A bookstore in the mall had the books he wanted, Tatsuya had found while checking the net for a place to buy some study material from. Heading there was a welcome break from playing Meijin Kawaguchi all day and either way, going to town for a few hours sounded like a nice idea. Not to mention, he didn’t have to go alone as Allan had volunteered to accompany him.

Finding the mall had been easy enough, and the bookstore had been easy to locate as well. This all had turned out to be an awesome idea until they had realized there was a hobby shop right behind the corner. Considering their mutual interests, neither of them didn’t have to convince the other to go for a quick stop to look at the gunpla selection.

Tatsuya couldn’t help but to chuckle at the sight of Allan going through all the gunpla the store had available. It really wasn’t that the shop carried anything that rare, they just happened to have good selection. Either way, it was enough to make Allan browse the shelves full of kits acting like a complete nerd. Not that Tatsuya himself was much better, he just managed to act cool about it while looking at the available goods and wondering if he should get something.

"Seriously, like a child in a candy store," he commented to his companion when Allan stopped to stare at something marked as new shipment. "And we really shouldn’t be looking at these," he added with a hint of regret in his voice, not sure if he was trying to tell that to himself or Allan. His gaze came across an older UC kit, and had he still been in school and the captain of the Model Building Club, that one would so have ended up customized and on the display shelf in the club room.

The sad fact remained that neither of them needed be looking at any gunpla. PPSE Works Team had quite a selection available for any possible builds, straight from the manufacturer. "I know, I know," Allan replied, staring at the section with new releases. "I’ve seen all of these already, but you know what?" He turned to Tatsuya and smiled. "Picking up something from the PPSE warehouse just isn’t the same thing as looking at kits in a hobby store. That’s work, and while I enjoy work, this is out of personal interest. It just doesn’t feel the same if it’s for work!"

"Suppose so," Tatsuya said, also looking at the new releases. There were a couple of kits that he hadn’t had the time to even consider taking a look at due to being busy with work lately. "I wish I had the time," he added wistfully. "It would be so much fun to build something."

Allan looked up at him and sighed. "I know. The tournament comes first and everything needs to be ready, so I don’t have time for personal projects either. But look, they have some completed kits on display..." He wandered off to look at the cabinet holding several gunpla. Tatsuya stepped closer and looked at the sign next to the cabinet; it said that the kits were the winners of a customization competition the store had held sometime earlier in the year.

"Hmm, nice. I like the paintjob on that one," Allan said, pointing at a blue GN-XIII. He leaned closer to take a better look and noticed the tag next to it had a short summary of the story behind it. "Oh, so apparently its pilot defected to Katharon with the unit after A-LAWS was formed. Like those suits we see in the fifth episode of Gundam 00 Season 2, where they have those blue suits lined up in the hangar. Don’t think they had anything as good as this, though."

Tatsuya smiled. "Comes with a story to go with it. I like that; it means the builder really put their mind into their work. I also like the weathering on it, and the battle damage. Really looks like it’s been through some battles in desert areas." He leaned in for a closer look as well. "And now I kind of want to steal this idea, except with a twist. Say, we pick a couple of grunt suits from the other series and try them with the Katharon colors. How it would have looked if Katharon had gotten their hands on..." He stopped by the gunpla shelf and picked up an Aries kit. "This. Perhaps not much of a match against the suits A-LAWS had, but that’s the idea."

"I’m in," Allan declared, picking up a GM Cannon kit from the shelf. "Let’s do this. They’ve got a building area right here, and we don’t need to be back until sometime later tonight, right?"

The books Tatsuya had meant to buy were already forgotten.