— THIS UNGODLY HEAT, AND WE'RE STILL WALKING?! — Iris scrunches her face and crosses her arms.
— Just 3 minutes, I promise. — Noah looks at Iris and forces a smile.
The promised three minutes passed quickly. The store was already visible. Out of breath, sweat streaming down their faces, they quickened their pace.
— So close... yet so far... This heat makes everything worse. — Noah wipes his face with his arm.
— We're so out of shape, we barely walked anything and we're like this... — Iris says, breathless.
They finally arrived and stepped inside. The store was dusty and somehow looked smaller on the inside. Boxes were stacked to the ceiling, and the large shelves were packed to their limit. The smell of old cardboard filled the air — it didn't seem possible that so much stuff could fit in a place that looked so small...
— How do they even manage to stack this many boxes? — Iris looks the pile up and down. — Better question, how do you find anything in here?
— I didn't expect there to be this much stuff. And the worst part — how do you even walk around without tripping over something? — Noah
— Ow... — Iris trips over a box and a book falls on her foot. — The Three Little Pigs of Acaxiant, what a strange book... but the name is familiar. — Iris crouches down and flips through it.
— Hey, I'll go check out other stuff while you read, okay? — Noah leaves Iris and starts walking through the store.
***************
Noah spots a box that catches his eye. He pulls it off the shelf and opens it... It looks like it's been sitting there for ages. He opens the box and a cloud of dust hits him in the face. He rummages through it — the thing is packed.
— Cof... Cof... — he coughs. — Now THIS is an artifact. — He picks something up and heads back toward Iris to show her what he found.
***************
— You will not believe what I found... An artifact — Noah says, hands behind his back, hiding what he's holding.
He reveals the object, waiting for Iris's reaction.
— A corded phone that connects to your cell. — He shows it to Iris. — Now I can finally answer calls with wet hands.
Iris stops flipping through her book... and shoots him a look that could kill.
— Oh wow, super useful, considering you could just pick up the phone with a wet hand anyway... It won't break, you know? How could you possibly call this an artifact. And you interrupted my reading for THIS? Unbelievable. — Iris drops her head and goes back to her book.
— And please, do not interrupt my reading again.
It felt like lightning was about to strike. Noah went quiet and decided not to push his luck. He glanced back and noticed the person at the register staring at them — a fixed, unblinking stare, like something was off.
"Weird. He won't stop looking over here. Do I have something on me?"
He decided to ignore it and kept walking.
***************
— I don't even know where to start looking for things. — Noah thought out loud, when something on a shelf caught his eye. There was a box stuffed with random things that looked a little out of place. He decided to get a closer look — and tripped over another box, sending its contents jingling across the floor. He crouched down to check what was inside and his jaw dropped.
"No way, this is a treasure..." — Noah's face lit up with surprise. The more he dug through the box, the brighter his eyes got. — I can't believe I found this here... Star necklaces, cross pendants... there are gorgeous bracelets too. — Noah lost track of time as he went to grab a basket to fill.
***************
"What a bizarre book, I am absolutely taking this home." — Iris thought as she flipped through it. She decided to look for more things and went to grab a basket. On the way, something caught her eye.
— No way... — Iris's eyes lit up as she held the book in her hands. — This can't be real. She began flipping through it, and right at the beginning there were some warnings.
[ DO NOT READ THIS BOOK IF YOU HAVE TRIGGERS OR ARE SENSITIVE TO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:
Physical violence.
Explicit content.
Morbid humor.
Explicit gore.
Death.
Strong language.
Extreme bullying.
War trauma.
Post-traumatic stress disorder.
Happy reading!
End of page ]
— I never thought I'd find something like this here. This trip was so worth it. — With every word Iris read, she became more certain she was taking that book home.
***************
Noah had finally finished picking his things and went to find Iris. He still felt watched, but decided to ignore it. Iris was still crouched in nearly the same spot. He walked over to talk to her.
— "The Boss and the 9-to-5", what even is that book, Iris? — Noah asked, and got nothing but the dry snap of the book shutting.
— None of your business. So, are we paying or what? — Iris simply dropped the book into her basket.
Noah leaned in and whispered.
— That person at the register, they've been staring at us since the moment we walked in. — Noah said. — If you look back, at least be subtle about it.
— Wow, they really are staring. — Iris said out loud, looking directly without even trying to hide it.
— Can we just pay, I want to get out of here.
They made their way to the register. The cashier started scanning their things — still staring. Noah kept his head down and thought:
"IF HE DOESN'T STOP LOOKING AT ME I AM GOING TO LOSE IT"
Sweat started dripping, his hands were clammy. Every second felt like a minute.
"Fine. Two can play at that game."
He decided to stare back — and slowly started finding the man strangely familiar... until Noah realized something.
— Nozomi, is that you?!!! — Noah said, stunned.
_______________________
Dear readers, I know this episode took way too long, and I'm truly sorry for the wait — thank you so much for sticking around and reading this far. I've been pushing myself a lot to adapt my writing style into a proper novel format, and I've also been working hard to keep learning and improving, which is why this one took a little longer. Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart.