Astro's Bridal Shower

This story is a sequel to Tobias, now told in the first person. It was inspired by a personal story told by a friend on the ABOL forum.( ?p=138311&postcount=646) It is NOT based on any real persons living, or dead; however I have included a play on words for a character name. This is a virtual Astro Boy Story.

"Toby!"

"Toby!, Wait up!"

"Tobias Levine! You hear me?"

I turned around quickly on the balls of my feet to see Sakiko Yamaski running toward me. Her cries had snapped my brain out of a deep fog that I had been in, and probably just in time. If she hadn't yelled out loud in my direction I probably would have bumped into someone, or maybe hit my head against a wall. I was so deep in concentration on my latest idea for a wining science fair project that I literally wasn't looking where I was headed.

"Hi Sakiko! Sorry I didn't hear you right away. I was sorta deep in thought there."

"Ya, you looked like a real space cadet there! Still planing on winning the science fair this year?"

"You guessed it. I still haven't figured out a real winning idea. I guess that super nerd Poindexter is going to top me again, just like in middle school."

"Maybe, Maybe not. Ya never know. Hey have you heard the latest news?" Sakiko was bubbling with excitement.

"Nope. Anyway the way I've been in a fog lately, it would have gone in one ear and out the other if I had heard anything exciting." I told her.

"Ms. Trout is getting married!" she squealed. "And all the women teachers and students are going to throw her a bridal shower! I'm going to be the head of the student planing committee for the event."

Ms. June Trout had to be the most popular teacher in our High School with the students. She was the head of the Art department, and taught classes in Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, and Ceramics. At the end of the year when the Drama students put on their annual theater production, June Trout and her hand picked army of students created the scenery. When Sakiko and I had found out that her drawing class included Manga style art, we both signed up for the class as one of our electives.

"Wow, that's great!" I said, although I probably meant "it's about time!"

June Trout must have been nearing her late forties, and was often the subject of 'old maid' jokes. She had been seeing someone special on and off for years, I guess they finally decided to tie the knot.

"So when is the wedding?" I asked.

"She said that she will finish the school year and take her honeymoon over the summer. I guess the wedding will be in late June. Just the perfect time of year! Oh and guess what! She's been asking me all sorts of questions about what to do, and where to go on her honeymoon." Sakiko giggled.

"Why would she do that?" I asked.

"Because they are going to Japan for their honeymoon!"

"Yeah but you weren't born there. How well do you know the country?" I said.

"Oh, I've been back to the homeland a few times to visit some relatives. So it was a good thing I finally got to learn the language!" Sakiko replied.

It was a few weeks later that I found myself in the middle of a crowd of girls who had suddenly ganged up on me in the hallway. Sakiko was at the front of the mob and confronted me.

"We have a favor to ask you." she said.

I really felt intimidated. I almost felt like a rock star surrounded by screaming teenage girls, never had I suddenly found a mob of the opposite sex demanding my attention. It might have been good for the ego, but it was strange.

"Err, what do you want?"

"We need you at the bridal shower, Toby." Sakiko said.

"NO! I mean I really like Ms. Trout, but gee, a bridal shower is a chick thing. I'd be the laughing stock of the school with the guys if I attended it. I'll chip in to buy a present, I'll even help with the decorations, but that's it!" I put my foot down.

"You don't understand. We don't want you as a guest, we sorta need you as the entertainment."

Now that sounded creepy. I must have put on a very weird face at that suggestion, in any event, Sakiko figured she'd have to explain things to me in private. She pulled me aside and dragged me down the hallway. When we were away from the crowd she started to explain.

"You know how at a bachelor party some good looking girl in a skimpy bathing suit jumps out of a cake?" She started.

"You want ME to jump out of a cake in a skimpy bathing suit like a piece of beefcake? HELL NO!"

"Not exactly." she said.

Actually, as things turned out that is ALMOST EXACTLY what DID happen. Only no one thought of what eventually transpired in that manor. Even I didn't think of it in that manor, at least not until later. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Sakiko pulled a keyring out of her purse. It had a manila tag attached to it by a string, and held a single key. The tag was labeled: Office: June Trout, Art Department.

"I've got the key to Ms. Trout's office. The students are going to decorate her office before she gets back from her honeymoon, so I was given the key. Have you ever seen her office?"

"No, why would I have?" I asked.

Sakiko inserted the key in the lock and slowly pushed open the door. As the head of the Art Department, Ms. Trout had her own office, rather than sharing a space with a few other teachers. She took advantage of the extra space to display some of her own art creations. She believed that only her student's work should be displayed in her classroom, so none of her students had ever seen much of their teacher's work, except for what she used in the class.

The room was filled with all sorts of beautiful art. Oils, charcoals, pencil and ink drawings; clay, wood, and metal sculptures; it was a virtual art gallery. Her work covered a huge variety of subjects, but at least a quarter of it seemed to be devoted to a single obsession: Astro Boy!

Hanging right in my immediate field of view was a beautiful pencil work, right out of the '63 anime. Resting on a custom Plexiglas support was a ceramic statue of Astro in his typical flying pose, fired in red, black, green, tan, and brown glaze. There were countless other variations on the theme in different media. Her office was an Astro Boy museum.

It didn't take me more than a few milliseconds to put two and two together.

"NO FUCKING WAY!" I blurted out.

It had been over two years ago that I had washed the dark dye out of my hair and replaced the brown contact lenses with plain ones. I hadn't touched a drop of hair gel or spray either in all that time. I had gotten over my obsession. Sure I still liked manga and anime, but I had expanded my subject matter. It almost embarrassed me to picture myself dressed up in that cosplay for several months straight.

"Oh please! When I found out about her obsession with Astro, the girls and I figured having Astro himself popping out of a cake and giving Ms. Trout a hug would really make her day! And we've figured out the perfect design for the cake, with all of Tezuka's star system characters in the icing!"

She pulled a picture out of her purse. It was of me, taken at the Anime and Manga convention a few years back when we had attended it in cosplay. Sakiko and I took second place in the contest.

I started to walk out of the office, thinking that if I quickly ran out, maybe she'd give it up. But there was a mirror hanging on the wall and I caught my reflection in it out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look into the mirror, my mistake! My image blurred out and it was replaced by, .. HIM! Once again Astro stared me down, this time with a devilish grin on his face. He spoke to me,

"Come on Tobio-san. I want to do this! It will be fun. Can't we put some joy into Ms. Trout's life? She's your favorite teacher, for crying out loud!"

I simply couldn't refuse him. I turned to face Sakiko. "Ah what the heck! But only if you have money in your budget for the cosplay. I'm going to have to get new brown colored contacts, dye my hair and get it styled, and then there's the costume."

"Yeah, we figured on all that already, Toby."

Well I called the optometrist and ordered a pair of brown colored contact lenses in my prescription, and I dropped by the hairdresser and made an appointment with Mary for the dye and styling. The girls were busy coordinating everything with the teachers to get the event planned.

I helped make the cake. It was going to be a tight fit for me to sit inside of it, I would have to crouch down with my knees up against my chest and fold my arms out of the way. The cake was made of carved Styrofoam blocks glued together. They would sit actual white cake on top of the Styrofoam and cover everything with icing. The cake fit together in three pieces so I could get inside, then they'd put some more icing on it to cover the cracks.

Sakiko found some red moon boots that had the right look, and fit me. She also handed me a skin tight Speedo, allegedly in my size, that looked just about the same on me as it did on Astro. A two inch wide green sash for my waist completed the costume. I think I looked good in the getup, I had tried out for the school swim team, and the exercise showed on my physique.

A few weeks more passed and the day for June Trout's bridal shower finally arrived. Sakiko had me show up a few hours early to help with setting things up. She wasn't there yet herself when I arrived, and when the time arrived for me to get inside the cake she still wasn't there. Strange. Most of the female teachers from our school were present, along with lots of June's personal friends. Someone was going to bring her in at the last minute. I had already changed into my Astro getup, and then realized just how embarrassed I was going to feel when I took my robe off to get into the cake! Somehow I managed to do it, and then I found out just how cramped and hot it was inside of that cake! Suddenly being 90% naked didn't seem like such a bad idea. I was sweating bullets!

Fortunately I didn't have to wait very long inside of the cake before popping out. As soon as I pulled the two halves of the cake together and someone lowered the top on, the extra icing was applied. Right then Ms. Trout was lead into the room and everyone yelled SURPRISE! She examined the cake with, all of the presents surrounding it. What I didn't yet see was Sakiko who had walked into the room right after June did.

She yelled "Hey Astro! Where are you!"

That was my cue. I lifted the top off the cake and handed it to someone, and then I pushed the two halves aside and stepped out. Even though I was careful about it, I still managed to get icing all over myself. I stepped forward and gave June Trout a big hug. I then got a good look at Sakiko. She was dressed up in her cosplay from the convention. So June also got a hug from Uran! Someone snapped a photo on their smart phone of the three of us together, June Trout, Sakiko and myself.

Now here's the weird part. That photo was printed and posted at school, and it showed Sakiko and myself dressed in our cosplays with Ms. June Trout. Sakiko and I also got the same picture emailed to us at home. BUT on our computers the picture looks different. Instead of myself and Sakiko dressed up as Astro and Uran, well the photo has THE ACTUAL Astro and Uran! Also after the bridal shower was over, as I walked into the bathroom to change into my street clothes, I passed by a mirror. Once again, I saw Astro's face instead of my own. He smiled at me and said "Thanks Tobio-san. We did good, didn't we?"

Oh not that it matters. But Sakiko and I both got A+'s in that drawing class.