Chapter 4: The Power of Chocobi
Kawakami Yuichi quickly returned to his apartment. Although he'd said he had something to take care of, he was just making an excuse to leave as lunchtime approached.
After all, it would be impolite to mooch off them on a first visit and leave a bad impression.
Kawakami Yuichi went to the refrigerator in the kitchen, intending to take out ingredients to prepare lunch.
But when he opened the refrigerator, he was dumbfounded—there were only two eggs left.
"Yabai! My memory is terrible. I forgot there wasn't much left in the fridge."
"Wait, I remember there were two packs of cup ramen in the cupboard," Kawakami Yuichi muttered.
He then went to the cupboard and took out the two cups of instant ramen. While the noodles were cooking for three minutes, he fried two eggs.
After putting the fried eggs into the ramen, he brought it to the living room table.
"Mew, go wash your paws. It's lunchtime. The fridge is empty, so we'll have to make do with cup ramen for now."
"We'll go to Sato Department Store together later, and I'll cook you some of my specialties tonight," Kawakami Yuichi called out.
"Myu." Mew nodded, floated to the bathroom to wash its paws, and then flew over to eat ramen with Kawakami Yuichi.
"Slurp, slurp, mmm."
After a few bites, Kawakami Yuichi praised, "This cup ramen tastes pretty good."
Mew nodded in agreement.
After finishing their noodles and tidying up the table, Kawakami Yuichi and Mew headed out.
After several turns through the neighborhood, they finally arrived in front of the Sato Department Store building.
Looking at the department store standing before him, Kawakami Yuichi had many thoughts.
He remembered watching Crayon Shin-chan as a child—many memorable stories took place here. It was a place full of nostalgia.
His most vivid memory was of the Lost Children's Center here. Shin-chan was number one on their blacklist, having given the staff a real headache.
With these thoughts, he entered Sato Department Store.
Today he needed to buy groceries and snacks for the next week—he was going to be busy.
After several hours of shopping, Kawakami Yuichi left Sato Department Store carrying two large bags.
The items looked plentiful, and with meat in them, they should have been heavy, but actually, with Mew's help using telekinesis, the load felt incredibly light.
Passing by Futaba Park, he suddenly spotted Shin-chan hiding alone behind some bushes.
Kawakami Yuichi walked up and asked curiously, "Shin-chan, what are you doing?"
"I'm playing kakurenbo," Shin-chan replied lazily.
"Oh, I see! It's so hot today—here, have a cold drink to cool down." He took a bottle of Ramune from his bag and handed it to him.
"Oh, arigatō, Kawakami-niisan!" Shin-chan politely replied after taking the drink.
"Then I won't hold back~" He opened the drink and started gulping it down.
Kawakami Yuichi sat down next to Shin-chan, took out two more drinks from his bag, handed one to Mew, and then drank one himself.
"Ahh! This is great. On such a hot day, we really need cold drinks." Kawakami Yuichi said with satisfaction.
Mew and Shin-chan nodded in agreement.
Soon, the drinks were finished.
"Shin-chan, do you want to come to my place to hang out?" Kawakami Yuichi asked.
"Nah, I'm busy playing kakurenbo when nobody's looking!" Shin-chan replied.
"I still have two boxes of Chocobi at home—you didn't forget, did you?"
"Well then, I guess I'll just have to eat them myself. What a shame. I was planning to save some for you, Shin-chan, but since you're still busy, I'll head out first." With that, Kawakami Yuichi stood up and pretended to leave.
Upon hearing about the Chocobi, Shin-chan immediately jumped up, tugged at Kawakami Yuichi's clothes, and stared at him with his sincere puppy-dog eyes, pleading, "Wait, wait! Kawakami-niisan, I suddenly really want to come to your place! Please let me come, onegai!"
"Hmm... alright then! But you have to promise me you won't cause any trouble," Kawakami Yuichi offered his condition.
Although he didn't have high expectations—this level of promise was far from enough to keep Shin-chan from being mischievous.
"Hai, hai, hai! I'll definitely be a good boy!" Shin-chan nodded frantically.
"In that case, let's go!"
With that, he led Shin-chan toward the apartment.
As they walked, Kawakami Yuichi saw a beautiful OL walking toward them.
Then Shin-chan, who had been beside him just moments before, had vanished.
The next moment, Kawakami Yuichi saw Shin-chan run up to the beautiful office lady.
"Onee-san~ do you like green peppers?" Shin-chan asked shyly.
"Ara! What an adorable little boy! I hate green peppers the most." The pretty OL replied to Shin-chan's question.
"Me too!" Shin-chan replied happily.
Then he asked, "Do you have a boyfriend, Onee-san?"
"Ah, not yet," the pretty OL said with a hint of regret.
"Then..." Shin-chan was about to say something when Kawakami Yuichi caught up and interrupted him.
"Alright, Shin-chan, this Onee-san has things to do, so don't bother her anymore."
This kid is really fast. He's gone in the blink of an eye, Kawakami Yuichi thought to himself.
"Sumimasen for the trouble," Kawakami Yuichi said to the pretty OL.
"Not at all—this little boy is very cute."
"Well then, I'll be going now. See you again sometime, little boy. Bai bai~" With that, she waved and left.
Shin-chan watched the pretty Onee-san drift further and further away from him and angrily said,
"Yuichi-niisan, you're so mean!"
"I was having such a good time chatting with her—I was just about to ask her if she wanted to be my girlfriend!"
"And you just chased her away!"
Seeing Shin-chan's angry expression, Kawakami Yuichi remained completely calm, simply saying,
"Chocobi."
This immediately plunged Shin-chan into an internal struggle. A scale appeared in his mind: on one side was the pretty Onee-san, on the other, his favorite Chocobi.
After a difficult comparison, the Chocobi won by a landslide.
Thinking about it, it made sense—after all, the pretty Onee-san was already gone, while the Chocobi were still waiting for him.
"Mou, Yuichi-niisan, you're so cunning!" Although the Chocobi had won, Shin-chan couldn't help but complain.
Kawakami Yuichi glanced at Shin-chan and said again, "Two whole boxes of Chocobi."
"Ehehe, Kawakami-niisan is the best!" Hearing this, Shin-chan's expression immediately changed, and he grinned foolishly.
Seeing Shin-chan's performance, Yuichi could only conclude that if one box of Chocobi wasn't enough to handle Shin-chan, then two boxes would definitely do the trick.
The power of Chocobi was truly immense.
[End of Chapter 4]