9 – A Spot of Fancy

It was a day and a half before Serena found Kanade again. Having been enjoying the silence for homework purposes, she eventually ventured out of the house to find some food.

Not that her sister hadn't left any, but when Kanade was over last time, they had discovered just how eccentric her sister's taste buds could go. Fish spices and cinnamon donuts? A serious lack of salt? Table crackers?

No, no, no there needed to be stocked shelves when her sister got back, complete and filled with recipes attached to the fridge.

... Serena wasn't fretting about things she couldn't control. Nope, not her.

"I don't even believe my own narration," she muttered, grabbing more vegetables and rice. How could her sister be out of race? Did Hibiki-san steal from her cabinets or something?

Never mind, that was actually plausible. According to Kanade, she was over there enough.

Just thinking of that made Serena smile and continue to pick up things. It wasn't like she didn't have money and she was... frugal. Sometimes needlessly so.

Maria-nee-chan was never going to know how she earned it though. She did not need any looks about how wearing a maid outfit and acting cutesy was demeaning in some manner. It was the most discrete job she could find and more of then than not there were standards. Somewhat. She was tough enough to handle it!

Serena was just going to pretend that thought was true and move on.

By the end of her trip, Serena was ready to flop on the couch and order out. She looked at the amount of bags she had grabbed and made a face.

"It didn't look this bad when I put it in the cart."

"It never does," said the cashier with something like sympathy. Something like it, because a really sympathetic person would have helped her out a little right? Right?

Since she got no help, Serena proceeded to give her fingers a work out and started the slow walk back to her sister's house. It was the most ungainly lurching she had ever experienced in her life, and honestly, she probably deserved the pain. She had made this bed.

"Hi Serena!"

Orrrr maybe not. Serena eased the bags to the ground and turned around. Hibiki and Miku were standing there, shoulder bags identically over the right side. Bright smiles and heavy eyes greeted her as they ran over to her.

"Ooh!" Hibiki seemed permanently incapable of being anything but happy, or at least publicly so. "That's a lot of bags."

"Nee-san's pantry is suspiciously low," Serena admitted. "I thought it'd be good to have her come home to have one less thing to worry about."

Miku's green eyes were wide as she looked over the haul of food. "How did you get all of that to fit in that cart? And these bags?"

"Luck," Serena groaned, rolling her shoulders.

Hibiki clapped her hand on one, which hurt like an arrow. She'd been hit by blunt arrows, she knew. "Well, not to worry," she chirped. "We'll help you now!"

Serena decided to be grateful when it hurt less.