Yotsuba tugged on a jacket and squeezed her feet into her shoes, flinging open the door and running outside. Today she was going to go to the park with Frisk.
She spun around as she ran, dizzily stopping when she felt like she was going to fall. When the world stopped tilting, Yotsuba spotted a car parked near the Ayases' house.
"Oh! Tiger!"
Yotsuba ran to the car and caught the tall, short-haired woman heading out of the house. She was about to light a cigarette.
"It's Tiger!"
The woman, Torako, heard the little girl and looked down.
"Hello, Yotsuba."
"Are you being cool again?!" Yotsuba danced on the balls of her feet.
Torako put the unlit cigarette back into its box. "I was looking for Asagi," she replied. "She wasn't in, so I was going to leave."
"You should come with me!" Yotsuba danced around the woman. "Come and meet my new friend!"
"I have to go…"
"Please!" Yotsuba stopped dancing and clasped her hands together, looking up imploringly.
Torako pressed a hand to her forehead. "All right, I'll go with you."
Yotsuba grinned widely and took off, Torako following.
Toriel had invited them both in for breakfast when they arrived.
As the breakfast was being cooked, Frisk showed Yotsuba around the house. They had their own room on the second floor, with a springy bed and colorful wallpaper. Their toys were tidied up at the moment and the two looked out the window to see the street and houses across the way.
When breakfast was ready and the two were going down the stairs, Yotsuba noticed a little pumpkin figure dressed in a pink dress sitting in the corner of the curve of the stairs.
Breakfast was perfectly cooked eggs, toast and salted fish. Yotsuba accidentally broke the yolk of her egg with her chopsticks. She discreetly shoved the egg into her mouth and Torako wondered whether it was appropriate to scold her or not.
"Did you show her the special room, my dear?" Toriel asked Frisk.
They shook their head.
"Oh, do not worry; it is still not quite ready."
She turned to Torako and said, "There are still boxes in there."
Yotsuba broke another yolk and made an annoyed noise. Frisk helped her put the egg on a piece of toast.
When breakfast was over, Torako waited outside as Toriel helped the kids get ready.
Torako took out a cigarette right when Toriel opened the door. She hurriedly put it back into the box.
As they walked, Yotsuba skipping around the adults and Frisk clapping their hands, Toriel glanced at Torako.
"Do not worry. I know it is hard to quit."
Yotsuba stopped skipping at this and looked up curiously at the Monster. Toriel used to be a cool bad guy?
Torako didn't say anything. She nodded and lightly pulled her scarf.
On the way to the park they met and talked to Knight Knight. She opened up her grocery bag and let the kids take an apple each.
The park was not very crowded due to it being fairly early in the morning.
At the sand box was a reptilian Monster wearing a yellow shirt with brown stripes playing in the sand. They were playing with buckets, pushing sand into the bucket with their tail and tilting them over to make lumpy, crumbly piles.
Yotsuba wanted Ena to meet them.
"Yo, dude!" Monster Kid called cheerfully when the two Humans walked up. "Who's this?"
"Koiwai Yotsuba," she said.
Frisk settled down onto the sand comfortably and began making lumpy, grey sculptures.
"Don't be shy," Monster Kid said to Yotsuba. They hooked their tail around a plastic shovel and handed it to her.
Yotsuba took the shovel and started digging. "Have you ever played the ocean game?"
"Nope!"
Frisk shook their head and brushed off excess sand in the bucket.
"Oh, it's fun! Let's go to the beach – brown sand!"
Yotsuba dug out the wet sand with her hands and the tiny particles got under her nails.
"This is good for pails!"
She gave the shovel to Frisk, who started digging, and packed in the brown sand. The brown sand sculpture stood more solidly than the grey ones. They made a nice row of each. Monster Kid poked a hole in one of them and Yotsuba laughed.
Frisk pointed proudly at the deep hole they dug. It was so deep that the kids were able to stand in it.
"You could make a bath!" Yotsuba's face lit up. "Oh, right! The beach!"
She got out the hole and ran, her foot catching on the top of the sidewalk. She fell with a crash.
Yotsuba could see Toriel and Torako run to where she was. Frisk pulled her up and she stood silently, dazed.
There was stinging on her elbows and knee.
"Dude, you're bleeding," Monster Kid said, a twinge of worry in their voice.
Yotsuba looked down and saw blood slither down her leg. She let out a low wail.
The cry made a Monster flying by suddenly drop down. Torako caught the passed out Monster and wrapped the small thing in her scarf, unsure of what to do.
Toriel knelt down in front of Yotsuba. She didn't tell the girl to be tough or frantically ask if she was okay. She took a tissue from her purse, and mopped up the blood. She found band-aids and placed them on the wounds.
"All done," she said, gently brushing down Yotsuba's mussed hair. "See? You are okay."
Frisk patted her back, making a "shh, shh" noise with their breath and teeth. They tugged on her hand to go to the swings.
Toriel helped Torako wake up the Monster that fainted.
As Frisk and Yotsuba helped Monster Kid into the swing, Yotsuba thought that Toriel was still cool.
A/N: Originally posted on Ao3 on November 10th 2016.
Poor Whimsun.
When I was a kid, there was a part of the sidewalk at the park that was always halfway buried in the sand. It was just so that you wouldn't notice it until you ran around and tripped over it. I fell pretty hard once and scraped up my entire knee and I limped for a few days afterwards. Sometimes older generations complain about kids not getting scrapes or bleeding enough on playgrounds but I think they forget how much it sucks when your knee has a wound the size of a large button.
I've actually been to Japan twice and the first time I went my host family had two young twin girls. They had the pumpkin figure in the story and I thought it would be a good nod to the memory by putting it in here.