The next morning after breakfast, Shin was sitting in Nobita's room with Doraemon and Nobita. The three boys had already become more comfortable with each other.
"So, Doraemon, you said you have thousands of gadgets in your pocket?" Shin asked, looking at the magical four-dimensional pocket on Doraemon's belly.
"Yes! Well, I don't have all of them, but I have many!" Doraemon said proudly. "I have gadgets that can do almost anything!"
"That's incredible!" Shin said with excitement. "Can you show me more?"
Doraemon reached into his pocket and pulled out a strange door. "This is the Anywhere Door! You can go anywhere you want with this!"
Shin's eyes went wide. Even though he knew about these gadgets from his previous life, seeing them in person was completely different. "Anywhere? Even to another country?"
"Yes! Even to the moon!" Doraemon nodded.
"Amazing!" Shin leaned closer to look at the door.
Nobita yawned. He had seen these gadgets many times before. "Hey, Doraemon, Shin, I have an idea!"
"What is it?" Shin asked.
"Why don't we go meet my friends? We can introduce you to them! They'll want to meet my cousin," Nobita suggested.
"Your friends? Sure! I'd love to meet them!" Shin said. Meeting Gian, Suneo, and Shizuka would be interesting. These were famous characters from the anime.
"Great! Let's go now!" Nobita stood up.
Doraemon put the Anywhere Door back in his pocket. "Yes, let's go! My friends are your friends now, Shin!"
The three boys left the house. They walked through the neighborhood until they reached a park. Shin recognized it immediately - the iconic park from the anime. There were three big concrete pipes in the middle, arranged in a triangle shape. Children often played there.
"There they are!" Nobita pointed.
Shin looked. On top of the tallest pipe, a big boy was lying down, looking at the sky. That must be Gian. Near the pipes, a girl with pretty hair and a boy with fancy clothes were talking. That was Shizuka and Suneo.
"Hey, everyone!" Nobita ran toward them.
Shin and Doraemon followed behind him, walking at a normal pace.
"Oh, Nobita!" Shizuka smiled and waved.
"What do you want, Nobita?" Gian called from on top of the pipe, but he didn't sound mean. Just casual.
"Everyone, I want you to meet someone!" Nobita said excitedly. He turned to Shin. "This is Shin, my cousin! He's staying with us for the summer!"
Shin stepped forward and bowed politely. "Hello, everyone. I'm Shin. Nice to meet you all."
"Wow, Nobita, your cousin is so polite!" Shizuka said, smiling warmly. "I'm Shizuka. Welcome to the neighborhood!"
"I'm Suneo!" the boy in fancy clothes said. He looked at Shin's stylish blue hoodie and cool haircut with interest. "Nice clothes! You have good taste!"
"Thank you," Shin replied with a friendly smile.
Gian jumped down from the pipe with a loud thud. "I'm Gian Gouda, you can call me Gian!" He looked at Shin carefully. "You don't look like Nobita at all!"
Shin laughed. "Really? Do you think so?"
"So, Shin, do you like singing?" Gian asked with a big grin.
"Gian, no! Don't start!" Nobita said quickly, looking worried.
Shizuka giggled. Shin understood what was happening, but he decided not to speak.
"By the way, speaking of fun things," Suneo said, looking very proud of himself. "I'm going on a yacht trip the day after tomorrow!"
"A yacht trip?" Nobita asked.
"Yes! My family rented a huge yacht! We're going to sail on the ocean for three whole days! It's going to be amazing!" Suneo bragged, putting his hands on his hips.
Shin noticed Gian's expression change. The big boy's face showed a mix of jealousy, annoyance, and frustration. His eye was twitching slightly.
"The yacht has five bedrooms, a swimming pool, and even a chef who will cook anything we want!" Suneo continued, not noticing Gian's face. "We'll see dolphins, and maybe even whales!"
"That sounds wonderful, Suneo," Shizuka said politely.
"Wonderful? It's going to be the best trip ever!" Suneo laughed. "Well, I better go home now. I need to pack my bags for the trip. I'll take lots of photos to show you all when I get back!"
With that, Suneo turned around and ran out of the park, leaving the rest of them standing there.
As soon as Suneo was gone, Gian exploded with anger.
"Who does that Suneo think he is, always showing off!" Gian shouted, his face turning red.
"Yeah! He's always like that!" Nobita added, looking annoyed too.
Both Gian and Nobita turned to glare in the direction where Suneo had gone, as if they could still see him. They stood there side by side, with identical frustrated expressions on their faces.
Shin had to stop himself from laughing. It was such a comedic moment.
Shizuka just laughed awkwardly. "Now, now, boys. Don't be like that."
But Shin wasn't really paying attention anymore. Something had clicked in his mind. This scene - Suneo bragging about a yacht trip, Gian getting angry, Nobita agreeing. Shin remembered this! This was from one of his favorite episodes!
In that episode, Doraemon gave them a toy yacht and attached it to a dolphin's back. Then using the yatch itself they shrunk themselves, and they had their own yacht adventure. It was such a fun episode.
"This is perfect," Shin thought to himself. "I can use this opportunity to test the Kiteretsu Daihyakka! In the Kiteretsu anime, there was a turtle submarine. If I can build that, it would be even better than a yacht!"
Ideas started racing through Shin's mind. The turtle submarine from Kiteretsu could dive underwater and explore the ocean. It was one of the coolest inventions in that anime. And if Shin could build it using the Daihyakka, he would prove to himself that the encyclopedia really worked.
But he needed time to work on it. And he knew what would happen next. When they got home, Nobita would definitely ask Doraemon for a yacht gadget. That was how the story went.
"I'll wait until then," Shin decided. "I'll postpone my plan until we get back home. Then I can work on the turtle submarine tonight while everyone is sleeping."
Shin snapped out of his thoughts. He looked at his new friends standing around him. Gian was still grumbling about Suneo. Nobita looked sad because he wanted to go on a yacht trip too. Shizuka was trying to cheer them up. And Doraemon was looking at Nobita with concern.
"Hey, Doraemon!" Shin said suddenly, changing the subject. "Remember you promised to let me try the Bamboo Copter today?"
Doraemon's eyes lit up. "Oh, yes! I almost forgot! Do you want to try it now?"
"Can I? I really want to experience flying!" Shin said with genuine excitement.
"Of course!" Doraemon reached into his pocket and pulled out the Bamboo Copter. It looked like a small propeller on a round base.
"Just place it on your head and think about going up. It will do the rest!" Doraemon explained.
Shin took the Bamboo Copter carefully. It was lighter than he expected. He placed it on his head, and immediately it stuck there like magic.
"Ready?" Doraemon asked.
"Ready!" Shin nodded.
The Bamboo Copter started spinning. Shin felt his feet leave the ground. He was flying! Actually flying!
"Whoa!" Shin gasped as he rose higher and higher into the air.
The feeling was incredible. The wind blew through his hair. The world below him got smaller. He could see the entire park, the houses, the streets. Everything looked like a toy town from up here.
"This is amazing!" Shin shouted down to his friends. "I'm really flying!"
He felt so free. In his previous life as a seventeen-year-old, he had always wondered what flying would feel like. Now he knew. It was better than he ever imagined.
"Can we fly too?" Nobita asked Doraemon.
"Of course!" Doraemon pulled out more Bamboo Copters from his pocket. He gave one to Nobita, one to Shizuka, and one to Gian.
"Let's go!" Nobita put his on and flew up to join Shin.
Soon, all five of them were flying through the sky above the park. They flew in circles, raced each other, and explored the neighborhood from above.
"Look, there's our school!" Shizuka pointed at a building in the distance.
"And there's Suneo's house! It's so big!" Gian said, still sounding a bit jealous.
They flew over houses, over trees, over streets. People below looked up at them in surprise, but in this world, flying children with Bamboo Copters must have been a normal sight because nobody seemed too shocked.
Shin did a loop in the air and laughed. This was so much fun! He had worried that being reincarnated as a ten-year-old would be boring, but he was wrong. This world was full of amazing things.
"Race you to that cloud!" Nobita shouted.
"You're on!" Gian replied.
They all flew toward a low white cloud. Shin was surprisingly fast. His Bamboo Copter was spinning perfectly. He reached the cloud first.
"I win!" Shin said, grinning.
"No fair! You had a head start!" Nobita complained, but he was smiling too.
They spent the entire afternoon flying around. They saw birds flying near them. They felt the warm sun on their faces. They watched the clouds drift by. It was one of the best days Shin had ever experienced, in both of his lives.
As the sun started to set, painting the sky orange and pink, Doraemon called out, "We should head back! It's almost dinner time!"
"Aww, already?" Gian said.
"My mom will worry if I'm late," Shizuka added.
They all flew back down to the park and landed gently on the ground. Shin took off his Bamboo Copter and handed it back to Doraemon.
"Thank you, Doraemon. That was the best experience ever!" Shin said sincerely.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it!" Doraemon smiled.
"See you tomorrow, everyone!" Shizuka waved as she walked home.
"Yeah, see you!" Gian said, heading in a different direction.
Nobita, Doraemon, and Shin walked back home together. The sky was turning darker now. Street lights were starting to come on.
"Today was really fun," Nobita said. "I'm glad you came to stay with us, Shin."
"Me too," Shin replied. And he meant it. Today had been wonderful.
But as they walked, Shin was already thinking about tonight. After everyone went to sleep, he would take out the Kiteretsu Daihyakka. He would study the blueprints for the turtle submarine. And soon, very soon, he would build something amazing.
"Tomorrow is going to be even more interesting," Shin thought with a small smile.
When they reached home, Aunt Tamako had already prepared dinner. They ate together as a family, talking and laughing about their day. Shin told them about flying, making his aunt and uncle smile.
After dinner, Shin went to his room. He closed the door and sat down on his futon. His bag was in the corner. Inside it, the Kiteretsu Daihyakka was waiting.