CureWhite3616: Hurray! This chapter will be epic as those creative juices are flowing like a raging river! Right, guys?

Pollun: Right! Or, write, right?

(Oh, and sorry I forgot to include Chutaro! I will now when its necessary.)

"Oh honey, look at that jewelry shop over there!" Rie beamed. "It looks so sophisticated!"

Takeshi smiled at his wife, the first time he had smiled during the whole trip. "We can go if you want."

"But Daaad! Nagisa whined her heart out. "I wanna go to the sports' store over there! Lots of famous lacrosse players buy their equipment here!"

"No way!" Ryota failed at his attempt to push his sister out of the way. "The video game store is right there, they have the best prices!"

Honoka smiled. "I think we should all go to the science fair. I did some research on it before we left for the airport, and I found out that it had opened up just three months ago! It's the world's biggest science store, and it's also the most well-rounded in every subject!"

"We're not going to an educational store." Ryota and Nagisa said at the same time, amazed at how nerdy Honoka could be during the holidays.

Rie knew that this wouldn't end well. "O-on second thought, I think I'll go to the Ladies' room. How about I'll meet you at the food court, and we'll discuss our plans then." The woman walked away, wishing to any Christmas miracle out there that they could soon enjoy their vacation.

"Dad, why can't we go to the sports store?" Nagisa nagged. "I really need-"

"You don't need anything!" Takeshi yelled at his daughter louder than he had intended. They all stopped talking for a moment, even the people around them, and all they could hear was a cheery, English tune about letting the sky snow.

"The only reason I brought you all with us was because we had no choice." Takeshi's clenched fist was trembling, with bulging veins pulsing from it. "I mean, why can't you children be more like Hikari?"

At the mention of her name, the blonde looked up from her spaced-out-world and began to blush. "Eh-?"

"She's the only one here that has been shutting up for the past ten minutes!" Nagisa hadn't heard her father yell that loudly in a very long time. "You're ruining my vacation."

Now it was Nagisa's turn to yell. "It's not just your vacation, Dad! This is for you and Mom, but I don't think you've been making it great for Mom either! What kind of person are you?"

"I don't care at all what you children do right now." Takeshi said. "Just leave us alone, stay inside the mall at all times, and find us when it gets dark!" Finally, the man stormed off like an angry child.

Nagisa's amber eyes were no longer glittering with cheer, but with collected tears. "Dad…"

Chapter Four

Hikari looked up to the sky. Nagisa, Honoka, and Ryota had just dropped her off outside of the mall with Akane-san, so they could work at the café. Something cold is going to fall from the sky it said…what do they mean? They said that something called a…temp-a-tour is going to drop soon…what's a temp-a-tour?

"Hikari!"

"Y-yes!" Hikari turned towards Akane-san very quickly.

"Getting business here is very important, you know." The brunette fixed her bandana. "Lately you've been blushing and smiling as you stop in mid-dishwashing…" Akane-san had never had a creepier smile on her face before that moment. "Hikari…do you have a boyfriend?"

Hikari began to mumble. "…Boyfriend…?"

Akane-san laughed and pat her companion on the back. "Oh, don't worry Hikari! You'll understand when you get older! Now, let's get back to work shall we?"

Instead of obeying her "cousin"'s orders, Hikari continued to stand in the middle of the kitchen of the mobile café. "Why do you always answer questions like that?"

"Huh?" Akane-san turned around, facing Hikari, with a dish in her hand, dripping with soapy suds.

"That's how you answer every question I ask you…" Hikari looked down. "Why can't you just answer them now?"

Akane-san was shocked at how much Hikari was raising her voice. "H-Hikar-"

Now that a couple of sparks have flown, Hikari began to randomly explode in burning flames. "And why can't I be like a normal girl, instead of working for a café? I'm thirteen years old!"

Akane-san's dark eye-brows steepened. "Hikari, if it wasn't for me, you would have still been a lone girl with no home or family."

"Well…" The blonde began to scream so much that her voice didn't even sound the same. "Well, maybe I would have preferred being alone than being with you!"

Hikari tried to ignore the flash of shock and hurt in Akane-san's eyes. The wind blew past them through the van's open door, blowing back Akane-san's hair hanging down from her bandana and lightly blew Hikari's frizzy braid. That small second of silence, all the two heard was the chat of the public and the chorus of Baby It's Cold Outside being played through the mall. The young girl just couldn't take the silence anymore, and ran out of the van. When she looked behind her, the van began to drive away.

XXXXX

"Sis, I'm hungry!" Ryota tugged Nagisa's winter coat sleeve. "Let's go get a hamburger!"

"No!" Nagisa pulled away. "Mom and Dad are meeting up at the food court soon, and it would be really awkward if we ran into them…"

"I'm sure we can find another place in the mall for Ryota to eat!" Honoka said, trying to stay cheerful. "This place is huge…"

"Yeah…" Nagisa said, looking at the candy cane decorations on the ceiling, way up high. "How many Santa's have we seen here?"

Hikari nearly tripped on the purple star trailing behind the trio. "Hi guys!"

"Hikari-san!" Honoka smiled. "Akane-san actually gave you a break for once, didn't she?"

Hikari's grassy green eyes widened for just a moment, and then they closed after looking to her feet. "I guess so…"

"That's good." Nagisa grinned so wide it looked goofy, and gave Hikari the thumbs-up sign. "You deserve it! Now, let's go find a place for Ryota to eat so he stops whining!"

The group began to search for a place to eat while steering away from the food court, but with Nagisa tagging along it didn't take long for her to get distracted. They had to pull her away from the sports stores, the toy stores, and soon she was glued to the electronics store.

Hikari was beside Nagisa, who was pressed against the window. The thirteen year old was amazed at how many T.V.'s were displayed, and how they were all showing the same thing. How is that weather man inside all of those T.V.'s at the same time? It doesn't make sense…

Hikari listened to all of them ramble in the English language that she barely knew. "Get ready for a cold day Grace, because temperatures will be dropping even more over the next couple of days!" "That's right, and a lot of snow storms heading our way! This will surely be a white Christmas!" "Airports will be shutting down, delaying flights. This is not good at all for people on vacation for the holidays…"

The blonde's eyes widened. There's more than one…temp-a-tour…?

"Alright Hikari, come on!" Nagisa said, pulling her by the arm. "Ryota's getting fussy!"

"I'm not a baby!"

"Well, you sure act like one!"

XXXXX

Takeshi smiled. "Darling, you're back!"

Rie smiled. They were standing in front of the fast food restaurant. "Well, I'm glad to see how happy you are!" She looked around, her smile fading slightly. "So, where are the kids?"

"Oh!" Takeshi rubbed the back of his neck, he hadn't really prepared for telling his wife about it. He knew Rie would be angry and worried if the children were running around in a foreign mall by themselves, and this was finally a time where they could be alone and happy. "They…they got tired of walking around, so they went back to the hotel with Sanae."

"Oh, okay." Rie smiled with relief, her lip gloss shimmering. "Figures. I did warn them about the size of this mall…"

Takeshi put his arm around her, trying to change the subject. "So, where's this sophisticated jewelry store you were telling me about?" Rie giggled as they began to exit the food court.

XXXXX

"Look! Look! Look!" Nagisa drooled by the window of a coffee maker store. She ignored the fact that Ryota would rather drink horse urine than coffee. "That looks amazing!" She turned to Hikari. "This would never beat Akane-san's coffee, though! Why don't we go to the tako café?"

The image of the van driving away down the icy streets of New York flashes through Hikari's mind. "Um, your father told us to stay inside, remember?"

Nagisa pressed her hands against her back, bending forward and cracking her muscles. She looked incredibly annoyed. "Darn, you're right…"

The teenaged girls debated over what they were going to do as Ryota began to walk away with his hands stuffed in his pockets. "I knew that Nagisa would make it impossible to find food…"

As Ryota was walking away, the purple star zipped between people's ankles and jumped into Ryota's back pocket. "GOMMENA! GOMMENA! GOMMENA!"

Sorry! I was going to update yesterday, but I took an unexpected trip to the states!