An Assassin's Respite

To the Mall

It was Saturday, and Kazuna was in the kitchen making breakfast. In the living room, Kari and Ria were arguing about whose show to watch. Ria may have been opposed to Kari being here in the beginning, but she's really grown into a big sister of sorts to Kari. Kazuna finishes making breakfast and calls them to eat. The pair hurries to the table as Kazuna lays out their plates.

"Thank you for the food," Ria and Kari say in unison before digging in.

Kazuna follows suit before eating as well. Ria stops eating for a second and analyzes Kazuna. She had always found it easy to tell what Kazuna was thinking, but recently his thoughts had become sporadic. She didn't hate the change necessarily since it was more like how he thought before his grandfather died, but it made her feel like she had grown distant from him. She continues eating so as not to catch Kazuna's attention, but her mind was still lingering on that thought. 

Once they finish eating and cleaning up, they hear a knock at the door. Kazuna opens the door to see Kagura at the door. Behind her were Akeno, Ayame, Shiba, Yua, Matt, Haruna, Haruka, and Emiko. Ria appears behind him and peeks over his shoulder.

"Who Died?" She asks.

"What? Nobody died," Kagura replies.

"Then why are you all here?" Kazuna asks.

Kagura places a hand over her forehead as she realizes that Kazuna thought the same thing that Ria did.

"Remember that thing we said we were going to do at the Coalition Festival?" Kagura asks.

Kazuna just looks at her for a brief moment before realizing what she was talking about.

"Oh, you mean going to the mall," Kazuna surmises.

"Yes! Now hurry up and get ready," Kagura urges him.

"What's so great about the mall that you need to take Kazuna there?" Ria asks.

"The mall?" Kari repeats with a quizzical expression. She was looking up at Kagura from under Kazuna's arm.

"It seems we'll be having two guests along with us," Kagura notes.

"Hm, I'm only going because Kachi is," Ria scoffs.

"Are you going to let me go to the mall with you?" Kari asks with a star-studded gaze.

"Of course," Kazuna says as he places a hand on her head.

"Give us a few minutes to get ready," Kazuna says to Kagura.

Kagura nods as he, Ria, and Kari head to their respective rooms to change. Kazuna was changed pretty quickly, but it took Ria and Kari quite a bit longer to change. After a few minutes of Kazuna rushing them and threatening to leave them behind, they finally changed and left the house with Kagura and everyone else. 

"So what made you decide on going today?" Kazuna asks.

"Because I wanted to show that we all want you to be here and enjoy you being here and that you should never risk your spot here so willingly." She answers.

"And because I want to get back to acting normal around you and talking to you without feeling like my heart will explode." She thinks to herself.

They walk into the city and head for the center. Once they round the final corner, a massive building complex comes into view. It was five stories tall and took up an entire city block. 

"This is a mall?" Kazuna asks in surprise.

"It's huge," Ria adds.

"Yep. The mall at the Coalition Union building was more akin to a large gift shop, so this will be a completely different experience compared to then," Kagura states.

Kazuna stares at the massive complex in awe. The 'mall' at the Coalition Union paled in comparison. Kazuna looks over at Kari, who had stars in her eyes. He places a hand on her head to snap her out of her daze. 

"Shall we head in?" Kazuna asks her.

Kari gives him a smile that spreads across her face and nods in excitement. They all enter the mall, and Kari, Kazuna, and Ria are left speechless at the number of different things that were happening. 

They had walked into an opening cathedral that had a chandelier hanging from the ceiling and a water fountain beneath it. Across the room was an escalator that took them to another floor. Once they looked up, they could see railings that marked separate levels. To their right, several souvenir shops were lined up, and to their left were a few toy stores. Kagura let the three of them gather themselves before walking in front of them.

"As you can see, this isn't just some mall. It's nothing like anything you've seen before," Kagura states.

"You can say that again," Kazuna says in agreement.

"How do you even decide what to do first?" Ria asks.

"Obviously, you make a plan of what you want to do beforehand, so you don't spend all day wandering or stay in one store for too long," Kagura replies.

"So, you have a plan on what we'll be doing?" Kazuna asks, still in awe of the place.

"Yes, although I'll have to improvise it a little now that we have this little one joining us," Kagura states while looking at Kari.

Kari's eyes were darting all over the place, never resting in one spot for too long. Kagura takes note and kneels next to her.

"So, where would you like to go first?" She asks.

"Really? But, didn't you have a plan of what you wanted to do?" Kari asks.

"I also said that I needed to improvise it. So, with that in mind, where to first?" Kagura asks again.

Kari's eyes were wide and filled with excitement as she looked around. Her eyes rest on a toy store that was on the far left side of the entrance. Kazuna follows her gaze and instantly sees why she wanted to go there first. In the window were figurines from the anime that she watched all the time. 

"That settles it, we're going to that store first," Kazuna says while pointing to the shop that Kari had been looking at. 

The group enters the store, and Kari can no longer hold back her excitement. She rushes forward and gazes at all the merchandise, oozing excitement. She was eyeing all the different figures, posters, games, and everything in between. Kazuna watches her from the entrance as she gawks over everything before she peels herself away from what she was looking at and rushes over to him.

"Aren't you going to look at everything with me?" She asks.

"Sure," Kazuna says before Kari grabs his hand and pulls him to where she was.

Kazuna was going to tell her to enjoy herself, but the look Kagura gave him made it clear that he should go with her. She starts to explain all the characters and their personalities to him with an unusual amount of passion. He smiles and listens to her happily as the scenario leaves a nostalgic feeling in him. Kari reminded him of himself when he would drag his grandfather along to show him something. The feeling was reassuring to him. It made it feel like he was doing the right thing and following the right path.

Kari drags him around the store for several more minutes before she was satisfied, and the group prepared to head to their next destination. Before they left, Kazuna tells them to wait a second before he heads back into the store they left. He walks out, carrying a small figurine. He had noticed that Kari had spent the most time looking at this one, and even when they moved to a different part of the store, she would still give it passing glances.

"Here," Kazuna says while handing the figurine to Kari.

"Really? I can have it?" She asks while tentatively reaching out for it.

"That is why I bought it," Kazuna replies.

Kari gives him a look brimming with joy as she holds the figure close to her. With them done with their first stop, they continued following Kagura's layout. They visited every type of store imaginable from clothing stores, to jewelry shops, to candy shops. Kazuna, Ria, and Kari were continually looking at everything with awe. It was clear that they grew up in very different worlds than everyone else there. Kagura and everyone else saw this trip to the mall as a fun group gathering, but to those three, it was like entering a different world. 

As Kagura watched the three of them, she could see just how close they were. Ria and Kari were able to get close to Kazuna and brush against him easily. They talked to him so comfortably and with such familiarity. It was most likely due to the similar backgrounds they had. They probably found comfort in the idea that they all have had difficult upbringings, and that made it easier for them to understand each other. Kagura was envious of Ria and Kari being able to interact with Kazuna so easily. They really looked like a family.

 After a long day of mostly window shopping mixed with a bit of actual shopping, they were at their last stop, which was at the food court. Everyone went to different food vendors and came back with a diverse assortment of foods between them. As they sat and ate, a warm fuzzy feeling started to spread through Kazuna's heart. 

"I truly do feel at peace when surrounded by these idiots." Kazuna thinks to himself.

He pans over everyone there and rests his gaze on Kari.

"Kari, you have found a friend and seem to have grown into yourself. I swear, even if I have to go back on my vow, I will protect you and allow you to live a life that is filled with happiness and joy," He thinks to himself as he continues to eat.

They ate, laughed, and joked around for almost an hour before they decided to call it a day. Kazuna waves goodbye to his classmates and watches them walk away with a smile. He watches them for a brief moment before leaving with his usual group. As they were walking home, Kari was excitedly talking about everything. It was clear that she had a good time. 

"Well, we know that Kari had fun, but what about you, Kazuna? Did you have a good time?" Kagura asks Kazuna with a nudge.

"Yeah, I did. I didn't know that a simple thing like window shopping could be so fun," He answers.

"Anything can become fun as long as you're with friends," Kagura states.

"Is that so?" Kazuna says as he stares off into the distance.

Kagura looks at him, trying to think of what to say next. She knew that he had a habit of staring off into the distance like that when he was thinking about something. 

“It’s weird though, that you haven’t been to a mall. I thought that you would have been in at least one even if it was for a mission.” Kagura states.

“Malls had too many people and cameras. They weren’t good for staying out of sight.” He replies.

“I see.” Kagura mumbles.

They were silent for a moment before Kari breaks that silence.

"Mr. Kazuna, can we go somewhere with all of your friends again sometime?" She asks.

"Sure, and next time we'll invite your friend to come with us," He replies.

Kari smiles and jumps in joy. As Kazuna watches her, there was still something nagging at him. The pair of eyes he's felt on them for a while were still there and seemed to be getting more and more aggressive by the day.