"We're going to head head out and shop at Wookiees, wanna come, Hiro?" Tsushira questioned as she leaned on Hiro's dorm room's doorframe. Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall, or otherwise known as "Wookiee", is a mall in the Kiyashi Ward, and a shopping district for quirks and items for quirks. The rest of the squad was waiting behind Tsushira, some eager to drag Hiro and get going already. However, the shadow manipulator was hesitant to agree.
"It'll be fun, come on Hiro!" Haku exclaimed, grabbing his boyfriend's hands as he slightly jumps next to Haruto. Hiro took a short moment before he sighed, nodding his head.
"Fine, give me a moment to change and I'll meet you downstairs," Haku quietly squealed triumphantly as Haruto and Tokagé sneered next to him. The squad headed towards the elevator, reaching the ground floor and heading outside. They waited at the front entrance outside the double doors.
The building was tall and bold, just like all the other buildings, standing 5 floors, with the respective class name posted above the large sign that reads "Alliance". Tsushira and Maemi headed to one of the two park benches that are located along the pathway to the building's double doors.
A short while later, Hiro comes out of the dorm building. "There we go! Now that everyone's here, are we ready to get going?" Tsushira questions, standing up and eyeing her friends. Ryuken's eyes widen as he searches in his pockets. "Aah... I think I forgot my phone-?" He says, turning around to head back in.
"No time bro! Let's get going!" Haruto yells as he grabs Ryuken's arm, racing down the pathway and passing the low hedge bushes surrounding the 1-A Alliance that leave an opening to the entrance.
"Wait up, guys!" Haku runs after them, grabbing Hiro's arm as well and gestures for Tokagé to catch up. They walk together, knowing the rest will also catch up eventually. And so as they all caught up to each other and walked as a group, they arrived at the train station.
***
Ryuken was the first to enter the mall, his eyes studying all his surroundings. Things ranging from toy stores, to super markets to even hero merchandise shopping districts, they all caught his interest. Haruto runs after him, smiling. "Ya like it, bro?" He asked, looking around.
"Hell yeah!" Ryuken replied with a beaming smile.
Tsushira arrived next to the two, she laughed softly as she saw Ryuken's expression. Her hand reaches for Ryuken's, tangling her fingers with his.
"I'm going to go," The second tallest said, dragging himself away from the others.
"Let's meet back here in an hour or so!" Haruto calls, his voice fading as he disappears into the crowd.
Tsushira snorts as she watches him go.
"Hmm, 'kay. Where to now?" She asks, looking at the others.
"I wanna go to the pet store! I want to see what animals they have!!" Joiku suggests as his spines raise account to his mood. Tokagé looks at him, raising an eyebrow.
"The pet store? I guess that sounds cool, I wanna adopt a pet lizard- although I don't think Aizawa Sensei would be so fond of the idea, haha," he smiles, his mouth mask muffling his words.
Hiro looks around, then glances at Haku with the corner of his eyes. He mumbles under his breath something barely heard by the others.
"Sorry, what was that, Hiro? I couldn't catch what you were saying," The shape shifter tells Hiro, looking up at him. Hiro shakes his head.
"Nothing, never mind. Where do you want to go?"
"M-me? Uhh..." Haku looks around. "Let's go to a comic store! I'd like to buy some comics!" As Haku turns around and ambled towards the nearest comic store, Hiro silently follows him.
Joiku looks at Maemi, sparkles visible in his eyes. "Maemi! Wanna come with Tokagé and I to the pet store?" He points to a direction where he assumed the pet store will be. Maemi looks at him in confusion, "What? Uh, okay I guess. But I'd like to go to the DVD store next, there's a movie sequel I'd like to watch," Maemi answers, walking next to Joiku and Tokagé as they headed towards the pet store.
"What's it 'bout?" Sukēru asks. Maemi looks at him then looks the other away.
"..a Korean high school romance..." she answers quietly.
Ryuken and Tsushira stand still hand in hand as they watched the rest of the squad separate. They silently acknowledged each other's presence. "Tsushira?" Ryuken broke the silence, not making eye contact.
"Yeah?"
"Race you to the candy store!"
The tall male sprinted as Tsushira shouted how it was unfair for him to start. She sprints after him, yet smiled when she realized Ryuken was at a disadvantage for literally running the opposite way of the candy store. She snorted, turning around and running towards the right direction.
***
An hour later, Haruto was the first to return to the meeting spot they last saw everyone else. The mall now was less crowded, having the rush hour ended. He held a white paper bag on his left hand.
Haruto looked around. "Where are they?" He asks himself. "Ah, look, there's Haku and Hiro— Guys! OVER HERE!" Haruto exclaims the last words, his right hand waving at the couple walking towards him.
Haku waves back, he carried a small, white plastic bag in his other hand. Hiro was placing a new cover on his phone. "Hey man! How long have you been waiting?" Haku asks. Haruto smiles. "Not long, you got what you wanted?" Haku nods, taking out the comics sealed with a nicely wrapped cling film. "I got some super hero comics, and some non-fiction animal biographies! I wanted to see if I'm able to shift into something I haven't yet!"
"That's cool dude!" Haruto says.
"What's cool?" Tokagé questions, having just arrived with Joiku and Maemi trailing closely behind him. "Haku's gonna try shifting into new animals and stuff," Hiro answers.
"That's cool!!" Joiku jumps, his hedgehog plushie that he had huddled closer to his chest.
"What's that?" Haku asks.
"It's a hedgehog plush!! They didn't have any hedgehogs for adoption and the last lizard was adopted yesterday, so we got plushies instead! Tokagé got a lizard plush, and I got this.. I'm naming her Neptune! And I persuaded Maemi to get a bat plush!!" Joiku smiled.
"More like forced," Maemi whispered, the bat plush Joiku was talking about sticking out of her own shopping bag.
The rest laughed, for the exception of a whining Joiku. They waited around for at least three minutes before Tsushira finally decided to show up, hands filled with bags of candies and sweets.
"There you are! I hope you and Ryu had fun at the candy store?" Haku says, eyeing the bags of candy. "Hey, where's Ryu?"
"Haha, Ryu told me to race to the candy store. I don't think he realized he ran the wrong way," Tsushira laughs. Haruto laughs with her, and Hiro snickers. "Wait, so, he's not with you?" Maemi looks around. Joiku sighs, shoulders slumping. "Let's try calling him, he must be around here somewhere,"
Haruto stops laughing and his eyes widen. "Ah- shit- um," the squad looks at him. "I don't think that's an option.."
"What? Why?" Tsushira asks. Haruto freezes slightly.
"He forgot his phone.. and I kinda dragged him and told him not to go get it.."
"Woah woah woah. So you're telling me we can't call him?" Hiro groans, face palming. "He hasn't been in these malls as much as we have, he could be lost for all we know and it'll take fucking forever to find him!" Haruto sweat drops, looking down.
Tokagé quickly steps in, "It's okay, we'll just split up and search for him. Haruto, you go with Haku and head to the candy store, see if he found his way there. Maemi, Hiro, you two go to the 1st floor and look at the south wing, while Joiku and I look at the north wing. Tsushi, you go where you saw Ryu last, and head that direction, is everyone clear?" Everyone nods in agreement, quickly splitting up.
As Haruto and Haku head to the candy store, they search for Ryu in the 5 damned rows of candy, sweets, chocolates and what not. Haruto raises his eyebrows when his eyes spot something. "Haku! Come here! Look!"
Haku sticks his head from one of the rows and looks for Haruto. He spots his friend and paddles towards him with confusion.
"What's up?" He asks, looking to where Haruto was staring.
"Look! They have the Fatgum limited addition sweet pack!!" Haruto points, picking up two of the last three remaining bags. Haku beams with a bright smile, grabbing one of the bags Haruto picked up. "NO WAY!!"
He quickly rushes to the counter, buying the candy bag with the few remaining yens he has, and steps outside sitting on the nearest bench. Haruto arrived next to him shortly with a Ingenium sweet pack for himself. They both explore the wonders of the sweet packs, like little kids opening their presents on Christmas Eve.
Two down, five left.
Maemi and Hiro arrived at the first floor by the escalators. They both quietly looked around, searching in stores and any restaurants. They both searched for at least a good fifteen minutes before relaxing down in a café, Hiro having a frustrated look on his face and Maemi her usual, tired one.
"What are we going to do now?" The male asks, eyeing his friend. She looks at him and back out the window. "I don't know, but one thing's for sure, he's not in this part of the mall," Kobayashi replies. A waitress comes up to them, smiling. "What would you two fine couple like to order?"
"We're not a couple." Maemi and Hiro said in unison, both having a deep, harsh tone, slightly making the waitress loose her balance from the shock. "He has a boyfriend," Maemi whispers under her breath. Hiro looks at her, with the slightest blush, and a smirk on his face. "Hell yeah I do."
They both order a light drink and it arrived shortly before Maemi spotted something of her interest. She sees a black, uncomfortably familiar bandana, lying on the floor outside the café. "Hiro," she says, looking at him and pointing towards the bandana. "Look." Hiro looks to where she was pointing, and his face expresses a mix of confusion and annoyed-shock.
"Is that- Ryu's bandana?" Having both payed for their drinks, Hiro gets up, grabbing what little is left of his drink and dumping it in the trash on his way out. Maemi follows Hiro's actions and stands next to him as he picks up the cloth. "It certainly looks like it," Maemi says, eyeing it herself. They look at each other, and began to search their part of the mall all over again.
Joiku and Tokagé were doing their best to try to find their friend, yet, all they really did was put themselves in situations that were both hilarious and stupid. While searching in a super market, Joiku thought, for some reason, that Ryu would be in the staff room. This caused them to both be kicked out.
And while looking in clothing shops, Tokagé wondered if Ryu could possibly be hiding between those manikin models that are hung up as display in window shops, accidentally knocking a few manikins with his tail and breaking them, causing them both to be kicked out.
And after a good damn search, they found themselves in the camera monitor room, spying the mall with the many TVs displaying what was happening. The worker who was responsible of watching was out cold, for some reason, totally not because Tokagé had accidentally burst into the room while the worker was behind the door, no, not at all. Tokagé and Joiku were at first searching for Ryuken, yet in the end, all they actually ended up doing was spying on people and reacting at all the shits happening in the mall, loosing sight of their original goal.
Four down, three left.
Tsushira was actually having better luck than anyone else. Even if she weren't allowed to use quirks in public, her quirk was still activated, allowing her to pick out Ryuken's scent. The girl trailed the scent of their boyfriend, roaming around the mall in an attempt to look normal and not suspicious or... weird.
However, she began loosing Ryuken's track. She had to go with using their hearing or sight now, since smelling was no longer an option. Using those two senses wasn't as helpful as using her nose.
"Damn," she said. "I lost his scent again," she looks around, one hand on her hip while the other hovering in front of her forehead. She squinted her eyes in an attempt to try and catch Ryuken anywhere in the crowd.
Wait. Tsushira thinks. I think I know where that amazon might be. Okudaira fishes out her phone from her pocket, revealing her hands from the oversized sweater she was wearing. She hits group video call through Viber, ringing everyone else's numbers.
Everyone else's phones ring, one from each pair answers the phone. Maemi, Haku and Tokagé holding the phones. Tsushira begins to speak before anyone else has the chance to.
"Guys, hear me out. Haruto, Haku, you two head to the other candy store, it's near the first one-"
"There's another store?" Haruto interrupts.
"Yes, Haruto, there is another candy store." Tsushira responds. "Joiku and Tokagé, where ever you are, go back to the meeting spot. Maemi and Hiro, you do that too,"
"Whatever you say tiger fangs, but," Hiro holds the black bandana to Maemi's phone.
The squad quiets for a bit.
"Is that-?" Tsushira questions, almost dropping her phone from her hands, she focused on the screen. Maemi nods.
"I think Maemi and Hiro should search the whole top floor, not just their part.." Joiku suggests.
Everyone nods. They all hang up and start searching again. Tsushira tucks her phone into her pocket and continues her search, this time wandering around shops and looking inside, occasionally asking people around her. She reaches an Apple store and leans her back on their glass walls. Her head twists to the side and the corner of her eye she catches something interesting.
Hiro and Maemi scouted the top floor. The one thing they managed to do was find Ryu's bandana. They looked around for so long, it was starting to get stupid. Maemi takes her phone out and texts Haruto.
Any luck?
No..
Damn. Where are you right now?
At the meeting spot with Tokagé, Joiku and Haku-
Ah, OK
She puts her phone away as she looks up at Hiro. The male was waving the black piece of fabric in the air while looking around. She calls his name and as he looks at her, she says; "I think we should head back. We won't find Ryu here, we looked for long enough.."
Hiro nods. "Yeah. Let's head back," they walk to the ground floor and head to the meeting spot. The others were indeed there, talking and messing around as they wait for the rest to arrive. Maemi and Hiro arrive to them and they all wait for Tsushira.
"No sign of him, huh?" Haruto says, looking down as he glooms.
"Forget that you can't find him, worry about the fact that Tsushi is going to murder you because it was your fault," Joiku comments, and Haku looks at him, bewildered.
"Why would he take the bandana off? He literally never does that," Tokagé shakes his head in confusion. They all looked anxious as Tsushira arrived. When they all looked up, however, they were met with non other than Ryuken Vallejo.
What—
Ryuken was walking next to his girlfriend holding bags from all sorts of stores. It wouldn't be an exaggeration if you were to say he bought something from every single store. Tsushira was fuming next to him, ready to blow someone's head off. She angrily stomped towards the group.
"What???" Haruto spoke everyone's thoughts. He stared confused at Ryuken. He walks towards his amazon friend and helps him with the bags, carrying some himself.
"Where the hell were you? And where did all these bags come from??" Hiro asks. Ryuken simply looks to the side, a blush from embarrassment flushes his cheeks.
Here's what happened: After Ryuken and Tsushira parted ways, Ryuken ended up lost in the big mall. Having no one to call and no Japanese language experience, he roams around window shopping. He buys one or two things with the limited Japanese he knows but other than that he lurked around the mall. At some point, he wandered into the most dangerous part of the mall...
The salesmen district.
Rows filled with stands of free chocolate, perfumes, tickets, shampoos, toys, literally anything you can think of but from a cheaper and horrible ripoff brand. The salesmen manipulated poor Ryuken, using his weakness of not knowing the language and somehow managing to make him buy their products.
Tsushira found him right before he was about to buy AirPods from the Apple store.
Tsushira explained this story to the them, and they all burst into fits of giggles or laughter. After calming down, they started to walk towards the exit of the mall.
What made Hiro and Maemi confused was how Ryuken was wearing his bandana when they had his right here with them.
"Ryu, is this your bandana?" Meami took the piece of cloth from Hiro and showed it to Ryu. Ryu shook his head. "That ain't mine," he replied. Hiro and Meami look at each other with confusion.
"The hell? Who's is it then?" Hiro questions. The squad halts as they look at the bandana.
"Oi wait, I recognize that—" Tokagé says. "The guy at the camera surveillance room had the same one!"
A young suddenly snatches the bandana from Meami. He wore a dark grey t-shirt with red tag line on the left side and black jeans. He had bandages wrapped around his head and a grumpy expression.
"あなたをファック、あなたはラグラットをクソ," he grumbles as he walks away.
"I think that was him.." Joiku says.
The day ends with the squad returning to the UA dorms, having the person most spent money was Ryuken 10025 ¥ ($93). They all enjoyed the new things they bought, having Ryuken the most one to enjoy the trip to the mall.
They all sat in the dorms living room. Meami, Haku and Hiro sat on the couch while Joiku sat on the individual chair, Haruto and Tokagé sat on the table while Ryuken and Tsushira sat on the ground.
"Hey guys?" Ryuken says.
The rest look at him.
"...Can we go again tomorrow?"