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“Nezuko!” Muichiro cried, “C-can you please slow down! You're going too fast for us!”
“Oh, sorry!” Nezuko giggled, as she brought her skipping to a halt, much to Muichiro’s relief, as the motion sickness of being dragged along by the hand at such speeds only added to his discomfort.
“And can you let go of our hands while you're at it!?” Yuichiro cried, as he tried in vain to pull his hand from Nezuko’s grip. “This is crazy-embarrassing!”
“Oh, sorry!” Nezuko cried sheepishly, letting go of both twins, causing them to fall backwards, landing on the floor with their legs in the air. “Oops.” Nezuko said again, looking both embarrassed, and like she was trying desperately to suppress a laugh.
“Oww,” Yuichiro grumbled as he rubbed his sore bottom, and helped Muichiro to his feet. “I can’t imagine Takeo letting this happen to him.”
“Its not so bad Nii-san” Muichiro whispered to him later as they continued to walk through the mall behind Nezuko. “Isn’t it kinda cool that mom and dad let us be alone with Nezuko in the mall?”
Yuichiro didn’t admit it, but he did find it a relief to be shopping with Nezuko rather than their parents, especially since their mother seemed to know every other woman in town, and would constantly stop to catch up with them. A smile betrayed him. “Poor dad,” he chuckled.
“Haha! Nii-san!” Muichiro giggled, as his mind immediately jumped to the same thought.
“Still,” Yuichiro thought to himself. “Nezuko is only thirteen, and Mui and I will turn eleven in a month, and yet she can be trusted to be alone while we can’t? Do the grown-ups really think that we’re so helpless?”
“Hey guys!” Nezuko cried as she pointed to a manga store, “you guys wanna stop there?”
The twins immediately perked up. “We can all spend some time there reading,” Nezuko said smiling.
“We can also pick something out for Tanjiro!” Muichiro cried.
Yuichiro breathed a sigh of relief as well, hoping to be a little further away from the public eye.
He and Muichiro each put an arm around each other’s shoulder, as they walked into the store with Nezuko, when they saw something that made the two of them brace for a scenario both had been hoping to avoid… An older girl… whom Nezuko apparently knew.
“Ah! Mitsuri-san!” Nezuko cried, waving.
“Hey! Nezuko-chan!” The pink-haired girl cried in a voice that was loud enough for the entire store to hear, as she skipped across the isles and grabbed Nezuko in a bear hug!
“She’s the touchy-affectionate type.” Yuichiro whispered to Muichiro. “Brace yourself.”
“Got it Nii-san.”
“Boys!” Nezuko cried, “this is Kanroji Mitsuri-san! She’s Tanjiro’s-Senpai from high school! Mitsuri-san, these are my cousins, Yu-”
“Yuichiro and Muichiro!” Mitsuri squealed with delight! “They’re even cuter than you described! Which one is which!”
“The one with the jean shorts and white t-shirt is Yuichiro, and the one with the white shorts and blue sleeveless shirt is Muichiro”
“Kyaaa! They’re adorable!”
Muichiro hid behind Yuichiro, burying his face behind his older brother's back. Yuichiro pulled locks of his hair in front of his own face to hide the fact that it was now the same color as Mitsuri’s hair.
Nezuko (who was still somewhat sensitive to the shyness of the twins) jumped in to rescue them from their embarrassment by immediately shifting the conversation. “...And Mitsuri-san, who is this fellow here with you?”
“Iguro Obanai” He answered in a quiet voice.
Nezuko immediately deduced that he was a similar case as the twins.
“I dragged poor Iguro along to the mall with me,” Mitsuri admitted with a chuckle. “I was hoping he’d help me pick something out for Tanjiro-kun’s birthday.”
“What a coincidence! Nezuko cried, Thats what we came for!”
“Thats wonderful!” Mitsuri cried, clasping her Junior’s hands. “Let's think of the best gift for Tanjiro-kun together! Nezuko-chan!”
Nezuko was usually a very ‘cool’ older cousin to the twins. Both Yuichiro and Muichiro loved her more for the fact that she made an effort not to make them feel self-conscious, in private or in public.
But on this particular day, she was giddy, and meeting Kanroji only escalated that.
So as the two of them gabbed endlessly, the twins after exchanging a glance; realized that they should probably get out of there before the topic went back to them.
The twins tip-toed around them together, grabbed an action-manga magazine off the shelf, paid for it at the register, and then Muichiro said to Nezuko; “Umm, can Nii-san and I please wait out there?” he asked, pointing to the sitting area just outside the store. There were a few fun-looking water-couches and beanbag chairs where some other teens and adolescents sat, reading comic books and magazines.
“Sure,” Nezuko said as she prepared to embark to the back of the store with her friend, “just stay there, okay? And come and get me if you need anything”
The twins nodded, and then bolted out of the store.
Yuichiro plopped down on one of the chairs with an enormous sigh of relief. He opened up the magazine they had bought, but pulled it down when his twin didn’t join him.
Muichiro had a bit of an uneasy look on his face.
“Nii-san, I… kinda have to go to the bathroom.”
Muichiro didn’t look like he could wait that long, and Yuichiro began to realize that he needed to go himself… But then came the grating thought of going back inside the store to tell Nezuko, as if they couldn’t even be trusted to take themselves to the bathroom without telling a ‘grown-up’ where they were going first.
Yuichiro looked into the store window. Iguro had already settled down with a light novel, as Nezuko and Kanroji continued to gab away.
They looked like they would be talking for at least another seven or eight hours. He and Muichiro meanwhile, would only be a few minutes.
“Lets go!” Yuichiro declared, and the two of them bolted across the hall.
***
Nezuko was not in the store when they got back to it.
“She left about two minutes ago,” the cashier said.
“She probably noticed we were gone, and is still in the area,” Yuichiro said, “C’mon!” Muichiro followed him out into the sitting area, but Nezuko was nowhere in sight…
Yuichiro felt like grabbing his hair and tearing it out. This was bad… After he had just so desperately wanted to convince everyone else that he and Muichiro weren’t a pair of helpless airheads, they had now probably reinforced that view… they couldn’t even take themselves to pee without getting lost…
Yuichiro looked to his twin, whom he saw; was either much calmer than he was, or almost as good at hiding his anxiety as him.
“Why don’t we look at the map Nii-san?” Muichiro suggested.
At malls, one was never too far from a ‘you-are-here’ map, and the twins had found one within seconds. So they figured out where they were, between the comic book store, and a sporting goods store.
To their left was an escalator to the next floor, and to their right was a food court…. Now what?
Muichiro and Yuichiro exchanged an equally uncertain look… Until they felt a presence behind themselves, and turned around to find a rather large old lady, with a poor cat being squeezed in a purse that she held tightly in her fat arms.
She gave the twins a large smile, before asking them in an uncomfortably loud voice: “Are you two lost?”
“NO!!!!” The twins cried in unison, and reflexively, before briskly retreating, before that lady asked any more questions.
They walked stiffly, both now mortified as they realized just how lost they were… and then it dawned on them, that if they did not find their parents, or Nezuko soon, it might mean that something would happen to them…. The worst thing imaginable, the thing that they hoped to avoid at all costs….
They would have to ask a stranger for help…
The twins were simultaneously seized by abject horror. “Let’s find Nezuko before she panics,” Yuichiro declared ironically.”
Muichiro nodded profusely.
They walked around the escalators, and back down the hall towards the food court. No Nezuko, no familiar faces at all. Even Kanroji would have been a welcomed sight, but they couldn’t find her either.
“M-maybe there on a different floor?” Muichiro suggested, his resolve not to panic weakening with the suggestion.
Yuichiro gulped… the mall was massive.
Yuishiro, puffed out his chest, determined not to waiver. He led his twin back to the escalators. “Keep an eye out for a store that they might be in” he told Muichiro. “They still might be on this floor.”
He doubted it.
Yuichiro marched forward, stepping on the escalator, but Muichiro faltered in his attempt to stay right behind his twin. As the escalator went up, Yuichiro heard him from behind. “Umm… Nii-san.”
Yuichiro turned around, to find his brother looking as though he were a microsecond away from a full panic, and Yuichiro could see why.
Muichiro’s shoelace was stuck in the escalator!
“Stay calm Mui, big brother’s here!” Yuichiro cried as he hopped down, and knelt to try and pry the shoelace loose, though he could hardly keep his own hands from shaking.
“Nii-san!” Muichiro cried. “What if the escalator sucks me in when we get to the top!”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Yuichiro cried. “Thats just a myth stupid!” But deep down, Yuichiro was also beginning to panic. He also thought that thats what happened!!!
For what seemed like a panicked eternity, Yuichiro was unable to pull his brother free!
“Nii-san! I’m scared!” Muichiro cried as an impatient man grunted behind them.
“Hang in there Mui!” Yuichiro cried as the man stepped over him and marched grumpily up the escalator, “I won’t let you get sucked in!”
“Nii-san! Please don’t let the escalator swallow me! I don’t wanna die!” Muichiro cried as he flung his arms around Yuichiro.
“I won’t let that happen!!” Yuichiro cried desperately as another impatient shopper stepped over them. “I’ll save you if it’s the last thing I do!”
The escalator reached the top, and both twins let out two involuntary yelps as they flew forward onto their faces.
More than a few bystanders were chuckling at the chagrined twins, as they sat up, and brushed themselves off.
“Nii-san, I’m so embarrassed, I think I’m gonna die…”
“How's your foot?” Yuichiro asked, doing his best to ignore that mutual feeling.
“I think my foot is fine” Muichiro whined. “But the escalator ate my shoooeeee”
Yuichiro saw Muichiro’s sock on his now shoeless right foot, and then looked over to the top of the escalator… Muichiro’s shoelace was gone, and the shoe itself was a bit mangled. But it was still there.
Yuichiro picked up his brother’s shoe, and handed it to him. “See, what did I tell you, dummy? Escalator’s can't swallow people. It couldn’t even swallow your shoe.” He flicked Muichiro lightly on the forehead, as his little brother giggled and sniffled. “You keep forgetting to tie your shoes,” Yuichiro scolded as he tied Muichiro’s other shoe on.
Muichiro nodded, but before they could take another step, they heard a pair of giggles behind them. The twins froze. They knew those voices all too well.
“Oh, look who it is, sis!” one voice chirped.
“Isn’t it the Tokito twins? And what’s this? They’re missing a shoe !” the other voice added, with delighted mock concern.
The Tokito twins turned around slowly to see the last people they wanted to encounter in the mall: Aya and Saya, their classmates and notorious bullies. These twin sisters were always looking for a reason to make the lives of the Tokito twins miserable…
“Those stupid Kinoshita twins” Yuichiro said under his breath, bringing his hand to his face. “What can’t they leave us alone? What did we ever do to them?”
“You used to tease them for being fat in the second grade, when they were a little chubby back then” Muichiro whispered back.
“I didn’t tease them for being fat!” Yuichiro cried louder than he had meant to. “And they have picked on us since kindergarten!”
“Thats not how I remember it!” Aya said, crossing her arms.
“You also called us ‘ugly’ and you pointed out that we had bad hygiene in front of the whole bus right before the big field trip,” added Saya.
“I don’t remember that!” Muichiro cried indignantly at being falsely accused of something.
“Thats because you can’t even remember how to put your pants on,” Saya said as she circled the two like a vulture. “Look, your pants are on backwards right now.”
Muichiro gave a panicked cry as he looked down, only to verify that there was nothing wrong with his pants at all…
“AHAHAHAHA! They’re so gullible!” The girls cried in unison as they laughed loudly.
“We don’t have time for this! C’mon Mui” Yuichiro said as he took his sputtering brother by the arm, and continued onwards.
“See you around Tokitos,” they called. “Don’t get lost in the big bad mall.”
It seemingly took forever for the embarrassment to die down though, and now they were even deeper into the mall than they had previously been.
“Those girls are so annoying!” Yuichiro grumbled.
“I’m sorry Nii-san.” Muichiro said remorsefully. “I fell for their stupid joke, and I made it worse for you as well.”
“It’s alright” Yuichiro sighed, beyond exasperation which he was failing to keep in check. “Why don’t we just find a gift for Tanjiro in the meantime, and sooner or later, Nezuko or mom and dad will find us.”
“It's no use,” Muichiro said, defeated. “Besides, we only have about 30 yen between us, so it's not like we could find something nice for him anyways.”
“You have a point,” sighed Yuichiro as he collapsed onto a bench, and closed his eyes… and then opened them… he saw something out of the corner of his eye…. Slowly, almost as though he feared it would turn out to be a mirage, he turned his head, blinked, rubbed his eyes, blinked again, and then gave a joyful cry.
“Muichiro! Do you see that!?”
“Nii-san!” Muichiro cried hopefully, “did you find them?”
“No! But almost as good! Look!”
“We're saved!” Muichiro cried in a shaky voice.
They made their way to the Lost-and-Found, a small office tucked away near the otherside of the floor. The receptionist, a kind-looking woman, greeted them warmly. “Hello, boys! Did you lose something?”
Muichiro, glanced at Yuichiro, who took the lead. “We’re looking for our cousin, or maybe our parents. We got separated, and we thought maybe she came here.”
The woman smiled sympathetically. “That happens a lot in this big mall. What do they look like?”
Muichiro opened his mouth to describe them, but before he could say anything, the receptionist’s eyes widened as she recognized the twins. “Wait a minute, you’re the boys who were all over the security cameras earlier, right? The ones with the escalator…incident?”
Both boys froze, their earlier chagrin rushing back. Yuichiro quickly shook his head. “Uh, no, that wasn’t us. Definitely not.”
The receptionist looked unconvinced but didn’t press the issue. “Well, I haven’t seen your folks, but I can make an announcement over the PA system if you’d like.”
Yuichiro, horrified at the thought of their names being broadcasted across the entire mall, shook his head furiously. “N-no, that’s okay! We’ll keep looking.”
Muichiro nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we don’t want to bother anyone. Thanks anyway!”
They hurried out of the Lost and Found, leaving the amused receptionist behind.
When another ominous giggling made them freeze in their tracks…
“Did you hear that Nee-chan”
“I certainly did sis. It sounds like the Tokitos had themselves a little accident on the escalator.” Aya said cackling, and on top of that, our little friends are lost. llllooooooost” She drew out the word with obnoxious meanness.
“We are not your friends, and we are not lost!” Yuichiro said, standing his ground.
Saya raised an eyebrow. “Really? Because it looks like you’re one shoe short of knowing what you’re doing.”
The girls broke into laughter. Muichiro looked like he was on the verge of tears.
“I think we’re doing just fine,” Yuichiro snapped. “Besides, didn’t you two get stuck in a revolving door last summer?”
The unexpected comeback took the girls by surprise, and for a moment, their smug expressions faltered. Aya’s eyes narrowed as she tried to regain control of the situation.
“Only because the door was broken!” She snapped defensively. “Not because we didn’t know how to use it.”
“Yeah, and at least we didn’t lose our shoes,” Saya added, quickly recovering.
Muichiro, sensing an opening, came in to back up his brother. “Well, at least we didn’t cry for our parents to get us out of the door,” he said with renewed confidence.
“We didn’t cry!” Saya snapped back. “And you're the one who looks like he’s about to start crying right now! Crybaby Tokito!”
“No, I’m pretty sure that you two cried that time.” Muichiro said regaining ground.
“And you cried for your ‘mommy' and 'daddy’ no less!” Yuichiro laughed.
Before anything else could be said, Yuichiro took his brother by the arm and ran, leaving their angry rivals seething behind them.
“Do you think we went a bit overboard Nii-san?” Muichiro asked. “That was a pretty scary situation they were in, I feel kinda bad.”
“Serves them right,” Yuichiro replied.
“Hey Nii-san,” Muichiro asked, once they had put what they thought was enough distance between themselves and the bullies, “How long ago did we lose Nezuko?”
The twins looked at their froggy watches, and then back at each other. “We’ve been lost for almost 40 minutes!” Muichiro cried. “Everyone must be worried sick!”
“Oh man!” Yuichiro cried as he put his head in his hands and slumped down on the floor.
“We are gonna be in so much trouble!” Muichiro cried!
“I just wanted them to stop treating us like little kids! Now they’re not gonna let us go outside by ourselves until we’re 30!” Yuichiro wailed.
“Never having to leave the house?” came a third voice. “Sounds like a dream.”
The twins perked up, and their eyes followed the source of the voice. Reclining in a massage chair, staring up at the ceiling, was-
“It’s Nezuko’s friend’s boyfriend!” Muichiro cried!
“Thats Iguro-san to you” said Obanai, right before he was immediately tackled by two beyond-relieved twins.
“We’re saved! We’re saved!” they cried in unison.
“Knock it off!” Obanai said in an exasperated tone. “You two really are something, frightened because you were missing for just over half an hour.”
“Well we’re only 10,” Muichiro said innocently.
“Whatever,” Obanai said as he leaned back in the chair. “Nezuko and Kanroji have met up with your mother. They bought Tanjiro a picture book collection and a new thermos, and the three of them are at the beauty parlor on the first floor. I think your father is browsing on the third floor, and your mother predicts that he’ll have some fun for himself at the music store up there after he finds a gift. They’re all planning on meeting back by the soba place on the first floor at 3:00. You kids are worrying for nothing.”
The twins exchanged looks of immense joy! “But wait a minute, Iguro-san,” Muichiro said, turning to the man. “What about you?”
“What about me?” Obanai responded, seemingly unsure of what he meant. “Well, I’ve just bought some stuff for my pet back home, and now I’m just relaxing here.”
“But what about Kanroji-san?” Muichiro asked, smothering the urge to also ask Obanai about his ‘pet’
“Kanroji?” Obanai replied. “I’m going to shop around with her later when she comes back and finds me (Which I am hoping won’t be for a long time) and then I’m taking her to a movie, and dinner afterwards”
“But why would you hope she doesn’t find you for a long time?” Muichiro asked with innocent curiosity.
Obanai chuckled, as though the answer were obvious. “Because a guy needs to get away every now and then. I’m not made for shopping, and from the looks of it, neither are you two. And this is obvious to Nezuko, and your parents, which is why they’re just having a good time and pretending you don’t exist.”
“B-but they told us to stay with Nezuko,” Muichiro said incredulously. “I was scared that they were worried sick about us!”
“Do you have any idea how easy it is to find a pair of twins in a mall with cops and a PA system on every floor… In a country where the first report that you two were missing would have all of Japan looking for you? It goes without saying that they wanted to let you two have your fun and independence for a bit. Your cousin Nezuko obviously doesn’t like keeping you tethered either. Kanroji is like that too, every second with her is happy, but she still lets me have my space when I need it…. Hey, quit it you two! Get your own chair!”
“Sorry sir,” Yuichiro laughed as he and Muichiro got off of Obanai. “I guess we’re both just extremely relieved.”
“Well be relieved somewhere else,” Obanai said as he leaned back into the massage chair, and put some more money in the slot.
“Sorry to bother you Iguro-san,” Muichiro said, his voice also light with relief. “And thanks for talking to us. Goodbye!” He waved as he and his brother left.
Iguro Obanai leaned back in his chair, and hummed. “They’re a good pair of kids” he said quietly to himself. “Maybe I’ll catch up with them later”
***
Leaning against the fountain, watching the water spouts go up and down over the pool, Yuichiro chuckled softly. “We were so worried for nothing, Muichiro. We’re fine now, and everything’s going to be okay.”
Muichiro nodded. “Yeah, it’s kind of funny how scared we were earlier. We’re not little kids anymore.”
As they continued to talk, their guard was down… Just enough for Aya and Saya to sneak up on them again. The rival twins approached silently, their expressions smug as they positioned themselves on either side of the Tokito twins, effectively cornering them against the fountain.
Aya’s voice, searing with condescension, interrupted their conversation. “Look who’s all calm and happy now. Feeling pretty sure of ourselves, are we?”
Yuichiro tensed but refused to back down. He met Aya’s gaze, trying to let his exasperation show through if nothing else. “We wander aimlessly around this mall for hours (he exaggerated perhaps) without running into anyone we actually wanna see, but here you are again. What do you want?”
Saya sneered as she crossed her arms, leaning in slightly. “What do we want? Maybe we just want to see if you can keep acting so smug, now that you’re backed into a corner.” The Kinoshita twins had never been nice to them, but after their last victory over them, they seemed vengeful.
“Why are you always mean to us?" Muichiro pleaded, "We’re the same age, so why do you act like you’re better than us?”
Aya’s smirk arrogantly. “Because we are better, that’s why. You two are beneath us, hence, we are better.”
“Nee-chan! Lets drown them in the fountain!” Saya suggested.
Muichiro began to sweat.
“Don’t be stupid Mui, they may be evil and crazy but they wouldn't actually drown us”
But Yuichiro didn’t sound so sure, and Muichiro for once wasn’t fully confident in his brother’s assurances.
With frightened eyes, he watched as the cruel thin lips of the Kinoshita twins twisted into further sadistic smiles.
“Why not sister?” Aya chimed. “It’ll be like taking candy from a baby.”
That stung both Tokito twins in the same part of their souls… even their own classmates saw them as babies, when a sudden realization hit.
“But wait a minute…” Muichiro said, tilting his head thoughtfully, “you two are the same age as us!”
“About two months younger than us actually, If I recall,” Yuichiro added. “Where are your parents? Why are you two alone?”
The question caught Aya and Saya off guard as the tables now began to turn. Their sadistic smiles disappeared, and their posture shifted.
“You’re lost too, aren’t you?!" Yuichiro cried as the realization hit. "That’s why you keep bothering us! Because you’re scared and don’t know where to go.”
Aya opened her mouth to retort, but no words came out. The truth of the observation was clear in her expression. Saya looked away, her face crimson with embarrassment.
Muichiro, now understanding that the rival twins were just as vulnerable as they were, softened his tone. “We’re all just trying to find our way. There’s no need to be mean.”
Aya was struggling with her pride and it almost looked like she was going to regain her composure, until Muichiro’s genuineness sent her flying over the edge! “WE DON’T NEED ANY HELP FROM YOU !” she cried with disdain… louder than she had meant to. Now, shoppers’ heads were turning towards the Kinoshita twins, not the Tokitos.
“Auuuurrggghh!” Aya cried with chagrin, as she tugged at her hair. “Saya! C’mon!” she called, now desperate to leave the scene.
“Okay, but Sis-”
“NOW SAYA!” Aya screamed as she grabbed her twin and stomped away.
“If you two are so scared, why don’t you go to the lost and found and ask them to page your folks?” Yuichiro taunted.
“SHUT UP!!” Aya screamed over her shoulder as they stormed off into the distance.
“Hehe, they’re probably gonna cry” Yuichiro turned whispering to Muichiro.
“Nii-san!” Muichiro scolded, unable to contain his giggling. “You're so mean.”
“You think it's funny too, admit it!” Yuichiro said, giving Muichiro a playful shove causing him to almost lose his balance.
“C’mon,” Yuichiro said, beckoning his twin forward. “It’s almost 3:00. Dad will probably buy us some soba.
“I almost fell into the fountain there Nii-san.” Muichiro said, giving Yuichiro a playful nudge. “What if I had actually fallen in? Then I would have told Mom on you, and then you’d be in trouble for real!”
“No you wouldn't,” Yuichiro said, wrapping his arm around Muichiro and messing up his hair. “You’d never tell on me little bro!”
Muichiro laughed in good natured defeat. “I guess we’ll have to pick out something for Tanjiro later.”