Chapter 19
Ten minutes later, Shinji and Misato were deep in downtown L.A. at the city's largest mall complex. In the parking garage, Shinji was reluctant to leave his car at the mercies of the city. He knew full well the dangers that a car could face, even in the relative safety of a parking garage.
"Don't worry too much," Misato said bracingly, "The parking garage at this mall is one of the safest in the city, and I promise that this won't take too long. We'll just grab you some shades and a few new sets of clothes, and then we'll leave, okay?"
"Sure," said Shinji, "Just make sure your door's locked, all right?"
"Will do," Misato replied, pushing down on the lock of her door. Shinji locked his door and took another long look back at his car. He felt like a father dropping off his child at a new daycare center for the first time. Finally though, he walked away and headed towards the elevator that would lead him into the mall.
"Wow," Shinji gasped when he entered the mall.
"Big, isn't it?" Misato asked.
Big wasn't really the right word for it. Enormous was more the correct adjective for the description of the mall's interior. Shinji could have sworn that the roof was almost three hundred feet up. From the floor plan that was on the directory that he and Misato now stood in front of, he could see that the building had five floors; most of them occupied by stores. On the top floor, there was a gigantic IMAX theatre and arcade. The floor below it was occupied by nothing but food courts and food shops.
"This…is…huge," Shinji said slowly. Misato chuckled in response to this. Clearly, every first-time visitor to the mall had nearly the same reaction. It took Shinji and Misato nearly twenty minutes to wind their way up through three floors of stores until they reached an American Eagle Outfitters.
"No way," said Shinji defiantly, "There is absolutely no way I'm shopping at an American Eagle."
"Why not?" Misato asked, looking disappointed.
"It's too trendy," said Shinji with disgust, "All of those high-fashion, low-moral celebrities and all of the preppy, rich kids endorse the kinds of rags that they sell in this kind of store. And anyway, the kinds of fashions that they sell here are usually passé by nightfall of the day you buy them. I've never been the kind of guy to follow fashion fads; it's just not me. I keep it simple and consistent."
"Then, where would you rather shop?"
"I'd rather not shop at all, honestly," Shinji replied bluntly, "I really don't like to go clothes shopping…Wait a second…"
Shinji paused as he looked into the "trendy" clothing store. He wasn't looking at the clothing racks and hangers. He was looking between the hanger racks at a stand of sunglasses near the checkout desk. What he saw caught his attention immediately. Shinji darted over the threshold of the store, leaving a confused Misato following in his wake.
Shinji strode over to the sunglasses and plucked a pair off of the rack. He turned them over in his hands, examining every curve and detail. Next, he tried them on experimentally. They felt comfortable and Shinji thought they looked rather exciting on his face. He turned around while wearing them and looked at Misato.
"Wow," she said, "I never would have pictured you in those, but they work for you."
"Thanks sweetheart," Shinji replied, "I've always wanted a good pair of aviator sunglasses to wear around."
"Can you just imagine all of the envious looks you're going to get?" Misato asked as the pair walked over to the register, "I mean, you cruise around in a '77 Corvette, you look super handsome, and now you're going to look like some kind of a super stud with these sunglasses added into the mix."
"I think the most envious looks are going to come from the guys who want to cruise around with a hottie like you in their car," Shinji said, "I mean, sure they might think it's a nice car, but guys like a gorgeous woman to sit in their cars with them."
"Well, you've got me all to yourself," Misato said, hugging Shinji's arm and kissing him playfully on the cheek.
Shinji smiled. Minutes later, he and Misato walked out of the store with his sunglasses hanging on the front of his T-shirt. Misato pulled Shinji into a more generic clothing store and practically shoved him back to the jeans section. Shinji reached for several pairs and headed for one of the dressing rooms.
"You know," Misato remarked while Shinji was changing, "if I just happened to sneak back there when no one was looking, we could--,"
"Get busted by mall security?" Shinji asked through the dressing room door, "No thanks. Been there, done that."
"Been there, done that?" Misato repeated, "You mean you've…?"
"Done it in a dressing room before? Yeah, once," Shinji replied, "It's…not something I'm generally that proud of."
Shinji emerged from the dressing room wearing his old jeans again. After selecting a couple of T-shirts to go with the jeans, he and Misato left the store and headed for the food court level. After lunch, Shinji wanted to go straight for home, but Misato wouldn't hear of it. She wanted to do more shopping.
Somehow, Shinji thought ironically, I knew this was going to happen! I just knew it!
"I thought we were only here to pick up some shades for me and a few new sets of clothes," Shinji asked.
"We are," Misato answered, "We got you your new clothes, and now we're going shopping for my new clothes."
I should have known she'd pick a loop-hole like that.
What Shinji didn't know, however, was exactly where Misato was taking him shopping. As it so happened, Misato led Shinji right up to a Victoria's Secret store and tried to drag him inside. When Shinji resisted, Misato looked hurt. Shinji just grinned and said:
"Surprise me. Pick out something nice to wear tonight." He said this and winked. Misato got a mischievous smile on her face and nodded. As Misato walked into the store, Shinji called after her, "I'll be in the book shop down the way. Come and find me when you're done!"
Shinji wandered his way down the half-mile corridor, looking for the bookstore that he and Misato had passed earlier. On his way, Shinji passed several groups of "questionable-looking" people. Shinji suspected that they were either gang members, or simply local hooligans out for a stroll in the mall, looking to possibly stir up trouble or commit a crime like shoplifting. As Shinji walked past them, each of them glared at him. Shinji did his best to act like nothing was the matter, but the glares annoyed him. He didn't even know these people and here they were glaring at him like he had offended their mothers or something.
Shinji didn't think about it too much, and soon he found himself within the comforting confines of the bookstore. Shinji had a wry thought: This is probably the only store in the mall where those street creeps won't venture. There's too much chance of them actually learning something!
Thinking like this caused Shinji to chuckle softly. He soon found a science-fiction novel on one of the shelves (about werewolves, of course), and proceeded to start skimming through it. Shinji didn't know how much time passed, but he happened to glance up from the book when heard a male voice outside the store shout something about a "great-looking piece of ass carrying Victoria's Secret bags."
That's gotta be Misato, Shinji thought, Where is she?
Shinji shelved the book and moved to the entrance of the store. He looked up and down in both directions, trying to spot, not only Misato, but the loudmouth who had made such a rude comment about her. Shinji heard the same male voice again, but this time he couldn't quite make out what he was saying. Shinji did, however, manage to spot Misato's flowing mane of purple hair bobbing through the crowd one level down. However, Misato wasn't walking toward Shinji's location in the book shop. She was, instead, striding quickly towards the central rotunda of the mall. Shinji looked puzzled at first, but then he saw the small group of shabbily-clad youth pursuing her.
Shinji wished that it were later in the day and that he could call forth his werewolf form. Since he couldn't, he took to his human feet and dashed down the corridor, trying to reach Misato before she was harassed by the hooligans. As Shinji tried to keep tabs on Misato's location, all the while dodging left and right through the crowded area, he watched as the gang members began to herd Misato towards a maintenance hallway. Shinji had several suspicions about what would happen after they got her there; that is, if he let them get her there. Shinji was worried, though. He could see no quick way of getting down that one floor without completely losing track of Misato's position, and how could he help Misato if he couldn't find her?
Shinji noticed something. The layout of the corridors was like that of a step-pyramid. That is, the higher floors' walkways were farther apart than the lower levels'. This meant that Shinji could look straight down over the railing of the floor that he was on and see the walkway of the level below him. Shinji was filled with another wave of reckless bravado and a crazy idea. Shinji dashed over to the railing and looked straight down at the walkway, judging the vertical distance. It looked to be about fifteen feet, straight down. More fortunately, there were not that many people on the walkway directly below him and there was a large gap in the crowd that was approaching.
Shinji took a few steps back from the railing and then dashed toward it. He planted his hands against the top rail and dropped himself over it into empty space. Shinji felt himself hang in empty air for nearly three seconds, and then he came crashing back to earth on the walkway below him. He hit the ground and rolled back to his feet without missing a beat and kept running. Inwardly, however, Shinji cursed himself for his foolish bravado.
Ow, ow, ow, ow, OW! He roared mentally, Goddamn did that hurt! Quit whining, wolf. Keep running. Catch those punks before they hurt Misato.
Despite the loud protests that Shinji's knees gave him, he raced down the walkway, pushing his way through the crowd. Shinji saw Misato's hair dip into the maintenance hallway, followed by her pursuers. Shinji panicked and ran harder, knocking several people over in his desperation. Shinji whipped around the corner and plowed into the back of one of the punks. The teenager that Shinji ran into stumbled into another two of his comrades while Shinji bounced off and fell over backwards. One of the three gang members turned around and picked Shinji up roughly by the front of his shirt.
"Watch where the fuck you're goin'," snarled the boy that Shinji had run into. Then, he shoved Shinji back out toward the main walkway. Shinji stumbled with the push, then recovered and took another step forward. The youth tried to shove Shinji back again, only to be caught by his arms and pulled across Shinji's body and tripped onto his face.
"Take 'im!" the second boy shouted. Then, he and the third boy threw themselves at Shinji. Shinji stood his ground, unafraid. Instead of being afraid, Shinji was feeling a thrill of confidence and courage.
Shinji sidestepped the boy nearest to him. He went flying on by Shinji, a confused look on his face. Shinji turned his attention to the second boy, who plowed himself into Shinji's abdomen at a full run. Shinji didn't even try to resist, he just allowed the boy to drive him down to the floor. However, what the hooligan didn't expect was for Shinji to roll with the impact of the ground, plant his knees into the punk's gut, and boost him over his head into the railing, knocking him out cold. Shinji spun himself back up to his feet, expecting further attacks, but none came. His assailants had all fled.
With a grunt, Shinji turned and dashed on down the maintenance hallway. Shinji suspected that the three punks who had attempted to stop him were only the lookouts. He expected to find the rest of the gang a little further ahead.
Please, let Misato be all right, Shinji prayed.