Normal Saturday with My Completely Normal Friend

Chapter 3

"Wow. There are a lot of people here," Bear stated when their group finally arrived at the door of the Sunset Mall's game store.

"Just like that time when I went to buy clothes with my mom during the sale," Katie recalled.

Her classmates nodded, having their own experiences of a similar situation, as they studied the masses of people in the store.

"I hope that all good games aren't sold out yet," Eddie groaned.

"Well, we won't know that before we go inside, right?" Enma pointed out to him.

"You're right," Eddie admitted with a slightly determined expression. "Let's go."


They had to dodge and inch their way through adults and children but despite that Nate and his friends managed to navigate through the store and see its selection.

They were just inching their way through a father and his two children when Bear stopped suddenly. "No way!"

Enma stopped to turn his attention at the boy behind him. "What's wrong?" he asked when he saw Bear staring at something on the shelf in front of him.

Bear took a game from the shelf and stared at it with wide eyes. "They have Insect Warriors 2: The Top of the Power Chain! And it's on sale!" he told eagerly as he showed the game to Enma.

There were two men in the foreground of the cover's picture dressed up as an ant and a beetle, seemingly ready to face two other men who were wearing costumes resembling a centipede and a mosquito.

"I have never heard of this game," Enma stated after studying the cover curiously.

"For real? This is an amazing game!" Bear exclaimed with a visibly surprised expression. "In this game you control a character who has a fighting style based on certain insect and you have to defeat all your opponents in order to become the champion."

"So it's an insect themed fighting game. Sounds interesting," Enma commented with a smile as some of insect yo-kais he knew came to his mind.

"You should try this. I'm sure you'll like it," Bear vowed jovially. "I myself have the first and the third game."

"I think I'll give it a try," Enma decided before he took an another copy of the game from the shelf.

Bear turned back towards the shelf. "Let's see what else-"

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

Both Enma and Bear snapped their attention immediately in the direction of familiar voice and saw that their friends were in trouble.

Eddie was sitting on the floor with a startled expression while Nate, Katie, Whisper and Jibanyan were glaring at two boys standing in front of them.

Both boys were taller than Nate and others. They were wearing a pair of dirty jeans, t-shirts, sneakers and black leatherette jackets. One of the boys had brown spiky hairs while the other had his blond hairs styled in pompadour.

"You can't just take the game from other people's hands and then start shoving them," Nate informed sternly to the boys.

The brown haired delinquent snorted arrogantly. "Oh bohoo. Go cry to your mommy how others don't follow the rules of your kindergarten," he mocked.

"Waaah! Mommy! Big boys aren't nice!" the blond delinquent yelled while doing an eye-rubbing movements with his hands before he grinned maliciously at Nate and others, causing Nate to clenche his hands into fists and gnash.

"It doesn't matter how old you are, you still don't have any rights to behave like that," Katie snapped. "Return the game back to our friend and apologize to him."

"Hah! You don't even know how to play games like this," the brown haired delinquent taunted as he waved the game with a picture of a colorful race car driving away from the explosion on its cover. "Go play My Little Bunny, Barbara or other games made for babies."

"Yeah! Get lost!" the blond delinquent growled and shoved Katie with his hand, causing her to stagger with a gasp of shock.

"That's it!" Nate exclaimed angrily.

Enma saw Nate moving his hand towards the pocket of his trousers where he probably kept his yo-kai medals. In addition of that Jibanyan looked like he was willing to use Paws of Fury on the delinquents. Enma was just going to step forward but he halted when somebody else strode past him.

"Leave my friends alone!" Bear shouted as he stomped towards the boys.

At first the delinquents were a little startled when they noticed Bear but their expressions quickly turned back into scowls.

"Great. Now there's an another whiny brat," the blond delinquent snorted as Bear stopped to stand in front of them with his arms crossed over his chest.

Bear glared at the boys. "Return the game and apologize to my friend," he demanded.

"We don't take orders from anybody, fatty," the brown haired delinquent hissed.

Bear's eyes hardened and his hands clenched into fists. "That's a lot coming from guys who can't tell the difference between kindergarteners and elementary schoolers," he noted sharply.

The delinquents' scowls deepened.

"Do you want to take this outside?" the brown haired delinquent demanded.

"No," Bear replied through his gritted teeth.

"Hah! I knew it! You're just a cowardly mama's boy who's too scared to fight!" the blond delinquent mocked.

"We don't have to go anywhere. We can solve this matter here and now."

Enma's sudden appearance at Bear's side surprised both Bear and the delinquents for a second but it didn't change the situation.

"Are you asking for a knuckle sandwich, punk?" the blond delinquent asked threateningly.

Enma placed his hand calmly on his hips while giving a cool look at the boys in front of him. "What's the point of that?"

The delinquents' expressions turned confused.

"What are you babbling about?" the brown haired delinquent demanded.

"We came here just to buy games and have fun. We didn't even bother anybody but you began shoving and threatening us," Enma pointed out calmy while maintaining the eye contact with the boys. "What's the point of bullying us? It's just make you two look like ill-mannered and immature idiots in front of everybody."

The delinquents' mouths dropped open. This was apparently the first time anybody had dared to speak to them in that tone of voice. However, their shock was quickly turned into fury.

"Shut up!" the brown haired delinquent roared as he swung his fist towards Enma's face.

But with a quick move Enma grabbed the boy's wrist, stopping the threatening fist before it even touched his face.

The delinquent seemed surprised for a moment but then his face contorted with anger and he began jerking his hand away. However, this was proved useless because Enma's grip was hard as iron.

"Let me go! Let me go!" the brown haired delinquent screamed with a red face.

His friend moved forward to attack Enma but Bear stepped in front of him with determined expression.

"Out of my way, fatty!" the blond delinquent snapped as he shoved Bear with his hand but Bear didn't even budge. Instead he stood still with his hands in fists at his sides and glared at the delinquent with even darker look.

This annoyed the delinquent even more as he rose his fist with furious expression.

"Hey! You there!"

A sudden voice made everybody turn their attention in its direction and they noticed a staff member, an angry looking dark haired man, walking towards them.

"Crap!" the brown haired delinquent hissed. With a quick move he threw the game towards Enma's face, causing Enma step aside to dodge the item. The delinquent used the advantage of the opportunity to pull his hand from Enma's grip and run out of the store with his friend.

The staff member halted for a moment to look after the fleeing boys before he turned to face Nate's group. "Tell me what happened here," he ordered.

"We were looking the games when my friend" – Nate motioned towards Eddie who had got up after Bear had arrived in the scene – "found the game that interested him. Suddenly those two guys just appeared and took the game from him. When my friend asked them to return the game, they shoved him to the floor."

"Then our two friends came to confront those guys but there wasn't any fighting," Katie told.

"The children are telling the truth. I saw everything," a female customer standing a short distance away announced.

"Good," the staff member sighed. After making sure that Eddie wasn't hurt and asking some additional questions related to the earlier delinquents, he walked back towards the cash register.

Nate's group stood in silence for a moment.

"So… Do you guys want to continue going through the selection?" Katie asked finally.

"I would like. But if Eddie-" Bear said as he glanced at their friend.

"I told you earlier that I'm alright," Eddie assured. "Let's just forget this and let's see what else is here."

Since nobody else wanted to mull over the earlier situation either, they continued going through the store's selection.


While examining the games on the shelf, Enma said to Bear: "You were really brave when you went to defend Eddie."

"Of course I'll defend him. He's my friend," Bear announced with a self-evident tone.

Enma nodded. "It was also very admirable how you restrained yourself and didn't start a fight with those boys."

Bear froze for a second, looking somewhat troubled, which didn't go unnoticed by Enma.

"Is something wrong?" Enma asked.

Bear sighed. "Truth to be told… I was ready to fight with those guys. But I couldn't."

"Really? What stopped you?"

"...Promise that you won't laugh?"

"I promise."

"It's because of my mom… She's usually very nice but she's also really, really scary when she gets mad. The last time I was caught participating in a fight, she was furious and grounded me for two months. And trust me, you don't want to face my mom when she's mad," Bear told before he gave Enma a dark look, as if to make sure that he wasn't laughing, even by accident.

But Enma wasn't even smiling.

"I understand you reasoning and you don't have to feel shame for considering your mother's opinion, although I'm sure that she would had forgiven you considering the situation. However, you did wisely when you didn't start the fight," Enma said.

Bear's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

"If you had started fighting, the situation could had worsened quickly and at worst it would had led to the injury of others," Enma explained. "Of course some people believe that force is the most efficient way to handle the situation with those guys but it's a double-edged sword; using force would make your opponents back down but it would also give the impression that you're intemperate and unrestrained." Enma looked away thoughtfully. "I myself am ready to use force if people dear to me are in danger but only as a last resort. First I want to see if the situation can be solved by talking and fixing it in another way. That way the situation can be resolved so that neither party has any grudges about what happened."

"Wow," Bear said with impressed expression. "You have thought about this, haven't you?"

"Yes, I have," Enma replied as he turned to face Bear again. "I don't want to become a lousy adult who can't think of other options than the use of force."

"Well, not me either!" Bear announced determinedly.

"Good," Enma stated with a smile. Then he took a game from the shelf. "Can you tell me about this game? It looks fun."


In the end the shopping ended well for them. The children and yo-kai stepped out of the store while carrying small plastic bags and telling each others jovially about the games they had purchased.

"Hey, guys," Katie said to the boys. "I would like to visit a book store. Are you okay with that?"

"I'm perfectly alright with that!" Nate announced eagerly, earning a surprised expression from Enma due to his tone of voice.

"Same here. I want to see what they have there," Eddie replied.

"I'm OK with that too," Bear said.

Nate glanced at Enma. "Most of us want to go to the book store. You have nothing against it, right?" he asked with a small hint of pushiness in his tone.

"Of course not. I'm sure there's something interesting there," Enma replied.

"Great! Let's go then," Nate stated with a pleased smile.

Enma studied Nate thoughtfully. "Nate is surprisingly eager about goingto the book store. There must be something he really wants. Or perhaps there's an another reason?" Enma thought to himself before following others as they headed in the direction of the store.


They arrived at their destination a moment later and went their separate ways. Bear and Eddie went to check the hobby books for children, Nate and the yo-kai stopped at the comic book aisle and Katie went to look at the fiction books.

Katie was reading a back cover of a book about a girl who realizes that she has gotten superpowers and also ends up in the middle of a fight between good and evil when she heard a familiar voice.

"Katie!"

Katie turned in the direction of the voice and a smile rose on her face when she saw her classmates Maya, Meg, Natalie and Lulu approaching her.

"Hi, girls! How's it going?" Katie greeted them jovially as the girls stopped by her.

"Fine. But how about you? Are you shopping here all by yourself?" Lulu asked.

"Oh no, I'm not alone here. I came here with Nate and others," Katie explained as he pointed in Nate's direction.

Maya glanced in the direction Katie had pointed. "Oh. That's nic-Eeeh?" Maya gasped loudly with wide eyes. The other girls also stared in the same direction, looking equally shocked.

Katie became confused and a little worried when she saw her friends' expressions, so she turned to see what they were looking at. But she saw nothing else but Nate and Enma going through the comic selection.

"Katie! Who's that guy with Nate?" Meg asked suddenly in hushed tone.

"Oh, him? His name is Emmanuel and he's Nate's friend," Katie replied.

"For real? Nate knows guys like him?" Lulu wondered aloud with surprised expression.

"No way…" Maya whispered as she continued staring at the boys. "He looks so cool…"

"Do you think he knows celebrities? He kind of looks like that kind of guy," Natalie pondered.

"I don't know about that… But if you want, I can introduce you to him," Katie offered good-naturedly.

The girls snapped their attention back at Katie.

"Really? Well, I'm pretty curious to see what kind of guy has Nate befriended," Meg admitted.

"Emmanuel is pretty nice, so I'm sure you'll get along quickly," Katie told with a smile as she put the book back on the shelf. "Let's go."

With that Katie began walking with her classmates towards the boys.


"Hey, Nate and Emmanuel!"

Nate and his yo-kai friends turned their attention in the direction of Katie's voice to see the approaching girls.

"Oh, it's you guys. Hi," Nate greeted the girls with a smile.

"Your classmates?" Enma guessed, getting a nod from Nate in response.

"Emmanuel. These are Maya, Meg, Natalie and Lulu," Katie introduced them as she gestured to each of them after telling their name. Then she addressed the girls: "This is Emmanuel. Like I said earlier, he's Nate's friend."

Enma smiled at the girls. "It's a pleasure to meet you all."

"Likewise," Meg replied cheerfully with a faint blush.

Maya studied Enma from head to toe. "What a style! He looks so tough but not in bad way but in relaxed and confident way. And those accessories! Usually a large necklace like that would be tasteless and extravagant but on his neck it just looks unique and awesome," she thought admiringly to herself.

Enma glanced at Maya. "Excuse me but is there something on my face?" he asked politely.

"No! Definitely not!" Maya replied hastily as a blush rose on her face.

"We haven't seen you around here before. Where are you from?" Lulu asked.

"From San Fantastico," Enma lied calmly.

"Oh, it's not very close," Meg commented.

"Do you know any celebrities?" Natalie inquired.

Enma fell silent for a moment with dumbfounded expression. "Uuumm… Not anybody you would consider as a celebrity," he replied finally.

Nate, Katie, Whisper and Jibanyan followed the situation a little more from the sidelines.

"Emmanuel is so social," Katie praised.

"You could almost imaginya that Lord Enma belongs to the Charming Tribe," Jibanyan commented.

"It seems that even humans aren't immune to the charisma of the yo-kai king," Whisper stated while nodding his head with serious expression.

"True…" Nate said while watching how Enma patiently replied the girls' questions.

"Hey, Nate and Katie. Did something happen while we were gone?" Eddie asked as he and Bear returned back to them. Shortly after the question was asked, they noticed Enma talking with the girls.

"Wow. I had no idea that Emmanuel is that popular with girls," Bear marveled.

"I should had guessed that girls would become interested in cool looking guys like him," Eddie sighed.

Nate turned his attention at Eddie with an alarmed expression. "For real?" he asked before glancing silently at Katie.

Katie, who hadn't noticed Nate's look, just smiled while watching her friends socializing.

Nate felt an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. "I have nothing to worry about… Katie hasn't showed any kind of interest in Lord Enma, so everything should be alright… Right…?"

"Do you visit Springdale often?" Maya asked with a smile.

"When I have time and even then not for very long," Enma replied. "I get a permission to be here for today only and I have to return home for the evening."

The girls seemed slightly disappointed.

"Shame," Meg sighed.

"Yeah, it is. But my days are often packed full. It can't be helped," Enma explained with apologetic expression.

Maya touched her ponytail lightly. "Well, how about all of us go to a cafe after you're done with your shopping here? It would be nice to talk more," she asked, smiling somewhat shyly.

Nate and his friends standing next to him glanced at each others with surprised expressions.

"Did Maya just ask Emmanuel on a date?" Bear whispered in bewildered manner.

"No. She said 'all of us'," Eddie pointed out. "Although… It did kind of sound like a date request."

"Are we witnessing a beginning of a forbidden love story?" Whisper gasped in shock.

"Hey now. Don't exaggerate," Nate warned quickly.

Before Enma had a chance to reply, Natalie took out her mobile phone. "Ah! Hey, girls. That movie we came to see today starts in 17 minutes," she told after checking the screen of her phone.

"Oh yeah! That movie!" Meg exclaimed. "I almost forgot it!"

"We better hurry up so we don't miss it!" Lulu rushed her friends.

"R-Right!" Maya confirmed. She glanced at Enma once again. "I'm sorry that this ended so suddenly. I hope you'll visit again soon."

"Very likely," Enma replied.

"It was nice to meet you, Emmanuel," Meg said with a smile before she turned her attention at her classmates. "See you guys on Monday if not earlier!"

"Yeah! See ya!" Katie replied jovially.

After that the girls hurried out of the store.

Eddie glanced at Enma. "Girls probably swarm around you often, don't they?" he guessed.

"Hmmm…" Enma hummed thoughtfully as he thought for a moment about all those social occasions he had attended as a part of his royal duties and how often female yo-kais from influential families had approached him in them. "I can't deny that."

"See. I was right," Eddie commented to Nate and Bear while Enma gave them a look of slight confusion.


"'The Tracks Back to Home'?" Bear read the title of the comic Enma had bought while their group walked out of the store. "Is this about somebody who boards a wrong train and gets lost?"

"Your guess is correct. It's about a human boy who accidentally boards the train to the spirit world and he has to learn to survive there before he can find his way back to his own world," Enma told.

"So you like all kind of mystic stuff, like ghosts and such?" Katie asked curiously as Bear handed the comic back to Enma.

"Yeah. Those kind of things fascinate me," Enma replied with a smile.

"That's pretty cool," Bear commented before he addressed others: "By the way, is anybody else hungry besides me?"

"I'm hungry too," Nate replied.

"Same here. Do you want to go to the cafe or to Nom Burgers?" Katie asked.

"Nom Burgers!" Nate, Bear and Eddie announced in unison.

"I'm also voting for hamburgers," Enma chuckled.

"Nice. Let's go," Katie stated with a smile before the children and the yo-kai headed towards the mall's entrance.

To be continue...