After borrowing the kind stranger's phone, we had come to find out that Issei's phone appears to be outdated, and thus has no more access to any wives' Eyes. I don't really get it, but with this, we can at the very least call his parents and find out what our next course of action should be.
「もしもし」Said the female voice.
「こんにちは、お母さん。」Issei replied in an equally fluent accent, 「お久しぶりです!」
「...これは誰ですか。」She asked(?) with a suspicious tone.
What a strange and fascinating language. It sounds nothing like any of the languages my world has, and yet to them it must be the most normal thing in the world. From the letters they use to write, to the fact they write vertically from top right to bottom left as opposed to horizontally from top left to bottom right, it all just differs so much from Entropic. Frankly, I never even thought about using a different writing system, much less to change something as universal for us as the direction of the letters. Still, this goes without saying, but I'll handle the translating to you readers, since I have no clue what they're actually saying at all.
「お母さん、どういうこと?」息子さんの声に聞き覚えはありませんか?」Issei chuckled.
「一世?」
「お会いしたら全て説明させていただきます。」
"Issei." I lightly tapped him.
"What is it?" He got a bit fussy, "Don't you know it's bad manners to talk when someone's on the phone?"
"No, cause I've never had anyone to interrupt." I groaned back, "Just tell me if we're in the clear or not."
"Dude, I'm getting there!" He then pressed his ear to the phone again, 「ああ、お母さん。さあ、泣かないで。」
His mother, I don't have to know Japanese to understand that she's crying on the other side of the phone. Well yeah, a mother's love is universal, it's probably an unbreakable rule in the multiverse that any mother would react the same way if she heard her son's voice speaking to her after 14 years of him going missing. Hell, I would know, since I recently had a meeting with my parents as well. Right, it's very touching, but I think that Edgar guy behind him wants to leave with his girl by now.
"Hey guy, your Japanese is really good." He anxiously tapped him on the shoulder, "Sorry, but if you don't mind, could you hand me my phone back?"
"Eh? S-Sure, just a second." Issei brushed him off, or at least tried to.
"Issei, hand the man his phone." I scolded him.
"Dude, can't you hear my mother crying on the other side of the line? I can't just hang up on her."
"I didn't tell you to just hang up. Just tell her you're borrowing another person's phone and to expect another phonecall from a random number soon, when we find someone else. Don't slap the hand that gives to you."
Upon hearing my words of wisdom, Issei did a short pause where he glanced at Edgar before sighing begrudgingly explaining what I told him to his mother. She was still crying, but I think her tears were more of joy than of sorrow. Either way, going purely off her tone, she seemed to have understood our predicament and didn't mind him postponing their conversation for a later time.
「またごめんね。じゃあ、後で話してね、お母さん」
「うーん、待ってるよ。」She replied in a happier tone before hanging up.
"Well, that's the end of that. Thanks guy, and sorry for holding you up." Issei handed the phone back to its rightful owner.
"Yeah, you should be!" The guy's girlfriend fussed, "Ed, seriously, if we're late for the movie, then you're in big trouble!"
"Haha, sorry, sorry." Edgar patted her on the head lovingly, "I'll make it up to you later. That being said, I hope you guys at least managed to say hi to each other."
"Yeah, just hearing her voice helped calm me down a lot." Issei looked down and smiled.
"A mother's love can do that." I uttered without thinking, "Anyways, what'll we do now? It's already getting to be night time."
"You guys in a pinch?" Edgar once again stopped as his girlfriend helplessly tried pulling him away from us.
"No, no more playing Mr Nice Guy!" She whined, "Come on, we're gonna be late!"
"Ignore us, we just..." Issei paused before making up a fake scenario, "We kinda overspent on our trip's budget and now don't have the money to call a cab to our apartment."
"Oh, I'm sorry." The kind stranger didn't even hesitate for a second to whip out his wallet and hand us a wad of money in paper form, "Then, if this much is enough..."
"Eh!?" Issei jumped, "N-No, put that back, seriously! That's way too much yen for a cab ride!"
"Tch, in this economy?" Edgar smirked, "Go on, I get it. I've been in your situation before, and back then I prayed like crazy for someone to come and give me a hand. If you're that grateful, return the favor to someone else in need when you come across them. Or so the Lord said."
"The Lord?" I raised an Eyebrow.
"The One and Only." He raised a thumbs up.
"No, but - This is a lot of money." Issei was still at a loss for words over this, "If... If you don't mind me asking, guy, what the hell kind of job do you do for you to be able to just hand out this much money?"
"Haha, it's nothing special. Just your regular medical professional." He then struck a pose, "Or as some may call me - The Doctor!"
Heh, this guy kinda reminds me of Ed. They're both reliable and cool on the outside, but friendly and dorky on the inside. It's kind of a nice, familiar feeling in this sea of unknowns.
"Ugh, now you're gonna embarrass us here too." His girlfriend seethed.
"Haha, it's not that embarrassing. And besides, you're the one that poses all the time in front of the mirror every morning."
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"T-That's a different kind of posing, geez!" She blushed, "Alright, I'm going to the theater, with or without you, y'know."
"Oh, come on Annie, don't be like that~!" He sang a carefree tune before waving at us, "Then, good luck, friends. God be with ye'."
"Yeah, toodle-oo." I felt I needed to match his odd way of signing out, "Man, what a guy. So hey, just how much of that yen stuff did he give us?"
"Enough to buy around 100 small fries." Issei smirked, "Or a night's stay at a hotel."
Ooh, a warm bed to sleep in, score!
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***
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"Issei..." I stood in front of the place horrified, "The pink lights, the glowing heart signs, the moaning coming from the top floors... What's the meaning of this?"
"Ah, did I forget to mention it?" He stuck his tongue out playfully, "Regular hotels are all booked, and if not, then they're definitely expensive as hell. So, we'll be spending the night in a love hotel."
"The hell's a love hotel!?" I yelled, "Issei, explain yourself this instant!"
"What? Scared of getting spooned by a man?" He nudged me, "Come on, we'll be wearing socks, and besides, it's not cheating if you're with another man~!"
"Issei!"
"Oh calm down, I'm just yanking your chain." He laughed before walking into the place, "Alright, just stand there while I pay for the room."
Doing as I was told, I awkwardly stood behind him as he way too casually approached the confused guy working at the counter and presumably told him we'll be spending the night in their room together. I don't know the laws on same sex relationships in this world, but I can't even begin to imagine from that guy's uncomfy expression what's going on through his head. Dammit, I know it's weird, but we need a place to stay, dude! I can't believe I'm saying this but... Fingers crossed Issei and I get to sleep together!
"Oi, you look like you're about to shit bricks." Issei snapped me out of my trance-like thoughts, "Come on, hubby, let's go to our love-nest."
"Don't call it that!"
Well, he called it a love nest, so I was a bit scared of the vibes we'll be exposed to. Thankfully though, I was immediately relieved by just how cramped, prison-like and unromantic our room was. It had one bed, a somewhat neatly made packet of condoms and... that's it. Seriously, it's more like a closet than a love room. Wait, but that means when we leave the closet tomorrow morning...
"Alright, you sleep on the bed, I'll set up a futon under it." Issei pulled out a blanket-like fabric from under the bed, as if he knew beforehand where it was stowed away, "Think of this like a scuffed bunk bed."
"Eh, futon?" I raised my Eyebrows.
"What? Don't tell me you actually wanted us to sleep under the same covers." He grimaced, "I got two girls, dude, that should tell you more than enough about my sexuality."
"And I've got a wife and two kids, what's your point?" I grimaced back, "No, I meant to ask how you knew that thing was there in the first place."
"Ah, I guess you're not familiar with it. Most Japanese households have a spare futon for guests." He set it up before making himself comfortable under the bed, "See? It's like a portable bed - A portabed! Pretty snazzy, right?"
"But this isn't a household, it's a love hotel."
"Eh, even if this one didn't have a futon here, I'd just ask you to Materialize one."
Yeah, fair point. Well, since we don't have much more to do, and it's already pretty late as is, I think we have nothing more to do but to go to sleep. Turning off the lights before snuggling in our (own separate, respective) beds, we had felt a bit too energized to just fall asleep, oddly enough. Thus, we felt a small moment of reprieve like this would be perfect for us to think of a way to get back home.
"If it's that, then there can only really be one way back to the Vast World." Issei figured, "Visit all the World Wonders of this world and use that wish to go back home."
"Eh? This world has World Wonders too?" I asked.
"Of course. Though I can't remember them off the top of my head, and wi-fi isn't a thing in Japan anymore, I can't even Google it on my phone."
"Google? Whatever, in any case, doesn't that mean it'll take me years before I get back home?" I fretted a bit.
"Nah, it won't take you even a week if you're rich enough, I'd say." Issei reassured me, "This ain't your world, Lune. Back in the Vast World, going from Cardina to Entropa would take you weeks of travel time, but here, it won't take you even a full day by plane if you wanna go to the other side of the world."
"Lightspeed travel!?"
"Not nearly." He explained, "But close enough. In any case, I know you can't Materialize any money in your world cause no one knows the materials used to make it, but in this world we can just Google both text articles and videos on how any currency us minted."
"Seriously, who is this Google? He sounds super smart, is he a sage?"
"Google is like the Library of a Thousand Passages, except it contains way more than just a third of the entire world's combined knowledge." He yawned, "Also, it's all on everyone's phones. Knowledge is power, so everyone has a right to have it. That being the case, try it out tomorrow, maybe."
"That's so cool..." I marveled at the holy sage of Google's magnanimity, "Hm? Issei, is that your snoring?"
"...Nah, that's our neighbors' moaning." He tuned in briefly to listen before snickering, "Heh, the joke is sex."
"Good night!" I kicked the bed frame before covering my ears with my pillow.