Hey there guys! Man it's been a while since I've updated this story, and in all truth I've missed writing it. I bet you guys thought the story was dead, but the one thing you should know about me is that I'll never let a story die! ...unless I get bored with it. Hehe, anyway, read and enjoy!

Chapter 7: Downtown shopping pt3

"Okay, so I think we've gotten everything we need," Erika said, walking back over to me. We'd been in old navy for the past two hours and I wasn't going to lie, I was getting sorta bored in here. The sooner we leave the better. "I got jeans, shorts and skirts, a few shirts, bathing suits, sundresses, some underwear and nightgowns. I think we have everything they're going to wear ...now all we have to worry about is shoes."

"That's good," I said. I looked around and saw that Hanyu and Rika weren't with her. "Um, where are the girls anyway?"

"They went to go get some socks, I already showed then where the aisle was, they should be back in a moment."

I nodded and she sat down on the bench next to me. "So where do you think we should go next?" She asked.

I looked up in thought for a moment, then answered. "Footlocker. I can't really think of anywhere else to get shoes from."

"Footlocker, huh," She said, smiling. "I guess that'll be our next stop then, we'll pay for the clothes and head there, although I was thinking of going to the USA store, they sell shoes too."

"That's true, but the USA store costs more," I said back. "At least at Footlocker we'll get a good deal on stuff. Besides the sooner we get done the faster we can-."

"Go to Gamestop, right?" Erika interrupted, sighing.

I looked back at her, smiling. "You know it~!"

After a minute or so, Hanyu and Rika walked over to us, each of them holding two pack of socks they had choose for themselves.

"Mii~ this store has everything," Rika said happily, holding up her items she had picked. "They even had purple socks with cute little kitty designs on them."

"Auau~ so where will we be going after this, Kevin-San?" Hanyu asked as she put her socks in the cart.

"Well first, we're stopping at Footlocker, then we're going to Gamestop," I answered.

Hanyu looked up at me and asked. "What's 'Footlocker'? Is it a shoe store?"

"Yeah, sorta …it's actually a sneaker store down on the first floor," I said. "Besides, it's not like you can wear flip-flops everywhere you go, I mean some people do that during the summer, but they're not really for running."

"Um ...Mii~ Are you sure your not spending too much on us?" Rika asked, "we don't want to be a burden or anything."

I knelled down to her level and smiled at her. "Rika, as long as your living with us you don't have to worry about a thing, and I honestly don't think the clothes will cost that much." Besides it was my fault that they were here to began with, now I'll think twice before listening to Antoine again. I stood up and started pushing the cart towards the front. "Anyway, lets pay for this stuff, then the real fun will began."

The girls followed me over to the checkout line, there were five other people in front of us so we waited for about ten minutes. When it was finally our turn I started putting the clothes on the counter and the man behind the register rang them up and put them in bags.

"Okay, sir, that'll be two-hundred and sixty-four dollars, please." He said, looking at me. I could only guess that he didn't like his job much because he looked bored out of his mind.

I nodded to the man and pulled out Kim's card. When I swiped it, the man type something into the computer next to him and asked. "Credit or debit?"

"Debit," I answered.

He nodded and type something else in the computer. "Okay, you can put in your code now."

I put in the code ... 1394, and pressed entire. After I was done the man printed out my receipt and smiled at me, it was a small smile, but a smile none the less. "Thank you for shopping, please come again soon."

"Sure. Thanks."

I grabbed the bags and walked out of the clothing store, Rika and Hanyu walked behind me talking to Erika, I didn't know what they were talking about but from the sound of the two little girls laughter and Erika's grin, I was pretty sure she was telling them stories about the time she'd been down here.

We took the escalators down to the first floor, Gamestop was right across from us, but I started walking to Footlocker instead. It was best to get the important stuff out of the way first.

"Hey, Kev~. We should get Rika and Hanyu's feet measured before we look for something to pick out," Erika said as we walked into the store.

I nodded. "Yeah, your probably right. We should." I then turned to Hanyu and Rika. "You guys go take a seat at the bench over there with Kim, I'll go look for someone to find out your shoe size."

"Okay!" They both said, walking to the bench I'd pointed to. Kim followed behind them, looking at the different sneakers as she did.

I walked through the aisles looking for one of the employees, the store was packed with shoppers, I honestly didn't expect to see so many people in here when we left the house this morning. It didn't take long before I found someone to help. She was a normal sized women, who had to be in her early twenties with blond hair and brown eyes. She was wearing the Footlocker uniform, sitting on a chair, reading one of those gossip magazines.

"Damn, I knew he was cheatin' on her, she'd better throw his ass out the front door, that's what I'd do!" She said loudly.

"Um, excuse me, miss!" I called out.

She looked up from her magazine and smiled. "Yes, what is it kid?"

"I need someone to measure my friends feet," I answered. "If your not too busy, can you do that for me?"

She closed her magazine and laid in on the desk beside her, standing up. "Well, since you asked nicely, sure, why not."

"Hehe~ Thanks," I said smiling.

She waved her hands in a dismissive manner. "No need to thank me, kid. I'm just doing my job anyways."

Once we got back to the other, she bent down and pulled a foot measurement chart from under the bench, Rika, Hanyu and Erika were sitting on. Erika was the first one to greet her and the other two followed right after her.

"It's nice to me you too," the lady said, then she looked over at Rika and Hanyu, smiling. "Now aren't you the cutest little things, what's your name sweetie?"

"Auauau~ I-I'm Hanyu," Hanyu said timidly.

"Mii~ my names Rika," Rika said giving a big smile. "It's nice to meet you also, sir, Nipaa~!"

"Aww~! So cute and polite too! I really hope my kids are like that someday," She cooed. I could tell she was trying hard to resist the urge to hug the two girls. I guess Rika can charm anyone with her cuteness ...and Hanyu too, even though she might not notice it.

"So who wants to get measured first?" She asked.

Hanyu gave her a nervous look, raising her hand slowly. "Um ...I'll g-go."

"Okay, slip off your flip-flops and step on the chart. I'll do you next Rika."

Rika nodded. "Okay, sir."

While she measured their feet I looked on the selves at the different types of sneakers. I saw a few good chooses like Nike's and Adidas, but I wasn't sure if Hanyu and Rika would like those. Well, whatever I'll just have to let them choose. Besides They'll be the ones wearing them anyway.

"Alright, that's about it," the lady said, standing up. Then she pointed to her left. "All of the sneakers in their size should be right in that aisle over there. Do you need anything else?"

I shuck my head. "No, thanks a lot, miss."

"No problem, enjoy the rest of your day." Then she walked away to, mostly likely, finish reading her gossip magazine. "My names Amy by the way!"

"Mii~ thank you, Amy-San!" Rika shouted, waving.

"So," I said turning back to the others, clapping my hands together. "How about we go pick you guys out something nice."

As we walked through the aisle Amy had pointed to, Hanyu was looking on the selves on the left side, while Rika looked at the sneakers on the right side. I went over and helped them after a few minutes since they probably had no idea which ones they wanted out of all the different brands.

"Um ...do you two need help?" I asked standing next to them, they were looking on the same shelf now. "If you can't choose I can tell you all your choices."

"Auauau~ but it's hard to decide," Hanyu said. Pointing to the two she had like out of the rest. "I-I like these ones, but I like these ones too, auauau~! I can't choose between them." She was trying to choose between white Nike's and a pair of black and white Chucks. I was about to give her my thoughts, but, of course, Erika had to put her opinion in before mine.

"I, honestly, think you should get these," Erika said, happily, taking the Chucks from her. "Don't they look cute, Hanyu? Plus they'll match the clothes I picked out for you. Aw~ you'll so cute in these!"

"Auau~ d-do you r-really think so?"

"Heck yeah I do!" She then turned to Rika, "and what about you, Rika? What did you pick out?"

"I picked out these, sir, they looked nice and they're good for playing in." What Rika chose was a pair of black Adidas, her other choose were red and white Jordans. "But I still don't know though, should I get the black shoes? Or the other ones?"

"I say you get the Adidas," I said, as Erika opened her mouth to talk, she glared at me but I continued anyway. "They look nice and they're on sale."

"Mii~ um ...which shoes are those?"

"The black ones," I answered.

She smiled. "Okay, black shoes it is~!" She said putting the Jordans back on the shelf.

"Alright then, lets go to the front," I said grinning. "Then we'll head to Gamestop."

Erika groaned, rubbing her forehead. "You and your video games, I swear your going to rot your brain out someday."

"You're just mad because you suck at games," I said giving a cheeky grin. "Only a person who know the true satiation and thrill of games can appreciate them for what they truly are."

"Sure, whatever. I like games, don't get me wrong, it's just you play too much of them. You and Antoine."

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard this from you before, Erika." I said carelessly. "Let's just pay for this stuff and go."

"Fine, but just so you know I'm stopping the the material store after this, that was one of the reasons I came down here."

I nodded to her, then we started making my way to the front to pay for the sneakers. After this, it would finally be time for the grand tour. Haha~ this is going to be great.

~ ~(Pt 2)~ ~

The past three hours have been nothing short of awesome, after we came out of Footlocker. Me, Hanyu and Rika went to Gamestop to check out all the video games they had, while Erika went up to the third floor to stop at the material store to get stuff for her new clothes she was making.

Of course, me being the only guy, I was forced to carry all of the bags. But I didn't complain. I just sat the bags down and rested every once in a while then I'd pick them back up again.

Anyway, the girls had a blast in Gamestop. The store had put a few games out on a flat screen T.V for everyone to play, Rika and Hanyu played 'Super Mario' and 'Sonic The Hedgehog 2' for almost an whole hour straight. If not for the fact that I pulled them away so other some other people could play too, there's no doubt in my mind that they would have played longer then that.

While we looked at the different games for my Xbox, I told them a little bit about video game history like the Atari and Nintendo 64, and my favorite old school systems the first PlayStation and the Sega Dreamcast.

Those were some of the best times in my childhood.

Once we were done there Erika came back to us from the materiel store, luckily though, since it was her bag she didn't make me carry it. Thank god. And of course we couldn't leave Gamestop without buying something, so I ended up buying Guitar hero 3 for all of us to play.

After that we stopped at a few more stores, K-mart -to get washcloths, towels and tooth brushes-, Borders -because I needed the new Umineko manga- and then we had lunch at a great Japanese restaurant in the mall called Hibachi's and then we stop at Madam Margret's bakery just like we'd promised. I swear I've never seen anyone eat some many cream puffs and sweets before meeting Hanyu, how in the hell did she eat so much and still stay slim? Hmm ...maybe it has something to do with her being a goddess. But, either way the food there was awesome.

Right now, we were walking through the shopping center to make one more stop before we went home. I looked down at my cellphone and check the time.

4:45 ...huh, well it's way later then I thought it was. I thought, Ant' gets out of school and 3pm and Kim doesn't get back home until eleven ...but since she had a date tonight, she'd probably be even longer then that.

"Alright, guys, we can stop at one more place. Then we have to start heading back home," I said picking up the bags once again. "I don't really trust Ant' in the house by himself for too long. He might burn it down."

"I know, you remember what happened last time right, at thanksgiving," Erika said, with her hand over her mouth, trying to hold in her laughter. "Haha! I swear I've never seen so much smoke come out of a kitchen in my life~!"

I frowned and started walking. "Please don't remind me. I'd rather forget that."

"Mii~ what's that place?" Rika asked, pointing to our left.

I looked over and smiled, it was one of my favorite stores. "Oh ...that's f.y.e, they sell computers, movies, music and electronics."

"Really? Can we go there?"

"I don't know, I mean we should really start getting home."

"Please, sir, pretty please~!" Rika begged cutely, giving me puppy dog eyes.

Don't fall for it, don't fall for it! I chanted to myself in my head, but my resolve shattered. Damn, I hate when cute girls give me the puppy dog eyes and I thought Erika was bad.

"Fine …," I said with a sigh. "But this is the last store, alright?"

"Mii~ I understand," Rika said happily. She then took my hand and began leading towards the store. "Let's go, sir~!"

"Okay, okay, there's no need to pull me, Rika," I chuckled.

Inside f.y.e, there wasn't as many people as there was early today. Hanyu and Erika followed behind us as we looked at the different stuff the store had.

"Hey, Kev~, look at this." Erika said holding up a plush toy, it was Japan from Hetalia, I'll admit I never watched the series much, but from the episodes I did see it was pretty funny, it was actually because of that show that my grade in history came up from a D to a B+. Psst~ and they said Anime didn't help with education. "They even have France and England, I swear, I'm buying all of these next time I come down here~!" She finished, walking away to look at the others

"Um ...Kevin-San," Hanyu came over to me and held up another plush toy, but this one had on a miko outfit and had purple hair and black horns. "Is this ...auauau~, is this toy ...me?"

I looked at it, then nodded, grinning. "Yep! Pretty cool having your own toy, isn't it?"

"Mii~ look," Rika said, pointing to the other toys on the shelf next to us. "There's Rena, Satoko, Mion and Shion, and Keiichi-San." She smiled. "It's weird, we look like little voodoo dolls, don't we? ...I wonder what would happen if I stick mine with a needle."

"Auauau~ don't do that Rika! Something bad might happen!"

"Haha! I'm just kidding, Hanyu! You scare too easily."

I smiled and walked towards the music section of the store. They had a lot of albums like Evanescence and Linkin park, and right by that was a CD made by some group called Skillet ...hmm ...I've never heard of them before.

"Mii~ how do you get the music to play," Rika asked, looking at one of the CD she was holding.

I walked over to her and started to explain. "It's quite simple, Rika." I said smiling, taking the CD from her. "All you do is turn the CD over, then scan it under the scanner, and put the head phones on. It's that easy."

"Okay, I think I can do it now, thanks you."

"Sure, anytime you need help, Rika, just ask," I said walking back over to one of the unused CD scanners. I put the head phone on and scanned the CD of Skillet. The song I ended up listening to was called 'Awake and Alive', there were also a few other songs too. I'll admit I liked Skillet. It was ...how do I say it ...cool.

Hehe~! Looks like I have a new band to add to my Mp3~! I thought happily taking off the head phones. I wonder if they have skillet on I-tunes or- …

I stopped thinking when I heard something, it was someone singing. And whoever it was had a very beautiful voice ...wait a minute, I know this voice, it was ...Rika.

I turned towards the sound of Rika's voice and saw her at the end of the music aisle, singing a song that I knew well. It was 'Breathe No More' by Evanescence. The other surprising thing was that she was singing in her mature, adult voice rather then her cute, little kid voice. Maybe she had the music up too loud to notice it. But even so, I know one thing, her voice was amazing~! I'd heard it before when listening to her character song in Japanese but there was something different about hearing it in real life ...I can't really explain it.

"I've been looking in the mirror for so long.
That I've come to believe my souls on the other side.
Oh the little pieces falling, shatter.
Shards of me,
To sharp to put back together.
To small to matter,
But big enough to cut me into so many little pieces.
If I try to touch her,
And I bleed,
I bleed,
And I breathe,
I breathe no more~!"

I looked around and noticed that I wasn't the only one listening to Rika sing. I other people in the aisle were looking at her with the look of awe on their faces, and others were tapping their friends, who were listening to their own albums through the head, pointing towards her.

"Take a breath and I try to draw from my spirits well.
Yet again you refuse to drink like a stubborn child.
Lie to me,
Convince me that I've been sick forever.
And all of this,
Will make sense when I get better~!"

"Oh my god! That was Rika singing?" Erika said, walking next to me. Hanyu was right behind her, giving a shy smile. "Wow, I knew that she had a cute voice, but this, damn the girl's got talent."

"I know, tell me about it," I said, smirking, continuing to listen to Rika.

"I know the difference,
Between myself and my reflection.
I just can't help but to wonder,
Which of us do you love.
So I bleed,
I bleed,
And I breathe,
I breathe now...
Bleed,
I bleed,
And I breathe,
I breathe,
I breathe-
I breathe no more~!"

When the song finally came to an end, everyone in the aisle started clapping giving there own comments. "My god, did you hear that little girl sing!"

"Damn, she could be the next child star with a voice like that."

"Mommy, when I get older, can I sing like that," A little girl asked, she looked like she was about three or four.

"Of course you can sweetie, but it takes practice," her mother responded, smiling.

I walked over to Rika with a smile on my face and tapped her on the shoulder. She looked up at me and I motioned for her to take the headphones off.

She when she did, she looked up at me with one of her usual cute smiles. "Mii~ do you need something, sir?"

"No, it's just, you never told me you could sing like that," I said.

Rika gave me a look of confusion."What do you mean? I always sing sometimes."

"In your mature, adult voice," I pointed out, smirking.

"I-I was singing in my real voice?" She asked in a whisper.

I nodded. "Yeah, but don't worry, your voice was actually really nice. You should become a singer."

"Mii~ I don't know, my voice isn't that good."

"Rika you had everyone in the store looking at you," Erika said, standing next to her, patting her on the head. "If that's not a sign of a good voice, then I don't know what is. Don't you agree Hanyu?"

Hanyu nodded. "She's right, Rika, your voice is very beautiful."

"You three really think so?"

"Yeah!" We all said at once.

Rika looked at us and said kindly. "Mii~ Thank you for the complement, sirs!" Then she smiled cutely. "Nipaa~!"

"Aww~ I can't get over it! Your soo cute~!" Erika exclaimed happily, picking Rika up and hugging her tightly to her chest. "You and Hanyu have to be my new fashion models! You just have too!"

"Auauau~ Erika-San! Can you put Rika down please," Hanyu asked, worried. "I-I don't think she can breathe."

"Huh?"

"Sir ...can't ...breathe," Rika breathed out.

Erika quickly dropped the small girl and started brushing her off, with a worried expression. "I'm so sorry Rika! I hope I didn't hurt you."

"It's okay, Erika-San, I'm used to it," Rika said, fixing her sun dress. "One of my friends from home used to do that all the time."

"Oh ...okay, but still sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"So guys," I said, picking up the bags I'd put down. "How about we head on home. It's been a long day and I have to start dinner. Ya don't mind helping me, do you Rika?"

"Of course not, sir, it'll be fun!"

"Hey you don't mind if I come over too, do ya," Erika asked. "I mean it has been a while since I've seen Ant' and had some of your good cooking."

I shrugged. "Sure, I don't mind you coming over, besides your practically family. So you don't have to ask."

"Hehe~ well good," Erika put her arm over my shoulder, smirking. "Because I would have come over anyway ...even if you said not to."

"Yeah, I'm sure you would've."

And with that we all began our trip back to the car, I'll admit today was fun, one of the best days I've had in a long time and I just knew that from now on my life was going to be wayyy~ different now that Rika and Hanyu were here. Though I couldn't help but wonder ...is this change going to be good or bad?

I sighed. I guess only time will tell.

And so ends the Downtown shopping saga, man I just love that word, saga, it has a nice ring to it. Anyway, next chapter will be a time skip, not a big one, don't worry. Summers coming! ...in the story that is. So please review! Give me suggestions or tell me any typos you see that I missed. ~Peace out~