Chapter 2: Of brooms and mops

09:09 AM (Japan Time), Saturday December the 18th…

"… Ya~h! De masu~! Crashing Smashing Rolling Ascending Mop!"

"Yamitarou! Stop acting the idiot already! Will you!"

"De masu~! Cutting Slicing Slashing Broom!"

"YAMITAROU~!"

"WHA! Number Man, de masu! What's wrong? De masu?"

"Listen to me: you're making a fool of yourself!"

"No! This is a man's duty: to defend his store! De masu!"

"Defend from WHAT or WHO?"

"Those two, de masu!"

"Not that again… They have the right to open a store in Densan City! Everyone has! Accept it, Yamitarou! You're not the only Battle Chip Store in the world!"

"But I hate cutting things, de masu! That's why I have to find a way around, de masu!"

"Yamitarou! You aren't a samurai!"

Higure Yamitarou was fooling around inside of his Higureya store using both a broom and a mop like they were katana: Number Man EXE sounded exasperated and annoyed while Higure tried to come up with poor arguments to back his actions.

"I am! De masu!"

"No, you aren't!"

"I am! De masu!"

"Stop fooling around!"

"No, de masu! I am training! De masu!"

"That's fooling around! Wanna train? Join a kendo club!"

"No, de masu!"

"Then take care of the store!"

"I can't, de masu! My blood's boiling, de masu!"

"Is that so? Mr. Higure."

"O~h! Kanou – san, de masu!"

A man had suddenly come out of the store: he appealed as being around his 20s and had chestnut brown color hair: he struck off as being slightly over a meter and eighty tall.

He was wearing a gray raincoat over a black suit plus black tie and brown shoes plus a hat and a pair of sunglasses.

"Mr. Shade! Please don't give him funny ideas or we'll be laughed at by the press!" Number Man pleaded.

"Oh, my, my. That would be no good, certainly." The man politely admitted.

"Then what should I do? De masu?"

"Hmmm… Challenge them to a Net Battle perhaps?" He suggested next with a smile.

"Net Battle, de masu… Hmmm…" Higure seemed to be thinking about it given how he brought the right hand to his chin.

"Yes! That's exactly what we need!" Number Man exclaimed.

"Nah, de masu. I thought as much: the mop and broom battle is manlier and it'll make me look more like a man to Mariko – sensei!"

"NO~! THAT WON'T DO, YAMITAROU~!"

"Yikes! De masu! Don't yell so much, Number Man! De masu!" He protested back.

"Oh, my. Higure – san! It's been a while…"

"Ma-Ma-Ma-Mariko – sensei~! De masu~ !"

"Are you cleansing the store? Oh my. I've seen you sometimes around the district… Do you live nearby, sir?"

"Do excuse me, ma'am. Kanou Shade, ma'am…"

The man took off the hat and sunglasses to reveal how his eyes' irises were colored blue: he made a gallant bow and Mariko giggled at it to Higure's disbelief.

"My. You look like a chevalier."

"Ah… Is that so?" He sounded surprised.

"Don't mind it! I wasn't being serious… Well then, Higure – san… Good luck with the store!"

"R-r-r-roger! MA'AM!" He exclaimed as he straightened himself and saluted thus letting go of both broom and mop which fell into the ground: Mariko giggled.

"Goodbye!"

She walked away while humming a tune and Higure gasped as he quickly picked both of those: he leant the broom against the building and drew the mop like if it was a katana.

"Alright! De masu! Come! De masu! Splitting Molding Cracking Roaring Flying Mop! DE MASU~!"

He began to swing the mop around like crazy and Kanou Shade chuckled as he put the hat and sunglasses back on: Higure suddenly hit a tree and a bird there began to pick on his head: Higure yelped and began to run around like mad as he tried to shake it off.

"Someone call the bird exterminators! De masu~!"

"My. Bird exterminators. You could patent it."

"Kami – sama~! Save me! De masu~!"

"Yamitarou! You idiot!"

09:19 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh, heh… There! And there! And here! Take these! I win! The best kendo swordsman in the nation… Hikari Netto!"

"Ijuuin Enzan."

"Wha~t? Damn you, Enzan! Wha!"

THUD!

"O~w… Saito – niisan…!"

"Yeah. Stop fantasizing. There's work to do."

"What work? Winter vacations kicked off on Friday!"

"Cleansing your room."

"Our room!"

"I'm a Net Navi. The room's yours."

"No fair!"

"Fair. I've been doing ALL household chores EVER SINCE MARCH. And YOU ALWAYS SKIP THEM. Time to do some work! Here!"

"Yikes! Let go of my right ear!"

"Wake up, get dressed and get to work."

Hikari Netto, aged 12, had been dreaming when Saito (wearing a blue sleeveless vest over a white shirt plus jeans and white sneakers) woke him up making him fall from the bed: he looked pretty ill-humored and he pulled Netto's right ear while venting out his bad mood.

"When did you become my CO?" Netto groaned.

"The older brother has to fix the mistakes of the younger."

"That's a cliché!"

"No. It's reality. Get on the move. You have 15 minutes. No more and no less. I'll be waiting downstairs."

Saito came out and closed the door while Netto groaned and looked pretty annoyed.

"Damn it… When I wanna have fun he comes up with that… I now wish Copy Roids hadn't been invented." He groaned.

He grudgingly changed into his usual street clothes while ignoring a folded middle school uniform set atop a chair: he interacted with the PC but didn't seem to spot anything interesting so he headed downstairs where Haruka was humming a tune and watching TV: Saito was sitting in one of the living room's chairs next to the table and looking unimpressed as Netto sat down and began to eat his breakfast.

"Morning…"

"Morning, dear. By the way, Saito… You sounded too strict back then. You shouldn't be so harsh to your brother!"

"Sorry, Mama. But my little brother won't do his duties unless he's reminded of them. I've been doing them non-stop ever since March and we're in December. He should be more responsible." Saito calmly told her with a slight hint of annoyance.

"Just don't push him too hard, right?"

"I'll try to."

"Not "try to"… Don't push him too hard." Haruka insisted.

"Hai~…"

"Heh!" Netto grinned.

"Don't get cocky. To begin with you gotta cleanse this whole ground floor while I take care of the garden. I'll be keeping an eye on you, Netto. Don't think you can sneak out so easily. We won't be done until the midday and no going out either. There's no point into it anyway."

"Che."

"Less complaining: wrap up and start by cleansing the kitchen. You gotta start behaving in a mature way."

09:39 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Go, Guts Man! Hyper Cannon!"

"Hyper Cannon, de guts!"

"No way! It blew up again!"

"Hah! No wonder, man! That thing's a sham which shames ya!"

"By all the… Aragoma Torakichi!"

"The same man!"

"Thought ya had gone off to Thailand!"

"Thailand? Never been outta Japan! I came to see how things look like and ya go there buying silly stuff which blows up!"

Ooyama Dekao had been trying to make Guts Man use what looked like a shoulder-mounted gigantic mortar when it blew up and knocked Guts Man out: Aragoma Torakichi suddenly popped out from behind him with a broad grin and Dekao growled.

"So ya set me up!" Dekao yelled.

"HUH? Me? What would I gain from that?" Aragoma asked.

"Laughing at the invincible great me~!" Dekao proclaimed.

"Invincible? Oh yeah? Didn't Hikari beat ya a billion times already?"

"Dunno what ya mean!" He tried to shove it away.

"Come on! If Hikari could bring down that "Witch – Queen of Angmar" back in August then ya stand no chance. Stop dreaming!"

"Dreaming? Hah! One day I'll be the world's strongest guy! And Netto will bow before me!" He boasted.

"You baka!" Aragoma cursed.

"Baka! Me! How dare ya!"

"I dare! You're so pathetic really! What about school? EH?"

"Who cares?" He shot back.

"Your parents should!"

"I'm Number One in the class!" Dekao boasted.

"No way. That little rich girl gotta be. She really is younger than ya but because she's so clever she was allowed to skip one or two years, ain't that right, Ooyama?" Aragoma didn't buy it.

"Shaddup!"

"Ya aren't my CO."

"I'll soon be!"

"Soon be… Lemme show you why those "soon be" will never come to happen! Go, King Man!"

"Net Battle, eh? Fine! Go, Guts Man! Program Advance! Vulcan, Triple Slot In! Mugen Vulcan!" Dekao exclaimed.

"Come, Tower!"

"No way! He blocked it all!"

"Go, Rook! Horse!"

"Grah! Each one delivered 600 HP of damage! I've already lost half and haven't even scratched the guy!" Dekao gasped.

"Guts Hammer!"

"Go, Rook! Checkmate!"

"GATTSU~!" Guts Man yelped.

"Guts Ma~n!" Dekao yelled.

"I win! Total time: 28 seconds! Busting Level S!" Aragoma announced.

"NO WAY! YOU DAMNED GAME SHARK CODE USER!"

"Game Shark Code? I won square and fair! Now go back to your hole with the tail between the legs!"

"Halt! De masu!"

Higure suddenly forced them away by aiming his broom and mop at them while looking annoyed.

"Dekao – kun! He fought at his full strength, de masu! And you lost because you tried to win by pure random luck, de masu! That's not how Net Battles are won! De masu! You need strategy! De masu! Use your head, de masu!" Higure scolded him.

"Wha~t?" Dekao growled.

"You heard it the first time! De masu! Now go back home and think about it, de masu! Boasting is empty, de masu! Just be glad Netto – kun and the others still consider you their friend! De masu!"

"Damn it! I'll remember this, Aragoma! I'll find a powerful Battle Chip and beat ya to a pulp! My word!" Dekao growled.

"Hah! Dream on!"

Aragoma headed off while having both hands on his pockets and Dekao ran away while Higure headed back for the store.

"That was a noble act, Yamitarou. I'll commend you."

"Hah! I couldn't let such friendship be destroyed, de masu! They're young, de masu! Let them enjoy it! De masu!"

Dekao headed for his home but stopped on the outside to bang the wall in frustration.

"Damn it! I want power! If I had power then I could beat everyone and become the strongest! Power! At any cost!"

He headed inside of his house but did not spot an unidentified figure looking from behind some trees: an evil smile was drawn across its face and it looked amused.

Power at any cost? That's easy to solve, brat. And it could be amusing to see the consequences… Besides they'll serve as good guinea-pigs for my new breed of "power"… Heh, heh, heh!

09:48 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Did ya see the scandal Dekao formed out there, Meiru – chan? That guy won't learn! But here we are: thanks to my indoors heating-equipped bath we can kiss farewell to the winter and relax!"

"Really… I'm so grateful, Yaito – chan…"

"Come on! Girls help each other! Ya were so gloomy in August: and since Jasmine went back to Choina then I'm here to back ya up! By the way… Roll doesn't remember anything, right?"

"Yeah… I had her checked a week ago by a Science Labs staff lady but she confirmed it… And given how that villain is gone forever then we've got nothing to worry about…"

Ayanokouji Yaito and Sakurai Meiru were chatting as they bathed on a heated up square pool inside of Yaito's mansion: Yaito kept on using a floating ring with a duck's head and sported a pinkish one-piece swimming suit plus a straw hat: Meiru had a navy blue bathing suit on too and looked rather relieved while Yaito was grinning.

"I'm surprised ya brought the school's swimming club suit… Didn't you have something else?"

"Hum, no… And besides, I'm used to it anyway… Wouldn't you know? I visited that new store. The two boys in charge of it were very kind but Saito – kun's lookalike was more serious than his friend who kept on pulling trolls… They seem to cancel each other out!" She explained with a giggle.

"Guess I'll do an unofficial visit there too. I wanna see if they handle it better than Higure – san over there. Did you know that the guy hates sharp things and thus uses either a mop or a broom as replacements for katana? He claims he'll beat those two to a broom fight."

"No way…" Meiru was skeptical by now.

"Way! Hikari – kun showed me a recording of their first fight! There, inventing "cool" names out of the blue! Tee, heh, heh!"

"Please… Why can't they be more serious?"

"Dunno!"

"Anyway… This was an intense first trimester! And I'm sure the 2nd one will be intense too. Yet… I suddenly feel like there's something in the air picking me…" Meiru trailed off.

"Ya think too much!" Yaito shrugged.

"Guess so. Sorry to abuse of your hospitality…"

"Come on! We're classmates. We gotta look after our appearance! Say: does Roll have a crush on Rock Man by now?"

"S-somewhat… But lately he's been so serious and all… Roll thinks it's still early…" Meiru admitted with a slight blush.

"And Hikari – kun? Too dense?" Yaito teased.

"Yeah. Totally. I tried to drop some hints last month but he didn't catch them up at all. I dunno if he's always thinking of Net Battles or something else. Anyway… That can wait too." She shrugged.

"Heh! Well! I'm sure that we could try testing the guy. Let's have him come one day and we'll see what happens. Tee, heh, heh!"

"Hmmm… Well… If you say so…" Meiru seemed to find it somewhat pointless.

"I just thought of a good motto! "Of brooms and mops goes the rebellious Higure – san!"… Tee, heh, heh!" Yaito giggled next.

"Please… That sounds so pointless, Yaito – chan!"

"Ya never know, Meiru – chan! No pain no gain! Let's have some strawberry milk next! Tee, heh, heh!"

"Come on… I don't see the point for that, really."

"You'll see it: my word!"

Yaito kept on giggling while Meiru sighed and made a smile…