[Summary: Nanako takes Souji to Junes, where he meets a new friend and she buys lots of cabbages.]

[6/19: Sunday]

"Souji-kun, I'm going out!"

"...Okay."

Nanako scowled to herself. Absorbed in watching the television, the little boy hadn't even looked at her. It was only a commercial, too! It was probably a miracle that he'd even answered.

Change of plans. "Souji-kun! Did you hear me? I said we're going out!"

Now he looked at her. "T-training with Chie-san?" He frowned because she wasn't wearing her P.E. uniform. That was because it was in the wash after the camping trip.

"Every day's great at..." she trailed off, then waved her hand for him to finish.

"J-Junes...?"

"Yeah! That's right!"

Souji became animated. He pushed up from his seat at the tea table in a hurry. "We're going to Junes?"

She nodded. "Have you been there before?"

"Long time ago," he murmured.

"Turn off the TV," she told him, "and go use the bathroom one last time, okay? And then we'll go!"

While he was doing that, Nanako left a note for Aunt Seta just in case the woman came home and wondered where her son was—although both scenarios were equally unlikely.

They headed out, Nanako firmly holding the boy's hand and taking the opportunity to tell him all about the camping trip. "You know what would've been even more fun, though?" she asked.

The boy looked up at her with curiosity.

"If you could've come with!" she declared. "I know Chie would've welcomed you, and Yukiko is really nice, too. You know, she's shy around boys, so I think you'd get along well."

Souji smiled at her, though she wasn't quite sure what part had amused him.

Junes was about twice as far from home as the picnic area at the flood plain. It was farther than Souji had ever gone on foot, as far as she knew. His school and the day care were pretty close to home. The takeout he bought them for dinner was usually from the corner stand just a street down.

"Here we are, then! Juuuunes!" she said as they approached the store. The jaunty Junes jingle flooded their ears. Unconsciously, the boy began to hum along with it. Nanako ruffled his hair without thinking, but fortunately the boy didn't seem to mind.

Honestly, Nanako had nothing on her shopping list. She'd simply wanted to go somewhere with her cousin. She was definitely going to take him to the movie theater someday, but a bus ride might be too overwhelming for him at this stage. He needed to get used to going out with her, first, so her plan for the day was simply to wander around the store with him.

Junes's ground floor contained the grocery department. They walked by the store's outer displays of fruits and vegetables.

"Cucumber!" Nanako said. "You can use it as a sword." She held up a cucumber and noted how thick and curved it was and then decided that maybe she shouldn't be playing with vegetables.

Then she spied the cabbages and remembered that she'd never bothered to buy any for Adachi even though she'd promised him.

Wow.

Cabbage was cheap!

She returned to the front of the store to grab a shopping cart and then proceeded to fill it up with cabbages. Man, all this and it wasn't even going to cost her 1000 yen? Adachi-san was a cheap date!

Souji didn't say anything, but his face upon looking at the cart full of cabbage expressed it for her: 'What are you doing?'

Nanako just laughed.

But she didn't relish pushing the full cart around as they wandered through the store, so she left the cart there by the cabbage display. Worst case scenario: someone put them all back on the display and she had to get a new cart later.

They walked past a few more displays. Souji pointed to some sort of root vegetable and asked what it was. She read him the sign and said she hadn't a clue either. "Junes sells everything, even things no one's heard of!" she joked.

All this food was making her hungry, though, so their next stop was the food court on the store's roof, where she ordered a set of rice cakes for the two of them. She sat Souji down at the DEATH Squad's usual table and they ate. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Yosuke cleaning up a recently-vacated table.

"Yo yo Yosuke!" she called.

The brown-haired boy paused in wiping down the table, then waved the spray bottle at her in acknowledgment and went back to work. A short while later he joined her at the long table, sitting across from her and Souji. He was wearing the Junes part-timer apron and also a hair net, probably because he was working at the food court. "Hey, Nanako," he greeted.

"B-big sis..."

Nanako looked down. Souji was clinging to her blouse with tight little fists. "Souji-kun. This is Yosuke. He's in my class at school. You could say he's my Takeyoshi-kun." Well, maybe she wouldn't go that far, but it got the point across. "He sits behind me."

"Hi," said Yosuke. "I've heard a lot about you. Don't let your 'big sis' boss you around!" He held out his hand across the table for a handshake, but Souji just trembled. "Err..."

Nanako wrapped her arm around Souji and hugged him close. "It's okay," she whispered soothingly.

"I-I'll leave," Yosuke offered, "if, umm, he needs to be alone."

He made to get up, but Nanako shook her head. "He just needs to get used to you. It'll be okay if we keep talking. So, tell me, why weren't you smart enough to request today off? I mean, it's after the camping trip. I'd want a day off after that hot mess!"

"It wasn't my fault," he said, "but one of the part-timers called out again, and... Yeah, I'm exhausted after the trip, but I can't help it. I'm the go-to guy around here."

"Mm," she said, not exactly sympathetic. "So you're gonna have enough money... to buy me and Souji-kun a drink!"

Yosuke opened his mouth to protest and just turned it into a sigh instead. "Fine."

While he was getting the drinks, Nanako whispered to Souji that Chie was in charge of kicks, and Yosuke was in charge of drinks. And Nanako was just in charge in general. No need to be humble in front of the boy, really.

"Here you go," said Yosuke, sliding a can of Second Maid across the table to Nanako and setting down a root beer float in front of Souji.

"A root beer float?" Nanako exclaimed. "Big spender! You're spoiling him!"

Yosuke shrugged. "He looks like he could use one!" He pushed a napkin and a big plastic spoon across the table, too.

Souji blinked up at the float. It was a bit taller than he could reach.

"Oh man!" said Yosuke. "I should've had them put it in a smaller cup. I'm sorry, little guy!"

"It's okay." Nanako simply lifted Souji into her lap, and with the added height, he could now reach the float. She handed him the spoon and let him get to work.

"So, uh, how old is he?" Yosuke asked.

Nanako gave him a look. "Ask him yourself!"

"Uh... Souji-kun? How old are you?"

The boy swallowed a scoop of ice cream. "I'm six."

"Yeah?" Yosuke said. "You know, I'm sixteen! And... I'm almost seventeen. My birthday is this coming Wednesday, in fact."

"Whoa, really?" said Nanako. "I didn't know that."

"Y-yeah. It's not a big deal though. That's why I didn't mention it."

"Are you one of those people who hates birthdays?" she asked. "I mean, I understand not wanting to acknowledge that you're getting older, but to be such a spoilsport and say, 'Don't do anything for me,' – well, that's no fun!"

"I like birthdays," he said, "but I don't want to be that annoying person who's always reminding everyone that it's his birthday, you know?"

"Oh, yeah," she agreed. "That's pretty annoying, true. I bet you were like that in middle school."

"Maybe," he admitted with a half-smile. "And everyone forgot anyway! Hey, when's your birthday, Nanako?"

"October 4th. Quite a ways away! I'll probably just spend it with Souji-kun." She tickled the boy affectionately, which made him drop his spoon. "Oops! Sorry, Sou-chan!" She attempted to hand it back, but he crawled out of her lap.

"Done?" Yosuke asked. "How was it?"

"Good," Souji murmured. "Th-Thank you..."

Nanako took a napkin and wiped some stray ice cream off the boy's face. "Must have been!" she said. "You ate most of it. Hmm, there's some left. Can I...?"

"H-him," the boy said. "Give it to..."

"You want Yosuke to have the rest?" She gave Souji a quizzical look, and then shrugged. "How about it, Yosuke? Seems like it's mostly root beer."

"Sure," he said. "Pass it over."

Nanako watched Souji as he watched Yosuke finish the drink. The boy had such an intense stare; it was a wonder Yosuke hadn't noticed it, but no, he was just sucking down the root beer without a care.

"Pretty good," he said when he finished. "I should get them for myself more often!"

"I should get you to get me one!" Nanako flashed her teeth at him.

"D-don't..." Souji stuttered. "Don't boss him around..."

"Wha?" said Nanako, unable to believe that Souji had just spoken up like that, and on Yosuke's behalf, to boot! She almost said, 'What's gotten into you?' but that sounded too condescending, like something Aunt Seta would say, so instead she glared at him.

"You tell her, partner!" Yosuke encouraged.

Nanako held her hands up and wiggled her fingers at Souji like claws. "You'd better prepare for the biggest tickling session ever!"

"Big sis!" Souji wailed and tried to scoot away on the bench, but Nanako had already pounced. The boy broke out into giggles under her wrath, and despite his protests, anyone could tell he was having a good time. When she stopped they both spent a while catching their breaths.

She caught Yosuke looking at them somewhat wistfully and she lifted her fingers at him. "Are you next?"

Yosuke held up his hands in defense. "N-no, I'm good! I was just thinking, you should take him to the playground. I mean, we have one and all."

Nanako sized up the rooftop playground. It was meant for little kids, so she'd never taken note of it before. There was a sandbox with plastic buckets and shovels in the sand, a balance beam, a horse spring rider, and a slide shaped like an elephant.

"The sandbox is the worst," Yosuke commented. "The sand gets everywhere, and I hate sweeping it up!"

"Everywhere, huh?" she murmured absently. "Come on, Souji-kun! Why don't you go down the slide?"

Souji looked at it with apprehension.

"It's just an elephant, honey. Elephants aren't scary, although they never forget!" To demonstrate that it was safe, she sat down on the end of the slide. The boy was unconvinced. She tried pleading with him to at least do it once. "Pretend it's a dinosaur!"

"Well, you shouldn't force him if he doesn't—" Yosuke began.

"Yosuke! You go down the slide!" she ordered.

"Really...?" Yosuke sighed. A moment later he went over to the slide and climbed it. It wasn't a large slide; in fact, Nanako was taller than it. Then he went down the slide, but the momentum and poor incline was barely enough to bring him to the bottom. He jumped to his feet with an overdramatic flourish anyway. "Ta-dah!"

"See? It's fun," Nanako said. "Hey, it's either that or we play in the sandbox." She put a hand on her hip even while still sitting on the slide's frame. Souji scowled and finally began to climb the slide's ladder. "He doesn't like getting his clothes dirty," she whispered to Yosuke, "so I knew that would work."

When he reached the top, though, Souji didn't want to go down.

"I suppose I should've expected this," Nanako said quietly with a regretful expression. She stood up, spread her arms apart at the end of the slide, and tried to persuade him. "Come on, I'll catch you!"

Souji didn't move.

"Uh, it's okay, I can bring him down," Yosuke volunteered. "He's not the first kid who wouldn't go down, and won't be the last I'll have to rescue from the top. Believe me." He rolled his eyes.

"Will you? Thanks."

Yosuke climbed up after Souji and tentatively put his hands on the boy's shoulder. He whispered something into the boy's ear, and the boy murmured back at him, and Nanako was somewhat annoyed that she couldn't hear a word. Then Yosuke pulled the boy to his chest and lifted him down to the ground. "There we go, partner! Ground floor. Well, not exactly ground floor, since it's the roof, but..." He trailed off, possibly because the boy was looking up at him so thankfully.

It made Nanako set her face in determination. Souji was gonna go down that slide today. She grabbed him suddenly and heaved him back to the top, and then climbed up after him. "We'll go down it together!"

"N-Nanako!" Yosuke protested. "I don't know if the slide can handle that. It's meant for kids half his age!"

Nah, although it was plastic, the slide was sturdy enough. She ignored him and sat at the top, pulling Souji into her lap. He whimpered in protest. "Lieutenant Briefs, we have a difficult mission ahead," she told him to try and comfort him. "Do you think you can handle it?"

"B-big sis..." he whined.

"But the world needs us to do this. Or the sandmen win!"

"Uh, umm... if big sis is with me..." He leaned his head back until his forehead touched her chin.

She hugged him closed. "All right, then, hang on tight, LB!"

She pushed off and they went uneventfully down the slide. At the bottom, she continued to hold him. After a moment, he let out his held breath. A smile appeared on his face, and then he cuddled up against her chest. Yeah, it wasn't necessarily that the slide had been fun; he was happy to have Nanako hugging him. It made her happy, too.

"How about it?" she whispered. "Again?"

He shook his head, and she relented. She ruffled his hair and gently pushed him into getting out of her lap.

Yosuke joined them at the end of the slide, and Nanako left Souji with him just for a moment to get a drink of her soda. When she got back, Yosuke was telling the boy a story about how he had been afraid of heights some time ago. Nanako didn't believe it for a second—he had a wind-based Persona, after all! He'd probably always been up a tree when he was little.

"What, is that Souji-kun?" a playful voice asked in mock astonishment. "And outside the house? Is it the end of the world?"

Nanako turned her head to see Detective Adachi standing outside the play area. "Oh, hi," she greeted. "Yeah, I dragged him out today! He totally needs some sun."

Adachi chuckled lightly. "He sure does."

"By the way, Adachi-san," she said, "I wanted to give something to you."

"I'm pretty sure I didn't leave anything behind the last time I visited," he replied with a bemused look. "I have the lighter with me..."

"It's on the ground floor. Come along. And you too, Yosuke, I need your discount!" Then the cabbages would be even cheaper!

"Ah, er, problem, Nanako," Yosuke said. He sounded a little distressed.

She looked and found Souji clinging to her friend's pants. It would take a bit more time, apparently, for the little boy to overcome this knee-jerk reaction to Adachi's presence. She walked over to Souji, patted him on the head, and told him it was okay. She then told Yosuke to meet her at the checkout lines when the boy was ready to go with him.

"All right, Adachi-san," she said briskly, turning to the detective. "I hope they didn't move my cart while I was eating!"

"Err, yeah..." The detective blinked and tore his gaze away from Souji to follow her.

And... the cart was still there, though it looked like a cabbage or two might have been taken from it. She presented the cart to the detective with a smug smile. "I told you I'd buy you cabbages for getting my friend off the hook, but then I forgot, so it's like I owe you interest, right? Yeah, these are for you."

Adachi looked like he had no idea how to react. "Uh, err... That's a lot of cabbage. You know, it's not so much that I like cabbage, but it's affordable on my pitiful salary..."

"Oh, so you don't want the cabbages? Okay." She took one out of the cart and tossed it back onto the nearly-empty cabbage display.

"Hey, hey!" he protested. "I didn't say I didn't want them."

It was a little surreal to help Adachi load the cabbages into the police car, but the sheepish grin on the detective's face made it worth it, even if Souji had latched onto Yosuke during the process. Yeah, they were standing a little bit away, and Souji had managed to get ahold of Yosuke's hand, how weird was that...? Nanako was glad they'd become friends, regardless.

When the cart was empty and she closed the door, Adachi coughed and looked around like he was afraid of being caught shopping on duty. "Well, uh... thanks."

"No, thank you," Nanako stressed. "For being a decent guy! I mean, anyone can tell Yosuke is harmless. Right, Yosuke? You should thank him, too!"

"Y-yeah," Yosuke said. "Thank you, Adachi-san. I would've been grounded for a year without your help."

The detective shrugged. "It was nothing. Just part of the job, right? Haha... Speaking of, I should probably get back to the office. Hmm..." His eyes roved from Nanako to Souji while he removed his keys from his pocket. With the keys came his lighter, which he frowned at and then replaced into the opposite pocket. "Eh, I would offer you kids a ride home, but... the car is kinda full. Well, I'll see you on Wednesday."

Releasing Yosuke's hand just for one moment, Souji gave what looked like a smile and waved the cabbage detective goodbye. Adachi's reaction was hard to gauge, but he gripped the lighter in his pocket as his hands trembled... at that, Nanako smiled, too.

After bidding him farewell herself, she walked out of the parking lot, followed by the two boys.

"That whole thing was pretty weird, Nanako," Yosuke remarked when they reached the store's front entrance.

"Nothing's weirder than TVs," she replied.

"True," he conceded. "That guy, Adachi-san. He's always hanging around Junes. Well, actually, a lot of cops patrol around here, so it's not just him. I think it's because of the air conditioning."

"I imagine Junes is a great place to get information," she said. "With all the people around, you can overhear lots of conversations."

Yosuke snorted in amusement. "Yeah, no. Unless you really need to know which brand of detergent is the best deal. Or how not to make curry. It's mostly a bunch of housewives gossiping or arguing about their favorite brands! I'd know, Nanako, I work here."

"Well..." she said. She'd just wanted to defend Adachi; she had a soft spot for policemen because of her dad.

"Anyway, partner, I think it's time you, uh, let go?" Yosuke looked down at Souji, who was still holding his hand. Not tightly, but with enough of a grip that Yosuke couldn't easily pull out of it.

"'Partner'?" Nanako observed. "That's cute."

Yosuke shrugged. "I don't know. It just felt right."

"Partner..." Souji murmured as if trying the word out himself.

"I think he likes it." She walked over to take Souji's free hand and then coaxed the boy into releasing Yosuke from his grasp.

"He's a cute kid," Yosuke admitted. He sighed. "Man, my break is long since over. I'm gonna get yelled at."

"But you sold a lot of cabbages," she pointed out.

"For what that's worth! They'd prefer it if I sold a refrigerator. Anyway, I'll see you, Nanako. And Souji-kun, too!" He gave the boy a wave and then reentered the store.

Nanako pulled her cousin along—he was staring after his new friend. What a silly kid he was, sometimes. He was rather quiet the whole walk home, but that wasn't exactly unusual for him.

Later that evening, Souji was reading a book at the tea table while Nanako sat on the couch and typed up an email to her friends in Tokyo on her phone.

"Big sis...?"

His voice was so quiet, she almost hadn't heard him. When she looked at him, his eyes were large. "Yes, Souji- kun?"

He looked down at the table for a moment, and then back at her. "P-partner... Partner's birthday... Can we do something?"

"Huh?" She blinked at him. He was giving her that intense stare of his, the one that meant it was important. "You want us... to do something for Yosuke's birthday?"

His mouth quirked and his hands fidgeted on the table. "Yeah..."

"Sure," she said, thinking he was the most darling thing to want to do that for his new friend. "But you'll have to meet my other friends, too, is that okay? They'll want to be invited."

He put on a brave face and nodded.

Nanako smiled at him and told him to help her plan it.

[AN: Even Souji can't stay anxious around Adachi after seeing him so happy about those cabbages, heh.

Apparently it's dangerous to go down slides together with younger kids like that. They can break their legs from the added weight. You're supposed to seat them on your lap in a special way so that won't accidentally happen. Or, well, let them go down alone.

Thanks emelian65 for leaving a review~ (though I won't answer those questions!)

By the way, how about that P5 trailer, eh? I'm super excited!

Next Chapter: Super Sleuths

What is up with that TV World, anyway?]