Hey, readers! I hope you like this next episode I have for you! Read on!

Shopping

Katie sighed as she tried to decide which packets of biscuits to buy for her tea. Yes, there were Jammy Dodgers for sale, but there were so many different flavours - blackcurrant, strawberry, lemon, custard…

She was so busy trying to decide what biscuits to buy that she didn't notice the familiar red-headed boy walking past the aisle, bored out of his mind. Nor did she notice when he backtracked to the end of the aisle. In fact, she didn't notice the boy until he physically walked up to her and stood behind her, an evil grin on his face.

"Hi," he greeted, smirking when Katie jumped.

She glared at him. "Hikaru!"

"Yes?" he asked innocently.

Katie sighed. He sounded kind of cute when he spoke like that… no, Katie. Stop it. "What are you doing here? I thought you didn't mix with the 'common folk'?"

Hikaru shrugged. "I don't know. I was bored."

Katie raised an eyebrow at him before grinning. "You came for more Jammy Dodgers, didn't you?"

Hikaru shook his head. "No!"

Katie stepped closer to him. "Yes you did."

Hikaru stepped away from her again. "No I didn't!"

Katie narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you sure?"

Hikaru nodded frantically.

Katie seemed a little reluctant to believe him as she gave him some space to breathe, but she got over it anyway. "So, why are you here?"

Hikaru shrugged. "As I said before, I don't really know. I was following Kaoru and Haruhi… until I got lost."

"Oh… you were with the rest of the Host Club, then?" Katie asked as she finally decided to get two of each flavour.

Hikaru nodded as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Yeah."

Katie held out her basket. "Well, since you're here with me, I guess you can help me out with my shopping then."

Hikaru took the basket before actually thinking about what she said. "Wait, what?"

Katie grabbed his arm. "Come on!"

"Hey!"

Katie hummed thoughtfully as she stood in the cereals aisle. She still didn't know what she preferred to have for breakfast - Cookie Crisp, Coco Pops or Crunchy Nut. "Which one…?"

Hikaru sighed as he carried the shopping basket in his hands. "Well, could you hurry?"

"Why? Do you arms ache?"

Hikaru nodded.

Katie shrugged. "Tough nubs. You're meant to be a man - man-up!"

Hikaru glared at her. "I'm sixteen."

Katie shrugged. "And I'm sixteen too."

Hikaru huffed. "And why can't I put this down again?"

"Because I accidentally put the eggs at the bottom again, and I don't want to crush them."

"Then shouldn't you have put them at the bottom, should you?"

Katie glared at him. "Oh well." She finally picked out a box of Cookie Crisp and a box of Coco Pops before heading back over to where Hikaru was standing. She put the two items in the almost overflowing basket.

Hikaru frowned at the items. "What are those?"

"What, these?" Katie asked, lifting up the Cookie Crisp for Hikaru to see. "It's a breakfast cereal."

"Cereal? That's what commoners eat for breakfast?" He looked at the box critically. "This doesn't look like what Haruhi showed me…"

"There's lots of different types of cereals," Katie explained as she led Hikaru towards the main counter to pay for the items.

"Really?" Hikaru hummed thoughtfully. "I've only ever had toast with eggs and bacon for breakfast."

Katie smirked. "I bet you've never had burnt toast before."

Hikaru grimaced. "That must taste disgusting."

"Actually, it's not that bad. With marmalade, that is."

"Yeah, well, I don't think I'm going to try it anytime soon."

"You know, you're completely the opposite of what Haruhi tells me," Katie pointed out as they neared the counter.

Hikaru frowned. "Why? What did she tell you?" He moved to place the basket on the counter.

"She said you were really rambunctious and playful - mostly too playful…" Her eyes widened when she realised what Hikaru was doing. "No, wait!"

It was too late.

She winced as she heard the eggs cracking at the bottom of the basket, and glared at Hikaru's stunned face.

"I told you there were eggs at the bottom."

Katie sighed as she carried one of the brown grocery bags in her arms. "Boy, this is hard."

"You're telling me." Hikaru walked behind holding two brown bags in his arms.

"I wish they had carrier bags here like they do back home."

Hikaru raised an eyebrow at her. "Where do you come from?"

"The UK." Katie sighed. "I'm sure you should know all this."

Hikaru shrugged. "I probably wasn't listening."

"Ok, so Haruhi got that part right…" Katie muttered as they headed over to her home.

Hikaru raised his eyebrows as they neared her home. It was of average size - a two story house which had a front garden, and round the back there was a conservatory that led to the reasonably-sized garden. Katie and Hikaru headed up the stairs to the porch, and Katie pulled out her keys. As soon as she opened the door, she reached to take the extra bags from Hikaru.

He frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Uh, I've kind of got to go now," Katie said as she finally decided to put her bag inside on the floor before getting the other two from Hikaru.

"Well, can I come inside, then?" he asked.

"No!" Katie's cheeks went a little pink. "I mean, well, I have to tell my mum if I'm having visitors at least a day before, so that she can prepare."

Hikaru nodded. "Right…" He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Well, I guess the others are looking for me now."

"Yeah," Katie agreed. She smiled at him. "See you around?"

Hikaru nodded. "Yeah, I guess." He turned to leave and waved one last goodbye at Katie. "See you!"

"Bye!" Katie walked inside and kicked the door shut behind her. She took a deep breath.

What was that all about?

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