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It’s been a few weeks since the Suzukis moved into Faraway. Sunny has spent the better half of his Summer leading Mari around town and showing her all the places he’s found.
He introduced her properly to Daphne and Bowen, showed her Hobbeez… and contemplated spending an ungodly amount of quarters on the newly installed Gacha Machine.
They didn’t go through with it, but dang it one day they’ll search for the elusive 4 Star Chimera Keychain. No matter how much debt they’ll rack up.
But while Mari had a lot of fun she wanted to see something new, something the two of them haven’t seen before in their small town. Something the two of them could experience together… and then she realized, at the neighborhood intersection they never went South.
“Come on boys, march!” And so Mari is leading the expedition with Sunny by her side and Henry and Kel flanking the rear. Determined to see what lied out this dire–
*Sniff* *Sniff*
The four of them turned to see a sobbing and lightly drenched girl on the sidewalk next to a fire hydrant. They knew immediately that exploring would have to wait another day. “Hey.” Henry greeted gently, the girl slowly stopped crying and looked up, “Are you okay?”
…
…
“N-No.”
“What’s wrong?” Mari gave her a quick scan for any injuries, “Are you hurt?”
“N-No…”
“Are you lost?”
“N-No…”
The older siblings were playing 20 questions with the girl, racking their brains trying to figure out why she’s crying.
…
…
Until Sunny looked down at her feet, and noticed she was missing a shoe. He nudged Kel to show him his discovery– “She’s missing her shoe!” And with the subtlety of a giant neon sign, he screamed out that fact.
“Mmph!” Much to the saddened anger of the girl.
“Kel! Apologi–”
“How did you lose it?” Sunny asked, interrupting Henry’s scouldings.
…
…
The girl pointed towards the forest a shortways down south “Some big kids threw it into the river over there… couldn’t find it.”
‘ That’s why she’s wet… ’ Sunny thought before looking at Mari, she understood what to do and pulled the girl into a comforting hug. Not caring about the fact that she’s wet. Henry took the hint and gently patted her head, and Kel just patted her back.
All of the varying degrees of comforting seemed to have worked, as the girl eventually stopped crying. “T-Thank you…”
“It’s no problem. I’m Mari, this is Henry, Kelsey–”
“Kel!”
“Hehe, Kel. And that cute boy over there is my favorite baby brother Sunny!”
Sunny blushed at being referred to as ‘cute’ and ‘baby brother’. “I-I’m Aubrey.”
“Well Aubrey, wanna come with us to dry you off and maybe get you some clothes? I think I have some old ones you can borrow.”
Aubrey was considering saying no. Thinking she’s already wasted their time just by being here… but she’s tired, cold, wet…
*Grrrrrr*
And hungry, so in a brief moment of desperation…
“Y-Yes please…” She accepted, letting herself be hoisted up to her feet by Mari.
“Alright then, let’s go!” With a joyful declaration, Mari began leading the troupe back to her home… While Sunny stared off to the woods down south, “Sunny? Are you coming?”
“... Yeah.”
…
“Here you go honey.” Halley said, placing a plate of spaghetti and meatballs in front of her.
Dressed in Mari’s old nightgown and her hair nicely braided, Aubrey was sitting comfy in the Suzuki household. “Thank you Ma’am.”
“No problem, it’s a shame those bullies decided to mess with a cute little girl like that. Now, care to tell me where you live? Your mother and father might be worried about where you are.”
“Oh, I live… umm…” Aubrey was trying to figure out how to describe where she lives, “I live right of the X road, and I live in the first house on the right.”
Halley took a bit to process that information, before nodding, “Alright, I’ll go talk to your parents. In the meantime don’t burn the house down.”
Before Aubrey could understandably respond in shock, “We don’t have enough insurance.” Sunny clapped back with an indifferent response.
“Hahaha, you’re right there Sunny.” Halley gave a warm wave goodbye before leaving.
The five remaining kids meanwhile were left with the whole house for a small while… and as a result had no idea what to do with themselves.
So Kel decided to take the initiative and dug into the box below the TV, pulling out the TS2 Slim Sunny got for his birthday a month ago. “Ready to play some Road Warrior III?”
…
…
Sunny walked over and pulled out the cords, “You’re on.”
Forgive him Lord, for he knows not what he is doing…
…
“Still can’t believe you’re living in this neighborhood now. What a coincidence.”
“Yeah bitch, it’s been a while. Why haven’t you called?”
“Do I look like I have the money to afford to call an out of state number?”
Halley was having a time talking to her old friend, Clementine Smith. Catching up on memories from their youth, and talking about what they’ve been up to lately. “Lemme tell you, my babies are already the most popular kids in town.”
“Haha, I’ve heard. Your boy helped basically everyone and they spoiled him.” Clementine recalled, “Even those young kids who don’t even live here.”
“Yup, he’s four and yet he understands how to win over a lady’s heart.”
“By spoiling them?”
“That’s the way!” Halley laughed, “Lemme tell you, his first day here and he’s already got ladies lining up.”
“Gotta suck when he’s older and has to choose.”
“Bah, knowing him he’ll feel too bad about choosing and somehow convince all of them to date him. That boy has too much love in him.”
“It’s gonna be a lively house if that’s the case.”
“I’m getting gray hairs thinking about it…” Even with Sunny crying significantly less than Mari when she was a baby, she still barely got any sleep during the first few weeks. Thinking about that scenario, and all the crying… she loved her boy with all of her being, but God help her she hopes he’ll choose one.
“Anyway.” Clementine stood up and stretched, “We gave the kids enough time to play, I should pick her up.”
“I meeeeean…” Halley muttered, standing up too, “You could let her sleepover?”
“You taking my daughter from me?”
“It's not my fault I’m such an entertaining aunt.”
“Don’t let Hera or Thyme hear you say that.”
“Ehh, they should learn to handle the truth.” They shared a laugh as they began walking towards Halley’s house. “Welcome.”
*Click* *Creak*
“To my–”
“Sunny, how are you so good?!”
“Skill.”
“Humble home…” Halley muttered, seeing the chaos that was her living room.
Bowls strewn all over the floor, pillows thrown all over the place, and a Kel laying down in defeat while Aubrey was giggling at him. But one look at the TV told her all she needed to know.
“Showing everyone your Lun-Chi, Sunny?”
“Uh-huh.” He replied, a smug look in his eyes as he took a handful of chips.
“Now, if I wasn’t so proud of your skills that I so graciously passed down to you. I’d tell you that you have a plate of spaghetti that you haven’t touched.” Sunny looked towards the cold and untouched plate of spaghetti, before putting the chips back in the bowl.
“Sorry Mom…”
“Oh Mom!” Aubrey greeted, “What are you doing here?”
“Well I was going to drag you back home away from your friends… buuuuut Halley convinced me to let you sleep over.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah, this is news to me.”
“Can it, and yes you can stay over.” Clementine said, before she dramatically swooned, “You can leave your poor old mother at home, alone, cold, hungry, but happy knowing that her precious daughter is having a great time here–”
“Oh alright you big baby, you can stay too.”
“I’ll go get some clothes for the night.” And with that she left, leaving a perturbed Halley behind.
“Drama Queen…” She muttered, before looking at the TV, “Anyway since you’ve beaten everyone else Sunny…”
“Oh no.”
“How about you face the master?”
And just like that, Sunny’s perfect win record has tanked dramatically.
…
It was 11:00 at night, everyone had gone to sleep… Sunny made sure of it. After sneaking past his slumbering friends, and grabbing the necessary supplies, Sunny started his quest.
His quest? Find Aubrey’s shoe.
Main Quest: If The Shoe Fits
START!!
He was aware of the risks. Walking out in the middle of the night would not only guarantee he would be grounded for all eternity, but he might get super sick during the SUMMER! That’s a dual fate worse than death!
But he had to, finding Aubrey’s shoe will make her ecstatic! And seeing his friends happy was worth a million years of grounding/sickness to Sunny.
So with a deep breath, Sunny reached for the door handle…
*Click* *Creeeak*
And slowly opened it. The pitch blackness of night shot an arrow of fear through Sunny’s heart, his only ally in this battle against the darkness are the numerous street lamps that littered the sidewalks. But where he’s going he won’t have their illuminating comfort.
Taking a moment to steel himself, he stepped outside and gently shut the door so as to not alert the slumbering inhabitants. “Okay, look for a river…”
The chirping crickets did little to quell his rapidly beating heart, the world feeling much more big and scary when alone. The only solace was the fact that it was a warm 75 degree night.
Within minutes Sunny reached the intersection, ‘ Mari wanted to explore this way with us. ’ Sunny felt bad that he was going to explore the south part of town without Mari… but this was important.
However he still wanted to maintain his sister’s wishes to explore a new part of town together. So he kept his eyes forward and went straight to the woods–
*Fwoosh*
A flash of red flared in Sunny’s peripheral vision, his head snapped right to see… nothing. ‘ ... I hate it here. ’ Same here Sunny… same here.
…
…
Sunny decided he wanted to get this done as fast as humanly possible. So sprinting with all of his might he found the river Aubrey mentioned. Now began the hard part, actually finding her small shoe in this expansive length of water.
‘ At least it’s small. Actually… It's more of a creek than a river. Or rather a brook… aren’t brooks and creeks the same? ’
…
…
‘ I’m stalling too much, time to go in. ’ Sunny set his stuff down onto the ground and made the necessary preparations for his aquatic search. Stripping down to just his swim trunks and sandals, putting on his swim goggles, and fishing out a waterproof flashlight. ‘ It’s not super bright… but it’ll help ’
With his preparations complete… Sunny closed his eyes ‘ Don’t be afraid, it’s not as scary as you think… ’ took a deep breath…
*SPLASH*
He jumped into the water, “COLD!!” Aaaand immediately rushed back onto land.
‘ Tssss… c-come on Sunny, be a big boy. Remember, Mari always throws you into the pool. That was training for this moment! ’ Sunny took a shiver filled deep breath, ‘ D-Don’t be af-f-fraid, it’s not- it’s not as c-c-cold as you think! ’ And once again jumped into the water. This time taking the frigid coldness and slowly acclimating to it. “O-Okay, I-I think I’m r-ready.” One more time. Sunny took a deep breath…
*Splash*
And dove underwater.
…
“Mmmph…” With a light groan, Mari rose out of the comfort of her bed. Doing a light stretch to release the sleepiness from her muscles. “Good morning Sunny.”
…
…
“Sunny, it’s not nice to ig–” She looked to her left, only to notice an empty bed devoid of any and all things Sunny. “Sunny?”
“Mmph…” Next to wake up was Henry, gently lifting his brother’s splayed arm out of his face as he stood up, “Morning Mari.” He greeted with a tired smile, before noticing the empty bed, “Where’s Sunny?”
“I… I don’t know.” Mari replied, “He does wake up early sometimes… maybe he went downstairs for a snack.”
“Let’s go look.”
*SNOOOOORE*
“Anything to stop listening to Kel snoring.”
Mari let out a light giggle, “Okay, let’s go.”
The duo descended down the stairs and first headed into the kitchen where Halley was making preparations for a modest breakfast of bacon, eggs, and pancakes. “Morning you two.” She greeted.
“Morning Mom/Mrs. Suzuki.” The duo responded, looking around for Sunny, “Mom have you seen Sunny?”
Halley’s arm stopped moving, “You mean he’s not upstairs still sleeping?”
Worry shot into Mari’s heart, “N-No he’s not. I thought he was down here!”
“But where could he have…” Halley’s eyes widened with realization, “Shit…”
“Mom!”
“Yeah yeah swear jar I’ll do it later. For now wake up Kel and Aubrey to help you two look around town.” Halley transferred the beaten eggs into an airtight container before tossing it into the fridge, “I’ll go get Clem.”
“R-Right!” Mari and Henry ran back upstairs while Halley pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Sunny, I swear if you’re doing what I think you’re doing…”
…
The search for Sunny was on. Mari went with Halley up north to look at the park, Henry and Kel went to the east to check the neighborhoods, leaving Aubrey and Clementine to look down south. Their search was proving fruitless, and were thinking about leaving to help the others look in their areas–
*Squidge* *Squidge*
Until the light almost unidentifiable sound echoed from the forest, and from within the trees…
*Drip* *Drip* *Drip*
Out came Sunny, shivering and drenched with a towel wrapped around his shoulders. “S-Sunny!” Aubrey yelled, rushing towards the boy, “W-Where were you?! And what were you doing?!” To answer her question, Sunny held out a wet and muddy shoe, a splotch of pink was barely visible but Aubrey recognized it, it was her shoe, “M-My shoe!”
“I-I f-f-f-found it.”
Aubrey was swarming Sunny making sure he’s not hurt in any way, meanwhile Clementine pulled out a walkie-talkie. “Found him, down south, I’ll meet you at the intersection.”
“Got it, I’ll get Henry and Kel.” Clementine slipped away to bring everyone to their location, leaving Aubrey with the shivering Sunny.
“But why? Why did you go looking for it?!”
“B-Because, l-l-losing it made you sad.”
“But you didn’t have to go looking for it in the middle of the night–”
“Well well well, look who it is.”
Aubrey looked up to see three older boys looking down on her and Sunny, her blood started to boil, “Ugh what do you want Jerry, in case you haven’t noticed I’m busy.”
“What? Helping your little boyfriend? Maybe we should throw him into the stream too!” Sunny instantly pieced two and two together.
“He’s not my– Sunny?” Sunny stood on his feet and began walking towards the bullies.
“What? Are you dumb or something?” He continued walking, “H-Hey, I’m talking to you!” Still walking, “Answer me!” Sunny stopped walking, standing face to face with Jerry. He was not happy in the slightest, “W-What’s with that face? Y-You better get away from me or I’ll hurt you!” With a glare, Sunny pulled his leg back, and with one swift swing…
*THWACK*
Kicked him right in the crotch. “Ghhgh!” To his credit, Jerry stayed on his feet for about 3 seconds before collapsing onto the ground in a pained lump.
“How about you go fuck yourself.”
“Su–”
“Sunny?!” A loud voice pierced the tense air, as Mari rushed over to hug her brother, “There you are, where have you be– Why is this boy on the floor?”
Sunny was about to explain himself, “H-He just kicked Jerry for no reason!” Until one of Jerry’s cronies stepped in for him.
“Y-Yeah, he did nothing wrong! That kid is mean!”
“That’s not true!!” Aubrey yelled, “He’s the one who threw my shoe into the lake!”
“You liar!!”
‘ Okay this is getting nowhere… ’ Halley thought, “Alright everyone be quiet.” The argument was silenced once Halley stepped up, “Okay Sunny, I have two questions. My reaction will change depending on your answers. Understood?” Sunny nodded, “First, is what they’re saying true?”
“No not at all.” Sunny admitted, “He said he was going to throw me into the stream. So..." He looked down onto the sidewalk "I-I kicked him in the dick.”
Halley winced, realizing her constant and unabashed swearing has spread to Sunny. ‘ Yamaha’s not going to be happy with me… but that’s for future Halley to deal with. ’ “Alright, question two. What did you say to him after the fact?”
“Huh?” Sunny was confused by the random question, but answered anyway, “I-I told him to go fuck himself?”
Halley was shocked, before a proud and excited smile grew on her face, “That’s my fucking son right there.” She said before laughing, “Oh I can’t wait to tell Dad about this…”
“W-What?” Mari’s entire world view was concaving right in front of her eyes. Sunny hurting people, Sunny swearing, her Mom being proud of said acts and laughing?! ‘ I-Is this a dream!? ’
“Haah, anyway, time to be an actual adult here.” Halley muttered, “You know the parents of these kids Clem?”
“I… I think so? I know the parents of the kid who's laying on the ground.”
“Good enough for me.” Halley muttered, before looking at Sunny, “We’ll be back soon to talk about how amazing of a thing you did, but first take a warm bath and get yourself cleaned up. Got it?” Sunny nodded, “Good. Now Clem?”
“Yeah Halley?”
“Let’s go pay those parents a visit.”
…
One nice warm bath, dry clothes, and a bowl of Admiral Munch Berries later, Sunny was sitting on the couch watching saturday morning cartoons like nothing happened today.
But something happened, “S-Sunny?” And Aubrey wanted to talk about it more, “W-Why did you–?”
“I already said why.” Sunny commented, trying to optimize the berry to grain ratio in his spoonful of cereal, “Losing it made you sad, so I got it back. The bullies made you sad too, so I kicked them.”
“But why? Why did you do it for me?”
Now Sunny was even more confused, “Because we’re friends?”
“But we only met yesterday!”
“So?”
“What do you mean ‘so’?!”
“Aubrey.” Well Sunny was starting to get annoyed, so he abandoned his crusade for the perfect spoonful of cereal temporarily to focus on Aubrey, “We could have met today and I still would have kicked that bully and looked for your shoe. The only difference is that I’m sure everyone else would have helped me look, both to help you… and to swim a little bit.”
“B-But…”
“And besides, you’ve used our bathroom, ate here, and slept over here. So you’re our friend now, that's the rule.” Sunny said, looking up at Mari and everyone else for backup.
“He’s right Aubrey!” Mari exclaimed, taking the hint, “You’re stuck with us now.”
“Yeah, we’re friends Aubrey!” Henry added.
Kel on the other hand, sighed. “But man, I wish I had gotten to swim…”
*Fwump*
“Ow! Henry!”
“Pfft… hehe.” But Aubrey started giggling, a large happy smile was plastered on her face. “You’re all weird.”
“Hey! I’m not weird!” Kel yelled.
“Yes you are.”
“Sunny?!”
Before Kel could give his scientifically backed argument on why he isn’t a weirdo…
*Click* *Creeeak*
“Man who knew kids could cry so damn loud…” Halley muttered.
“Mom.”
“I know, I’m probably like 10,000 dollars in the Swear Jar by now.” Halley walked over to the couch, “Scoot.” Sunny shuffled to give his Mom some space, “Now, about those bullies.”
“Mom–”
“But first…” Halley pulled out her phone and handed it to Sunny, “Your Grandpa wants to talk to you.”
He knew this was coming, so he held the phone up to his ear, “Hello–”
“Sunny, did you kick a boy?”
“Y-Yes Grandpa…”
“And did you tell him to ‘Go fuck himself’?”
“Yes I did–”
“AHAAAA!!” Sunny recoiled when his grandfather let out the biggest yell he’s ever heard, “Honey! Honey Sunny said it!!”
“He did what?!”
“Yeah! Oh I’m so proud of him! That’s my Grandson right there!”
“G-Grandpa?”
“Sunny, stay put. We’re coming over to make you the best dinner ever!”
“B-But why? I kicked–”
“Your mother told me everything. That boy sounded like a brat who needed a good kicking, and besides… Saying those words is a Musōka tradition. A tradition dating back to the dinosaurs.” Now call Sunny crazy, but that miiiight be an exaggeration. “So this moment needs to be celebrated. Eat a light breakfast, I’m making your favorite. Steak.”
“S-Steak?” Well now Sunny’s interested.
“And I!” A more feminine voice was emitted from the phone, “Am making my world famous mashed potatoes.”
“P-Potatoes?” And hearing that his grandmother’s famous mashed potatoes is coming too was making Sunny’s mouth water.
“Alright Mom and Dad, you sent Sunny on his Food Daze again, see you in a little bit.”
“Bye dear!” Grandma Emma Musōka said before hanging up.
“Which means…” Halley threw herself off of the couch, “I have to do some cleaning.”
“Okay Mom.” Sunny said, still thinking about dinner and how much he’s going to stuff his face later.
“Oh, and before I forget. What you did today was the right thing. However, don't think this is something you should do all the time.” Halley lightly tapped Sunny’s forehead, “We were lucky the parents of this kid were sensible. Should this happen at say… School or whatever, tell the teacher. Buuut if that doesn’t work then feel free to use force. Got it?”
“Got it Mom.”
“Good– Oh and another thing. No more going out in the middle of the night.” She said before leaning in, “At least not without telling me of course.”
“Right.” Halley smiled… before smothering Sunny in a tight Mom Hug™ “Gagh! Mom!!”
“I loooove you my little itty bitty Sunshine!”
“I-I’m not itty bitty!” The poor boy was embarrassed by this very blatant display of Mom Love. It didn't help that Kel and Aubrey were giggling at him.
“Hah! Grow a couple feet then talk to me squirt.”
“Hehe, she’s got you Sunny!” Mari taunted… not acknowledging the fact that she wasn't that far on the couch.
“You talk a lotta smack for someone in crushing distance.”
“Wha– Aagh!” Before Mari even had a chance to escape, Halley grabbed her too and performed the deadly Group Mom Hug™.
“I loooove you too my slightly bigger itty bitty Mari!”
“H-Hey! How come she’s slightly bigger?!”
“Because she’s older.”
“T-That’s not very fair!” Sunny yelled, but Halley ignored him with a kiss on the forehead.
“Welcome to life Son.”
While his quest of finding Aubrey’s shoe and kicking the bully in the crotch has yielded… mixed rewards. He got a new friend and a delicious dinner coming soon. So… before he dies at the hands of his mother. Ahem…
Main Quest: If the Shoe Fits
COMPLETE!!
Achievement Unlocked: Dive for Five