"Hey, what the hell is this place?" I asked as he led me through all sorts of identical streets, "Your parents live here?"

"Mn..." He anxiously sped up his pace, "No, not this..."

"Hey, you listening?"

"Shut up, it's been 14 years since I've been here! Gimme a sec!"

"Alright, geez, I'm just asking."

"Dammit, this is definitely the street I grew up in, but..." He checked his phone again, which still didn't have any wife Eyes in it, "Ugh, no! None of the apartments are correct, playground is replaced with a parking lot, and the shop me and my friends frequented closed up! This can't be right?"

"It can't, really? Cause the way I see it, 14 years is just enough time for that many changes to occur." I figured, "Unless you mean this isn't normal behavior in your world?"

"W-Well, it is, but..." He stuttered, "It's just... kinda scary, ha-ha. Y'know, seeing everything I've known my entire life change before me, it feels kinda lonely. Tch, dammit, I sound like a total moron, sorry."

"Nah, I get it."

"Lune gets the fear of change? Now I know something's wrong." He joked.

"Well yeah, I advocate change as the ultimate philosophy in life, but it's not like I don't at all fear it. I'm human too, y'know." I said with a reassuring smile, "Hell, I get anxious even today when I enter a new place I've never been to, and this place is a great example. I'm no longer with my family, my friends, and just like you, who fears never seeing Othelia and Eleanor again, I fear never seeing Cecily, Cene and Nelly."

"...Right, you have it worse, sorry for tossing this onto you."

This guy! He really doesn't know his fellow Scooter Brother at all!

"No, that wasn't my intention, Issei. I wanted to say it's okay to be scared, but in times of urgency and danger, there's an order to which emotions should come first. In this case, fear should be last place. Feel me?"

"Hah, I think I get it." He chuckled, "You're right. We have plenty of time to dread the future these past changes have dealt us, but for now we need to focus on the present."

"Exactly, so what's the plan?"

"Let's think about this logically, then." He checked his phone, "If I came to the Vast World in 2019, that means the current year here is 2033."

"Eh! A thousand years in the future!?"

"Nah, I doubt it. We probably count time from different events." He elaborated, "For us, it's the birth of the Christian God's son, Jesus Christ. For you guys, it's the Ever-Division."

"God's son? You never told me that story."

"How the hell should I know? I'm Buddhist." He gave a snarky reply, "That being the case, we can go check out the library for a spare copy of the Bible if you're that interested. But anyways, we got off track."

Oh right, he was gonna tell me our next course of action, but I kinda got sidetracked by that Jesus guy or whatever. By the way, what's a Bible?

"Alright, now that I've calmed down, I've realized something." He showed me his phone, which had all sorts of names and numbers listed one under the other, "I have all my old contacts saved, and if I know my parents, then I'm sure at least one of them still hasn't changed their number. Besides, if they did, I can probably still contact my friends on Line."

"Mhm, good idea."

"...You have no clue what I'm talking about, do you?"

How the hell should I? With all these unfamiliar futuristic phrases you're tossing at me, it kinda feels like you're not talking to me at all. Hey, be honest, do you guys have any clue what he's saying? Maybe he's stealing my gag and explaining it more so to you than to me. Fuckin' chode...

"Well, don't worry about it. I don't have any bars for some reason, but all we need to do is find someplace willing to give us the password for their wi-fi and we'll be set."

"I fail to see what your incompetence in the rap scene has anything to do with the current predicament, but I for one will not stand in the way of your dreams."

"No, I didn't mean I don't have any bars in that sense..." He sighed, "Yo, Issei here with the-!"

"Okay shut up, you're crap at rapping."

"What ever happened to not standing in the way of my dreams!?"

Thus, we decided to just move on from this place and walk through the area until we found a restaurant or bar that offers wives' Eyes. I really don't wanna try that, but if it'll help me get home, then I guess I'll do anything. Even if it IS kind of yucky...

"Hey, what's that sign over there say?" I pointed.

"That says Entry prohibited."

"Oh, and that one there?"

"That's a gift shop."

"Mhm, and this little guy up here?"

"That's just a pedestrian sign, there's no need to translate it!"

Damn, he's really reverted to his jokey self again quick. Is my advice actually really good? Haha, I knew that! In any case, I just so happened to see a sign I can't help but ignore.

"And that big Red and Yellow one across the street?"

"You know that one, dammit! That's just an Arthu-!" He then stopped himself when he looked at it properly, "Gasp, wrong! That's not an Arthur's, that's McDonald's!"

"McDonald? Is that like your world's equivalent to Arthur's?"

"Hell yeah, it's the top brand in the world! Which means...!" He pointed to it, "There's definitely free wi-fi in there! Let's go!"

"Hooray..." I gagged a bit, "Ugh, does eating another wife's Eyes count as cheating? The more I think about it, the worse it gets..."

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***

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This is an odd restaurant. We entered the place, and no waiter or waitress greeted us. There aren't any tables and chairs in the room, just the counter in the back and a line of people waiting to get their turn on some sort of machine near where we are. Is this how Japanese restaurants work? Where do you go to order?

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"Alright, you sit down while I get us something from the menu." Issei pointed off to somewhere.

"You said you didn't have any more money to spare on food, though?"

"I should have enough for the bare minimum of small fries." He replied, "At least that way we can sit down without any issues while I call someone on Line."

"I don't get it, but whatever." I sighed, "By the way, there aren't any tables here, so where do I go to sit down exactly?"

"What do you mean? This is just where you order and pay for your meal, we eat in the other room over there."

Eh? You go up to the counter and order the food? Like you would at a bar? That's kinda weird, but now that I take a proper gander at it, it seems all those foreign glyphs above the cashier are the food options from their menu. This is kinda interesting, it certainly speeds up the process.

"Hey, mind if I stand in line with you? I wanna learn more about this to suggest to Arthur when we get back."

"Oh, I mean, sure I guess." He shrugged, "Hey, wanna punch in the order for us?"

"This machine here?" I readied my fists.

"No, don't actually hit it!" He hastily stopped me, "Look, sigh, just... Here, tap this part of the screen."

Guiding my hand with his own, I had eventually made contact with the rectangle pictured on the screen with some more of those foreign symbols written in it. After that, a whole slew of options popped up on the screen, and I actually could read some of them now.

"English?" I recalled the word, "That's what you call Entropic, isn't it?"

"Mhm, you can choose the language of the machine for easier ordering." He smiled, "Press it."

Doing so, I was prompted with a white screen inside which all of the menu items up top popped up, with the prices just under each image. Whoa, this technology is incredible! Now I see why Issei knew so many advanced things back when we first met. This guy's been surrounded by hi-tech stuff since birth!

"Hey now." He stopped my hand from pressing the burger icon, "Just the small fries. We can't afford more."

"Aww, but surely-!"

"Fries. Small." He pointed behind me to an angry crowd, "You're holding up the line, come on."

"A-Ah, there was a line forming!?" I panicked and started speeding through the order, "Sorry, sorry! I'll speed it up! Eh, drinks? Hell no! B-Burger meal? Not today, thank you!"

"Heh, you don't gotta announce it." Issei chuckled in a relaxed tone, "It's alright, they understand you're foreign."

"Still..." I sulked, "Oh, payment? Pay with card or...?"

"I'll take it from here." He had me step aside as he shamelessly pressed 'Pay with cash', "Alright, that's it. Take the numbered piece of paper from the machine."

"What's it do?" I did as he said, "Oh, lucky number 24."

"Now that you've placed your order and have the number with you, you're gonna show it to the cashier so you can pick it up when they call your number." He explained, "For that, you gotta stand in that line over there."

"Another line? This is gonna take hours..."

Or so I said, but they actually called our number really quickly. The number displayed on the screen above said counter was 11, so I thought we had another 13 to go, but apparently these numbers don't have any meaning or order to them. I say this because the number jumped from 11 to 16, then to 19, then to 58 somehow, then back down to 24. What an odd system, but hey, I'd rather wait for 4 people to just grab their trays and leave than 13.

"Ah, thank you." I glanced at Issei for confirmation as I lightly bowed to the lady that handed us our fries, "Hey, how do you day thank you."

"Arigatou." He whispered back.

"A-Arigatou!" I did my most serious impression of him as I parroted the phrase loudly, startling her a bit in the process.

「あははは!またのご来店を心よりお待ちしております。」The girl giggled before replying in a sweet tone.

"Falling for the McDonald's cashier already? You really are settling in here way too fast." Issei jeered, "Now come on, swooner, let's go take our seats."

"H-Huh?! That wasn't-! No, no arigatou! Bad! I'm married!"

"Here, take some fries while I connect to the..." He slid the fries across the table and over to me before furrowing his brows, "Oh come on, why's there no wi-fi!? Mickey D's always has free wi-fi!"

"I think you forgot to put it in our order." I raised a point."

"Much like that cute cashier, it's not on the menu." He groaned.

Seriously, stop making me out to be some cheating prick! What if Cecily overheard us somehow!? I know it makes no sense, but the point still stands that I wouldn't fall for anyone else but her... or Marina. B-But that's the limit! No cute cashier can swoon me! O-Or wait, I did NOT call her cute just now! Bleep that out!

"Yo, you guys on a trip here too?" A blonde muscular guy that was seated in the table behind Issei with his girlfriend asked, "Man, it really is a mess without wi-fi, huh?"

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Issei way too casually continued the convo with the stranger, "Not just here, but all around town, there's not a single wi-fi spot. Look."

"Whoa, that's one old and banged up phone. You should probably buy a new one, bud." The guy commented before inspecting the screen, "Yeah, I know. Japan is the first country to fully integrate the new way to connect to the internet that uses the newest technology. They cut out all wi-fi in the country in favor of using that since last year."

"What?! Then how am I supposed to call my family and friends without it!?" Issei panicked.

"Dude, chill." The kind stranger lent him his own futuristic phone, "I suggest you buy a phone that supports FRI to resolve that, but if it's an emergency, just use mine to make the call."

"Edgar, if you don't hurry it up, I'm gonna eat your burger." His lady friend mischievously warned.

"Ack, Anne, just hold on a sec!" The guy turned back to us in a hurry, "Alright, make it quick, please!"

"S-Sure thing." Issei smirked uncomfortably before pressing in some random numbers into the phone, "Oh. This is...?"