A/N: Sorry for the long delay. Like I have said many times in my profile, I have bad writer's block. But I had some free time, so I decided I might as well try updating something. And winter break is coming up soon, so maybe I can do even more updating then. I hope so.
Disclaimer: I don't own GX, and I especially don't own Las Vegas!
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Chosaku was in heaven! He had been forced to stop at yet another embarrassing tourist trap, when his whole family had suddenly vanished into thin air. Other people might have been worried about this development, but not Chosaku. He immediately seized the opportunity and bought tickets for a heavy metal rock concert, which was conveniently located next door.
The first, almost painfully loud, notes of music were just starting when...
"Chosaku, it's time to wake up!"
Chosaku only partially registered these words as he pulled a pillow over his head. He still wasn't quite sure what was the dream and what was reality.
But the confusion was quickly cleared up as Mom pulled the pillow off Chosaku's head.
"Chosaku, it's TIME to wake UP! We've been waiting on you for half an hour. Look, both your brothers are awake!"
Chosaku opened one eye and realized that, despite what Mom said, neither of his brothers was much more alert than he was. Jun was sleepily blinking from his perch on Mom's hip, and Shoji was sitting at the table, his face about to slump into his bowl of cereal.
Chosaku mumbled something about "just a few more minutes" and turned his face toward the wall. This made Mom finally lose some patience. Just moments later, Chosaku yelped as the blankets were abruptly yanked off his body. He finally decided to get out of bed before Mom started tickling him or something
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A bit more than an hour later, they were on the road again. Not much happened for a while, but they started to run into a traffic jam around noon. It seemed they weren't the only family who was planning to visit Las Vegas.
Chosaku, caustic as always, said, "Hey, I don't think we're going slow enough. Is it possible to get the speed down to half a kilometer per hour?"
Dad, who wasn't amused, growled through his teeth, "You're not HELPING, Chosaku, so be quiet!"
Just then, the van creaked to a total stop for about the tenth time in the past five minutes or so.
Shoji cheerfully pointed out that maybe Chosaku jinxed it.
The only response he got was an assortment of eye-rolls and sighs of exasperation. Or, in Jun's case, some heavy-duty thumb sucking.
The van moved forward a few dozen meters, only to come to yet another stop after several seconds.
Okay, that was it. If Chosaku's insightful wit wouldn't be appreciated, maybe he should just go to sleep. Who knows- maybe he'd get that morning's dream back.
Alas, Chosaku had no dreams that he could remember. Then again, maybe he wasn't asleep long enough to even have any dreams. For he couldn't have been asleep more than an hour or so before he was woken up most unpleasantly. Apparently, Jun was also bored. And one thing that they had all learned by now was that Jun loved to annoy people when he was bored.
Chosaku swatted Jun's hand away and muttered, "Stop pinching me, you little brat..."
Fortunately for Chosaku, Mom was too busy consulting a map to hear what he said. But Jun certainly heard. Chosaku wasn't quite sure if Jun understood the insult, but he most likely did pick up on the fact that Chosaku was annoyed by the pinching.
So Jun did what he always did when he found out he was annoying somebody-he did the annoying activity even more.
After he finally pinched Chosaku hard enough to cause a bruise, the older boy lost any vestiges of patience that had been possibly remaining. In his utter irritation, he did something quite unwise-he pinched Jun's chubby little arm hard enough to make the toddler scream in pain.
This had the immediate effect that none of Chosaku's protests could possibly have. Dad slammed on the breaks, probably much to the annoyance of the car behind them.
Both parents started in on an angry and shocked rant about how Jun was too young to know any better, so THERE WOULD BE CONSEQUENCES!
The first of these consequences was changing the seating arrangements. Five minutes later, Chosaku had been banished to the very back of the van, where he was accompanied by all the suitcases that wouldn't fit in the trunk. Jun, meanwhile, was happily sucking on a lollipop, which was consolation for Chosaku's apparent victimization of him.
Oh well. At least the traffic wasn't as bad now that lunch break was over for a lot of people.
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After a few more minutes, the Manjoumes finally stopped at yet another family restaurant on the city outskirts for a belated lunch.
Chosaku really wished that more people spoke Japanese in America. Sure, he was supposed to be taking English classes at school, but he kept failing them all. It was a headache for Chosaku to simply place a meal order in English.
But somehow he managed, although he had to ask his parents what half the words on the menu meant.
For two hours after lunch, Mom and Dad were preoccupied with driving over the same streets again and again, trying to find their hotel.
Could they get any MORE embarrassing? Chosaku was sure that he could find the way easily, even if he had trouble reading street signs in English. However, neither Mom nor Dad wanted to listen to Chosaku's "helpful" comments.
Eventually, they had to stop at a GAS STATION and ask for DIRECTIONS! Chosaku made himself as inconspicuous during that time, so no one would think he was related to these dorky adults who couldn't find a simple hotel.
Fortunately, they were able to get good directions, and they found the hotel, which was located on a street they had driven over five times.
Chosaku buried his face in his hands in sheer embarrassment. He now knew that he had seen the hotel on one of their previous trips down the street, but had the Parental Units listened to him? NO.
As Mom and Dad found the room and started unpacking, Chosaku was staring out of the room's window moodily. Said window had a nice view of the building next door.
It looked like one of the casinos that Vegas was famous for. Chosaku vowed to sneak away from his parents at some point and check it out.
Well, technically, Chosaku was pretty sure that people his age weren't allowed to participate in gambling, but what the casino staff didn't know wouldn't hurt them, right?
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A/N: This chapter has so many events in it, I split it up into two parts. The next part will be about Chosaku's exciting (albeit underage) adventures in the casino, and anywhere else he might wander.
I know it sort of breaks up the one-chapter-per-character thing, but the sequence will still be the same. After Chosaku's part is done, Mrs. Manjoume's part will be next in line.