“Atsumu, Mitaru, stop running around in circles as if two fucking dogs chasing after one another’s tails,” instructed Miue, his index finger impatiently tapping on waist. “Tsugi, wipe the drool from your mouth. You’re going to scare even more children with how sloppy you look right now. Azuma, this is not the right time to play hide and seek. Stop avoiding looking at the passerby citizens and get out from behind the lamppost. Iru, Rei, I can see your hands! One meter apart from one another, right now!”

M-Miue-san… pfft… has totally turned… hehehe… into a kindergarten teacher…!, inwardly laughed Mizusaki, his hands covering his mouth to try to avoid bursting out laughing straight on his second-in-command’s face. This trip to ‘human kingdom’ is the best!

“Miue, Mizusaki, we got the tickets,” said Murayama, waving several sets of plastic cards in one of his hands. The sight alone was enough bait to summon one of the curious ‘kindergarten brats’. “Wai- Rei, don’t use your speedy moves while outside of the base. There are too many people in the train station!”

“I’m sorry,” apologised Rei, one of his hands still outstretched in the electronic ticket’s direction. Once Murayama gave him two train tickets, together with the warning to not lose them, he spun around on his heels and happily trotted back to Iru.

“Mitaru aside, Atsumu’s supposed to be a specialist in blending in with humans. Why is he acting the most childish of all of them?” grumbled Ikusaki, walking over to Tsugi and dropping a paper bag filled with popcorn on his hands. “Here you go. No more scaring children to crying point.”

“That lollipop looked really good…” said Tsugi in his own defence, wolfing down a handful of popcorn right afterwards.

“Is everyone present then?” asked Eki, doing a mental roll call of both human and super soldiers. “Are the special cell-phones on and in place?”

“Yeah,” said the group of soldiers in a dissonant unison, only Iru and Rei silently nodding their heads at the same time.

“Before we board the train, I’m going to remind you of the top 3 rules for this trip,” added Murayama, once again stepping up as commander in this extremely unusual mission. He had never thought he would join the army only to eventually take people out on a shopping trip through Tokyo. “No running around on your own without letting one of us human soldiers know beforehand. No acting on your own if you do not know what it is you’re doing. And no activities that would be frowned upon by humans. That includes holding hands in public, Iru.”

“Tsk!” Iru immediately clicked his tongue at the rebuke, taking a sideways step away from Rei at the same time as he released his hand once again. “This is why I hate humans…”

“Listen well, all of you!” called Murayama, urging everyone to group up together to make it easier to talk - as well as to stop inconveniencing the people walking around the train station. “The mission is easier than stealing candy from a- Um, probably shouldn't use that one. The mission is very easy to complete. We’ll catch the train here, change once to another line, and get off in the Central Area. There are stores there for all tastes and hobbies. However, our target location is the big shopping centre that opened in Shinjuku last year. It has appliance stores, clothes stores, book stores and a full floor dedicated to food and beverages. We’ll be splitting into several groups throughout the day to slowly but surely tick off all entries on our shopping list. Is everything clear to this point?”

The human soldiers ended saluting a “Yes, Sir!”, a big contrast when compared to the short, dry ‘yes’ that came from the super soldiers.

“The first part will have two groups: Rei, Iru, Atsumu, Ikusaki and I, then Tsugi, Azuma, Mitaru, Miue, Eki and Mizusaki,” continued Murayama after he got everyone’s okay. “The goal is clothes. There’s a time limit of two hours. We don’t have a cost limit but no pricey brands, please. The army’s budget was not meant to be used in Gucci or Armani. The meeting spot after the two hours is the same entrance we’ll use when we get there. Any questions?”

“Ohh~ Things are starting to get more interesting now,” giggled Atsumu, a half excited, half mischievous expression on his features. “This sounds more like a secret infiltration mission than a simple trip to a dirty human hoarding city.”

“If calling it that way will make you behave, then so be it,” acknowledged Miue, rolling his eyes around at that uncalled-for verbal attack. “Think of it as an infiltration mission to find out about Mizusaki’s secret.”

“Wait, why me!?” gasped Mizusaki, his eyes open wide in shock as he pointed at himself. When he saw Atsumu’s, Mitaru’s, Tsugi’s and Azuma’s eyes systematically flickering crimson red, he felt a massive shudder run down his spine. “You gotta be kidding me…”

“Bitting more than you can chew… I think that’s how that human idiom goes,” said Iru, a borderline sadistic smirk on his lips as he cocked his head to the left and let it rest on top of Rei’s shoulder. “Think twice before you try to defeat me a second time, Shinobu.”

“Murayama-san, please do something about this!” begged Mizusaki after he gave a strong kick to Ikusaki’s leg, who was about to keel over from his ongoing laughing attack.

“Shall we get going?” announced Murayama, pretending to not have heard Mizusaki’s bellows for help. He pushed the sleeve of his street jacket slightly up and took a peek at his wristwatch. “The train we need to ride is almost arriving at the platform. Better hurry or we’ll get even more delayed in our schedule.”

“Please try to not get lost,” warned Eki, kindly guiding the super soldiers towards the ticket gates. “This train station doesn’t have even one-fourth of the movement of the large ones. If you get lost here, we’ll probably need a lead for the next one.”

“Just keep your eyes on Mizusaki and I can guarantee that no one will get lost,” suggested Ikusaki, quietly chortling underneath his breath afterwards.

“I’m so done with this squad…” groaned Mizusaki, feeling pity towards himself and the pain in the ass all of this was ending up being. “I really should have delivered that holiday request before we set out for the lab mission…”

“Iru, keep a close watch on Rei,” instructed Murayama, as he successfully passed by the ticket gate. “I’m afraid that some cool looking train will seduce him into a different platform from our own.”

“I shall keep on seducing him, then,” acknowledged Iru, sticking as close as possible to Rei without bordering the breakage of the third main rule.

“That’s not what I meant…” sighed Murayama, feeling like facepalming himself for the hundredth time since his alarm clock rang and the ‘trip to human civilisation’ started. With each incident like this one, he felt that he was one step closer to finally make the one-million dollars question to the two siblings.

“Just so we’re clear, I’m not keeping any secret,” said Mizusaki, attempting to lessen the attention he was receiving from both Mitaru and Atsumu. “So there’s no need to stare at me as if I’m a medium-rare steak ready to be eaten.”

“Huh? Medium-rare steak?” repeated Mitaru, an eyebrow slightly arched as he wondered about those words.

“It’s a cut of cow’s meat, beef, in this case, that’s not fully cooked,” explained Eki, finally crossing the ticket gate after waiting in line for his turn. “The outside is cooked but the inside is still on the raw side.”

“It’s weird to explain it that way but it’s a true delicacy,” added Ikusaki, feeling his stomach release a small growl of hunger. “It’s so early in the morning but I could have one myself right about now. I guess lunch is decided as far as it concerns me.”

“Steak for lunch, huh…” marvelled Miue, his stomach also liking the sound of that proposal. “That would make this trip to outside of the base more than worth the headache that it is. I guess I’ll be joining you on that one, Ikusaki.”

“Sweet!” cheered Ikusaki, making a fist with his hand as a celebration for his accepted suggestion. “Anyone else wants to join us?”

“Isn’t it too early to make plans for lunch?” pointed out Azuma, his eyes carefully surveying his surroundings as he avoided the humans as much as the crowd allowed him. “We’re not even inside of this train thing yet.”

“Food isn’t allowed inside of the trains,” noted Rei, tilting his head to the right for brief seconds before reformulating his earlier randomness. “Eating and drinking isn’t allowed inside the trains. We can only transport food and groceries.”

“Tsugi will need to stop eating the human treats before he gets inside then,” acknowledged Iru, gently smiling at Rei at the same time he discreetly caressed the back of his hand with his fingertips.

“Ah… Speaking of which…” hesitantly said Mizusaki, coming to a sudden halt while looking around through the crowd. “Where is Tsugi?”

“...............SHIT!”