The gang were soon at the mall, where they met up with Joe and Chan. Soon, the eight of them were roaming around the stores.
'OMG, why the hell did they change the stores? Fleurista used to be here!" Julie cried, upset that the stores had been rearranged.
"Julie..." Billy sighed, his girlfriend never changed...but besides her bit snobby personality, she was down-to-earth and brave too.
"Cheer up Julie. Look! Fleurista is over there!" Chan pointed out. Julie's face lit up. She took Chan's, Runo's and Alice's hand and ran inside the store.
"JULIE!"
"J- pie! Save me!"
"Billy! Tame your girlfriend!"
"Some people never change, do they?" Dan asks the others, who nod.
"Come on, let's go get the girls before Julie kills them." Billy said. The others nodded and slowly walked towards the store. Julie was already throwing a pile of dresses to Chan.
"...ooooh, this orange one! HEEEEY! I bet this one is better..." Julie yapped on and on as she threw dresses from the rack. Chan caught the dresses and arranged them back. The boys laughed so hard...but the girls got annoyed.
"You doofus!" Runo shouted and hit Dan hard on the head. "Ow ow ow" he winced
Alice pinched Shun on the arm
Chan kicked Joe on the leg.
Julie was tossing dresses to Billy
It was Marucho who was laughing out super loud. This was the advantage of being single.
Then, Julie squealed 'I FOUND IT!" She was holding a beautiful long pink dress. It was sleeveless and had many sequins on it.
"Uh, Julie...a little help?" Billy asked his girlfriend, who just realized her boyfriend was holding those heavy dresses. She giggled and helped him put them back.
"Alright, let's go find something for ourselves girls!" Chan said, as each of them handed their belongings to the respective boyfriend and ran off.
Runo - Dan
Alice - Shun
Julie - Billy
Chan - Joe
"So...do you guys wish you were single?" Marucho teased them.
"No."
"No."
"Kinda"
"Not with Runo stuffing me with bags"
The girls went over to the clothing section. Runo was confused over two outfits; yellow or white. The yellow one was sleeveless and long, while the white one had one sleeve and was short, until her thighs.
"You should take the yellow one." suggested Chan. 'It's classy."
"No, you should take the blue one, perfect for clubs. Club Sushi IS THE HOTTEST club in Wardington!" Julie contradicted Chan.
"They both seem like good options...but I actually like the yellow one." Alice told Runo. Runo smiled.
'I'm taking this." she said , holding the yellow one. "Besides, too short outfits might seem like I'm single, which I'm not." she pointed out to Julie.
"Alright. Alice, you next!" Julie said to Alice. But she already had an outfit picked. It was a cute purple top, which had a black jacket with it, and a skirt which went below her knee but no more after that. It matched with the top, a black belt, and some cute black and purple pumps. Overall, Alice could win 5 fashion shows in that ensemble.
"Wa-oow, girl! Shun's going to go mad in love with you!" Chan said to Alice.
"Oh, please...I think he'll propose to her today." Runo told the girls. They all laughed as Alice blushed bright red.
"My turn! So, should I take this?" Chan asked the girls, holding a red stripper outfit, outlined with black to her left. "Or this?" she was holding a red and yellow combined full sleeve gown that had black feathers in the neck area and at the end.
"I like the first one." Runo told Chan. " It shows attitude"
"I'm with #2. It's all big-class. It kinda represents a high number." Julie said. Alice nodded in agreement.
"I like the second one, too. THIS IS THE OUTFIT!" Chan cheered. "Anyone need accessories for their outfits?" Julie asked. All of them nodded.
"Let's go get some then! I'm sure the boys won't mind waiting." Alice told to the girls.
With the boys
"Why the hell are they taking so long?!" Dan whined. He was hungry and the girls were taking so long.
"Be patient, dude." Shun said and sighed. Dan was just cocky most of the time.
"I'm sure they'll be here soon, anyway" Joe told Dan, trying to calm him down.
"That's what you said a minute ago. No offense, but I don't think he'll calm down." Marucho whispered to Joe.
"Yeah..." Billy agreed with Marucho.
10 minutes later, the girls finally show up with two bags each.
"Finally! I'm hungry!" Dan exclaimed. Runo rolled her eyes. "I knew you'd act like this. I told you I packed some sandwiches in!" she told him. All the boy's jaw dropped.
"You could've at least told us, Runo! This guy could've calmed down ages ago!" Billy told Runo. The girls laughed.
"I told you Runo must've packed something, Dan." Shun scolded his best friend, who just blabbered to make an excuse.
"Have you boys picked your outfits?" Alice asked Dan, Joe, Marucho and Billy as she already knew Shun had an outfit.. Joe nodded. 'I picked mine yesterday itself." he replied
"Alice, did you really think Julie would leave me without buying me a new outfit?" Billy asked Alice, who giggled. Billy was right. Julie would NEVER let her date get old clothes for a club.
"I've already got one, girls. Don't worry." Marucho told them.
Everyone looked at Dan.
"What? Of course I have an outfit picked out." he told them, remembering that he and Runo had purchased a suit the day before he went into a coma. It was a black one,
Runo smiled. "Finally you remember something!" she exclaimed
Abysee and Mortar were outside Fleurista, waiting for the brawlers to come out. They had to know a little basic info about the brawlers to attack them. But they only had very little resources.
"Oh my. When are they reaching out already?" Mortar asked Abysse for the thousandth time. She rolled her eyes. "Farrow, focus. This is our mission."
"Pffft." he mocked and stayed quiet.
Then, the brawlers come out. Abysse's eyes lit up. Not with happiness...but with hatred.
"Let's follow them!" she told Mortar
A few minutes later
The gang (except Joe and Chan. They went home) were in the mall's food court. Dan had this feeling that they were being followed. He felt a cold shadow behind him, and it was the same feeling that he felt when he met Abysse and Mortar.
After lunch, they went home. Shun and Alice went with Dan and Runo and Alice had transported Julie and Billy to Australia. Everyone were excited about the party. Dan and Shun were talking about stuff they could speak with the other brawlers as Shun knew Komba would've invited Klaus, Hulio and many others as well. Alice was ironing the outfits for the party in the living room, where Dan and Shun were.
Runo was also in the living room, just cleaning the house. She suddenly got a phone call.
"Hello?" she answered, one hand on the broom. The others heard some muffling at the phone's other side. They thought it was someone talking but were soon alarmed by the broom falling down from Runo's hands and tears forming up in her eyes. Dan immediately stood up from the couch. Everyone stared at Runo as those tears flowed faster by the second.
"Mm...mom, y...you can't...do this...do...this...to me..." Runo sniffed and shouted. She cut the phone.
"Runo? What's wrong?" Alice asked worriedly. Runo sniffed a little. She looked at Alice, then Shun and finally Dan. Now the three of them were really confused.
"Runo, no playing around this time. Is everything okay?" Shun asked, with a bit of a concerned look. Runo shook her head continuously. "No...everything'ss..." Runo tried to reply, but she couldn't take it anymore. She fell to the floor, crying.
"Runo!" the three of them exclaimed and knelt down to her. Dan gently lifted Runo's chin. She looked at him and just started crying even more. Dan embraced her. "Runo...shh...come on. What's wrong?" he gently asked her. Her head was on his chest and her hands on both his shoulders. Well, she didn't look at him, but she did reply.
"My... ...and dddad...are...going...to...split...*sniff*" she replied, crying even more at the sound of the sentence. The others gasped. Alice hesitated, but slowly squeezed Runo's shoulder. She wanted her to know that she was never alone.
Dan rubbed Runo's back gently. He was really shocked by the news. Runo's mom and dad seemed to him like the perfect couple, who never had any arguments. But what was this? They're getting a divorce? Maybe the perfect 'couple' wasn't so perfect at all.
Runo sobbed, cried, sniffed and mumbled all her anger and grief more than her heart's content. She let it all out, on her friends.
Shun and Alice watched Runo let go of her emotions. They just couldn't speak right now. Dan gave Shun a 'Well-this-is-unexpected' look.
Shun and Alice gave Dan a 'Yeah.-but-lets-just-take-Runo-to-the-room' look. Dan nodded and told Runo, "Kid...come on. Let's go to the room, okay? I promise we'll figure something out." Then, he and Runo slowly got up as Shun and Alice let them inside their room. Then, both of them entered and closed the door tight. The four of them sat on the bed as Runo wiped her tears.
"Want to talk about it?" Shun asked her. She nodded