Chapter 2: My Best Friend
Doraemon shivered as he was hit with a chilly breeze. Autumn was approaching fast, and the weather was already getting colder. Most students were already busting out their winter clothes to keep them warm. Doraemon, too, wondered if it was time to start wearing a jacket to school. He wasn't equipped to handle the chilly weather. The slightest breeze was making him shiver.
It was lunchtime now, and Doraemon was looking for a place where he would be safe from the weather. He was tempted to visit the library, but then he would have to either read a book or study, and he didn't feel like doing either of those.
There's got to be some place around here that would block out the breeze, he thought as he wandered around campus.
The area seemed unusually empty, making Doraemon suspect that most students had the same idea and were huddled up in the library. Thinking of other students reminded Doraemon of his friend Doramen. He hadn't seen the red robot cat all that much since their first encounter nearly three weeks ago. Even though they shared a couple classes together, Doramen seemed to spend most if not all of the class time keeping to himself. He never seemed to show any interest in interacting with his classmates.
He was still much of a mystery to Doraemon. Doraemon didn't really know anything about Doramen's interests or hobbies. In fact, he didn't really know anything about Doramen at all. Doramen had seemed reluctant to talk about himself, instead preferring to ask Doraemon the general "new friend questions", like "What do you do for fun?" and "What's your favorite game?". Doraemon had tried to somehow read Doramen's body language or expression, but the only emotion he could ever really pick up was curiosity. Doramen seemed very eager to learn more about Doraemon, which flattered the yellow robot cat.
He began to think back on some of his previous conversations with Doramen as he continued to walk around campus. Most of his talks with Doramen involved Doramen asking him questions, usually simple ones like "How was your day?". Doramen didn't mention how his day was going most of the time, unless he was directly prompted to by Doraemon. Instead, Doramen seemed to focus on making sure Doraemon was doing well. Although Doraemon thought that was very kind, he couldn't help but feel a little concerned that Doramen didn't really care to express his own feelings.
As Doraemon continued to walk around, he was surprised to suddenly notice Doramen sitting on a bench in front of a tree. Leaves were scattered all around the tree and on the bench. Doramen was holding a leaf in both of his paws, meticulously ripping it apart and watching it crumble into his lap. He had a blank look on his face as he appeared to be concentrating.
Curious, Doraemon approached him.
"Hey Doramen," he greeted.
Doramen looked up at Doraemon, resting his paws in his lap as he did so.
"Hi Doraemon," he replied with a smile.
"What are you doing?" Doraemon asked.
Doramen looked back down at what remained of the leaf in his paws. He shrugged his shoulders.
"I dunno, messing around with the leaves," he answered.
"Can I sit with you?" Doraemon asked.
Doramen looked back up at Doraemon. He was silent for a moment, then nodded.
"Yeah, sure," he said.
Doraemon walked over to the other side of the bench and sat down, making sure to leave some space between him and Doramen.
"I haven't seen you in a few days," Doraemon said.
"Oh. Yeah. I've been… hanging out with other people," Doramen replied as he went back to tearing apart the leaf.
"Oh, okay. That's fine."
Doramen ripped off the last bits of the leaf, leaving nothing but the stem left. He tossed it to the ground and picked up another leaf, where he began to rip it apart as well. Doraemon wasn't sure if he should comment on the behavior or not. He didn't want to possibly offend Doramen.
"So, what have you been up to lately?" he asked.
"Math homework," Doramen answered.
"Math? Man, that bites. Math is the worst."
Doramen nodded in agreement.
"Mmm-hmm. I suck at math," he said.
"I'm not that good at it either," Doraemon admitted with a sheepish chuckle.
"Today we had to do fractions. They confuse me."
"Honestly, fractions weren't too bad once I understood how to do them."
Doramen was silent for a moment as he finished off the leaf. He grabbed another, larger one, but instead of ripping it apart, he gripped the stem and began to spin the leaf back and forth. Doraemon wondered if he was bored.
I should talk about something more interesting, he thought.
"What's your favorite gadget?" he asked suddenly.
"My favorite gadget?" Doramen repeated.
"Yeah, I'm curious."
Doramen looked up at the sky thoughtfully.
"Uhh… that's hard to say," he murmured.
He almost immediately thought of a gadget he could mention to make a joke, but he quickly realized that the joke wasn't school appropriate, so he decided to keep it to himself.
I'm not sure if Doraemon would appreciate it if I made a joke about body part enlargement, he thought with an amused smile.
"Well, you know, the Anywhere Door (Dokodemo Door) is pretty convenient," he said after a period of silence.
"Yeah, that's true. It's pretty handy," Doraemon replied.
He was hoping for Doramen to say something more interesting than that.
"The Translation Gummy is also cool," Doramen remarked.
"What about something like the Air Cannon?" Doraemon prompted.
"The Air Cannon? That one's boring."
Doraemon's eyes widened in curiosity.
"You don't like the Air Cannon?" he asked.
"Nah, not really. It's kinda lame. If I get into a fight with someone, I'd much rather fight with my claws than with a shooty thing," Doramen answered.
"It's got range, though."
Doramen shrugged his shoulders. Several seconds of silence passed before Doraemon realized that Doramen wasn't going to answer the question any further. He crossed his arms thoughtfully as he tried to come up with something else to talk about.
"So, Doramen… What do you like to do for fun?" he asked.
Doramen's gaze darted around the area as he thought about it.
"I like to watch TV," he answered.
"Okay, what else?" Doraemon prompted.
"Umm… I like to… play video games."
"Oh cool! What kind of video games?"
"Racing games. I usually lose, but that's okay."
"Racing games, huh? We should play together sometime."
Doramen immediately perked up.
"That would be awesome! Let's do that, please!" he exclaimed.
"Okay, sure. Let's meet up over the weekend or something," Doraemon said.
"That will be lots of fun!"
"Mmm-hmm. So, go on, tell me more that you like to do for fun."
Doramen put his paw on his chin thoughtfully. Suddenly, he gasped, and looked at Doraemon with great excitement.
"Oh, I know! I like to go camping!" he exclaimed.
"I've never been camping," Doraemon admitted with a sheepish smile.
"We should go! We will have a ton of fun!"
"Who do you go camping with?"
"My best friend! He's my bestest friend in the whole world! He showed me about camping! And many other things!"
Doraemon blinked at him curiously. Doramen's ability to speak proper sentences suddenly seemed to deteriorate.
"Your best friend? Who's that?" Doraemon asked, deciding to ignore the way Doramen spoke.
Doramen tossed away the leaf and jumped to his feet.
"I will go find him! You should meet him! He's the best!" Doramen exclaimed as he was suddenly overwhelmed with excitement.
"Okay," Doraemon replied, smiling in amusement.
He watched as Doramen speed-walked away in search of his "best friend". Doraemon stayed right where he was and waited patiently for Doramen to return.
A few minutes passed when Doraemon suddenly began to hear Doramen's voice in the distance. He was clearly talking to someone that Doraemon couldn't see yet. After a few seconds, Doramen went quiet, and Doraemon could just barely hear footsteps approaching him. He looked over to his left, where he saw Doramen approaching him. He could just barely make out what he thought was another robot cat that was standing behind Doramen.
"Hey Doramen, where's your friend?" Doraemon asked.
Doramen sidestepped, revealing another robot cat, just as Doraemon had thought he'd seen. This robot cat had teal fur and an orange collar. His eyes were dark green. He appeared to be just slightly shorter than Doramen, so Doraemon assumed the stranger was the same height as he was. Doraemon noticed that the stranger was pretty skinny for a robot cat. His sides curved inwards, making him much thinner than most robot cats. Doraemon wasn't sure if he should be concerned, or if this was normal. He'd never seen a robot cat so thin before. Most robot cats had the same "fit" body type, where their sides were straight. Doraemon figured it wasn't a concern, so he tried not to focus on that. The stranger's fur appeared to be very short, pretty much the opposite of Doramen's. Doraemon felt a little bad for him, wondering how cold he got during this time of year.
"Doraemon, this is my best friend, Doralien! Doralien, this is my new friend, Doraemon!" Doramen exclaimed, going to each of his friends and gesturing to the other as he introduced them.
Doraemon felt the same awkwardness from when he first met Doramen start to creep back. He tried to think of some kind of greeting to give, but Doralien beat him to it.
"Hi! I'm Doralien!" he greeted, giving a little wave and a beaming smile.
"I'm Doraemon," Doraemon greeted back, giving a more awkward smile.
"It's nice to finally meet you! Doramen's told me all about you."
"He has?"
Doraemon turned to look at Doramen. Doramen put his arms behind his back shyly and kicked his foot.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist. I tell Doralien a lot of things," he murmured, feeling a little embarrassed.
"That's fine, I don't mind," Doraemon replied.
He quickly turned his attention back to Doralien.
"I hope we can become good friends in the future," Doralien said enthusiastically.
"Yeah, me too," Doraemon replied, wishing he could give half as much positive energy as Doralien.
"Having Doramen as a common friend will really bring us together. He's a sweet guy, and I hope that you'll get to see how great he is."
Doraemon couldn't help but smile, feeling a bit reassured by that. Perhaps Doramen's general lack of communication was just a personality quirk, rather than a sign that Doramen had lost interest in the friendship.
"I'm really looking forward to getting to know both of you," he said.
But, getting to know two cats that he barely knew was easier said than done.