Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Love Hina.
Pre-Read by: Zenapax
I Fell For You In San Francisco: Japantown
After a long and tiresome night, Shinobu wakes up, stretching her arms and yawning. Just before she gets out of bed to cook breakfast, she looks around and is frightened. She sees three doors instead of one. The walls have abstract and landscape artwork instead of her posters of Vivian Hsu and Rico Yan. And wonders why there is a big screen TV where all her stuffed animals used to be.
"Where am I?" She jumps out of bed and rushes to the sliding glass door. When she looks out, she sees large unfamiliar buildings, but gives a sigh of relief. "Oh yeah. I forgot. I'm in San Francisco with Sempai." She turns her head a little and looks at the slept-in bed, recalling what happened the night before.
After telling Keitaro that there was only one bed, he panicked, waving his arm and saying "OH MY GOSH!" repeatedly, before fainting to the ground. After reviving himself a few minutes later, he pondered over the situation at hand. He goes into the living room and examines the couch, which turns out to be a sleeper sofa. He tells her that she can take the bedroom because she found it first, but she argues with him, saying that he should take the bedroom because he won the trip to come here. Before letting a verbal argument start, he lifted his hand high above his head. Shinobu immediately understood what he was doing. Whenever she got into a very heated verbal argument with any of her friends, they would always play rock paper scissors to determine who was right. Doing the same thing, they begun to play. Once they decided on their weapon of choice, Keitaro's scissors beat Shinobu's paper, making him the winner. Respecting his victory, she smiled and went into the bedroom to unpack a few things before going turning in for the night.
Realizing where she is, she slides the glass door open and steps onto the baloney, taking in the morning air along with the view of the city. She stays there for a few minutes before going back into the bedroom and heading into the bathroom. Keitaro told her what was already inside there, but is still amazed to see it. Before going back into the bedroom to grab her toothbrush, she sees a note taped to the mirror. Curious, she walks over there and reads it.
Shinobu-
I've gone to the bank to exchange the money and will explore the hotel. I'll be back in a few hours.
-Keitaro
She tosses the note into the trash can and opens the other bathroom door that leading into the living room. She's looks at the clock on top of the other big screen TV and is in shock to see that it's 10:30. Not wanted to leave the hotel room in fear that Keitaro might return soon, she goes back into the bedroom, where she changes into shorts and a sleeveless shirt. She grabs her suitcase and neatly puts her clothes in the drawers next to the bed. Once she's finishes, she grabs a small leather bag that contain her toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, deodorant, razor, shaving cream and travel size mouthwash before going into the bathroom. After arranging it the way she wants them to, she goes back to the bedroom to finish unpacking. Before she grabs the last item in her suitcase, she hears a click in the living room. Wondering who it is, she get up and opens the bedroom door to see Keitaro step inside. He looks rather paranoid, scanning the room while holding onto a blue bag.
"Hi Sempai." He screams, putting his hands up in the air, thus tossing the blue bag in the process. He looks to see Shinobu, sweating profusely.
"Shinobu." He puts his arms downs and walks towards her, patting her on the back to calm her down. "I'm sorry. You just scare me. That's all." She manages to crack a smile.
"It's OK, but why were you acting all crazy like that?" He turns around to grab the blue bag.
"This."
"What's in it?"
"The money I exchange from the bank this morning."
"Oh. How much did you get?" Keitaro slowly walks towards her and whispers in her ear.
"300,000 American dollars." Shinobu's mouth falls to the floor before screaming.
"WHAT?! YOU GOT..." Keitaro covers her mouth.
"SHHH. Be quiet. I don't want everyone at the hotel knowing that we have a lot of money." He uncovers her mouth.
"OK. But how did you get that much money to begin with?."
"Guess the interest really kicked in. That's my only explanation. Since we have a lot of money, we can spend it on food, survivors, movies and other things."
"Yeah. We can..." Shinobu suddenly realizes what he just said. "WE?! Don't you mean you? It's your money!" Keitaro shakes his head with a slime.
"I know, but you can share it with me. And don't worry about the cost of stuff. You don't have to pay me back. Just please don't spend it all. I'd like some stuff too and some money left over when we go back, so we need a budget." Shinobu feels overwhelmed with his special act of kindness.
"Don't worry Sempai. I won't. I don't think I could spend 100,000 yen in one week."
"Me either." He looks through the open bedroom door. "What were you doing in there?"
"Just unpacking a few things. I was thinking of watching one of the VCDs on the DVD player and..."
"What? You brought the DVD player that your dad got for your birthday last year?"
"No. No. There is a DVD player underneath the TV in the bedroom."
"Oh. What are you going to watch?"
"I Love You." Keitaro immediately breaks out in a cold sweat.
"You...what?!"
"I Love You." Shinobu realizes what she told him and starts waving her hands, blushing all over. "I mean that's one of the VCDs I brought over! It's titled I Love You. I also brought Parasite Eve and Everyday Is Valentine and..."
"Oh. That's what you meant!" Keitaro says, laughing in relief.
"I'm sorry for the misunderstanding."
"Don't worry about it." They have a good laugh until Shinobu's stomach growls. "Didn't you eat something?"
"I woke up like a half hour ago and was waiting for you to come back."
"Oh." He looks at his watch. "Well, we better get some food then. I don't want you starving."
"Where shall we eat then?"
"The hotel is in some place called Japantown. The receptionist at the front desk gave me a map of the area and from what I saw, there are a lot of restaurants. We can walk around a bit and you can choose where to eat. They all seem good to me."
"OK. But let me get my camera." She goes in the bedroom and returns a minute later. "OK. Let's..." She looks down and notices what's she's wearing. "Oh no. I'm sorry. I should change first."
"Don't worry," he tells her. "The weather out right now is warm enough. I saw some people also wearing shorts."
"Hmmm..." She thinking real hard, pondering what to do. "OK. I'll go out like this. I trust your judgment." Bring along a small backpack, the two head out to explore Japantown. They enter through a door that connected the hotel to the Miyako Mall. That mall was rather small and nothing appealing to her appetite. They manage take a few picture of themselves on a bridge that acts like stairs and together in a cardboard cutout of Godzilla and a large robot.
Once they stepped onto Peace Plaza, the first thing they notice is a five-storied pagoda tower. They take a closer look to read the summary of the tower, called Peace Pagoda. They take pictures of themselves next to the tower and are fortunate to find someone to take a picture of them together. Not feeling like crossing the street to the Buchanan Mall area, they go straight into the Kintetsu Mall.
Inside, they're stunned to see a rather large rock waterfall next to the Murata Cafe Hana. After taking their pictures next to it, they enter Japan Video which is near by. Keitaro wants to make sure that she gets some food before shopping, but couldn't denied Shinobu's request. Once in, they pretty much stayed in the anime section and end up getting a few things: Shinobu buys a Lost Universe soundtrack CD and a Ranma 1/2 art book while Keitaro buys a Maho Tsukai Tai art book. The place also rents DVDs, so they get all of Kare Kano and Strawberry Eggs. After their purchase, they continue walking around. But Shinobu found nothing appealing to eat either.
When they enter Webster St. Bridge, Keitaro starts to worry that Shinobu might not eat anything when he accidentally bumps into her, falling down on top of one another. Embarrassed, they immediately get up.
"I'm sorry," they say together with their heads looking at the floor.
"No. No. It's my fault," Shinobu says. "I stopped to look at the restaurant."
"That's OK. Wait? A restaurant?" Keitaro looks around and sure enough, sees the restaurant. "HUH?! There is a restaurant on the bridge called...On The Bridge?!"
"Yeah. I never heard of a place like this before in Japan."
"Me neither."
"Americans thinks of weird places for locating their businesses." She takes a picture of the sign. "Want to eat in there though? I don't think we'll ever find another place like this again."
"Sure. After you." Like a gentleman, he let's Shinobu enter first. They sit at the booth and are handed a menu by the waitress. They look at it carefully, noticing a lot of pasta items. In a few minutes, the waitress comes back to get their order. Shinobu orders the chicken and mushroom spaghetti with a lemonade while Keitaro orders the kinoko no spaghetti with a coke. They also spilt the chicken lime for a side dish. The waitress takes their menus and heads off back into the kitchen.
"Small place," Keitaro says.
"Yeah. But when you think about it, this is the perfect size for a restaurant like this."
"True." Keitaro looks at Shinobu's cheerfully expression, but something doesn't set well with it. "You OK?" She quickly turns her head towards him.
"Yes. Yes. Why?"
"You looked a bit sad. Any reason?"
"No. But I did wish I was with parents."
"Oh. So you didn't want to go on this trip with me."
"No!" Shinobu frantically waves her arms and yells in Japanese, blushing all over. She stops when she notices everyone in the restaurant, including the waitress who just gave them their drinks, is staring at her. She covers her mouth with one hand and turns ever redder in embarrassment. "I'm sorry Sempai."
"It's OK Shinobu. I didn't mean to upset you."
"You didn't, but my parents are doing well with each other and I wish we could spend some time together. You know how I felt when they got divorced."
"I remember," he says, taking a slip of coke.
"But thanks to you and everyone at the Hinata Sou, you all helped me get thought the toughest problem in my life. Now that my parents have been on good terms with each other for a year now, I feel that we can be a family again."
"That's great. But does that mean you'll be leaving once they get back together?" Shinobu pondered the question for a bit.
"I don't know. I really never thought of it." The food comes a second later. Both of them enjoy each delicious bite while trying to take a picture of the other one eating. When they finish, Keitaro pays the waitress and exits the restaurant, heading to the Kinokuiya Building.
The first place they go into is the Kinokuniya Bookstore. Surprisingly, all they buy were shirts for themselves and everyone at the Hinata Sou. Then they go into Kinokuniya Stationery. Shinobu gets some paper and postcards of San Francisco, along with Keitaro. They look around downstairs, but don't find anything they liked in any of the stores. There are a few mini-photo booths, but they are all broken. Keitaro checks the map and sees that the Kabuki Theatre is next door to the building. They go out of the building and walk towards the theatre.
"Want to watch a movie?" Keitaro asked.
"OK. You pick. I'm willing to watch anything." He scans the titles for a movie to watch together. He found one, but doesn't know if she'll even want to watch it.
"You sure?"
"Sure I'm sure." With that, Keitaro walks into the booth and orders two tickets to see Bad Boys 2. He worries that she doesn't like his choice while they're inside, but seems to enjoy herself. He feels comfortable with her, sitting close to one another. But didn't enjoy the few moments where Shinobu elbows him when she laughed too hard.
After the movie, they go back in the Kinokuniya Building, up the stairs, pass the bridge and back into the Kintetsu Mall. This time they look thoroughly within the mall. They go into the Mikado Kids Corner where Keitaro buys some origami paper. Before making the purchase, Shinobu shows him a funny postcard that read: It's been such a long trip, I've forgotten where I was going. Thinking of Mutsumi, they both laugh, purchasing one for themselves. They go into Murata Cafe Hana, where they each buy a large green tea ice cream cone before heading back to the hotel room.
Warning: Please don't use this story as a guide to San Francisco. I don't want to be responsible for you getting lost!
GOOD OR BAD, PLEASE REVIEW =)
