Robotic City, Poetic Love
Chapter 2: Omi-chan's Garden in the Sky
"Come on, Kiba. Get out here already. I am sure you look great." Hige shouts impatiently. After their breakfast at Silverwolf Grill, Hige dragged Kiba to the mall to get him some new clothes as Kiba's father had 'requested'.
Which wasn't a problem for Hige, however. . .
At that moment, Kiba is taking way too long in the dressing room.
"I don't care about how I look. I just don't know how to open the door." Kiba calls out to Hige. The changing room is pentagon shape and the walls are made with 5 mirrors. Kiba can't even tell which mirror the door is.
"Just say open door." Hige shouts.
"I did! I tried 5 times already. Nothing happened." Kiba shouts, getting very annoyed with both the door and Hige.
"Then shout 'open the damn door now or I will kick your ass all the way to next Sunday'." Hige says exasperated with the whole thing.
"I can't shout that out loud! Cussing to a person is rude, but cussing to a machine is just plain stupid!"
"It's just a machine!"
"Exactly! It's a machine! It's not gonna open even if I cuss at it!"
"Oh for cry out loud…OPEN THE DAMN DOOR OR I WILL KICK YOUR ASS ALL THE WAY TO NEXT SUNDAY!!!" Hige shouts.
Toboe, who iskneeing on the floor and playing with his kitty, looks up andblinks at Hige. The manager walks up to Hige and says, "I'm sorry, sir. Let me open the door for you."
The manager restarts the computer program to the changing room. The door opens and Kiba walks out.
"I told you it would work." Hige grins.
"…….." Kiba shakes his head.
The manager bows and says, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, sir."
"Don't worry about it." Kiba says.
"You look great! Like a model out from a fashion commercial." Hige exclaims. Kiba is wearing shining silver and black outfit with metallic fiber; it makes him feel he's a human solar reflector.
"Okay then, this is the outfit I want." Kiba says.
"You LIKE it? You're more open-minded than you appear to be."
"No, I just don't want to be locked up in the changing room again. So let's go. I am not a mall person." So saying Kiba picks up his own clothes as Hige pays for the clothes he has on with the credit card Kiba's dad gave him before Hige left to meet Kiba.
After the clothes department Hige takes Kiba to the part of the mall he enjoys the most, the entertainment and technology stores.
The first store is filled with music.
"This store has every type of music in creation! Doesn't matter what it is you can find it here." Hige explains to a wide eyed Kiba.
While there Kiba listens to some old favorites as well as to some that he couldn't even have imagined, music that took you to far away worlds, some music you actually felt as it swept you away, others that felt as though the wind were dancing through you down to your very bones.
After buying some CDs of both his old favorites and the new music; Hige finally tears him away to drag him to the vid/gamer store. Here he plays VR games and watches 3-D movies that feel more real then REAL LIFE! (If that's even possible).
Next Hige drags Kiba and Toboe to see the model of the colonies that are being built on Mars and Venus; and the pictures taken by the rocket that is journeying to the center of the universe.
"Thank you, you guys. This is great." Kiba says to Hige and Toboe after this whirlwind tour.
"What do you want to do next?" Hige asks smiling hugely Kiba, happy that Kiba had enjoyed himself.
"Hmm…Can I go visit my dad at your company? He is probably skipping dinner again. I want to bring him some dinner…maybe some sushi?" Kiba says.
"Sure." Hige replies. They go up to a vending machine that's on the corner and Hige slides his credit card down into the machine. Then Kiba presses the button for Sushi and couple boxes of deluxe Sushi drop out of the slots at the bottom of the machine. Kiba also gets a box of pocky from another machine and gives it to Toboe.
Toboe looks at Kiba. Kiba smiles at him. Toboe blushes lightly and ducks his head a shy smile fleeting across his face. The three of them get on the car and Hige says, "Future City Technology corporation main building."
"Future City Technology Corporation main building, right away," the car acknowledges and flies up in the air. Toboe opens the box of pocky and gives one to his kitty who had until then been hidden in Toboe's shirt. The kitty starts eating the pocky endearingly.
Kiba smiles at the scene before him. Toboe looks up at him. Kiba smiles brighter adding a touch of reassurance to it. Slowly and shyly, the small boy hands the box of pocky to Kiba.
"Thank you." Kiba says softly. He takes a piece of pocky from the box. Hige watches the exchange in surprise. This is the first time in a year Toboe had ever interacted with anyone.
Soon they arrive at the office and Hige greets Kiba's father with a small bow and says, "good evening, sir."
"What are you boys doing here?" Kiba's father asks.
"Kiba wants to have dinner with you." Hige says flashing his bright smile again.
"Wow, you look very…trendy, son. That's a very fashionable outfit." Kiba's father says, a little wide eyed.
Kiba shakes his head, "Don't ask. You don't want to know. Anyway, I figure you'll work until it's too late to eat and then just go to bed with an empty stomach. So I brought dinner to you." Kiba says as he takes a glass of water and pours some on a potted flower sitting on his father's desk.
"Did you have a good time?" Kiba's father asks Kiba.
"Yes, the city is amazing." Kiba starts taking the dead leaves out of the flower. Toboe looks at the flowers.
"Did Toboe have a good time too?" Kiba's father's asks.
"As a matter of fact, yeah. Toboe seems to be…opening up to Kiba." Hige says.
"Is that true?" Kiba's father asks. He looks at Toboe, who is looking at the flower while Kiba smiles and says to him, "This is Fuchsia. My mom's name was Fuchsia too. She loved this flower when she was alive. I gave this to my dad when I came to Future City yesterday."
"Toboe never reacts to anyone or anything, but he is listening to Kiba." Hige elaborates on his previous statement.
"Poor boy, I wish there was more I could do for him. His parents were such nice people." Kiba's father says as a sad look comes to his eyes.
"Let's eat! Everyone must be hungry." Kiba says. He puts the sushi on the table. Hige goes and gets some green tea. Everyone sits down around the table.
Kiba's father notices as Toboe walks up to a space next to Kiba and sits down. (Toboe seems to trust Kiba. ) He thinks to himself. Then watches as Kiba puts sushi on Toboe's plate and the boy eats all of it without hesitation.
"Say, Toboe, would you like to move into my house?" Kiba's father suddenly asks, turning towards the small boy. "There are 89 rooms in there and they're all empty, except for mine and my son's. No point in wasting them all. You could keep my son company, as it's sure to get lonely there and you're too young to live by yourself." Kiba's father continues with an encouraging smile.
Toboe looks at the father.
"Your parents used to bring you to my mansion and visit all the time. It's like your second home. It's an awful big place for Kiba to be alone in." The father says.
"I'd love to have you in the mansion with me. What do you say?" Kiba asks Toboe and earnest expression of hope on his face.
"It's a great idea! Toboe shouldn't be living by himself anyway. You can go home with Kiba. And tomorrow I'll take you back to your house and pick up your stuff. It's decided." Hige says.
"Good! You can have the room you always had when you visited me. Now, I have something I need to finish. Why don't you show my son around, Toboe? I will be done in about an hour."
"Well, my work hours are done and I'm clocking out. You all have fun and I'll see you tomorrow." Hige says.
"You don't want to go with them?" Kiba's father asks Hige. Hige had always been protective when it comes to Toboe. It's unlike Hige to let Toboe wanders off.
"I think your son can take care of Toboe." Hige winks as he leaves the office.
Kiba picks up all the empty boxes on the table and puts them into the garbage bin. After that, Toboe walks out of the office while Kiba follows him. Toboe stops at a lab and puts his ID in front of the scanner.
"Hello, Toboe, come on in." the door says as it slowly opens.
"So, what high tech things are we going to see? Robots and machines that can time travel? I wouldn't be surprised after all the things I saw today." Kiba says.
The door opens and light rushes out of the room. It's so bright Kiba can't even open his eyes. When Kiba finally adjusts to the light, he sees the most amazing thing in the world.
"A garden…" Kiba exclaims.
The giant garden is filled with thousands of flowers. Exotic flowers from all over the world that are supposed to be blooming at different season are all blooming at the same time. A boy around Toboe's age walks out to them and says, "Hi, Toboe. I see you brought a friend."
The boy is lithe and petite like Toboe. He has soft honey blonde hair and a cute, bright smile. He bows to Kiba and says, "Hi, my name is Omi. I was Toboe's classmate when we went to school. Come on, hurry or we will miss it."
Kiba wonder, (what are we missing) He starts looking around to see if anything is going on. Omi gets on a cart and Kiba and Toboe get on behind him. "Section 03A." Omi says. The cart takes them to a large grassland at the edge of the lab. The windows of the lab are made with glasses that go all the way down the floor. Kiba looks out of the window and sees that they are on such a high floor that can see the whole city.
"The sun is setting, we're right on time." Omi says looking at the horizon.
Kiba looks up to see the sun going down at the horizon not too far away. The sun is a light red orange in colour. Since the city is made with mostly metallic buildings that reflect the light, it looks like the whole city is turning to a heart warming shade of red. It's such a lovely picture.
When Kiba was in the city earlier, all he saw were closely packed tall buildings that covered the sky. Suddenly he realizes how much he has missed the sun. Finally the sun disappears past the horizon and the sky gradually turns to pitch black.
When the sky is completely covered in black Omi startles Kiba by saying, "Look it's starting."
Kiba turns around and gasps.
The green grassland is slowly turning into a yellow flower bed. Kiba exclaims, "These are Night Bloomers!" After the sun is set and the sky turns to dark, the small yellow colored Night Bloomer flowers begin to bloom. The sweet light scent of the delicate Night Bloomers fills the air. The light skinned Toboe, who is standing in the middle of the Night Bloomers, looks like a ceramic doll standing in a fairyland. Kiba is so captivated by the Toboe he just stands there and stares.
As he started to say something about it Omi looks at Kiba and then looks at Toboe. Seeing the looks on both their faces he decides not to ruin that fragile, beautiful moment, Especially as Kiba seems to be utterly mesmerized by Toboe. And so he lets the two stare off into their own little word.
TBC...