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Mirii and Hun's steps were echoing throughout the mall: groups of people were either standing on two legs or one leg, as they were looking ahead or to another person. Mouths were open, others were forming a smile, eyes were closed… but none of them were inhaling air.

Hun's eyebrows gradually rose, after each step: his eyes were resting over an Inkling woman and an Inkling man as their mouth were widely open in a smile. Turning to his right, he sees a magenta skin-colored Inkling boy holding in his arms, an even smaller orange-colored Inkling girl.

Quickly turning on his left, a humanoid white Prawn with wrinkles under his closed eyes was holding a small box with the image of cookies having small chunks of chocolate on it. The box was standing above a glass platform, which was glowing red right on the middle, just behind a conveyer belt.

In front of the prawn, a sea girl creature with multiple thin, almost transparent tentacles hanged up in two ponytails going horizontally on her sides: she was widely smiling while her mouth was open. On her right elbow, a purple purse with a rhombus line of shining crystals. On her left ponytail, a red fish with closed eyes, a monocle on his right eye and a small black top hat on the head.

Hun was trembling, as his teeth were gritted.

"Mirii… I-I can't stand watch this!" Sweat was jumping out from his forehead, as his downturned mouth expands even more and he was taking a step backwards. "Let's go back!"

The boy turns around, only to see Mirii right in front of him, as she was folding her arms and frowning a little.

"Hunley, we are not going to turn back." She shakes her head slowly. "We must explore the mall and find an element or two, who leads us to the situation."

"Bu-but!" Hun keeps looking around, as his arms were open. "E-everyone is still… n-none of them is talking or walking! Are we seeing living people or…"

"Hunley!" Her hands fell on his shoulders, as her eyes got closer to his. "Don't let those foolish reasons force you to run away from the truth! We must proceed, without thinking theories led by the imagination!"

The boy was breathing loudly, as his eyebrows are rose.

"How can you be so calm…? Everything is so silent… I-I don't wanna be alone!" He tries to move, as his eyes were closed.

"Hunley! Stop!" Mirii was holding his shoulder, as her teeth are gritted. "You are not alone! In fact, you are with me!"

The girl blushes a bit.

"And since you are with me, the lonely effect should not be present in your head… so, stop jumping from the fear and focus on the situation!" She closes her eyes, as her mouth expands a lot on each word.

Hun stares at the girl for a while.

"Promise that you'll never leave me alone…" His mouth downturns a little.

Mirii blushes a bit more. She nods, while smiling.

"Promise."

The boy smiles too. Mirii walks on his right, as she looks over the decorated tree.

"Follow me, now… and don't look too much over the people, understand?" Her head turns to the left, as her left iris was seeing Hun.

"I-I'll try!" He bends a little, as his irises bounce left and right, while trembling. "But how can you be this calm?"

"You should not try to achieve my level of perfection." She slightly rose her head. "It requires time and practice… and we can't do that in such time-YIKES!"

Mirii jumped, as her left arm was stretched. Her eyes quickly points over her left wrist: a small chunk of a white substance was resting on it.

"Th-that's snow, right?!" His right forefinger points over it.

"Of course it's! I've seen it for more than 10 years, each winter!" Her eyes were a bit wide.

Her nose caught a smell: the girl's mouth was left semi-open. She moves her nose closer to the standing chunk of white material and took two silent sniffs. She images a white cotton-candy on a light-wooden stick. Her head slowly retreats backwards.

"… this is not snow." Her left eyebrow rose.

"No?" He moves closer to the girl.

His head moves over her left wrist, as his nose sniffs loudly 2 times.

"Sugar?" He raises his head, pointed over the girl.

"How?" She looks over the ceiling. "How did it reach me? I can't imagine any other way than above our heads."

Gradually, other chunks of white elements were slowly falling down. Those were landing on everyone's heads, presents, cash registers… Mirii rubs the top of her head once, as the small white pieces fell towards the sugar-filled floor.

"Wh-what's the meaning of this?!" She frowns a bit. "First everyone is not moving… and now, sugar is falling from the ceiling!"

"Ehm…" He sticks out his tongue, as some white pieces of sugar fell on it.

He quickly retreats the tongue, with the elements inside his mouth. He smiles, while closing his eyes.

"Hmm! It's good!" He sticks out his tongue again.

"What are you doing?! Those could be poisonous for our body!" Mirii frowns a lot, as she holds her hips.

"Ah… ehm… you are right." He retreats his tongue, as he smiles while showing his teeth.

Mirii sighs loudly, as she turns behind and over the tree.

"Let's not even see this optical illusion and move on."

Her right shoe steps over a pile of sugar. She looks down, quickly.

"Huh?! How did the sugar accumulate this much already?!" Her eyes expand a little.

"Ehm… is that a problem?" A sweat drop appears on his head's right side as his eyes were closed. "If the sugar drowns us, we just need to eat it and we are out."

Mirii turns around, frowning even more.

"I'm not going to eat all that sugar! Not only it'll make me too round, but my teeth are going to be extremely damaged!" Her right forefinger stood upwards.

"Ah... really? I thought that sugar was generally good!" He chuckles a bit, as he scratches the back of his head.

Mirii downturns even more her closed mouth. Hun looks up a bit.

"So, what are we going to do now?" His open left palm caught a great amount of sugar.

"Increase our pace." Mirii walks ahead.

Hun throws the sugar behind him, as he runs after the girl. Mirii took a look on her left and on her right, after each second.

"Curses! I can't see anything well enough, if I'm moving this fast!" She frowns a bit.

"Then, slow down?" His voice was a bit low.

"I can't slow down, Hunley!" Mirii turns behind him. "I don't want to find myself under a pile of sugar! It could even not be sugar to begin with!"

"It sure smells like it…" He rubs his chin, as his irises were pointing up-right.

"Hmpf." She turns ahead. "Let's take a look around those large presents"

Suddenly, a strong wind pushed the two Inklings on their lefts: they both fall on their left sides, over a large sugar-filled mantle. Mirii quickly stands up, as she rubs her dress with both her hands. The sugar was covering her knees. She let out a small gasp.

"I-I changed my mind! I don't want to see those sugars, for the rest of my life!"

Mirii moves the sugar with her legs, as she was proceeding forward.

"Hunley! Come with me!"

The loud wind pushed the girl again, as she falls on the sugar, disappearing under it. Her head sticks out, as she quickly spats multiple times.

"Hunley!" She turns behind. "Are you alright?!"

Her eyes could see the shops, covered in a whitish color. Even the shopping carts on the left were assuming such color… the girl kept looking around, as everything was disappearing under the white smoke. Her hands were touching the sugar. The girl moves ahead, over the tree.

"Hunley, where are you?!" Her eyebrows are rose, her mouth was downturned.

Her elbows were now covered in from the sugar. The wind was taking her words away. She couldn't even see the presents around the tree. Her arms were swinging over the sugar, as her legs kept moving forward. Minutes passed and the snow passed her shoulders.

Her hands fell on her mouth's sides, sideways.

"Huuuunnlleeeeey!"

Her voice was echoed in front of nothing but white smoke. The sugar touched her chin: her mouth was trembling, as her irises were glued on the sugar.

"No… I-I don't want to eat it…" She shakes her head. "I-I don't want to become rounder…"

The girl closes her eyes.

"Hunley… if you are around here, somewhere… please, help me!"

"Miriiiiiii…!"

The girl opens her eyes. Her head was turning left and right, still seeing white smoke. The girl was shivering a bit, as her hands couldn't move forward inside the sugar.

"Wait…"

Her nose sniffs over the sugar.

"This smell… it feels like water…"

The girl gradually smiles. Both her hands stood on each side, holding over the snow: Mirii emerges more and more, until her feet could rest on the snowy ground. She kept patting her dress, as chunks of snow slides off of it.

The girl looks around: on her right, a tree was vaguely seen from behind the smoke.

"That's the decorated tree… where I was going before?! I didn't bump into anyone, aside from the sugar."

"Miriiiii…!"

Hun's voice kept ringing in Mirii's ears.

"His voice is not too far from here…" She smiles.

The girl walks over the tree, as gradually it becomes clearer in front of her eyes. On the tree, there was nothing but pile of snow around. Mirii left her mouth open.

"Wasn't this tree decorated with presents and other Squidsmas elements?" The girl closes her mouth. "Unless"

"Mirii!"

The girl jumped, as she turns behind: Hun had his eyebrows rose and his mouth downturned. Her left hand rests over her heart, while Mirii sighs in a smile.

"Hunley! You don't have any idea how much relief I got, once I recognized your face!"

The boy smiles briefly.

"I hope I didn't scare you…"

"No." She shakes her head. "I don't know what fear is."

"Ehm… fear is like that feeling when you don't want to stay near something."

The girl giggles, as her left hand stands in front of her mouth.

"No, no! I meant to say that I don't have fear." Her smile reached her cheeks.

"Ah, I see!" He smiles, while nodding multiple times. "I thought to drown down inside all that sugar…"

Mirii trembles a bit.

"Th-there is no more sugar, Hunley! So… let's think about something else!" She turns over the tree. "I want to point out that this tree is not decorated."

"Why?" He looks upwards, over the pile of snow on the tree.

"Because the tree inside the mall has decorations. Where this tree is coming from?" She looks down, as her right forefinger taps her right cheek.

"Ehm… can I try answering that?" His right forefinger rose, as he bends down a little.

"Sure." Mirii nods, as she turns over him. "Do you have any observations?"

"Well… I think you should take a look around more." He stands still.

"How? The fog is blocking my"

Her eyes noticed another tree, on Hun's left side and another one on its left. The girl closes her mouth, as her mouth took a look around: multiple trees were gradually appearing from behind the white smoke. Her eyes expand.

"Wh-what?! Th-there are more than one tree?!" Her jaw dropped.

"So, this means… we are in a forest, right?" He looks up, as he scratches the top of his head with his right hand.

"No, Hunley! We are inside the mall!" Mirii frowns a bit… then she retreats such expression. "Except, there are now many trees…"

"Ehm… should we explore this place, Mirii?" His eyebrows rose, as the boy grabs his own arms and shivers, while gritting his teeth. "You know… I-I really want to stay near a fire…"

The girl grabs her own arms and shivers too, as her mouth downturns.

"I-I should have told my future self to gave me a large jacket…"

Mirii walks over the group of trees, while holding her arms. Hun walks on her left, holding his arms. Puffs of smoke was coming from their mouths.

"Mirii… you aren't seriously suggesting that"

"Hunley, if we stop looking for chunks of woods to burn… our body's temperature will drop so much, that we'll not be able to stand up anymore." The girl was frowning, as she grasps her arms even tighter.

"But, what if we keep moving around… and the cold is really pressuring in our veins?!" His eyebrows are rose, as the boy keeps shivering.

The two Inklings kept walking on the snow, slowly.

"Listen, Hunley…" She coughs loudly. "For now, we can safely walk for a while. Once our legs are too heavy to move… we are going to find the wood and set up the fire. What do you say? Can you fight the cold for at least one hour?"

The sounds of their steps were echoing throughout the snowy ground. Hun nods.

"Yes. I just hope you know somehow this place, because this is my first time I'm seeing such place."

Mirii sighs loudly.

Only my mature self knows it.