Chương 23: TWENTY TWO (Day 2 with Ethan Regal:The Tour)
The tour began with Ito driving round the city, as he did, he began showing them the major streets of the city, he didn't fail to tell them about the city,
"…And do you also know that Tokyo is the world's most populous metropolitan area."
"Oh wow! That's a lot." Mia commented,
"Yeah, and you've probably heard of the "Cherry Blossom."
"Yeah I have," Suzie replied, "I hear it's like the unofficial national flower." She added,
"…Uh yeah, something like that." Ito grinned.
"Tokyo first held the Olympics in 1964. Also it was originally named Edo…" As Ito rambled on and on, Mia totally zoned out. She knew he was just trying to be a good tour guide, but she just wanted to enjoy the ride.
The city was quite enormous; it took at least half an hour to get to the other side. Meanwhile, Noel and the Lim's daughter; Chloe stared outside the window and giggling at the same time, it was obvious they were both enjoying the ride.
"Those two seem to be enjoying the ride." Suzie chuckled.
Just then, Ito announced that they were in Shibuya and would approach the Shibuya Crossing,
"Oh! I've heard of the Shibuya Crossing." Suzie said excitedly,
"What's a Shibuya Crossing?" Mia asked Suzie,
"It's the orderliness in a chaotic world." She smiled. And just as she did, Ito came to a stop at a very large intersection.
"We're just in time to see the people cross." Ito grinned. As the lights turned red, everyone waiting on all sides immediately scrambled across. In the scrambling, there was still some sort of orderliness that made it pleasant to watch.
"Wow! For some odd reason, this feels very satisfying. "Suzie exclaimed.
"It's like Time Square in Japan, look at the perfect perspective! Oh there's a Starbucks!!" Mia looked around so excitedly, "Oh my goodness I have to return here at night, take a photo or make a time-lapse video!—"
"Relax Mia, we just got here." Suzie chuckled, "There's plenty of time to do that." She added.
"Right." Mia nodded as realization dawned on her, she was in the midst of wealthy people who have travelled around so much that things like this didn't really excite or fascinate them at all…But suddenly she decided not to care, this was a "once in a lifetime" trip for her considering her status, and she wasn't going to let anyone dictate how she was supposed to act.
"…I would have preferred to walk though, that would have been more fun." Mia said honestly,
"…Yeah, it would have given this "I'm a tourist" kind of vibe, you know what I'm saying?" Suzie said,
"…Yeah." Mia replied vaguely as she stared at her blankly, she was surprised at her response. To her, even if Suzie was chatty and easy going, she still had this dainty and delicate look of an upper class person.
Meanwhile, as the ladies chattered and the kids giggled, Ethan quietly sat at the last row of the bus quietly fiddling his phone. From a distance, he looked like he was really engrossed with work or something really important. It was like he was almost invisible.
Nicholas decided to take it on himself to start a conversation with him, since he himself already got tired of using his phone.
"…So you're not much of a talker, are you?" Nicholas began,
"Mm." He nodded without shifting his gaze off his phone.
"…The kids seem to be enjoying the ride."
"….I guess they are." Ethan replied vaguely.
"…I'm glad the older couples aren't here with us." Nicholas chuckled,
"Me too."
"Do you think they even have kids?" Nicholas asked curiously,
"They do, the Hamilton's have a son in college, while the Griffins have two daughters. The Kareem's love to keep their kid's lives private, but I know they have a son who's in boarding school.
" Ugh, Man I hate boarding school. Figures though, they seem like self-absorbed pricks....The things they said to both of you last night; I just want you to know that, I wasn't in support of any of that. They were really mean."
"Thank you for your concern. Neil."
"…So what's the name of your company?" Nicholas pressed further.
"Regal Empire." He murmured,
"So what do you guys do?" Nicholas asked, Ethan paused and stared at him,
"What?" He shrugged, "Can't a guy be curious—"
"If you're that curious, you should probably search the internet." He cut in sharply.
"…I guess I'm going to do that…But you know, just because we're "rivals" doesn't mean we should act like it. Let's enjoy the moment with our families." He concluded.
Ethan simply nodded.
"....You know, in the end, it doesn't matter who gets it. I'm just grateful to have this whole time to spend with my family."
"Right?" Ethan replied, although he sounded sarcastic. "I'm glad too." He concluded.
"You seem a bit upset, did I say something to annoy you?—"
"Off course not, do I look upset to you? This," He pointed to his face, "This is definitely not my annoyed face Mr. Nick Lee!"
"Right. By the way, it's Nicholas Lim, not…whatever you've been calling me."
"Right." Ethan nodded.
There was an awkward silence before Ethan finally said,
"You do realize this is all big waste of time, right?"
"What, sitting here talking to you?—"
"Coming down here…Mr. Kenato isn't selling the property—"
"....I don't understand, what are you talking about?" He furrowed his brows, but before Ethan could utter another word, Suzie interrupted.
"Babe! We're here now, aren't you guys coming?" She grinned, the bus had come to a stop and the others had alighted from the bus.
"Right behind you Babe!" He yelled, he was about to say something to Ethan, but just as if he had read his mind, Ethan quietly got on his feet and mumbled,
"Never mind." He said before leaving the bus. "Isn't that another intersection up ahead?" Ethan mumbled.
--
Ito led the way as they walked through the busy crowd of people who were mostly tourists.
"Where are we going again?" Suzie questioned,
"You'll see." He grinned.
"Do we have to walk?" Ethan blurted out of nowhere,
"Do you have to be so grumpy?" Mia retorted, "C'mon let's go." She grinned as she grabbed his hands. He couldn't finch it away, because they were with the others and had to act like a regular couple.
Finally, they came to a stop at the intersection and right in front of what seemed like an ancient temple gate.
"Isn't this a temple?" Suzie commented,
"Yes." Ito replied,
"We shouldn't have followed this guy." Ethan sighed.
"Um, where are we again?" Mia questioned,
"Welcome to Asakusa, home to one of the most popular Buddhist temples in Tokyo. She is called
Senso-ji."
"Wow!" The ladies exclaimed.
In front of them was a huge red gate built in Japanese architecture, hanging from the top was a huge red lamp.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is called a Kaminarimon or in English, Thunder Gate…C'mon let's explore—"
"Are we going in there?" Nicholas questioned,
"Yes, c'mon, I have a surprise for you." Ito grinned.
They walked past the gate, and instead of seeing a temple, they came face to face with a shopping street. Up ahead, there were a number of people walking around, there were even some ladies dressed in kimonos.
"Oh my goodness!" Mia exclaimed, "No way! This is the coolest thing I've seen all day."
"Yes, this is called Nakamisme-dori; it's one of the oldest shopping streets in the city. Nakamisme lies between the gate and temple." Ito explained.
"…About 250 meters of stone road, you're going to see different shop styles, stores and a rich display of traditional Japanese culture. Here, there are a lot of fun things to try, from food, to clothes and even souvenirs to take home, so here's what we're going to do…We are going too split up to help both families to fully enjoy the wonders of Nakamisme. "
Ethan suddenly began to murmur,
"This guy sucks, what kind of—"
"Shh!" Mia tapped him.
"…I'll have to go and park the bus at the car park. So you guys have fun, we're going to meet at the other second gate in thirty minutes. From there we can all visit the temple. Do we agree?" He grinned,
They all nodded, but Suzie said she felt rather faint and decided she wanted to go with Ito, so the rest of her family had no choice but to join her. Once Ethan was sure they were all out of sight, he immediately let go of Mia's hand and walked off to join Noel who was ahead of them. Mia caught up with and smirked,
"Did I break any of your rules this time?"
"Yes, rule number six…Don't touch me." He sneered before walking off again.
Mia watched him walk away; holding hands with Noel, and suddenly, an idea crossed her mind.
She ran up to them and grabbed Ethan's free hand.
"What are you doing?!" He questioned as he tried to free this hands.
Mia smirked,
"I'm in the mood to break some rules. Ethan."
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