My Shopping Trip Part 1

“Here is a board with a map of the mall.”

I examined the board. It was thick, white, bright, and… a little bit warm? Right now, there was a picture of the floor plan — oh wait, it’s only for this floor. Do I have to go downstairs for that floor? Hm… This would be easier to look at if this map were a bit bigger. I mean, some of this board is being taken up by other things! What are these pictures for? A magnifying glass? What does that mean? And what are these words on the side for? Dining? Entertainment? Fashion? Wait… are they categories? But there are no arrows pointing to where they are on the map! Hm…

“Hey Ren, do you have a pen and some paper?”

He reached into his bag.

“Sure… But, um, w-why?”

Why else?

“To copy down this map. I mean, if we don’t copy this down, then I’m sure we’ll get lost.”

He stopped.

“Hm? Oh, that will not be necessary. You see-”

“Wait, have you memorized the layout of this place? That’s impressive Ren?”

Woah, Ren with the one-hundred-gigabyte memory!

“Huh? Oh, that isn’t it…”

Oh...

“There are more of these boards around the mall.”

“I see… Yeah, that’s handy.”
I nodded and turned back to look at the map.

The floor plan of this mall wasn’t really detailed. It was just a bunch of squares on the sides. They were probably the stores; they have the store names on them. But how do you know what store sells what? Hm… It would be really useful if those categories on the side corresponded with the store names.

“Ren, where should we go first?”

“Oh. Um… I am not entirely sure… But, I think you should check the map to see what stores interest you.”

“Yeah, probably. But this map is really bland. How do I know what store sells what?”

“Check the categories.”

What? How do I do that? Something to do with the categories on the side? Um… I don’t see any buttons anywhere.

I stepped back and bowed at the board.

“Um… H-Hey Board, p-please show me the categories!”

Wait, I think that triggered something. It was… Oh, it was Ren… Oh? He stood between me and the board and shook his head.

“S-Sorry, you probably do not have much experience with electronics, right?”

“E-Electronics?”

Ren turned and moved his finger to tap on “more categories.” Suddenly, the picture on the board changed. It was filled with a list of categories and the map disappeared.

“What!? Ren, how did you do that? Wait, are you a wizard or something? Gah, please teach me!”

My eyes widened in excitement. I looked around us and saw some passersby smiling and laughing at us. But those laughs did not seem to be malicious.

“Aw, how cute.”

“Are they lovers? Father and daughter? Siblings? Eh, I don’t know…”

Ren turned back to me and shook his head.

“Oh, it isn’t anything like magic — it’s just technology. I brought up a menu containing all of the categories. This is a touchscreen, so just touch one that you are interested in.”

Just touch one? Woah… How does that work? Hm… Looking at this further, it kinda reminds me of a TV. Yeah, like that one enormous TV screen on that sports stadium. Wait, is that TV screen also a touchscreen? I need to try touching it one day — but how will I reach it? Hm… I’ve seen TVs before; like the ones affixed to the ceilings in the subway stations. Are those touchscreens? Is the TV at the condo also a touchscreen? If I touch any of those screens, will the picture change?

I surveyed the screen for a bit. Since I’m clothes shopping, it would make sense to choose fashion, right? Okay! I lifted my finger and gently and quickly touched the square with the word “fashion” on it. And… nothing?

“Huh? Ren, it isn’t working.”

“Yeah, these screens are not the most sensitive at some times. Try pressing it a bit harder.”

I slightly increased the amount of pressure I put on the board… nothing.

“Hm?”

I moved my finger quicker towards the board… nothing.

“Grr…”

I tried again, but this time I moved my arm as quickly as I could and pressed as hard as I could… nothing.

“Gah!”

I raised my entire arm and moved my leg back. I intended to poke the screen with all of my strength — it was like I was about to punch something as hard as I could.

I moved my hand towards the screen — I leaned forwards, putting my entire weight into this poke. And… I was stopped when Ren caught my hand.

“Ga- wait, you will probably break the screen if you do that! Er, sorry.”

“O-Oh…”

I slowly lowered my arm.

“Instead, try pressing the option you want for a bit longer.”

I tried that and… Woah, it worked! The entire screen changed to display a list of names arranged in alphabetical order.

“Oh, are these the stores that are for fashion?”

“Correct.”

“Hm…”

I moved my face towards the screen to look at my options. So many choices… But what should I choose? Hm… Well, I don’t really have an opinion — because I haven’t been to any of these shops to actually form said opinion. Um… Maybe I should ask Ren.

“Ren, what do you recommend?”

“Oh? Well, how about...”

He stroked his chin as he thought for a few seconds. He said that he doesn’t really shop here, but he has general knowledge of these stores.

When he finished, he pressed something on the screen.

“You probably want something fashionable for people your age right? How about this store? Their clothes aren’t only trendy, but they are also of high quality.”

I turned to the screen.

“Univear? Oh, that’s that big two-story-tall store we saw on our way here, right? Yeah, that place seems cool… Let’s go!”

I turned towards the luxurious-looking department store.

“Okay, we just need to pass through here again, right?”

Ren shook his head.

“Um… Y-Yeah, we could. But I was thinking that we could also take a different route to get there. You know, so you can get a better idea of the types of stores they have here.”

And also for sightseeing!

“There’s another route? Sure, let’s go!”

Ren nodded and started walking away. He signaled for me to follow so I did.

“You don’t need the map right now?”
“No, I have a general idea of this mall’s layout.”

“Is that so? Okay, then I’ll let you lead the way!”

Thus begins my astonishing, probably arduous, but most importantly fun shopping trip! I wonder how it’ll go? Eh, probably nothing too troublesome…

Of course, I was still feeling a little guilty. Ren said that he would pay for everything, but it still slightly bothered me. But he insisted, so I guess I'll let him. I can’t help but think back to the day when Ren declared that he needed nothing in return for housing me. He said that this was specifically for me, right? I… No, I don’t want to dig into his true meaning — it might get rid of this happy feeling that I’m having right now…

…

“Woah Ren, what’s that?”

We weren’t going through the route that led directly to Univear. Instead, we were walking through the entire mall so that I could survey the area — we seem to have started close to our final destination but decided to walk around this entire open area first.

We were on the highest floor on the opposite side when I saw something that intrigued me. I left Ren and ran towards it when I saw it — I think I was acting childlike… but it was awesome.

It was a sculpture and it was hanging above an opening in the floor that led to the very bottom. This sculpture was of a flock of birds. Each bird had a black neck and head with a white spot on their faces — their cheeks maybe? They also had white parts under their chins and a light brown body. It was also white where their bottoms were.

As I was awing at the sculpture, Ren walked next to me.

“It’s an art piece depicting a flock of geese flying.”

Geese, huh?

“Wait, these geese look different? Like, aren’t they usually entirely white with orange bills?”

Ren nodded.

“Well, the geese that this sculpture depicts are native and commonly found in this continent.”

“I see…”

I’ve seen geese during my travels in the past. They are really talented — they can walk, fly, and swim. They’re also very aggressive — speaking from my personal experience… If I could do all the things geese could, I wonder what I’d use the power for?