Here's chapter 81.
Retsuko, Koka, and Puko were at the candy store. The little red panda was amazed at the amount of sweets there, as he had never entered a place like this before. Since whenever his parents bought him sweets, they were the ones who brought them home after returning from work. This was heaven for any child. He wondered if Hana, Izumi, or Daisuke had come to a place like this. Or if Nicole and Jerry had gone to a similar place in their hometown. Or if Speed, Flora, Alex, Locke II, Pachacamac II, Rutan, Silver and Jewel will have visited such a place on their home planet. There were many things in there that he wanted to try, but he knew he wouldn't be able to choose what to buy, because if it were up to him he would buy one of each. But he knew that would be exaggerating, even he didn't think his mother would buy all of it, and even if she did buy it he doubted that his grandfather, grandmother and great-grandmother would allow him to eat all of it.
While Koka continued admiring everything around him, Retsuko and Puko continued talking about what they had been up to lately. The red panda had already told the pink cat about her mother and grandmother being in her house, and the stress that this had brought her. The pink cat had told her that if she needed to get out of it to unwind a bit, she could accompany her so she wouldn't be alone in those moments. Retsuko thanked her for that, then they both started looking at Koka who was still going around looking at the sweets that were for sale. As he saw, some of them were sweet and others were sour. And he liked both varieties of flavors.
"And tell me Puko, I know that Tadano told me this at the time we were dating, although I never knew your opinion on the matter. Have you ever wanted to have children? Retsuko asked.
"Well Retsuko, if I'm being honest, I don't see myself being a mother. I'm not saying that I don't like children, seeing Koka feels like a part of my youth returns, but with my job and Tadano's job, we don't have adequate time to be able to raise a child. And for a child to grow up without his or her parents would be sad. In the end, Tadano and I are happy together. But we both agree that if I ever get pregnant, we will both raise the baby that is born, and we will give him o her all the love he o she needs, just like you and Haida do with Koka."
"Oh I understand".
"By the way, Retsuko." Puko said, lowering her voice a bit. "In my bag I bring a gift that I bought for Koka on my last trip, originally I planned to visit you today to give it to him, but since we met by chance, before I has to go home, I'll give it to him" said Puko showing her Retsuko the gift that is inside the bag.
"Wow, Koka will definitely like that. I'll save face until the time is right. What's more, I want to thank you for how good you've been with Koka all these years. You and Tadano have been so close with Koka that he even sees you as part of the family, just like he does with Fenneko, Ookami, Washimi, and Gori."
"Now I understand why he calls me aunt, and why he calls Tadano uncle. Although I always thought that he referred to all the adults who were related to him that way."
"No, only the ones he sees most frequently and the ones he appreciates the most."
Puko could swear at that moment that when she heard that she had the feeling that her eyes were about to get wet. It wasn't the right place or time to cry, let alone in a place full of people. Making a little effort, she held back her tears, then turned to her friend and asked, "Do you think it's time to ask Koka what sweets he wants for him and his friends?"
"Oh yeah. It would be a good idea, because if not, we would stay here all day considering how Koka likes sweets" Retsuko said with a small smile.
Puko started laughing at that sentence. So both friends approached the little red panda. He had an aura of happiness around him and could see that there were stars in his eyes as well, which showed the joy he was experiencing at that moment.
After a few minutes of being in the candy store and having bought just the right amount that Koka could share with his friends, the three of them finally left the store. Retsuko carried the bag with the sweets, since she knew very well that Koka would eat them on the way home and they were for him and his friends to eat together the next day.
"Aunt Puko, out of curiosity, do you know where Uncle Tadano is?" Koka asked, wanting to know about his honorary uncle.
"Well, Tadano told me that he was going for a walk in the city this morning, I don't know where he is, but he's probably in his limo right now."
"Do you think that one day I can travel in it."
"I think so, as long as your mom and dad are okay with it."
"Can I, mom, can I get up there one day" Koka said, asking very excitedly.
Retsuko saw her son's excited expression for a few seconds until she finally answered "Yes you can, as long as you are accompanied by your father or me".
Koka started to jump for joy. This made Retsuko and Puko smile. At that moment, Retsuko began to wonder where Koka inherited that particularity from, since she wasn't like that when she was a child, unless he inherited it from Haida.
...
In the meantime; Nick, Haida, and Tadano had already left the place where they had met. Nick was still carrying Haida's bass in his arms. Haida carried on his back the bag where he kept his string instrument. Tadano had just made a call and had just put his cell phone in one of his pants pockets. The red fox wondered who the donkey had called and why he asked them to wait with him for a while. The hyena if was completely sure what it was. They only had to wait two minutes until a limousine finally stopped in front of them, surprising the red fox.
"Come on in," Tadano said as he opened the back door.
Haida was the first to get on and when I was already seated he put the backpack from under him on his lap. Nick was the second to enter. Trying not to accidentally hit the bass he was carrying in his hands. Once he sat next to Haida, he was quite surprised by what he saw around him, since he can see how the donkey even had a functional computer inside the vehicle, mixed with the fact that it was the first time he had gotten on a a limousine made him feel excited. The last to get on was Tadano, who sat on the other side of Nick and then closed the door. After that the limousine began to move along one of the city roads.
"Well, if you want here you can continue with the lessons to play the bass" said Tadano.
"Are you sure?" Nick asked.
"Isn't that a bother?" Haida asked.
"Of course not. You are my guests, make yourself at home."
Both the red fox and the hyena nodded in agreement.
The donkey then pointed to a small entrance near the seats where they could plug in the bass to play it. "I'd like to see how much you learned from the first lesson Haida gave you in playing the bass."
"Well, I think you'd be surprised," the red fox said as he plugged in the stringed instrument and began to play.
A total of 5 minutes passed, until he finally finished playing one of the songs that Haida had taught him to play a few hours ago. Tadano upon hearing that applauded the good job Nick did. Even Haida also applauded for the good job that his so to speak apprentice did, each time he played he did better than the previous time despite the fact that he had just started with the lessons that same day.
"It was a good job. Haida is definitely a good teacher when it comes to playing stringed instruments, I see why Retsuko learned to play an electric guitar quite well, even though Haida didn't play that instrument, she still managed with what he taught her." Tadano then looked at the driver's seat of the limo and said, "What do you think, Kobayashi?"
"I don't have much knowledge of that kind of music, but I think he did very well" replied Kobayashi, sitting in the driver's seat and looking at the group through the rearview mirror.
Then Tadano looked up at a small camera attached to the top of the limo. So far Nick hadn't paid much attention to it, at first he thought it was some kind of security camera, but he was surprised when Tadano spoke to him, he's answered and the answer he gave was automatic.
"ENI-O, what do you think of how Nick played?"
"According to the data I have stored in my memory banks on beginner stringed instruments, Nick has done a pretty good job. If he keeps playing like this, he may soon be an expert" said the artificial intelligence.
"It seems that we all agree on the same thing, you have done very well" said Haida.
"Thank you very much, he really appreciated it," said Nick.
Just before they could say anything else, Kobayashi caught everyone else's attention. "Mr. Tadano, I just saw his girlfriend, she is near here, and she is accompanied by Mr. Haida's wife and son. They're just around the next corner."
"It is a great surprise that it is in this area. Thanks for the warning Kobayashi."
"You are welcome, sir".
Haida who had heard that part said "Retsuko and Koka were going for a walk today, maybe they met Puko on the way".
"Would you like them to join us?"
"Of course, the more, the better."
"Well said. Haida," Tadano said, then turned to where the artificial intelligence was. "ENI-O, please stop the limo at the next corner."
"Yes" said the artificial intelligence.
Nick, hearing Tadano ask ENI-O and not Kobayashi to stop the limo, made him start to wonder what he should do now. Since realizing that it was not a real person who was driving the vehicle but an artificial intelligence, and that was against the law in any country, or at least that was what he read, he couldn't allow Tadano to break the law, but the problem was that he didn't have jurisdiction in that country and even if he did, he was on vacation. But he didn't want to make enemies either, since Haida and Tadano were good people, apart from being nice. He maybe he could give Tadano a warning of some sort, but how to do it without accidentally intimidating him or something. Because he was sure that if Chief Bogo or even Jack were in his place they would do something like that. He was so unsure what to do at such times.
He was so deep in his thoughts that when he came back to reality; Puko, Retsuko and Koka were already in the limo along with the rest of the group. He only realized that they were already in the vehicle and already moving through the city again, when Tadano spoke to him to introduce him to his girlfriend Puko, and when Retsuko and Koka greeted him after not seeing him since the Sunday of the last week. This meeting made him forget what he was required by law to do in that situation.
So far the chapter. I hope you liked it. As you already know, and for those who don't know, Zootopia 2 was already announced a week ago. While the fifth and final season of Aggretsuko premiered yesterday on Netflix.