Author's Note:
All right, let's do this real quick, NaNoWriMo may have hands tied to my back, but I'm still going to update new chapters for The Boy, The Fang and The Gun every week! Let's just hope I can keep this up!
Chapter 46: A Day In Akiba.
Out the window, the night sky was gone, now replaced with one so bright I had to raise my arm to shield my eyes. Feeling strangely familiar despite being in a hotel room, I start the day with a beat to my steps, walking towards the door. As my finger touched the doorknob, I wondered what were being planned today, Kiera would have the idea, she always do. A slight growl from my stomach convinced me that whatever it was, breakfast would probably be the priority. With that in mind, I turned the knob and walked through the door.
"Hey, you're up." Sergio appeared from his door as well, surprised that I managed to get up as early as him.
"Hey, I'm always early!" I retorted, as was the natural thing to say. The Boss can't be known as some guy who oversleeps, right? "Hey, you guys up?" I called out to the others, gently knocking on their doors. Indeed, this whole experience feels so foreign to me. I never did any of this back home, but I didn't know why, I just felt like it was needed. A few minutes later, Aria came out with a bounce to her steps, while Johann stumbled past his door with shaky steps.
"Aw, I thought I could sleep in a bit..." He whined in between his yawns. He made his way towards us with shaky steps, as if he could crash down to the floor and fall asleep at any moment.
"Hm? Kiera's not in her room?" I wondered as she didn't appear, and it didn't seem like there's anyone in the room. When I went to check Vito and Dante's, they gave no response as well. Standing outside at the hallway, I wondered what could so important that they left their room without informing me? With Kiera gone, I was left dumbfounded about leaving for breakfast, cause we had no way of contacting her. When Sergio pulled out his phone to call her, he could not get through.
"Lord Amato, I am sorry for not responding immediately when you called." Her serious voice coming through the door, Kiera finally responded in her usual serious tone. As I thought the room was empty, I jumped when I heard.
"Oh.. Um.. I was just wondering if we could all get some breakfast together?" I blurted out my reason as I was still recovering from the surprise.
Kiera only replied after a few seconds of silence.
"... I'm sorry, Lord Amato. I'm afraid I'm rather occupied today." Hearing her decline was a bit disappointing, but I knew whatever that had her occupied was important, important enough for her to leave my protection to another. "Sergio, I entrust Amato's safety to you, guard him with your life." She commanded behind the door.
"That goes without saying, Sergio complied, giving a small bow towards the voice.
"Hey, we're just going out for breakfast! There's no danger!" I exclaimed as the scene got a bit too serious. "All right then, tell Vito and Dante for me, all right, Kiera? Bye!" I gave my farewell, strangely, without seeing Kiera's face, as my steps began to walk towards the elevator. With nothing else holding us back, we made our way down to the lobby.
Before we stepped outside, however, we came across another familiar face.
"Hinata?" I called out to her. Indeed, Hinata stood beside the main doors, her mind occupied as she seemed deep in thought. When her eyes caught us, she was slightly taken aback. Before she said anything, I popped out the question. "We're going out for breakfast, wanna come with?"
By the time we were out, the sun was already hanging high in the sky, bringing its warm, bountiful glow down to us, we walked down the wide, open street. It was a particularly warm winter day, and that itself was a huge welcome, bringing a small smile on my face. Yesterday night we saw how crowded Akihabara was, with events happening all around town despite the clock ticking pass nine. Today, however, we were trekking the streets for a more different purpose, to curb the soft rumbling in our stomachs.
I shift my eyes to see Hinata walking a few feet away from us, in her another highly detailed, extremely flashy costume, despite agreeing to join us today as well. Her costume, as she explained, consist of elements of science and fantasy, melded together in perfect harmony. I didn't quite understand what she meant when her words came with much pride. There was one similarity to her previous costume, though. Her necklaces and accessories remained, exactly where they were before. It made me wonder if this costume came from the same franchise as the previous one.
Our footsteps stopped in front of a rather bland looking shop, or rather, a very traditional one. Fancy colors and mascot characters were absent in its design, unlike most of the other shops in Akihabara. Is this the restaurant?
"Yep, here's the place." Hinata's words confirmed my thoughts, as we stepped through the curtains that Hinata says is the entrance. The place opened up to a simple, relaxing scene. Wooden benches and tables filled the sides of the restaurant, with the counter near the right end of the room. Although there doesn't seem to be any design or style to the place at first glance, upon a closer look, I realized subtle hints of traditional design can be found all over the place. A few seconds standing there already felt like the trip to the restaurant was worth it. Sergio, Johann and Aria behind me was equally excited, smiles stretched across their faces.
As we made our way from the entrance to the counter, a waitress popped out to greet us, surprising us as she just appeared out of nowhere.
"Welcome to the Miyagi Beef House! May I take your order?" The vibrant girl with bright eyes exclaimed with much spirit and passion, impressing us all. Dressed in a simple uniform of what I assumed is the traditional attire for cooks in Japan, she began asking and chatting with us, before a she jumped up to her feet. "Y-!" Before she could finish her outburst, not even her first word, Hinata grabbed her by the mouth, and pulled her to the sides, leaving us wondering why she would do such an unusual thing.
From my end, I saw Hinata instructing the waitress on something. The girl, though surprised and disoriented from the sudden tug, immediately nodded to what seemed like very specific orders. I wondered why she was so compliant with Hinata. Maybe she's a friend of hers?
"Hey, hey, this is it! The eating challenge!" Johann's voice snapped my eyes towards him, and at his constant shouts, the rest of us made our way towards him. He was standing beside the counter, pointing at the giant sign that was placed at the left end. There it wrote of a challenge, to finish a hundred bowls of Gyudon, freshly cooked beef atop a bowl of steaming, white rice, and get the rest of the week's meals for free. Finally realizing what Johann has been so excited about, I can't say I was surprised.
"All right, guys. Hinata told me all about it. You guys want to take the challenge, correct?" Before we knew it, the waitress girl popped up behind us once more, her smile now wider than ever. Still taken aback by how she kept doing that, we were led to the tables by her smart words and bubbly personality. The table felt really nice, the whole place gave off a peaceful aura that was perfect for eating. The wooden benches and tables were very comfortable much to our surprise.
"So... You all ready for this?" I asked out to the others one last time before I made the confirmation for the order.
"Yeah, I always wanted to give these things a try!" Sergio exclaimed, raising his arm up in a confident manner.
"Hmph, I always go by my word." Hinata declared while closing her eyes. Her confidence still stood tall, I see. Her accessories dangled as she turned to the side, arms crossed.
"Um.. Yeah, I'll try my best!" Aria finally gave in despite being reluctant when we posed the idea. Of course, I wasn't expecting her to gorge herself, we just wanted her to be a part of this challenge. Feeling a bit bad for getting her into this, I turn my eyes to the last person, one whom I probably didn't need an answer from.
"Why are you even asking?" Johann cried out, one look and I could see he was getting impatient. Ha ha, he must have been thinking about it ever since last night, when we saw the shop already closed for the night. He broke down when he saw it, it was as if his spirit was blown away by the cold wind, leaving him all depressed. I thought it strange when he recovered this morning, though. So that's why he immediately cried out for us to go to this place when we were deciding.
"Okay then, will it be as a group or alone?" The waitress asked out politely, her cheerfulness not dying down one bit.
"Group!"
"Alone!"
Shocked at the odd one out, all of us turned to Johann in confusion. Did he seriously thought we were all going to take the challenge on our own? That would mean we would need to finish five hundred bowls by the end of the day! Johann only shrugged his shoulders when we glared at him, with a strangely innocent look on his face. Sergio was the least disturbed one out of all of us, and despite the looking like he had something to say, he pushed it away and put a smile back on his face.
So after an hour or so, I laid my hands out, and placed the half finished bowl onto the table. The feelings in my hands were sluggish, slow with all manner of dexterity gone. My eyes followed the number of plates already finished in front of me. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten, counting the last one in my hand as I pushed the meat and rice into my mouth. I can't say it was the most pleasant feeling. The smell drifting off from the Gyudon, though fragrant, was starting to sicken me by the seventh bowl. The breaks in between only seemed to grow as another rumbling came from my stomach, this time begging me to stop.
"Ugh..." I find myself whining out as the rumbling continued. Our efforts had even drawn in quite the crowd, people young and old staring right at us as we took the challenge, and that didn't make it any easier to swallow. I guess it must be rare for people to take the challenge. Stopping for yet another break, I slowly scanned across the table to see how the others were doing.
Sergio gulped down by the bowls by the mouthful, never stopping. In fact, every time he sees how Johann was doing, he only rushes even faster. In front of him was about twenty bowls, and his speed doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Looking at him, I wondered had he always had such a big appetite, or did the training these past few months produced such hunger?
On the other side, Aria and Hinata were taking their time, savoring each bite. Despite their generally slow movements, they're starting to catch up to me, having already finished eight bowls each. At another gulp, Hinata completes her ninth. They had me watching with widened eyes, as I couldn't believe they could eat so much.
The most commotion came from Johann's side, though. The bulk of the crowd stood in front of him, there were cries of surprise and disbelief coming from them. Three of the cooks from the shop had also came out to see Johann's little act. Johann chews down on his bites at an unbelievable speed, and despite how fast he was eating, he seems to be enjoying every little taste that touched his tongue. Every once in a while, he would gulp down one whole bowl, inciting a large surprise from his audience. I saw in front of him multiple stacks of bowl, around six stacks of ten. It seems he had already devoured sixty bowls.
"Awesome, this is completely different from what I expected, the trip here was totally worth it!" He roared out with a smile, surprising me with the fact that he still has the energy to make such a cheerful comment. I was about to drop dead at my seat. With no intention of losing to everyone else though, my fingers picked up the spoon and started pushing the food into my mouth once more.
" He's not even tired yet! At this rate, we'll run out of ingredients for today!" The cooks cried out, panicking as they watched Johann's rampage. Soon, their fascination changed to fear and anticipation, they were waiting for Johann to stop. As I got distracted by the cries and shouts coming from the cooks and the crowds, something big wrenched my throat, like a hand closing into a fist, the muscles around it squeezed hard to get the lump out of my throat, but that only made it more difficult to breathe.
"Cough! Co-cough! Argh!" I cried out when the sensation remained even after several seconds. The sound of my bowl and utensils striking the table made me realized I had them thrown down. One hand to my throat, it felt extremely unpleasant, control of my own body seemed to be fading away at the stress. I shut my eyes to calm myself down, and the next thing I saw was the wooden table as I struck my own chest multiple times.
By that time, the sound from everything else was all gone, my hearing robbed from me, not that I cared so much about it. My only focus was the grinding pain coming from my throat, as well as the lack of air. Sweeping and throwing my hands out, I think I broke a few bowls on the floor. Next thing I knew, I had stumbled out of my seat, my arms supporting my legs, preventing my body from crashing to the floor. My vision blurs and wavers, and when the foggy white cleared, I saw Sergio and the others standing up, waving their hands to get my attention, and panic slowly emerging from the light of their eyes.
With quick steps, Johann got behind me and started pushing up my ribs with his arms around me, performing the Heimlich maneuver. Was it supposed to help? Cause with each push it got more and more difficult to breathe, the muscles around my body were wrecked by a shocking, heavy pain that rendered them immobile. Instinctively, I pushed away the force, breaking free from his grasp.
Was I going to die? But there's so many things left that I had to do! I have to find my father! I have to lead my Famiglia! Am I going to just leave them behind? No way! I cannot be that selfish!
Forcing all of my willpower, I returned my vision to clarity, and soon my hearing returned as well. The public's concern surprised me, as I force the lump in my throat out once more. Slamming my fists on the table, I used the pain to keep me conscious, as well as to distract myself from the difficulty of the task. My friends called out to me, I could feel everyone's worry, and I felt bad for making them feel that way. When one punch on the solid wood wasn't enough, I used all of my strength to do another, with only the single-minded goal of surviving pulsing in my mind, the undying will pushing me through.
"Argh! Cough!" I finally coughed it out. The object was forced out, a bronze colored ring covered with rice. Panting, I felt like fainting, but my body refused to fall.
"Drink! Get 'im a drink!" Sergio yelled out desperately, I saw him calling out to one of the cooks. As the exhaustion grew, the pain slowly died down, and I felt like going to sleep. Immediately, one of those white dressed cooks brought a cup to my mouth. My vision had already started to blur as I relaxed a bit.
"Gulp."
I gulped down the clear water without a second thought. It's cooling feel was a welcome, and instantly raised my thirst. After the ordeal, I felt like I could gulp down gallons of it. In the man's hands was the bottle, in plain white porcelain. On reflex, my body snatches it, and I begin drowning myself with the water, ridding my throat of the heat that was produced from the struggle before. The taste, perhaps magnified or imagined by the workings of my mind, was extremely sweet. It felt very much like a victory drink, having won the duel for life and death.
When I finally opened my eyes once more, eager to see my friends. My sense of balance gave way. A dizzy spell immediately assaulted me, both physically and mentally. Just standing there felt like the most difficult thing in the world. Looking down, my hand was raised to my forehead almost automatically, rubbing it in hopes of clearing the shakiness.
When I found it useless, I push my eyes open and my head up again, hoping to find out what was happening. The crowd seemed surprised, and a few seconds later the many people dispersed. With my blurry vision and distorted hearing, I could not exactly make out what was happening. Body tilting and wobbly, I watched as Sergio and the others turned to some commotion, facing the entrance of the restaurant. Just what is happening, why was I feeling this way? Nothing made sense, it seems another problem surfaced after I recovered from the choking. Yelling could be heard, I think, the voices of the public crowd gasped in horror.
Aria, her blue eyes and sharp chin the only thing I could make out, called out to me, shaking my body to help me get a grip. Every moment felt like I could slip into darkness right there.
Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.
Soon, the only thing ringing through my ears was the sound of my own beating heart. The light from the entrance as the door was pushed open was so bright, blinding in fact. I must have fell, as I found myself on the floor, my weight crushing on my elbows. Five figures, dark standing amidst the glow of the light, approached me. Somehow, their steps echoed the sound of death. Johann and Sergio jumped in front of me, only to be tossed aside. Just as I couldn't hold my eyes open any longer, a hooded figure pulled me to his face, and all I could see was the shadow cast from his hood before the sleep overwhelmed me.
Oh yeah, the end of another chapter and the start of some action! Who are those who appeared in the moment of crisis? I feel like this chapter is slightly lacking, maybe because I rushed through it. I can't wait for the action to start! Tell me what you think in your reviews! Back to NaNoWriMo!