Bobby put his hand under his chin. "I think you got everyone."

"That's good," she replied, but then her stomach started to grumble, "but I still haven't found that square watermelon."

"Nicole, could I ask you something?" Bobby asked in a serious tone.

She looked confused. "Sure, Bobby."

He rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "I'm just wondering, if you are alright."

Her small hands gently squeezed the bag. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just that, you've been acting different today, and I was just wondering if you have something on your mind."

Nicole looked away from, Bobby; breathing heavily and the sound of her heart pounding so loud she could barely hear her own thoughts. "I-It's j-just," her small hands squeezed tighter on the bag.

"If there is anything bothering you, Nicole; you know you can tell me anything," Bobby said.

From there, what Shadow said to her started to flood her mind. "If you stay with those rules I can assure you that you will probably never get a chance to be with him." "You even consider yourself a freak. How do you ever plan to be with him with ideas such as those?"

Her hands started to shake. "Nicole, what's wrong?"

She swallowed the large knot in her throat. "Bobby," she said above a whisper, "do you, care about me?"

Bobby noticed she still wouldn't look at him. "Yeah, you should know I care about you; just like if you were my sister."

She flinched from what he said, holding back her tears. "Well, I don't care for you as a brother."

He was shocked from hearing that. "What do you mean? Did I do something to make you dislike me?"

Then all of a sudden she turned to face him, water was forming at the bottom of her eyes. She placed her shaking hands on his shoulders, closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his. His eyes went wide as he noticed the tears fall from hers.

Her eyes then shot open and stepped a few steps back from him. Her free hand was over her mouth, completely shocked from what she had just done. "I-I'm, so sorry," she was able to get out before she ran off to the hotel, leaving Bobby stunned in his place.

The four obvious tourist stood inline for the last elevator to the top of the Tokyo Tower. "Who knew you could see so much in such a short time," Odd said. "We should have just gone up here first and saved us a lot of walking."

The three glared at him with him nervously smiling in return. "I mean it; my feet are going to kill me tomorrow. Which reminds me, why do they have another elevator to get up to the top? Shouldn't they have just made one go all the way?"

"Anyway, thanks again for taking me for this trip," Dawn said, changing the subject so not to have her new friends get in trouble by beating up their teammate.

"No problem," Yumi replied and then said while glaring at Odd. "At least someone is considerate."

Odd shook a bit. "I'm trying to get this culture, but it is as hard for me to learn this culture as it is for Jeremy to learn another language."

The elevator opened up and the small group started to leave. "Well, it looks like we're up next," Ulrich pointed out.

They reached the top platform. "Huh, I thought this would be revolving," Odd said.

"No, Odd; this isn't, Disney Land," Ulrich said as they stepped out, looking around the area.

They all looked out the windows to see the breathtaking view of Tokyo with the lights just starting to brighten up ground. "Beautiful," Dawn said with eyes shinning like gems.

"Tokyo is really a place like no other," Ulrich stated as Yumi rested her arm on his shoulder.

"Yeah."

Odd looked out the window with his right hand like a visor. "Hey, I can see our Hotel from here!"

Yumi grinded her teeth. "Stop with the jokes already, Odd."

"No, I can see it too," Ulrich stated, pointing to the building in the distance.

Yumi squinted her eyes. "Oh, yeah; I can see it," then she turned to face Odd. "Sorry, Odd."

"This shows I don't joke all the time," Odd boosted.

Then Yumi dropped her arm by Ulrich's side and intertwined her fingers with his.

He then gave her hand a gentle squeeze in return. They looked at each other with a smile on their faces.

Dawn saw this and softly elbowed Odd in the side. "How about we check out the other side," then signaled to him to look at Yumi and Ulrich.

Shockingly, he actually understood what she meant on the first try. "Sure, no problem."

They walked off, leaving Ulrich and Yumi alone to talk.

Yumi then released her grip with his hand and dug through the bag she was holding with the other. When she grabbed the box with the watch in it, she pulled it out and said. "Happy Anniversary, Ulrich."

She handed him the box and his face was astonished. "Wow, this is great, Yumi," he exclaimed, taking it out of the box and strapping it to his left wrist. "Well, this makes my gift for you look like junk."

He pulled out a small box from the bag he was holding and held it out for her. "I hope you like it."

She removed the cover to see a black Japanese fan, engraved into the left side of the wooden frame was a Japanese male in a ceremonial outfit while on the right was a Japanese woman in a ceremonial outfit. "Open it up," Ulrich said.

She spread the fan to see inside it said, Happy Anniversary, Ulrich & Yumi, in Japanese. "I had the guy write, Happy Anniversary, on it. But since I can't read Japanese I'm not truly sure that's what it says."

"Yes, that's what it says," Yumi replied, but Ulrich could hear that she was holding back her tears yet couldn't see because she had the fan opened.

"I know, my gift is pathetic," Ulrich replied in a depressed tone.

She closed her new fan for Ulrich to show she was smiling. "I really do love it, Ulrich. Thank you."

"Alright, now get in closer so I can get a good shot," Odd announced with the two realizing that he was aiming a camera at them.

But just then, he got hit in the head by the folded up fan Yumi just got and fell over.

Ulrich looked at Yumi as she innocently smiled in returned. "Sorry, force of habit."

From there, they started to laugh; ending a fulfilling day in the city of Tokyo.

To Be Continued

Wouldn't be funny to see Yumi throw a fan at Odd's head in the show? Well the next chapter will be a match between Team Kiwi VS Team Extra; who will be victorious? Read and Review.