Chapter Text
Since December, Anpanman and Kirara had been planning to take a trip out on the road to see the many sights. They had every detail etched in their mind of what they dreamed it to be, including a map of where they'd go, what things they would need to bring, and if there was anything specific they wanted to do while sightseeing. Planning this far had given them a total of seven lists and a map, marked with little purple "X" spots where they were headed. Today was finally the day where they'd put their plans into motion.
"I just can't wait," Kirara stated with excitement. "We've saved up so much into this, and now it's finally time!"
"Yeah!" Anpanman met on the other end with the same reciprocating joy. "I can't wait to see the world! Hey, have you finished packing yet?"
"Oh, almost. I just need to find one more thing, and I'll be right over."
"Okay. When you're able, let me know!" Anpanman said with a smile right as the phone hung up.
Anpanman felt excitement accompanied with a twang of inexplicable restlessness as he felt the reality of the time he had to wait set in on him. He already felt he stood by 6 months to get moving, so why did this feel like he had to wait longer? Anpanman reminded himself it was for the best, and the road trip was going to pay off... Still, he knew it would be the best time ever and was twiddling his thumbs until he could go.
Anpanman sat down for a moment and reached to grab his things. He packed the basics: His normal red clothes, another pair of yellow boots identical to the ones he was already wearing, sunscreen for Kirara, A blanket, a sunhat, and an emergency kit for himself. He began reviewing his belongings just a few more times as if to be safe, and pass the time.
Soon later the phone rang and Anpanman found himself running to grab it. Once he picked up, he heard Kirara's relieving voice on the other end. "I'm ready, I'll meet you outside your house."
Anpanman grabbed his things and met Kirara outside of the bakery. She had her usual pink outfit on, with it's white sleeve cuffs, matching belt with star buckle, and pants in a more pastel pink. Her short red hair blew around her with any gust of wind that came to her. She carried a pink shoulder bag presumably full with her belongings, as did Anpanman. Uncle Jam presented them with a sort of minivan, that looked almost like any they had seen before. It was white and had a bumper sticker that looked like Anpanman's face over its hood, and had a large sunroof spanning almost the whole roof of it.
"Hey, what's this?" Kirara asked while pointing to it.
"Anpanman told me all about your little trip," Jam stated as he walked over to stand in front of them. "So I built this minivan for you both to use."
Anpanman and Kirara stared in awe at the van, and Anpanman's previously established ideas for the trip only began to grow.
"There's one question. Who's going to drive this?"
Kirara shook her head immediately. "I can't drive. Last time I did I crashed a space shuttle. I think Anpanman might have to-" She quickly looked at Anpanman. "Do you know how to drive?"
"I can drive it, yeah. If you wouldn't mind me driving it-"
"Great! Let's get going!"
Anpanman stepped into the minivan to find it had a nice, cozy interior and cushioned seats, lined with red fabric. There were seven seats that could fold in ways to extend the space in the trunk. In front of him was the steering wheel and to his left was the radio. With it, a GPS Navigator sat in perfect alignment with the sun's rays, causing them to reflect from the screen's glass and directly into his eyes. He gently twisted the stand so it was angled to redirect the light from his eyes. While he did that, Kirara got in holding all their stuff and situated in shotgun. In front of her was the air conditioning and to her right was Anpanman playing with the stand. She let out a giggle.
"Hey, where should I put these?" She asked.
"Oh! You can leave them in the backseat for now," Anpanman finally fixed the stand and turned to face Kirara. "We can figure something out later. Do you have the map and lists?"
"Yup, I do. Before we hit the road though, we should fill up on gas."
Anpanman agreed as he revved the car up and drove to the nearest gas station. It took a while, because the bakery was just a part of a snoozy village in the middle of nowhere, but they eventually got there and pulled over towards a gas pump. Kirara, as if queued, hopped out of the car for a moment without explanation and headed inside the gas station while Anpanman waved to her and let his mind wade into space.
He thought about how great things were going to be, and what cool things might happen. Just himself and Kirara, a wonderful woman he held dear to him. Lately he had been fixing to spend more time with Kirara as he was often busy with his job, and with this trip he finally could. As he thought of all this, a sense of anxiety was creeping in that something wrong would happen. He tried to push it away for now, as it wasn't something he felt he needed to have now that it was finally happening.
Kirara came from the gas station with a bag holding potato chips and a bottle of soda big enough to share as Anpanman realized he hadn't filled the gas yet. Scrambling, he quickly got the petrol tank open and found himself almost shoving the tube into it. Kirara wondered around the front of the car to open the shotgun door and drop her bag on the seat before going over to Anpanman.
"I got us a snack, since I'm hungry." She said. "Are you okay? You looked dazed for a bit."
"Ah, yeah- I'm sorry. I got a bit distracted. Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah, one more thing," Kirara shuffled through the lists they made. "The hotel we're supposed to stop at is extremely far away. If we don't reach a destination, what're we supposed to do?"
Anpanman remembered that he brought a blanket. "I have stuff we can use if we need to sleep in the car."
"Ah, alright." Kirara sat in her seat and waited for Anpanman to sit in his. "Our first stop is about 5 hours from here."
"Then there's no time to waste. Let's go!"