Sunshine has only been going to school for a couple of weeks, but she thinks she's mostly gotten the hang of it.
The subjects range from boring (math, most of which comes so naturally to her that she's still confused about why they have lessons in it) to exciting (stories about people fighting on boats in the ocean, which is a lake that's a thousand times bigger than Gensokyo.) She does her best to pay attention, but it's hard, and sometimes she draws pictures in her notebook instead of listening to the lessons. She'd been doing this for a few days before she spotted another kid's notebook and saw that she wasn't the only one who does this sometimes. That makes her feel better.
Every day at recess, Sunshine sits along the back wall of the school and eats or draws or watches the other kids play. Usually, the fox kid takes a seat somewhere next to her. He reads, and sometimes comments on her drawings, or tells her about the other kids. It's better than sitting alone, she thinks.
And usually, when she leaves school, Marisa is waiting to fly her home. Today, though, she finds both of her parents waiting for her.
Sunshine runs across the street as soon as she sees them, tackling Alice into a hug around the waist. Alice strokes her hair. "Good afternoon, Sunshine."
"Hi."
"Hey, kiddo." Marisa steps forward and scoops her up. Sunshine's used to that. She wraps her arms around Marisa and clings to her, while Ichigo hovers up alongside her. "How was school?"
"Um." Sunshine considers that, and her hand itches for a pen. Today they learned about people coming on boats to trade things during the Tokugawa Shogunate. It's a big dizzying mess of concepts, and even harder to talk about. To-ku-ga-wa-sho-gun-ate. It sounds like a lot of syllables even when Miss Kamishirasawa says it. She settles for, "We learned about people buying stuff. On boats."
"Sounds pretty boring."
"It sounds interesting," Alice says, raising her voice slightly as she corrects Marisa.
"Why are..." Sunshine looks between them. "Um. You're both here."
"What, we can't both come to pick you up?" Marisa retorts. Sunshine has to admit, she can't come up with a good counter-argument. "... you're right though, it's a special occasion. Er..."
She trails off, glancing to Alice. Alice says, "Sunshine, Marisa and I would like to ask you for a very important favor."
Sunshine looks to her questioningly.
"Yep, you heard her," Marisa says. "See, uh, the thing is... me and your mom have some really important stuff we need to do tonight. You know all our stories about fighting youkai?"
Sunshine nods.
"Well, we've got a friend who's going to do some really dangerous stuff tonight, and she might get attacked by some youkai. So, she wants me and Alice to come along to help fight 'em."
This is a very exciting proposal so far. Sunshine stiffens up in mounting excitement, a smile spreading on her face.
"... and, that's too dangerous for you. If we go, you can't come along."
"... I wanna go..."
"We know you do," Alice says. "But it will be very dangerous, and we don't want you getting hurt. Do you remember how scary it was when you lost your hand?"
Sunshine reluctantly nods.
"This could be even scarier. I'm sorry, but you can't come with us if we go. That's why we're asking you for a favor." Alice steps closer to fuss with Sunshine's hair, smiling to her. "Do you think you'd like to spend the night at the shrine? You like visiting Reimu, right?"
"Er, about that..." Marisa says. "I stopped by and talked to her, but it sounds like she's pretty busy tonight, actually."
"... ah. She is?"
"Yeah. Er, don't worry, though, I've got a backup plan! How'd you like to stay somewhere even better than the shrine, Sunshine?"
The flight from the village is a little weird. They head back in the direction of the house, so close to the right route that Sunshine recognizes the scenery. At some point, though, Marisa turns the broomstick aside, and they follow one of the thicker paths that winds toward the Forest of Magic. The occasional house still dots the land below, but they're so far apart that Sunshine barely gets to see one before the previous one fades out of sight, and they only get rarer the farther they go. After a while, an even bigger building comes into view, and Marisa steers toward it.
It's the second-weirdest building that Sunshine has ever seen. It's an old wooden building, pushed up so close to the trees that some of them grow partway over it. Sitting in front is a heap of old junk, and Sunshine doesn't recognize any of it—there are weird machines made out of pipes with big spindly wheels, metal boxes with glass fronts, triangular signs that say 'STOP,' even bigger metal boxes with doors on them, and dozens of other oddities.
She peers at them curiously as they make their way inside, where there are even more. The inside of the place is almost as packed as Marisa's old house was. Most of the walls are partly hidden by shelves or leaning merchandise, and little islands of stuff dot the floor. On the wall right inside the door, a man grins down at her from a poster that reads, "OIL CHANGES HERE." She scoots away to put Alice between the poster and her.
Across from the door is a counter, and sitting behind it is a very tall man. Sunshine can only see the very top of his head, since he has a newspaper open, and doesn't even look over it as they enter. "Good afternoon, Marisa," he says. "I hope that you're here about the money you owe me."
"Huh," Marisa says. "How'd you know it was me?"
"I learned to recognize you by your footsteps years ago. Call it a defense mechanism." He calmly folds the paper closed, then pauses as he sees his other two visitors over it. His eyes settle onto Sunshine, and he suddenly looks much more interested. "Is that who I think it is?"
"Yep." Marisa beckons her forward, but Sunshine stays clinging to Alice's side for the moment. "This is Sunshine. Sunshine, this is... Uncle Rinnosuke."
"Uncle?" Alice asks.
"Uncle?" Rinnosuke asks. He doesn't sound displeased by the idea.
"I mean, close enough, right? You always seemed like an uncle kinda guy to me."
"You do know that I'm older than your father, Marisa."
"Yeah, well, that stuff's weird with youkai." Marisa turns back and offers Sunshine a hand. "C'mon, he isn't scary. Probably even more harmless than that teacher of yours."
Rinnosuke looks like he resents this statement, but lets it slide for the moment. Reluctantly, Sunshine steps forward to take Marisa's hand, and Marisa coaxes her toward the counter. Rinnosuke leans forward to inspect her, adjusting his glasses.
"Your craftsmanship is excellent as always, Alice. I'd barely know that she isn't human if it weren't for the hands."
"Thank you, Rinnosuke, but she's our child. Please try not to talk about her like she isn't here."
"... of course." He looks back to Sunshine. "It's nice to meet you, Sunshine."
Sunshine gives a shy nod.
"I've been wanting to meet you for a long time." He glances up to Marisa. "... and it's taken you long enough to bring her, I might add. What's the special occasion?"
"Well, about that..." Marisa rests an arm on the counter and leans in, like she's about to pitch him a very lucrative offer. "Since you were itching to meet Sunshine and all, and I know you're so good with kids, I was thinkin' we'd cut you a special deal and let you have Sunshine all to yourself tonight. Pretty generous, huh?"
Rinnosuke doesn't look like he agrees. "Are you going to tell me what this is about, or not?"
"We need a babysitter," Alice admits. "I'm sorry. Everybody else we know nearby is either busy tonight, or not good with children."
"Or they're werewolves and stuff," Marisa adds. "It's a full moon, after all."
Sunshine glances between the adults as they talk. She's always kind of impressed at how many words they can say so quickly. It seems like it should be very tiring.
"And why," Rinnosuke says, "do you need a babysitter on such short notice?"
"We got word from Patchy that this big meteor fell nearby this morning. Metal from those things is useful for some really powerful spells and stuff, so—"
"So you're ditching your child so that you can salvage some," Rinnosuke finishes dryly.
"No," Alice says. "We're going with Patchouli to retrieve it, and helping her fight off the local youkai and anybody else who wants the meteorite. In exchange, she's forgiving our debts to the Scarlet Devil Mansion."
"... oh."
"Sunshine has about half a kilo of silver in her... also, uh, some of it, Sakuya didn't technically say I could have," Marisa says. "It's, um. Not really a little debt." After that comment, though, she perks back up, grinning and giving Rinnosuke a hearty pat on the shoulder. "So that's why we'll be counting on you, Uncle Rinnosuke."
"You do know that just calling me her uncle doesn't mean that I have to accept," Rinnosuke says, but gives in with a sigh. "But very well. I can watch her tonight. You'll pick her up tomorrow morning, then?"
"Of course," Alice says, and hesitates before saying, "There are probably a few things we should tell you, though."
Despite Rinnosuke's reassurances that he knows what he's doing, it takes twenty minutes for Marisa to coax Alice toward the door. Even then, Alice is still giving instructions to him the whole time. "Her bed time is at nine PM," she says. "She can stay up a little later if she's done her homework, but please try to enforce it."
"Of course," Rinnosuke says. "I go to sleep around then, myself.
"And please remember that she draws her energy directly from food. She's already had two meals today, so a small dinner should be plenty. The more that you feed her, the longer she'll be—"
"Yes, I think I get the idea." Rinnosuke steps around the counter and lays a hand on Alice's shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. "She'll be fine, I promise. I had to watch Marisa a few times when she was around this age. I'm sure that Sunshine is more well-behaved."
"Hey, I only set your shoes on fire that once," Marisa says. "But you're probably right. Sunshine's about the sweetest kid out there, on account of our awesome parenting skills." She crouches down and pulls Sunshine into a tight hug. "Isn't that right, Sunshine?"
Sunshine doesn't quite understand the question, but gives a tentative nod.
Alice moves in for the next hug. "It will only be for one night. We'll be back to pick you up first thing in the morning, okay?"
"Okay..."
Marisa says, "Yep. Maybe we'll bring you back some souvenirs. Depends what kind of youkai we beat up."
After another few goodbyes, the two finally, reluctantly, head out the door. Right up until the end, Sunshine secretly hopes that they'll change their minds and take her home, but they don't. The door closes, and she's left alone with Rinnosuke.
He steps up and smiles down at her. Up close, he looks impossibly tall, maybe the tallest person she's ever met. From somewhere near the ceiling, he says, "Well, it looks like it's just the two of us now. Would you like a toy to play with?"
Sunshine gives a cautious nod.
"Good. They're over here."
Rinnosuke leads her deeper into the shop. It's a little dark and cramped, but it has the slightly dusty smell that she's learned to associated with Marisa's old house. It's kind of nice, actually. The shelves are filled with things she's never seen before. Some of them are sparkling and new, while others have a patina of dust that upsets every cleaning instinct she has.
He stops in front of one of the shelves and studies it for a moment before saying, "Ah, here we are. This shelf is mostly toys, I think. Take whatever you'd like."
She looks over the shelf's contents. Even here, most of them are things she's never seen before, but some of them make sense after she thinks about it for a few seconds. There are a few balls in there, although some of them have strange patterns. There's some kind of big weird leather glove. There are a couple of bricks made out of a shiny material she's never seen before, and a haggard-looking stuffed bear that only has one eye.
Near the bottom, though, is a doll. At least, it looks kind of like a doll. It's a squat humanoid, but all of its joints are at sharp angles. Its body is mostly made out of boxes, with a few shiny domes for eyes and a nose.
She leans in to inspect to the almost-doll. Rinnosuke crouches down alongside her to look at it. "Ah, that's an excellent choice, if you ask me. Do you like it?"
She gives an uncertain nod.
"Here, feel free." He offers it over, and hesitantly adds, "You could even keep it. It's been sitting on my shelf for years. I'm not sure if it's going to sell any time soon."
Her eyes go wide with surprise, and she looks back to the toy. Slowly, she reaches forward and takes it by the arms.
Its arms are very, very dusty. She lets go, and her fingers come away grey. Distressed, she tries to shake the dust off.
"Is something wrong?" Rinnosuke asks.
She holds her hands up to show him. He looks over them, confused. "Did you cut yourself?"
Sunshine shakes her head. "Um! Um. It's dirty."
"... oh." He glances between her hands and the robot, as if only now making the mental link between the two. He holds it up for inspection, and frowns at the layer of dust covering it. "I guess it's been longer than I'd thought since I dusted. Well, that's easy to deal with. One moment."
Rinnosuke sits the robot down and steps through the doorway to the back of the shop, leaving Sunshine and Ichigo alone in the storefront. On the other side of the door, she can hear him opening cabinets and shifting things around. It takes a minute or two for him to return, carrying a small stack of rags.
"I might as well do the whole shelf while I'm at it," he says, and crouches down in front of it. He's barely settled into place before Sunshine grabs a rag from the pile. Ichigo follows suit.
"Ah, you don't need to help," he says. "I can..."
Rinnosuke trails off. Sunshine is already hard at work, polishing the shelf and sending a cloud of dust into the air. Ichigo settles onto it higher up, tackling the big leather glove. Sunshine is so focused, she barely even notices that he said anything, anyway.
"Well," he says. "If you want to help, I'll welcome the assistance."
Once she starts dusting, Sunshine can't help but spot dozens of things that bother her. There's a bookcase, and some of the books are upside down or backward. There's a spider web in the window. For some reason, a shovel is leaning in the corner, and there are still clumps of dirt laying around it. If she had a team of dolls with her, she'd tear the place apart until it was as spotless as Alice's house. Since she only has herself and Ichigo, she settles for what she can do right now. Rinnosuke, looking slightly guilty, tries to convince her that she doesn't need to clean for him, but she isn't about to be stopped now. She doesn't slow down until the shelf is spotless, and even then, some tarnished spots are bothering her.
"Well, that was a surprise," Rinnosuke says, looking over her handiwork. He runs a fingertip across the shelf and looks impressed when it comes away free of dust. "You did a good job, though. Thank you."
Sunshine is still reluctant to stop, but she pulls the cloth back for now and nods. The compliment draws a smile out of her.
Rinnosuke looks between her and the freshly-cleaned shelf a few times. "It's hard to believe that Marisa raised somebody like you. She rides around on a broom all day, but I'm not sure she knows which end you use for cleaning. She's been like that ever since she was your age, I suppose."
Sunshine pauses and considers that. It's weird, imagining Marisa at her age. The other kids at school are hard to understand sometimes. They jump in puddles and don't even care that their clothes get dirty. They run around and shout and make more noise than Sunshine had ever known a human could make. Her parents are way easier to understand. That works out though, she supposes. Most adults don't make much sense either. Her parents have probably just been better ever since they were children.
Still, though. Pretty much the only people who really knew her when she was little were her parents, which means...
She looks up, studying Rinnosuke. "Are you her dad...?"
"Ah? Er, no." Rinnosuke straightens up, looking just a little embarrassed as he fusses with his glasses. "We aren't related. I've known her since she was very young, though." He draws himself up to his full height, smirking proudly. "I made her mini-hakkero, and helped with some of her early magical studies. I doubt she'd be where she is if it weren't for me."
Sunshine squirms with disbelief as she processes this idea. The idea of Marisa having to rely on somebody else is downright silly. "Um. She's really strong," she says, making sure that he knows just who he's talking about.
"She is, isn't she?"
Sunshine still isn't sure that he understands the full weight of his statement, but he acts like he's telling the truth. She's still a bit uneasy as she looks back to the shelves. The one on the other side of her is just as dusty as the first one, and Ichigo is already halfheartedly swiping a rag across its surface. Sunshine leans in to help, picking up a weird helmet and wiping it off. The dust on it is so thick that she can feel it clumping up beneath the cloth.
Rinnosuke watches this, conflicted. "You really don't need to do that, you know."
Sunshine shakes her head and keeps going. Rinnosuke sighs. Before he can step in, though, another voice comes from the doorway to the back of the shop.
"Oh, you're employing children now? Don't you think that's a little shameless?"
It's a familiar voice, and it makes Sunshine tense up. There, standing in the doorway, is a lady in violet clothes with blonde hair. Sunshine remembers that her name is Yukari Yakumo. She also remembers how much she teased her at the shrine. She takes a step away.
"Hello, Yukari," Rinnosuke says, as if this were perfectly normal. "And no. This is Marisa and Alice's daughter. I'm watching her for them, but it seems like she's intent on cleaning the shop."
"A likely story," Yukari says.
"It's the truth."
"In any case, I've refilled your kerosene. This should be the last load for the winter, I think."
"Thank you," he says, and dryly adds, "I expect that you can take your payment on your way out."
"What, don't you enjoy my company?" Yukari asks, mock-wounded.
"I wouldn't know about your company, but I'd prefer it if less of my stock disappeared after your visits."
For just a moment, Yukari actually looks annoyed. Then, she straightens up, a smile spreading on her face as her eyes settle onto Sunshine. "Well, if you're tired of paying for your imports, I suppose I could pay you for a change."
"... what?"
Yukari advances on Sunshine. There's a closed parasol in her hand—was it there before?—and she gives it a lazy spin, tapping the tip against the floor at the end. "Oh, please don't worry about it. I have just the thing in mind."
Sunshine steps backward even faster than Yukari advances, but she only has so much room in the cramped shop. Soon, her back is pressed to a wall. She shifts in place uneasily.
"Yukari," Rinnosuke says, "I don't know what you're on about, but I'd prefer it if you left Marisa's daughter out of it."
"Ahh, it's fine. I just need to grab my payment, and Sunshine and I are already acquainted. We're the best of friends, aren't we Sunshine?"
Sunshine isn't sure if there's a right answer to that question. She squeaks, and barely manages to carry out the hand signs to signal Ichigo to hover in front of her. Ichigo raises her tiny hands defensively.
"I really am going to have to ask you to stop," Rinnosuke says.
"This won't take long." Yukari steps closer, and leans right over Ichigo. Pressed to the wall, Sunshine tries to decide whether she should activate the doll's emergency mode. Yukari reaches for her ear, Sunshine's eyes follow her hand every centimeter of the way...
And Yukari pauses, giving a melodramatic sigh of relief. "Ah, yes, I was right. That's where I misplaced it."
Yukari slowly draws her hand outward, and Sunshine doesn't dare to move. Soon, though, she sees something out of the corner of her eye, and inclines her head just a bit in that direction to take a look. From her ear, Yukari is pulling out an entire cake. It's on a platter, and it's the biggest dessert that Sunshine has ever seen, with fat ribbons of icing around the corners and a crown of strawberries jutting from the top. Yukari pulls it back far enough for Sunshine to see, then looks down at it, tutting. "Silly me. I meant to put it in my pocket and it ended up in Sunshine's ear instead. These mistakes do happen, you know."
Sunshine pats at her ear frantically, but thankfully, there's no hole in it big enough for a cake to come out of. But how did a cake get there in the first place?! She isn't sure, and it bothers her. If cakes start coming out of her head all the time, that will be really weird.
"You didn't need to torment the girl," Rinnosuke says.
"And yet, you didn't do anything to stop me. But, here, this time I will pay you, since I've apparently been such a bother. And conveniently enough, it's almost your dinner time, isn't it?"
Rinnosuke looks at the cake, deadpan. "I'm not sure what you're playing at, but I don't believe for a second that you're giving me a free cake instead of asking for payment."
"Whether you believe it or not, it's still happening," Yukari says sweetly. "Now, why don't we set the table so Sunshine can have a slice of cake?"
Usually, when Sunshine has sweets at home, Alice rations them carefully. Not Yukari, though. Yukari makes a show of cutting her the biggest, most generous wedge that she can justify. It's almost the size of Sunshine's head, a gooey slab of confectionery. Rinnosuke gets a rather smaller slice, and Yukari herself, none. Once she's laid out the cake, she steps back from the table and bows with a flourish. "Dinner is served."
Rinnosuke pokes at the cake, like it's a puzzle that he just hasn't figured out yet. "Are you going to talk to me about your actual payment?"
"My, so suspicious. But no. I think I'll be quite satisfied with this." Yukari smiles sweetly. "Consider it a gift from me to you. And Sunshine, of course."
"Right." Rinnosuke doesn't sound like he believes this for a moment.
"With that, I must get back home, I'm afraid. Ran is performing some tasks for me tonight, and I need to check in on her." Still smiling, she gives another bow, and like that, she vanishes.
Rinnosuke scowls at the spot where she'd been, then sighs. "She probably stole something again." He looks back to Sunshine and forces a smile. "Well, we might as well eat it anyway. I have to admit, it's been a while since I had something this decadent."
Sunshine has been eating for weeks, but really sweet things still taste so good that it's sometimes scary. So, she eats the cake carefully, in small, measured bites. While Yukari was cutting it, she'd fished her notebook out of her bag. Now, she doodles with her free hand while she eats. Tonight's picture is of her parents. She wants to draw whatever kind of monster they're probably fighting, but she isn't sure what kind of monsters like fallen stars. Instead, she draws a really big monster rabbit. Every time Marisa talks about going to space, she mostly mentions fighting rabbits, so a rabbit is probably pretty close.
Rinnosuke watches this from across the table, with a mix of curiosity and bored detachment. "You've already met Yukari before?"
Sunshine nods without looking up from her drawing.
"I thought so. She seems to enjoy tormenting you." He snorts lightly at this. "It looks like we're her preferred victims."
Sunshine looks up from the drawing, staring at the cake in deep thought. She hates to admit it, but even though Yukari's been a little weird, she's never hurt her. And... She flips her notebook to the next page and writes, [BUT SHE GAVE ME CAKE.]
Rinnosuke only looks confused by this for a moment, partially because he's reading upside down. "Well, I suppose she did..."
[AND STRAWBERRIES]
"Strawberries?"
[AT THE SHRINE]
"Ah. Well, maybe that's so, but I still don't think it justifies teasing a child. Honestly, I'd give the woman a piece of my mind, but even for an adult, she's scary."
Sunshine nods, and the conversation ends. She finishes her cake, too, swallowing the last big bite of it. It lets her focus on the picture, while Rinnosuke gathers up the plates and busies himself around the kitchen. Sunshine decides that the monster rabbit needs to look scarier, so she adds big bat wings on the back.
While she's drawing, it creeps up on her. It takes her a few minutes to notice that she's tapping her foot on the floor. Soon, she's squirming in her seat, fighting constant impulses to do even more. She tries to keep herself calm as she flips back to the writing page, slides to the floor, and walks over to Rinnosuke.
"Ah?" Rinnosuke pauses in wiping a plate clean and looks down to her. "Do you need something?"
"Um," she says, and squirms from foot to foot. "... um."
"... you don't need to use the bathroom, do you? I hadn't thought that you could."
Sunshine shakes her head desperately, and settles for writing in the notebook. She barely has the patience to finish writing before she flips it around. [PLAY]
That doesn't make Rinnosuke look any less confused. "Well, you're still welcome to play with the toy robot. Or any toys that you brought, of course."
She shakes her head again. [DRAGON GAME]
"The... dragon game?"
She nods.
"I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the rules for that one."
[PLEASE. DRAGON GAME PLEASE.]
He hesitates for a moment, then shakes his head with a soft laugh. "Well, when you ask so nicely, I can hardly say no, can I? Very well. You'll need to teach me the rules, though."
There is a problem.
Usually, Sunshine and Marisa play the dragon game, or something equally exciting, every day after dinner. It helps her burn off her extra energy, and after thirty minutes or so of running around and whacking Marisa with a wooden sword, she's usually tired and ready to start getting ready for bed.
Today, after forty-five minutes of that kind of thing, she's still so energetic that she feels like she might explode. It doesn't help that Rinnosuke isn't very good at being a dragon. When Marisa is the dragon, she chases Sunshine all around the yard, putting up a good fight before she ends up standing in place, stomping and growling, and lets Sunshine slay her.
Rinnosuke doesn't do that. Mostly he shies away from the sword and gives halfhearted growls. He keeps holding onto his glasses while he dodges her attacks, like he's afraid they might break. The one time he gives her a good chase, he has to stop for a few minutes at the end to catch his breath.
"Sunshine," he says. "Don't you think that we've played enough?"
Sunshine reluctantly stops whacking him with the stick that she's using as an imaginary sword. She really doesn't feel like stopping. She feels like she needs to be running and screaming and dancing and fighting all at the same time, and she can barely stay in one spot. Rinnosuke doesn't seem like he's having much fun being the dragon, though. She reluctantly nods.
"Good." He straightens up with a sigh. "If you still want to play, maybe we can do something with the robot toy. That should be a bit less..." He rubs at the spot where she'd been hitting him. "... violent."
They head inside, and Sunshine sits down on the floor, while Rinnosuke grabs the robot toy from the shelf. "You got so distracted by the dust earlier, I didn't even get a chance to show you this toy's best feature." He sits it down on the floor and carefully poses it, with one arm raised and pointing in her direction. "Please observe."
Smirking confidently, he presses a small button near the base of the robot's arm. Its fist flies off and smacks into Sunshine's chest. It doesn't hurt, but she goes wide-eyed, staring at it. "Ah!" She picks up the severed fist and looks at it. "You hurt it..."
"No, I don't think that's the intention. It's a special attack. I've talked to experts on outside world toys, and they tell me that this sort of thing is a common weapon for robots." Rinnosuke looks pretty proud of himself for knowing this bit of trivia. He takes the fist and slides it back into the arm with a soft click. Then, he aims it at Ichigo and shoots again. The fist hits the little doll in the stomach before clattering to the floor.
Ichigo isn't hurt, but Sunshine quivers in outrage at this aggression. Rinnosuke starts lining up another shot, and she springs for her feet, gesturing for Ichigo to dodge. Soon, they've developed a new game. Rinnosuke tries to shoot Ichigo with the robot, and Sunshine guides Ichigo through dodging. She gestures energetically, jumping and waving her arms, still brimming with more energy than she knows what to do with. The robot is a scary monster, and Ichigo is the heroine coming to beat her up and resolve the incident. At least, that's what she tries to imagine. Ichigo isn't very good at pretending to be a heroine.
She's pretty good at dodging though, but not perfect. The fist ricochets off Ichigo's stomach again, and Sunshine decides that this offense can't be forgiven. She points at the robot and squeaks, "Attack!"
Ichigo obeys, firing a stream of multicolored bullets at the robot. Rinnosuke just barely manages to jerk back before they hit it, sending the robot clattering across the floor. The monster is defeated.
Rinnosuke studies this in silence for a moment, looking bewildered. "Your doll can shoot?"
Sunshine nods proudly. "Her name is Ichigo."
"Of course. Er, either way, please don't have her shoot in here again. Some of the merchandise is very fragile."
Sunshine pouts, but accepts this.
"Actually..." Rinnosuke glances toward a clock on the wall. "It's nearly your bedtime. I suppose that your parents usually read you a bedtime story?"
She nods again.
"Ah, well, you're in luck. I just happen to carry a variety of exotic stories from the outside world." He gestures toward the book shelf. "Would you like to pick one?"
After the second round of playing, Sunshine isn't quite bursting with energy, but she isn't the least bit tired, either. She doesn't think that Rinnosuke wants to hear that, though. She pushes herself to her feet and toddles over to have a look. Some of the books on the shelf are still upside down, and it sends a twinge of annoyance through her. Also, the titles don't make much sense. Some of the books are thin, with names like Station Master Cat and the Choo-Choo Train. Some of the books are thick and have names like The Wife of Jidaiya. Neither of these titles sound very fun to her. After some thought, she grabs a magazine named Review of Medieval Warfare.
Rinnosuke looks uncertain when she holds it up to him. "Are you sure this is what you'd like to read?"
She nods, and turns it to show him the cover. "Um. There's a sword on the front. I like it."
"Well..." He glances over it again, clearly reluctant. He caves in, though. "I suppose it can't hurt. If nothing else, something this boring should help you fall to sleep faster, right?"
It doesn't.
Rinnosuke leads her to a small bed that's sitting in the hallway near the back of the building. She's pretty sure that it's just another piece of merchandise, but it's still pretty comfy when he tucks her in. He settles onto a stool next to the bed, and does his best to read the magazine to her like a bedtime story. It turns out to not be very good, though. Most of the articles aren't about sword fights. They're about really boring things. They sound a lot like Miss Kamishirasawa's history lessons, actually. Somewhere around the third article, Rinnosuke glances up from the magazine. "It's been a while," he says with a yawn. "Are you sleepy yet?"
She shakes her head.
"Well... I guess a few more shouldn't hurt."
Sunshine doesn't think the articles are very interesting, but she doesn't want to tell Rinnosuke that and hurt his feelings. He reads a few more of them. Halfway through an article about a bunch of people digging up old helmets somewhere, he gives a bigger yawn and shakes his head. "I really don't know if I can keep doing this. Are you sure you aren't sleepy yet?"
She nods.
"... I'll finish this article, at least."
He doesn't finish the article, either. Another few paragraphs in, and he's half-mumbling his sentences, losing his place occasionally. Then, he trails off and slumps down in his seat. Within seconds, he's soundly sleeping.
Sunshine looks at him, confused. She's seen people fall asleep plenty of times before—she watched Alice go to sleep dozens of times when she was a normal doll, after all—but she's never seen somebody fall asleep in a chair, let alone by accident. "Um," she says. "Um."
She leans forward and gently pokes Rinnosuke's shoulder. He stirs in his sleep, but doesn't respond.
She considers this. Rinnosuke really did seem like he wanted to sleep, so it would be mean to wake him up now. Instead, she settles back into the bed and closes her own eyes, trying to fall asleep. It's no use, though. She's still wide awake and full of energy. She starts fidgeting out of boredom, and soon, she can't take it anymore. She rises from bed. Ichigo dutifully hovers over from her resting spot near the foot of the bed.
"Shhh," Sunshine tells her. "Don't wake him up. Let's go do something fun."
Sunshine used to spend every night awake by herself, so she's used to this. It's really fun, actually. She sits down in the middle of the floor and draws a dozen different pictures. She does her homework. She plays a game with Ichigo and the toy robot, where the robot launches its fist and Ichigo tries to catch it before it hits the floor. She looks through some of the books, but most of them don't make much sense. She cleans more of the shelves, but gives up on it when she starts feeling pretty tired.
She's just starting to think about going to bed again when somebody knocks on the door.
Sunshine freezes, in the middle of drawing another picture. Rinnosuke is still asleep. People almost never knock on their door at home, but she knows that it means somebody wants in.
They knock again.
Sunshine scoops the toy robot up in her arms and cautiously approaches the door, with Ichigo trailing along behind her. If it's a monster, between the robot and Ichigo, she should be pretty safe. She leans in close to the door. "Um. Who is it?"
"... Sunshine?" It's Alice's voice. "Sunshine, it's us. Can you please open up?"
"Oh!" That's way better than a monster. Sunshine has to fumble with the lock a few times, but soon, she manages to open the door.
Outside, thte sky is just starting to light up. Marisa and Alice are standing there, both looking pretty tired and a little dirty, but smiling. "Good morning, kiddo," Marisa says... then pauses, glancing around the shop. "Where's Rinnosuke?"
"There's your problem," Alice says, sighing. "You fed her cake for dinner."
"Yukari fed her cake for dinner," Rinnosuke corrects her, but without much force to it. He's still half-asleep after being shaken awake, with his clothes rumpled and his glasses on crooked. "I was an innocent bystander."
"Yes, but you shouldn't have let her. I told you last night, Sunshine isn't a human. The more food you give her, the longer she'll be awake, and if it's something like cake..."
"I understand," Rinnosuke says, and glances to Sunshine. "She doesn't seem to have minded it, though."
"I had fun..." Sunshine says. She still isn't sure why her parents like sleeping so much. Sleeping is okay, but she'd play all night if she could.
"You look kinda tired now, though," Marisa says.
Sunshine gives a reluctant nod. She's finally running out of energy, even though the sun is coming up.
"We'll have breakfast when we get home. That should give you enough energy to get through the day," Alice says. She doesn't sound like she likes the idea of Sunshine being awake for two days straight.
"Who's your new friend there?" Marisa asks.
Sunshine holds the toy up. "It's a robot."
"Huh. Kinda cute, I guess."
"Yes, it's cute," Alice says. "I'm not sure what it's supposed to be, though."
"Ah, well," Rinnosuke says, with a smile growing on his face. "I actually wondered that, myself. I've read quite a bit on the topic, if you'd be interested in hearing it."
"Hmm? Well, if it's interesting enough to research, then I wouldn't mind." Alice doesn't seem to notice the fact that Marisa is giving not-so-subtle, frantic shakes of her head.
"Ah, well." Rinnosuke pushes his glasses up his face, suddenly looking much more awake. "I don't suppose you're familiar with its etymology?"
"I'm not, no. Is it from—"
Alice is cut off when Marisa elbows her side. She's still shaking her head, and mouths, "Don't."
Rinnosuke doesn't seem to notice, though. He's already deep in thought, and soon he begins. "Well, 'robot' is merely a loanword. I believe that the original foreign word is the English 'rowboat,' which refers to a small boat that needs oars to move. In ancient times, of course, such boats were known as triremes. Now, it's important to remember that kings and emperors would often travel on such vessels. We can ask the important question: Would such a dignified official be willing to put up with the needs of a crew of servants? I think that the answer is no; sooner or later, they would have tried to automate the role. That leads, of course, to a poem called Metamorphoses, in which there is a story of..."
Five minutes pass.
Rinnosuke is still going.
"... and while they are known to turn to dust if the name is removed from their mouth, it's safe to say that this rarely happens in a manufacturing environment. Now, if we consider the drawbacks of—"
"A-ah, Rinnosuke," Alice says, cutting him off. "We do need to get home soon, I'm afraid."
"... ah?" Rinnosuke blinks as his mind is dragged back to reality, kicking and screaming. "Are you sure? This next part is fairly interesting, I think."
"Ah, yes, we really should. We wouldn't want Sunshine to fall asleep on the way, after all."
"Oh, of course. If you'd like to hear the rest, let me know sometime. I think there are some interesting parallels to your work. Actually, I did find one story of a clockwork doll that—"
"I'll be sure to let you know," Alice says, cutting him off again in a tone so polite and interested that even Sunshine can tell it's faked. "Sunshine, don't forget to thank Rinnosuke for the new toy."
Sunshine looks up to him. He doesn't look quite so intimidating now, at least. Even so, thanking people already feels really hard. It takes a few seconds for her to work her way up to, "Thanks for the robot..."
"You're welcome," he says. "You're free to stay here whenever you'd like, Sunshine. You're a very polite young lady, considering who you were raised by."
"He's talking about you, dear," Alice says, then glances back to Sunshine. "Right, then. Let's head home."
They're barely out the door before Marisa grins over to her. "We've got lots of new stories to tell you, too. Last night we had to fight a tengu, a werewolf, and one of Yukari's pets."
Sunshine fights the urge to hop up and down in excitement. Before she can say anything, though, a big yawn forces its way from her mouth.
"Ah, yeah, still tired, huh? Here." Marisa scoops her up and sits her on her shoulders, riding piggyback. "Comfy?"
"Uh-huh."
"Good. We can call this your bedtime story, then. So, anyway, we're walking through the forest, right? And we hear the brush moving behind us, and we turn around, and there are these red eyes..."
Sunshine leans forward excitedly, trying to absorb every word of the story that she can. At some point during the trip, though, she nods off and falls asleep. That's still okay, because there's plenty of time to hear the story once they get home.