Nii continued singing amazarashi's song カシオピア係留所 as they walked through the city.

"So, what was it you were looking for again?" Kazuya casually asked, watching as Nii continued to jump across the street to the rhythm of the beat. He had just acquired his holy tobacco for which Nii didn't even deign a look and was beginning to catch some of her liveliness, not that he needed any more than he already had.

"Haha! Are you trying to get me to spill my secret? I can see through your farce!" she peered at him, amused.

"Well, I could help you better in our search if I knew what we are looking for?"

At that, Nii softly smiled at him.

"It's a rusty object of bygone days."

♫

I want a souvenir.

"What's with you, all of a sudden?"

My friends think we don't get along.

"Huh?" she sounded exasperated, ready to smash her head against the glass walls of the phone booth. Talking with her brother could be so exhausting. He would get emotional so easily, her exact opposite.

You never get me anything on your travels!

"But I always send you postcards!"

That's not the same, though I appreciate them! They're lining my entrance!

"Great," she remarked sarcastically.

But I want something to line my shelves, or heck, even the walls, something of emotional value!

"What's the point? You want me to decorate your apartment?"

Oh, please feel free to, but no! I just want to be able to say: 'That's from my baby sister! She's travelling all other the world for her crazy job! Isn't she amazing?'

"So you just want to brag and at that, not even about yourself."

What's so bad about bragging? And why would I need to brag about myself? I already know I'm amazing, but they don't know that you are, too!

"And you want to convince them with worthless trinkets."

They're not worthless. They have emotional value! They're like keepsakes from you, mementoes! And that's cool! You know, like in those emotional scenes in movies when someone looks at a keepsake from someone close! It's got the air of something fantastic!

"I'm not dead yet, and you watch too many movies."

I know you love stuff like this, too! So, how about it? Can I expect anything next time?

When had she ever given off that impression?

"Haaah, I still don't feel like buying worthless ru…things of emotional value. What's the point of owning things you can't use? If I feel like supporting the locals, I will not do it by visiting tourist traps!"

Well, then, how about art? For cultural appreciation?

"I didn't know you to be a man of culture."

Hey, that's mean!

"Maybe something of practical use."

Really?! I'll hold you to your word, young miss!

"If I come across something."

Well, I guess that's like you. But don't make me wait for too long!

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Time passed, and with it, many things until she had forgotten about that trivial conversation and that trifling promise about objects of bygone days.

♫

Still singing, Nii moved on slightly ahead of him.

"So, you're not looking for anything specific."

"Nope," Nii answered lightly while jumping into a puddle.

"You could have told me that earlier! That makes things much easier!"

"Because you're so well-versed when it comes to pointless trinkets?"

"Was that an attack on my gizmo? I shall rise to this challenge!

First argument: they're not pointless! They carry emotional value! And they are nice to look at!"

"What about them is nice to look at?" Nii looked at him incredulously.

"You just have no sense for aesthetics. It takes a sensitive soul to understand the value of art!"

"So they did serve no point, after all!"

"They served the economy! That's my second argument, by the way."

"The economy…"

"Yep"

"Our great economy…."

"Third argument"

"Hey, don't ignore me!"

"I managed to make quite a profit off these worthless trinkets you look down upon so much. Point proven!"

Nii looked seemingly amused at this and let the argument go.

"I want it to be something of use."

"Isn't it really more important what your brother wants and not what you want?"

Quite undeterred by his, once again, valid argument, she said:

"But it's supposed to be a memento between us, so I should also be able to consider it valuable."

Kazuya looked at her thoughtfully. Nii had become incredibly outspoken, and the change had seemingly come overnight. He knew from experience that people could change abruptly or show a wholly new side of them, but could people really change this much in such short a time?

And Nii continued singing as they moved along.

♫

The market, if one could still call it that, consisted of prop-up stalls along the way to the port, where most traffic was concentrated these days. And the closer they came to the port, the more people they met, and the more dangerous it got.

'Even if most people don't seem to care very much, still good that I didn't let her go alone. She'd definitely get robbed. She doesn't even seem to pay attention to her surroundings.'

It was true; Nii seemed to be lost entirely in her one world, jumping from stall to stall, from time to time tugging at his sleeve while humming all the while. She had neither eyes nor ears for those around her, merely focusing on the merchandise before her, on the rusty objects of bygone days. Naturally, there were also various objects that did not need to fear rust, not that their condition was any better. People had stopped making things. They now specialised in selling what already existed.

♫

Moving on and ever on towards the port, they soon began to fade into the hustling and bustling of the crowd consisting of people who still felt like they had somewhere to go, somewhere to be.

"The world sure has gotten colourful," Nii suddenly remarked.

"Hasn't it always been?" Kazuya asked.

It had been an honest question, one devoid of any hidden meaning, neither denying nor endorsing her observation. He simply accepted it to be her worldview, just as he had accepted her.

"Is that so?" she replied softly with a thoughtful look. "Is that so…"

And like that, they vanished into the colourful crowd, becoming another blob on the grand canvas.

♫

"What about this?" Kazuya asked, holding up a stained wooden mask adorned with strange symbols.

"Of practical use."

They had had this same back and forth since they started their search.

"But it is of practical use!" he insisted.

"And what would that be?"

"I don't know. You could rob a bank with it!" he added as if having had a sudden epiphany.

Nii just rolled her eyes.

"Okay, okay. But what about one of those?" he pointed at a stall draped in faded fabrics.

"And what would he do with one of those?"

"Wear it as a scarf? Oh, or as a cape! He could also cover himself with it like a blanket. He could even decorate the walls with it! It's like a superhero of practical use! No? Still no good? You're really difficult, you know?" he pouted theatrically, not the least bit tired of their game.

It was fun, after all. It was entertaining, and it was different to the monotonous sound of everyday life, like a fresh wind in a town filled with stale air. He wouldn't get tired of it that easily.

After several more of these instances and a good deal more bantering, they had come to a stop in front of a stall offering a variety of metallic objects that might have seen a few rainy days too many. But they still looked quite interesting. He would have liked quite well to take several of these with him, their obscure origin and use making them all the more alluring! Some were shaped like bodies, and others like heads with stoic faces. But he was confident that he would never find anything amongst these objects to her liking. Still, wouldn't hurt to try. He instinctively grabbed the most interesting-looking thing.

'Nothing ventured, nothing gained!'

"What about this?"

She gave him an incredulous look.

"Is this supposed to be art?" she sounded uncertain, almost unnerved, as if bothered by something.

"Well, it definitely has an artistic feel to it."

Kazuya stroked his chain as he appraised the longish, rod-like object.

"I thought it kind of resembled you with its grumpy-looking face. And see, the rusty part on top kind of looks like red hair!"

"Face?"

'So she's hung up on that part, huh?'

Apparently, the grumpy was fine then.

"Yeah, that face is clearly you!"

He thought she would pout and stubbornly refuse as she had so many times before, but she didn't. To his astonishment, she extended her arm towards him. Taking the object into her hands, she began to examine it closely, turning it round and round. And then, she suddenly looked surprised.

"What do you use this for?" she asked the street vendor, pointing at the bottom part of the object.

"It's a spice mill."

'So it does have a proper use.'

♫