Encounters and the Wonders of Shopping in Japan

[Silver X]

Sylvester walked amongst the bustling crowd of Namimori natives. He looked around and took in everything. The sights, the sounds, the clothing, the language; it was all so overwhelming. What was even more intriguing was the fact that there were so many people in one central location. In most cities, he would understand, but a small town like this? Either there was absolutely nothing else to do in Namimori, or this was one hell of a shopping center. He shook his head and chuckled quietly to himself. He would never understand the strange behavior patterns of humans. That's why he preferred animals. Speaking of animals, he was a bit distraught that he couldn't even hear the Japanese birds sing. Their voices, if they were even nearby such an area that was heavily populated with humans, were being blocked out by the heavy amount of human noise. As he walked around, he found the area to be quite peculiar. There were stores, food stands, and vendors all trying to attract customers by means of signs, banners, and even the employees themselves. Some of the food stands even gave out free samples in order to lure in buyers. One man in particular shouted at Sylvester and asked if he wanted some takoyaki. The Romanian hit man shook his head and waved the vendor off. It wasn't that he didn't want Takoyaki, he just wasn't very hungry. Also, he wasn't entirely sure what Takoyaki was.

Sylvester continued his tour of the shopping center. Stopping at several shops on the way. One in particular was an antique shop that he only entered because he saw a beautiful wood carving of a wolf in the window. Not actually intending to buy anything, he browsed the store, marveling at all the gadgets and gizmos. A lot of them were culturally Japanese items that were strange to him. He then left the store after a few minutes. He started a pattern, going from store to store, browsing the fascinating items, but never buying anything.

Sylver sighed. He didn't really have anything to do. Because he had just joined the Vongola, he was still going through some preliminary processes and therefore was not assigned any tasks or missions. Because of this, he was thoroughly bored. He had absolutely nothing on his agenda. He was now in a strange country, with strange people that spoke a strange language. And it was all because he was in the mafia. Great. If only there was someone he could talk to, but the only Vongola members he knew were all in Italy, except for Paul. However, Paul was in the hospital visiting his sister and although he had invited Sylvester to come, the Romanian had refused, saying had other things to do. In all actuality, he didn't want to but in on the time Paul would have with his sister. He barely even knew the two, so it would be a very awkward situation for him, very awkward indeed.

Sylvester frowned as he left yet another shop. He was regretting not taking up Paul on his offer.

[konoha]

Breathe.

Feel the flow of the people around you. And then: pretend you are nothing and drift away.

Mikage was practicing how to blend in with a crowd. It may not have seemed like it, but for him, it was a necessary survival skill, especially since he was back in school now. But truthfully, he didn't really have to think about blending in to blend in anymore; it had become a habit of sorts. Even so, Mikage found it nice to just relax every once in a while.

And so, he wandered. Sometimes he would spot a small family of three out on a weekend shopping trip, and he would follow them. They would always seem so happy—so unrestrained—nothing like the current him. For a while, he would pretend he was part of the tiny family, and just by watching them, he would feel content. Then, he would drift away once more, nothing but a leaf in the wind.

It was while he was wandering like this that he spotted the strange, foreign-looking man. Wandering around without a purpose, he looked quite bored. Mikage, with an unusual burst of courage, decided to follow him and see what he was up to. He watched as the man entered a shop. A few minutes later, he was out in the street again, and was in the next shop. The process repeated, again and again. Was there a reason why? Mikage couldn't say, but following this man had certainly gotten much more interesting, and he continued to do so.

[Silver X]

As Sylvester walked out of the shop, he felt his stomach grumble. That was odd. Just about ten to twenty minutes ago, he wasn't hungry in the slightest. The hit man deduced that it was because of the abundance of good smelling food in the area. It was probably impossible for a person to walk around the Namimori shopping center with out getting a bite to eat. Not with all of this food in such close proximity. As he turned around to an area in the shopping center where he had seen a clump of food stands together, he realized that he had no idea what he wanted to eat. Sure, all of the food smelt great, but he wasn't just going to stick the first thing he saw in his mouth, that would be unwise.

As he slinked through the crowd, trying to avoid being run over by the tidal wave of shoppers who couldn't wait to buy new items from the shops. The fact that a lot of these shops were currently having a sale didn't help with this situation. In fact, it made maneuvering through the sea of Japanese shoppers much more difficult to handle. Sylver had to keep adjusting the black pack on his back that was hanging on his shoulder by means of a thick black strap. He tightened the strap in order to keep the pack from falling off. Honestly, he wasn't a big fan of carrying the item around, but his so-called father had always told him that carrying it around was key to being a member of the mafia. He had to always be prepared, no matter what.

He continued to move through the crowd, trying diligently not to push anyone. The last thing he wanted was to knock someone down on accident and make a scene. He hated scenes. The young man worked his way towards the group of food stands where he saw the takoyaki vender out of the corner of his eye. Finally deciding on a choice of meal, Sylvester walked over to the takoyaki food stand and, after learning from the vendor what takoyaki actually was, ordered some takoyaki.

After purchasing the food, he walked around the shopping center until he found a bench. He sat down, hoping that no one would try sitting next to him, that would have been really awkward. It would have been especially awkward if they tried to start a conversation. Sylver shuddered at the thought, conversational skills were not his forte, especially when it came to the Japanese language. The Romanian opened up the carton that contained his food. It had smelled so good, too good. He picked up the chopsticks that were in the carton and began to lift one of the octopus balls out of the air and into his mouth. As he plopped the whole takoyaki into his mouth, Sylvester learned two things. The first was that takoyaki tasted incredible. He had never had anything like it before. Sure, he had eaten calamari before, but this was much different. The second thing he realized was that putting the entire octopus ball in his mouth was a bad idea. The takoyaki was way too hot as he had no choice but to spit it out. He panted and tried fanning his mouth with his hands in order to cool down his tongue. After cooling down, Sylvester laughed and shook his head, not caring who had saw him. That had been a very bad idea.