The children looked curiously at the way Daitaro and Masaru walked through the aisles, they looked very happy examining the place in search of ingredients.

Mitsuru watched with some amusement the way Daiki stroked Hachi's head while pouting. The blond offered to hold the puppy, but the redhead silently declined. Mitsuru let out a short laugh.

"What's wrong with you, what are you laughing at?"

"It's funny how you're keeping a jealous eye on Daitaro, it's funny to see how much you care."

"What?... It's not like I was thinking about anything like that."

"Sure..." The blond looked at him in disbelief. Daiki looked annoyed by this, however, he exhaled with apparent sadness.

"I'm not lying, actually something bothers me..., but if you're going to be teasing me I don't think there's any point in telling you."

"Does it bother you that much that I'm teasing you? I didn't think you'd be so affected by what I said."

"..." Daiki frowned. He felt like hitting him but decided not to. "It's just that you can tell he really wanted to cook."

"Hm..."

"And it makes me angry to think that he wanted to do that the whole time but didn't tell me."

“Wasn’t it obvious? I don't think he had to tell you"

"...And knowing that makes me angrier at myself" Daiki replied "I don't like to think about how I was forcing him to take my side, but I can't take his either. Not when that guy could kick us out of the apartment..."

"You sure are afraid of that huh... Look, don't worry, I think it's more work kicking us out than just ignoring that he saw us cooking" said Mitsuru "It's unlikely he'll come out of nowhere, and assuming he does, we can always invite him over for lunch. I doubt he'll run us off if we don't cause any accidents."

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because he's more likely to forget he was threatening us with it, you just need to act more casual, if you quiver and stammer you'll only make things difficult"

"..." Daiki looked away, he closed his eyes for a moment before looking up at the ceiling. "Do you think I'm stupid for worrying like this?"

"I don't know, do you feel silly for worrying so much?"

"...Maybe."

"Wow" Mitsuru looked surprised for a moment. Daiki gave him a jaded look as he noticed his expression. "I didn't think you were going to admit it."

"-...Shut up."

"Although I still think it's a bad idea for us to cook, who knows what will happen... I don't want a stomachache" Mitsuru commented expressing his fear of potentially inedible food.

"I guess as long as we don't burn the kitchen down, the outcome doesn’t matter."

"So you don't plan to intervene anymore then?"

"..." Daiki looked down the aisles. Even if he didn't see them, he had a mental image of his brothers having a good time. "I'll try not to."

"I imagine you don't want to interfere with your twin's happiness then?"

"...Masaru seems to be having fun too."

"Eh... So the way to persuade you to do things is to just go against you?"

"What?"

"Because now that they've gone against you and you see them happy then you reconsider your stance. It's funny that even though you two are apparently different in behavior, in the end you both are similar even in that."

"..." Daiki glared at him. Mitsuru looked at him in disbelief.

"So you can murder me with your gaze all you want, in the end, you're just as weak as Daitaro to us, haha."

Unable to restrain himself, Daiki let out a punch with much irritation. He felt embarrassed that the other would say this, but... He couldn't deny that seeing his brothers having a good time made him rethink whether what he feared really warranted so much.

It's just... He couldn't help but feel that he had been incredibly selfish; however, even though he was questioning a lot of things, he didn't quite understand his own feelings. He just knew he was upset, and it didn't seem like that was going to change anytime soon.

*"Woof! Woof!" The sudden barking of Hachi interrupted Daiki's thoughts. The red-haired boy looked at the restless puppy in his arms curiously.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"Well... From the way he's moving, I'd say he's had enough of being carried around" the blond commented as he then smirked teasingly. "But well, with how much you like to carry him to the point of taking him from me as soon as you let go of Daitaro's hand, I'm not surprised you didn't notice that."

"And what's wrong with me carrying him? He may be more attached to Daitaro but I found him, so he's mine." 

"What does it matter if you found him? Daitaro is the one who decided to be the one responsible and Hachi even has a collar similar to Daitaro's bracelets so..."

“I’m still the one who found him! ...And even if you're right, what does that have to do with taking him from you? Did you want to carry him that much?"

"...No, but I see that you did," Mitsuru concluded as he watched the restless puppy. “So... Shouldn't you put him down to walk?"

"Are you stupid? If I do that he might run off and get lost."

"Well yes, but... I don't think he'll last long in your arms anyway" Mitsuru could see the puppy trying to wriggle out of Daiki's arms. "Better place him on the floor or he might bite you out of desperation."

"Even if he does, he's a puppy, his bites don't hurt" he stated very sure of this, however, as he felt the puppy move from side to side expressing his frustration, Daiki accepted that he needed to walk.

"Hmm... We didn’t bring a leash, you're right, maybe that's not a good idea..." muttered the blond before moving down to look at Hachi. "Hey, hey, we can put you down, but, you have to promise not to run off if we do that."

"Don't be an idiot, you can't ask him to..."

"Woof!" Mitsuru took the effusive bark as a sign of approval and soon gave Daiki the signal that all was well. The redhead evidently looked at him in disbelief but decided to put him down since Hachi really seemed to need it.

Daiki placed him on the floor as he considered that everything would be fine as long as they didn't take their eyes off him.

"Woof!" Hachi looked very pleased to be able to be on the floor and walk. The children watched him with some guilt.

"Hachi, Daiki is sorry he didn't give you a chance to be free, don't hate him too much" Mitsuru said with his palms together apologetically. Both boys watched the puppy carefully to take care that he didn't run away.

“What? But I wasn't the one who carried him all this time! I carried him just now!"

"And who carried him the rest of the time?"

"Daitaro."

"And Daitaro is your twin."

“What about it?"

"As his twin it's your duty to take responsibility for his mistake."

“Huh...? That doesn't make sense..."

"Okay, then... Since you found him, you should have told Daitaro to let him walk."

"I could have done that but it's still Daitaro's mistake, not mine," the red-eyed one declared grumpily.

"Then tell him to apologize to Hachi when you see him."

"Uh..." Daiki looked away. "And why do I have to...?"

 "Hey! We're almost out but... Do you guys want anything!" Masaru exclaimed from the nearest cash register. Daiki turned in his direction, trying to ignore the people watching them.

"Oh oh, I want ice cream, buy ice cream!" Mitsuru exclaimed as he looked at the black haired eagerly. It was kind of funny how his energy could change from one moment to the next just by thinking about the delicious icy dessert he could have soon.

"Daiki, do you want anything?!"

The redhead frowned as he heard his name, did he have to call him by name? Now all the damn store knew what his name was... And why did that matter? He didn't know, but it embarrassed him to no end to know that he had been exposed in such a way.

"A bag of chips, now stop yelling!"

"Okay, boss!" Masaru shouted as he ran back between the aisles. Daiki just stood there blushing at the exchange that had just transpired. Why did he have to be so loud? It didn't help that his brother didn't mind the attention.

"Haha, Masaru sure knows how to embarrass you without even trying" Mitsuru commented.

"He's too loud for my taste, and to top it off he called me boss again."

"Can you blame him? You behave like one."

"That's not true! ...Uh..." The redhead looked at Mitsuru with annoyance before looking towards the space where Hachi was previously... Finding that he was no longer there.

"What?" Mitsuru followed Daiki's gaze and upon realizing what was going on, the calmness crumbled from his face immediately. "H-Hachi? Where did you...? Oh no..." the blond looked sideways in panic, he was trying to keep calm but it was impossible for him not to get nervous, this, mostly because he had been the one who had proposed the idea of putting him down.

"Mitsuru, calm down" Daiki said in a calm but firm manner. "He couldn't have gone very far, observe your surroundings calmly and see if you see anything strange. You check that side, I'll go this way. Yell if you find him." 

Mitsuru felt his brother hold his shoulder for a moment before letting go and walking to the side he had said he would follow. The blond watched as Daiki looked underneath the cashiers in search of the puppy.

He took a deep breath in an attempt to regain his composure and immediately followed the instruction given by his brother. He knew Daiki was very worried, but it was respectable of him to be able to keep control and give directions in a judicious manner. 

"Awww, how cute!" at the shout of several girls, the children turned to look at them and immediately ran in their direction.

Both Daiki and Mitsuru crouched down in front of the register where the girls were, finding Hachi sitting down. He had turned to see them almost immediately.

“Woof!” Seeing him barking happily, the children looked calmer but they still had to catch him to be completely at peace.

“Hachi, come here!” Daiki exclaimed as he tried to get the puppy to approach his hands on his own. Hachi watched the redhead's hand for a few seconds before turning and running into the store.

“Hachi! No, come back!” Mitsuru exclaimed as he saw the little dog speeding into the store.

Daiki quickly stood up and followed Hachi into the store followed by Mitsuru. Unfortunately it was a relatively large place so Hachi could hide wherever he went.

When he lost sight of him, Daiki stopped running and then took out his cell phone.

“Do you plan on calling Daitaro?”

“You know he doesn't usually answer his cell phone,” said the redhead as he dialed. Seconds later, he heard his brother's voice.

[Daiki? What's up? Did you two get bored and entered the store illegally?]

“Hachi ran into the store, we lost sight of him. Is Dai-”

[Don't panic! You'll see how we’ll find Hachi in no time!]

“I’m not upset or anything like that!”

[Don't worry, we'll catch him!]

Daiki let out a sigh when he understood that his brother was ignoring him.

“Is Daitaro with you? I would dial him but I'm sure he has his cell phone on vibrate as always."

[No, he went to another aisle, I can look for him and let him know about what’s going on if you want though]

“Just tell him if you run into him while looking for Hachi, otherwise don't bother.”

“I hope no one steals Hachi…” Mitsuru muttered, sounding nervous again.

“Don't say that!” Daiki yelled at Mitsuru. It disturbed him to even consider the idea so it was almost impossible not to react badly.

“…” Mitsuru just looked away, feeling uncomfortable at the idea.

[I'll search from a high point to see if I can find him faster!]

"What? Oh… well, even if I tell you not to, you're going to do what you want anyway… Do it but make sure no one sees you!”

[Your wish is my command, boss!]

"Don’t call me…!" Unable to finish the sentence, Daiki heard the tone announcing that Masaru had hung up. “Uh…”

“Was Daitaro with him?”

"No. "He said that he went to another aisle but we can't waste time looking for him so we better hurry up and find Hachi ourselves."

“But you are twins… Can't you guess where he is?”

"It doesn’t matter! Just go find Hachi already! Go and look for him where the clothes are in case he is hiding there."

“Uhh…, what do you mean you don't know where he might be? …You suck like a twin you know”

“Just go!”

“Yes, yes… boss” Mitsuru said as he left, looking annoyed. Daiki sighed right after hearing him. He had to admit that at first he hadn't minded being called 'boss', but…, the more they said it, the more it became clear that they were saying it to suggest something unpleasant. Well, he didn't know if Masaru was saying it for the same reason but at least he knew that Mitsuru was calling him 'grumpy, authoritarian, bossy' etc.

“Hachi! Where are you?! Hachi!!!”