A/N: Well, hello! I'm trying to update all my stories today, after a long, long, long wait! SO, here ya go!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of it! Never have, never will!

Chapter 5
Tears and Ramen

Yumi still had tears in her eyes as she walked away from the Chiroru Bakery. It felt like a disavow. All the questions she had felt like they were going to explode out of her. She wiped her eyes and thought to herself 'I'm not going to let this happen again. I suppose that he really loved that persocom too much to let her go. Loved her more than…me.' Yumi nodded to herself in agreement. 'Yeah, no more of this. I will not cry!'

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Today, Hideki needed to go shopping for some more food. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough money to buy something with real substance. So, ramen noodles it is! He, Yui and Chi walked into the convenience store, and headed towards where the ramen would be. This was the first time Yui had ever been in a convenience store, so she was very curious.

She looked at everything with a certain kind of wonder. There were sections full of toys and stuffed animals. She liked the stuffed animals, they were cute and cuddly, though she really couldn't feel how soft they were. Chi stayed close to Hideki, always on the lookout for something she could buy for him.

When Hideki stopped in front of the ramen and started to pick up a few packages, Chi knew what she would buy for him.

"Let Chi buy those for you," Chi said taking out her money envelope.

"Oh no Chi, that money is for you to do something with," Hideki said grabbing another package.

"But Chi only wants to buy something for Hideki. Chi wants to make Hideki happy."

Hideki looked down at Chi who had a pleading expression on her face. She really wanted to buy something for him.

Hideki smiled at her, "Ok, if that's what you really want to buy, then I guess you can."

Chi made a big smile and offered to carry some of the ramen for him. Hideki gave her a few packages, then realized that Yui wasn't with them.

"Where's Yui?" Hideki asked.

Chi shook her head showing that she didn't know. Hideki walked through all the aisles with Chi following closely behind him. He found Yui in an aisle filled with costumes and toys. She seemed content just looking at all the many things. Hideki went over to her and touched her shoulder.

"It's time to go, let's check out," Hideki said.

"Ok," Yui said. She followed Hideki and Chi to the counter where Chi happily bought all the ramen for Hideki.

They walked back to the apartment, when the door was opened Plum ran up to them dancing and singing, "Welcome home! Welcome Back! Welcome to your humble shack!" (That came from one of the Chobits mangas. It's such a cute song for her to sing!)

"Hello Plum," Hideki said walking to the counter to put the bags of ramen down.

Yui and Chi followed shutting the door behind them.

"You have two messages!" Plum announced loudly. "Would you like me to play them back?"

"Yeah, that'd be good." Hideki held out his hand and Plum jumped onto it.

"First message!" Plum's voice changed to the person who left the message. The wavering voice of Yumi came on. "Hideki…it's Yumi…um, I was just wondering if…well, you're such a nice guy, and you've helped me before in a situation like this…and since Chi works there…I was just wondering, if you'd know…um, bye." Plum's normal voice came back to her, end of first message! Second message!" Plum's voice changed to match Ueda's, "Hello Hideki. Sorry to bother you, but I was just wondering if you had talked to Yumi today, and if she mentioned anything about today. Do you know what's troubling her? Well, I know this really doesn't concern you, but I just thought you might know what was wrong. Well, goodbye." Plum's normal cheery voice returned to her, "end of last message!"

Hideki lowered his hand to the ground and allowed Plum to jump off. "I wonder what's wrong with Yumi." Hideki pondered. "Something happened between her and Ueda again?" He questioned himself. "Yumi's voice sounded so sad, so did manager Ueda's."

Plum's voice spoke up again, "You have only 5 minutes until classes begin! Racers to your mark get set and GO!"

"What!" Hideki ran over to the clock, his mouth agape. "Oh my gosh! I can't get there in 5 minutes!" Hideki grabbed his book bag and grabbed a few stray books from the ground and bolted out of the apartment.

Yui and Chi watched Hideki leave and just sat there. Yui looked at Chi and smiled, "What should we do now?"

Chi shrugged. Plum jumped onto Yui's shoulder. "Let's play a game!" Plum jumped down and instructed Chi and Yui to stand up! "Ok! Plum says stand on one foot!"

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After classes were over, Hideki walked towards the apartment to get ready for work. He'd be able to talk to Yumi there, then after that he'd be able to answer Ueda's questions. With his plan set he unlocked the door to the apartment to find Plum, Yui, and Chi on one foot spinning around with one hand on their head.

"What are all you doing?" Hideki asked confused.

"Playing a game," The three of them said together.

"Oh, ok." Hideki was still slightly confused, but he just ignored it and put his book bag down by the table. He decided he was going to eat first, then go to work, since he had some time. He went and took out some ramen and heated it up in the microwave, then he went to the table and sat and ate while watching the three persocoms play the game. They sat down stood up and did all sorts of crazy things.

"Plum says stick out your tongue!" She demonstrated and the other two copied. "Now shut one eye!" Both Yui and Chi shut their eye. "Sorry! I didn't say 'Plum says!' Nobody wins!" Yui and Chi were both confused, and Plum danced around the room in victory.

Hideki finished his ramen and put his dishes in the sink. "I'll be going to work now," he said, "so you three be good and don't go anywhere while I'm gone."

Chi and Yui nodded while Plum yelled out an energetic "Okie-Dokie!"

Hideki left the apartment and headed towards work. When he arrived he put on his uniform and looked around for Yumi, but she was nowhere to be seen. He went over to the manager and asked him if he saw Yumi, but he replied that he hadn't seen her since this morning. 'I wonder where Yumi could be,' Hideki wondered to himself.

A/N: Kind of an abrupt ending, but I can't think of anything else to write for this chapter! Well please review, and thanks to Lady Yunalesca88, SweetazKande, Angel Sunami, BloodAngel, Jazz7, InuYashaphr33k, Zeiyuki, luvfaytdestini, and Ame no Majo for reviewing the last chapter!