Chapter 5

“Oh, the dishes, they’re done.”

“Yeah, seeing as you made me breakfast and all, thought I’d do the dishes.”

“Thanks, you didn’t have too though.”

“Nah it’s fine, you’ve done plenty for me already, least I can do is the dishes.”

“Yeah, Thanks again. You ready to leave?”

I nodded.

Me and Mr. Hato walked out of the room door back to the hallway we had come through yesterday. Everything was just as I had remembered. When we walked out of the hotel, it was raining so me and Mr. Hato both ran to his car.

“Where are we going first?” I asked.”

“Well first why don’t we go somewhere to get you some new clothes, and maybe a suit. Definitely a suit. Then we have to go pick up a couple things like bread and stuff at the grocery store. And then I was thinking we could out to Dinner later if that’s cool with you.”

“Sounds great. where would we be going for dinner?”

“Dunno, maybe a nice steak place. Could really go for some western steak.”

“Forgot you live in Japan. Is steak not as good there?”

“No, it’s perfectly fine although, there’s no Ribeye there, mostly thinner, leaner beef, except for like wagyu and Kobe beef.”

“Ah.”

I wasn’t quite sure what a Ribeye was. I remembered seeing one in a magazine at the orphanage but had never had one. Looked pretty good in the magazine though.

“Yeah sure, I’d be down for some steak.”

“Great.”

Mr. Hato then started the car and started to slowly pull out of the parking lot. The rain was heavier now and it was quite audible on the car roof.

Pitter Patter Pitter Patter

It was somewhat soothing, as the pattern didn’t change, just sped up and slowed down along with the car. As we drove thoughts were running through my mind like usual, and then something struck me. I wondered what Mr. Hato did for a job. I mean he had never mentioned his profession before, but he said he had lots of money, so it had to be something important.

“Hey Mr. Hataru, what do you do for a job?”

“Well, its complicated, I am somewhat of a manager, and I do a bit of physical work to, like an athlete.”

“Ah. What company do you work for?”

“Smaller Company, you wouldn’t know it. Very native to Japan. Our only offices are in Tokyo.”

“Makes sense. So do you live in Tokyo?”

“Yeah. Right in the heart of it.”

“That’s pretty cool.”

We stopped talking after that. I felt like the conversation was a bit awkward though. Maybe it was just my brain, but something seemed off about Mr. Hato. He was just on edge about what I asked. Maybe he was just nervous because he was driving. I think that’s what it was. Anyways after about ten minutes more, we had arrived at an outlet mall sort of place. IO figured Mr. Hato had followed a GPS as he probably didn’t know the area very well.

“What kind of place do you want to shop for clothes at?” Mr. Hato asked.

“Dunno, never really shopped for clothes, though there was a place that I saw in a magazine once that looked pretty cool.”

“What was the name of the place?”

“Uhm- I think it was along the lines of American Turkey.”

“K, I know the place where we’ll get you a suit, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Thought, you haven’t been here before.”

“You forget I was here for almost a month before I adopted you right.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Anyways, I remember seeing one of the stores you’re talking about here earlier in the month. It’s actually right by the suit place if I’m remembering correctly.”

“Alright.”

Mr. Hato got out of the car and I followed, we both then turned around to shut the car doors. It had stopped raining now, so we didn’t have to run although I did step in a puddle though and got my shoe all wet. The place we were at wasn’t like a basic mall, it was more like a promenade, where there were plentiful shops, all grouped together in spaces. The clothes place was farther back into the mall, so we had to walk a little bit to get there. The place was nice. It had a glass store front with two glass doors. Inside I glimpsed at the mass amounts of clothes, that looked like the clothes that Blake and all of them had worn. It made sense as the clothes were probably popular. When we got close to the store, Mr. Hato opened the door and held it open for me. Inside there were only a couple others. A mother and her child. The kid was older and was taller too. There was another mother and a girl around my age, and height. She had blonde, long hair, and was wearing a black top, with jeans. I liked the way she looked.

“What kind of clothes do you want?”

“Huh—”

“I said what kind of clothes do you want?”

“Oh uhh- those flannel jackets over there look nice.”

I was distancing myself from the girl, as I didn’t want to be laughed at for my clothes. Mr. Hato was snickering.

“What’s so funny?”

“You were totally checking the girl out over there.”

“Huh-what-no.”

“Yeah, you were don’t lie.”

“Ok- fine maybe I was, but it doesn’t matter anyways. Were going back to Japan soon.”

“Sure, it matters. Why don’t you go ask for her number?”

“Because what if she laughs at my clothes.”

“She won’t, I mean if you’re confident.”

“How do I do that I’ve never talked to a girl before.”

“Oh- Well just walk up to her nice and smooth like, then just ask for her number. But don’t make a big thing out of it, just act casual.”

“Eh, should I. I mean what if she doesn’t have a phone?”

“Everyone has a phone; you were just late to the party.”

“O-oh.”

“Just go already.”

“Uh—o-ok.”

Ok nice and smooth like. Don’t forget to act casual. I walked over. Her mom was gone which helped.

“H-hey.”

Oh, shit I probably shouldn’t talk all shakily like that.

“Huh-Oh Hi. What do you want?”

“I was wondering if I could get your number.”

“What—Oh yeah sure I guess.”

“Thanks.”

“Are you gonna give me your phone.”

“Why?”

“So, I can enter my number to idiot.”

“Oh--yeah.”

I handed her my phone, and she gave me hers. It was already on the add a new contact page, so I just typed in my number. We handed phones back to each other, and then I walked back over to Mr. Hato.

“You get her number.”

“Yeah.”

“Damnnn, who knew my adopted son was so smooth with it.”

“W-wait really.”

“Hell yeah, that takes guts.”

“Uh—Thanks.”

“Yeah, now you just gotta text her later.”

“Obviously.”

We continued shopping. I picked out a couple jackets and sweatshirts, three t-shirts, a pair of jeans, and two pairs of sweatpants. I grabbed the stuff I wanted then Mr. Hato and I walked over to the checkout counter.

“You find everything you were looking for today.”

The cashier was a younger woman If I had to guess around 32. She was a brunette and had grayish blue eyes.

“Yeah.” Answered Mr. Hato

“Wonderful, your total comes to $116.75. Just put your card into the scanner right there.”

Mr. Hato put his credit card into the chip reader and paid for the clothes. The cashier women then bagged the clothes and handed me the plastic bag. We started walking out of the store and I snickered.

“What’s so funny,” Mr. Hato asked.

“You were totally checking the cashier out weren’t you.”

“What, no. Like you said it doesn’t matter were leaving for Japan soon.”

“Mhm.”

“Whattt?’

“Nothing—nothing.”

“Sure.”

Next to the clothes store, there was the suit place or, at least we were walking towards it, so I assumed it was the suit place. This place unlike the other had a walled store front, but did have glass doors. Inside there were a bunch of suits lined on the wall. There were also a couple men inside, all older than Mr. Hato.

“You want a custom fit, or to just buy a suit Dante?”

“Uh- is it alright If we just buy one. I don’t feel like being here for hours.”

“Yeah sure. Go pick one out then.”

I walked around for a bit looking at the suits on the walls and on the hangers. I came across one with a navy-blue button down with a black suit jacket, and pants. I liked it a lot compared to the other ones.

“Hey Mr. Hataru, is this one alright.”

“Yeah, I like it, seems like it would look good on you.”

“You think so.”

“Definitely.”

“Ok then I’ll go with this one.”

“Grab it then and bring it to the checkout counter.”

The checkout process was the same here. After paying we walked out the store to more rain. The rain was light compared to last time, but Mr. Hato and I still had to jog to the car to avoid being soaked, seeing as we were near the back of the mall. When we finally got to the car both our hairs were dripping and despite our best efforts, we were both wet.

“You want to go back to the hotel and change, before we go to dinner.”

I nodded. Mr. Hato started the car again, and we were off back to the hotel. I was excited for dinner.