Tokyo, Japan - 7 Years Ago

It is summertime in Tokyo, Japan, and children everywhere have exchanged their school uniforms for summer clothes; sundresses, flip flops, wide-brimmed hats, anything to beat the heat.

Children and adults alike crowded beneath the shade and towards public pools to keep cool, but the hustle and bustle led to even more sweat and fatigue, which only served to increase their desire to get off the hot concrete and into somewhere cool.

Then again, Nobita Nobi, a boy of no more than four, had found a more practical way to beat the heat.

Nobita had taken refuge inside a convenience store when he had spied an air conditioner out the window. He'd only meant to idle among the aisles until he was discovered, but that changed when he'd seen the sign above the miniature freezer.

2 for 1 on all frozen treats, the hot pink sign read in sharpie. Nobita had about two yen in his pocket and the normal price of ice cream here was just under that.

Before you could say "thermodynamic conduction", Nobita had picked two cups of ice cream from the freezer and set them on the checkout counter.

"For the heat?" the clerk asked, in a thick Osakan accent.

Nobita nodded, slapping his money down on the counter.

As the clerk rang up the transaction, Nobita's eyes wandered to the ice cream, only to stare at what was on it.

A character in a red and blue full bodysuit, one he didn't recognize, flew frozen in a dynamic pose in an ad. Spider-web-like markings ran all over his costume and he held one hand out like a fist with two fingers and a thumb extended.

"Something wrong with the ice cream?" the clerk asked, startling Nobita, "you're staring at it pretty hard."

"No," said Nobita, "just… who is that?"

He held up the cup and pointed to the character. The clerk stared at him as if he'd sprouted a second head and suddenly, Nobita regretted asking.

"That's Spider-Man," the clerk said as if everyone should know who that was.

"Spider-Man?"

The clerk nods. He seemed to come alive at the notion of telling someone about this "Spider-Man" and began to gesture while talking in a way Nobita had only seen in TV shows.

"Spider-Man. He's this kid nobody thinks is all that cool, but he crawls up walls, has super strength, shoots webs, fights supervillains who dress up like goblins, and mad scientists, and aliens… I think he fought an Octopus or something once… There were many movies about him and a lot of shows he was in."

The clerk turned to look down

"If I were you, I would buy the first comic book with him on the cover you saw," the man said, "Cause you're missing out if you're not."

Nobita left the store starry-eyed and staring at his ice cream as he ate it.

Spider-Man. He sounded so amazing. He'd save every yen he got and keep an eye out in every collectables store he went into. He'd get as much Spider-Man stuff as he could.

So enraptured was he with thoughts of the wondrous wall-crawler that he didn't realize until three blocks later that he had forgotten his change.

Nobita runs to the comic book store excitedly. As he arrived at the store he flew right through the door and bumps into an overweight man stocking shelves.

The man was wearing glasses and a Hawaiian shirt with his hair tied in a ponytail.

"Hey, kid, be careful! This store is not a playground!" the clerk said as he helped up Nobita, "I'm sorry!" Nobita apologized.

"Anyway, mister, I'm here to buy a Spider-Man comic book!" he asks the store clerk as he grabs the extra change from his pocket.

The store clerk laughs as he tells the boy, "Sorry, but it's been sold out for weeks!" much to Nobita's disappointment.

"You probably should've arrived here early when it's not busy!" the store clerk informs the boy as he continues stocking the shelves.

Nobita then carries himself out of the store feeling defeated and disappointed as he heads back home comic book-less before the sun had the chance to fully set.

Tokyo, Japan - 7 Years Later

Barely awake, Nobita rubs his eyes as the sun shines through his window. He grabs his alarm clock and reads 8:30 am. Nobita puts the alarm clock back down and rolls over into his covers falling back asleep within seconds. A couple of seconds later, Nobita's eyes pop open as he grabs the alarm clock for the second time.

"I'M LATE!" He yells in a panic as he puts his glasses on, throws together his clothes for the day and grabs his allowance from his bank. As Nobita was making his way downstairs only to lose his footing and tumbles down the stairs catching the attention of the blue robot cat, Doraemon who was watching TV in the living room.

"Sounds like someone's finally awake" the gadget cat from the future said to himself.

As Nobita peels his face from the floor and reaches for the change that fell out of his pocket during his fall.

He gets back on his feet and bolts for the door while complaining "WHY DIDN'T THE ALARM CLOCK GO OFF AND WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP DORAEMON?"

"IT DID GO OFF BUT YOU WOULDN'T WAKE UP SO I TURNED IT OFF AND THEN TRIED TO WAKE YOU UP BUT YOU STILL WOULDN'T WAKE UP!" Doraemon announced to Nobita as he quickly put his shoes on and ran out the door.

It was a hot sunny summer day outside, and Nobita ran as fast as he could to the comic book store. Every summer, Nobita tries to get his hands on a copy of the Spider-Man comic, but it is always sold out. Ever since Nobita was 4 years old, he was always trying to get in line for the Spider-Man comic every summer but never got a copy. But this time, Nobita was determined to get one more than ever.

Nobita was running as fast as he could as he sped by his friend/crush Shizuka. She was carrying a violin case probably on her way to her lesson. Nobita then quickly backs up to see her as he jogged in place.

"Oh, hey there Shizuka I almost didn't see you since I was running so fast!" Nobita said.

"Nobita! Why are you running so fast?" Shizuka questioned Nobita.

"I am trying to make it to the comic book store on time to get myself the latest issue of Spider-Man. I've slept in again so I must hurry anyway see ya!" Nobita quickly explains as jets off to the comic book store.

"Well, it was nice talking to you, see you later!" Shizuka shouted to Nobita from down the street.

As he reaches the comic book store, he skids to a halt when he sees that there is a lineup of hot, sweaty, irritated kids waiting to get a copy of the latest Spider-Man comic book much to Nobita's frustration and annoyance as of now he would have to wait at the end of the line.

"Come on, come on, come on!" he sighs impatiently.

After what seemed like forever, Nobita was now third in line as the Spider-Man comic was just in his grasp as he waited anxiously jogging in place. That was until the store clerk, who is now middle-aged with gray hair and a white beard, stepped outside the store and announced to the lineup waiting outside.

"I'm sorry, kids! But right now, we're officially sold out of Spider-Man comics!" the store clerk announced, much to the disappointment of all the kids waiting in line. But none were as disappointed as Nobita, who has been waiting in line for hours in the blistering sun!

"WHAT?" Nobita cried. "No, no, they can't be gone! It's not fair!" he complained as he pleaded to the store clerk, "Please, are you even sure all of the copies are gone? Did you at least check the back to see if there were any more copies left?" he asked him.

"Sorry, son! I've already checked, I don't have any more copies!" The store clerk apologized to the defeated Nobita. "I sold the last copies to those two!" and right on queue, it's revealed that the last two copies have been sold to none other than Gian and Suneo, much to Nobita's horror.

Takeshi Gouda is also known by everyone as "Gian" who was the one with the gorilla-like build and deep voice. Gian has always been big for his age, partly because he is overweight. Suneo Honekawa was the short Weasley-looking one with the high-pitched annoying voice. Ever since Nobita was very young these two have always been bullying and belittling him at every turn.

"Oh, do you want this, Nobita?" Gian said teasingly to Nobita while waving the comic book over his head as Nobita tried to grab it. "Well, you can't have it!" said Gian.

It was like an arrow through his chest. Nobita was heartbroken at the fact that Gian and Suneo have the last two copies of the latest issue of Spider-Man.

"A loser like you can never have a Spider-Man issue as we do! You probably don't even know who he is or what his real name is!" Suneo said in a demeaning tone to Nobita.

"Yes, I do" Nobita quickly thought of the first name that came to his mind "It's um… Shinji!" Nobita guessed.

Gian and Suneo roared with laughter as they both walked away leaving the defeated Nobita to tears as he fell to his knees and cried out, "Doraemon!".