A hour and a good amount of minutes passed by: Grina and Bars were walking on a sidewalk, somewhere in Inkopolis. The boy was walking with the hands, inside the pockets and the back a little tilted forward and the head slightly turned towards Grina. The girl was moving her hands in various directions, while talking loudly and smiling, looking occasionally at Bars.
"And then, instead of coming out and hitting the opponent, you still wait in the corner and… BAM!" Grina hits her left palm, with her right fist. "You get the rival right on the back!"
"Man, that tactic of yours sounds swell! I didn't thought that others don't care much about corners." He smiled.
"Yeah, it's kinda tricky to know… but the secret is just to keep your eyes open. In fact, I did the same error during my war experiences: getting the ground inked, without caring about the small bits!" She leans her hands behind her head.
"Well, you're not alone Grina… I do a lot of mistakes, while inking around. But hey, you can't be good at anything, right?" He rotates his right hand, clockwise .
"Ha ha, yep! Did you know that I'm absolutely trash with the piano?" She moves her left fingers up and down, moving slightly the whole hand in the same manner.
"But that's obvious you'd-AGH!" Bars jumps a bit forward, landing first with his right foot then with his left, in a quick movement.
"Whoa there!" Grina stops, tilting backwards lightly.
The boy looks behind him, lowering his head: he stares at a brick visibly upwards.
"Wh, dasquid?! Look at that!" He stretches the arms, with the palms facing up, pointing at the brick. "Come on, pal! They can't even fix a stupid brick like this?!"
Bars bended on his knees, tilting the back downward, as he pushed the brick down: the boy manages to insert it inside, without sweating.
"There. And I didn't even get paid for it!" He raises his knees back up, chalking his hands while staring at that brick, as he frowns slightly.
"Well, that's the government for ya." She shrugs and smiles, with her eyes closed. "A bunch of jokers, with lots of money!"
"Yeah, man… and that sucks!" He points at Grina, with his right forefinger. Then, he moves his hands in various directions, but in short movements. "Like dude, we pay taxes for school, for the clothes and gears we choose, with the money we won at the Turf Wars… and yet, you still have to fix a lot of ship around the city!"
"Tsk… they don't even care about it." She shakes her head, slowly.
"I would! If I was in charge, I'd make sure that the city doesn't have the least problems. That's what Squid City teaches you, in a nutshell!" He nods, while moving his right forefinger up and down.
Grina giggles.
"Bars for president!" She raises her right arm, while clenching her first, with her eyes closed and a open-mouth smile.
"Ha ha ha ha!" The boy scratches the back of his head, blushing a bit. "Shucks…! I didn't say anything special, girl… although, I'm going to add Videogameology as a school subject to study, in my political career."
Grina chuckled, tilting her back slightly backwards.
"I should have expected that! However, I'm still going to get a better grade than you could ever achieve there!" She jumps on Bars's back, grabbing the shoulders with both her arms, as she smiles and bends her knees.
"H-hey!" He blushed a little more, standing still. "Ya think to really beat Bars, the videogame champion, on every single game?!"
"Ih ih, I do beat your butt at fighting games, that's for sure!" She winks, while showing her teeth.
"But what about the other game genres? You're going down so many times, that it's not even funny!" He frowns, while still blushing.
"I'm not down, though… I'm waay up!" She blushes a little. "I'm like, at the top of a mountain!"
"Heh… actually, you're much lighter than I thought you'd be." He smiles slightly.
"W-what's that suppose to mean?! I'm a big girl, you know… not a junk container." She looks at her left, with her eyelids lowered at half point, with a downturn mouth.
"S-sorry! I didn't mean that!" He laughs in a soft voice. "You may be huge, but I could carry you around for a while…"
The two friends didn't say anything: they blushed a lot.
"… d-do you want to…?"
"… why not? If it's fine with you, of course…"
Grina lays her head on Bars's left shoulder, watching a point.
"… ok… … my legs were getting tired, anyway…" Her face was almost red.
Even Bars was mostly red on his face… but none of the Inklings, got a look at each other. Bars holds Grina from her legs and starts walking: for a while, the friends didn't say anything. The girl's head was still laying on the boy's shoulder: she was smiling, while blushing, looking at the scenery passing by.
"Ehm… I think I'm seeing Hunter and Fara getting out from the hospital." Bars stops.
"We're already there…?" Grina snorted loudly, as she gets off from the boy slowly.
The girl goes ahead, staying on Bars's left side: she looks at the siblings talking with each other, while proceeding in her direction.
"Oh look, Hun!" The little sister raises her head up and points at Grina and Bars, smiling widely. "Thar they are! Ou' pardners!"
"Uhm?" He raises his head too, watching them immediately. "Oh!"
Both the siblings waves their hands: Fara was jumping a little, calling their names and Hun was just smiling. Soon, the Inklings approached.
"Hey there, Hunry!" Grina grins, pointing at him with both her forefingers. "I see you're looking fresher than ever!"
"Oh, uhm…" He lowers his head, scratching the back of it with his left hand, while looking on his right. "I think I'm kinda sweating at the moment, so it's a bit the opposite…"
No one replied at that…
"… Hunry, I meant to say looking healthy." She sighs, raising both the eyebrown slightly, while tilting her back forward.
"Oh… ooooh, right! Sorry, I forgot…!" He lowers his back, bending his arms close at a 90° angle and staring at Grina, with a downturn mouth.
"Aw, Hunry: that's ok, relax! We know how your special brain works." She smiles turning her right hand, with the palm facing upwards.
"Yeah, dude! Just, ehm… a little too random, sometimes. But hey, that's Hunter for ya!" He grins.
"Gee, I wish to have a constant memory… if only I know where I'm doing wrong…" Hun shakes his head, slowly, while closing his mouth a little more.
"But big bro, ya don' have to worry abou' that! It's no' such a deal!" Fara goes in front of him and takes both his hands.
Hun looks down, staring at his sister.
"And besides!" The boy raises his head back up, watching Grina. "You still have that awesome Squid ability!"
"Ah, you're right! Duuude, I'd give a piece of my brain in order to be a a badshell Kraken!" He touches the upper left side of his head, with his left forefinger.
"But a piece is all you have, Bars!" Grina turns towards him, opening her arms.
"WHAT?!" He tilted forward with his body and neck!
The girl laughs loudly, along with Hun and Fara. Bars didn't say anything, for a while… but then, he starts to chuckle a bit.
"Hey, there's Mirii over there!" Hun points at someone.
Grina and Bars turns behind, looking at Mirii: she was walking with her back straight up, holding a small broken device with both her hands. Suddenly, Bars starts expanding his eyes and sweat was coming from his forehead.
"Good afternoon… Hunley, Fara." She stops.
"Oh, hi Mirii!" He smiles, as he walks in front of his friends, while waving his left hand. "How are you?"
The girl looks at her right, sighing loudly.
"… not much good…" She said in a low voice.
Hun opens his mouth.
"W-what's wrong?" He asks.
"… step aside, Hunley…" She watches the boy. "I have to talk with that idiot behind you…"
Hun stood there, for a moment. He turns his back, looking at Bars sweating a lot.
"… uhm… ok?" He walks to his right. "B-but, what's going"
"Bars… I didn't even need to see you worrying and trembling, like a criminal would after a guilty verdict." She stares at him, watching right on his eyes.
"Eeehhhmmm… I… ehm…" He looks around, while pulling the top of his shirt, with his right forefinger.
"You know what this's?" She raises her hands, with the broken device on them.
"Ah, that… uuhhmm… something to throw into the trash?" He scratches the back of his head, while laughing lowly.
"That would be you, moron." Mirii replied. "Don't try taking me for a fool and admit it already."
Bars stood there for a moment… then, he slowly lowers his head.
"… I'm sorry, Mirii… I… I didn't want to broke it… i-it was on the ground, I-I couldn't"
"SILENCE!" She shouts, while squeezing the broken device and gritting her teeth visibly.
The others didn't say anything: they all expanded their eyes even more.
"Your excuses will never be enough, to fix this mess… DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA, WHAT THIS THING WAS, YOU IMBECILE?!" She keeps shouting, expanding her eyes.
Bars lowers his head even more…
"This was an USB pen, where essential data was stored… especially one in particular, I found the other night. A data almost impossible to find again, which was..."
The silence was dominant from the other side.
"… probably, the solution of Hunley's disease problem."
Suddenly, Hun tilted his back a little backwards, opening gradually his mouth. Fara covers her mouth, with both her hands, while her eyes were getting watery. Mirii looks at the broken pen… and throws it on the ground, with a fast movement.
"ALL LOST, BECAUSE OF YOUR IMMENSE STUPIDITY!" She goes near him, frowning a lot.
Bars walks backwards, slowly, tilting the back in the same direction: he stops shortly after Mirii was near him.
"IT WAS THERE, IN PLAIN SIGHT… YET, YOU MANAGE TO STEP ON IT WITH YOUR OVERWEIGHT IDIOCY!" She stomps the ground, with all her strength in the left foot.
"I-I'm sorry, girl!" He opens his arms. "I-I'm serious, pal! If I'd know about that"
"WITH THAT SPONGE OF YOUR BRAIN, YOU'D STILL REPEAT THAT SAME MISTAKE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE GRAVITY OF THE SITUATION?!" She moves her arms backwards, as she tilts forward, staying on tiptoes. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT HUNLEY MAY LEAVE, BECAUSE OF YOUR MORONIC ANTICS?!"
Bars was trembling, lifting his shoulders up.
"But that wasn't the only jerkish act, you did… you also didn't told me about it at all, did you?"
"I-I forgot!"
Mirii shakes her head slowly.
"Stupid and predictable excuse… not that your pathetic mind would think anything better, at the moment." She folds her arms.
"M-man… please…" He starts sobbing. "F-forgive me, sob! I-I didn't want to do it, I swear! Sniff, w-why are you pressuring me like this?!"
"Because you did an unforgivable mistake, Bars… no matter the tears, you can't fix this problem. There's only one thing you can do, though…"
"W-what?!" He rubs his eyes.
"… giving your excuses to Hunley, admitting to be the biggest idiot an Inkling could ever be. Because after this shameful antic, you really deserve that title…"
Bars stares at Mirii, rubbing his eyes occasionally. Then, he walks slowly towards Hun…
"HOLD IT!"
Everyone turns quickly towards Grina: she was breathing heavily, clenching her first and frowning like she never did before… while looking at Mirii, in her eyes.