It was a normal Tuesday afternoon. The last period of school recently finished, and the students are now leaving the campus. Umi, with her new friend Gael, were merrily talking to each other as they walk.
“Then, I got myself two pieces of pancakes from the store, and was like “In your face, Mom! There’s a pancake store after all!”
“That’s awesome, Umi! Now can we go hang out before school starts, and we’ll have enough time to eat AND make our assignments!”
“I know, right!? Anyway, look at THIS, Gael!”
Umi, with shimmering eyes, lets out a quick ta-da and reveals Gael her trump card.
“A 100-dollar reusable Trufflecakes Café and Co. gift card!? Holy crud!” Gael swiftly tells Umi, shrieking in excitement.
“I had the same reaction! I proved to Mom that there’s a Trufflecakes Café here so it’s her own undoing.” Umi smugly replies.
“Well, what are we waiting for!? Let’s go treat ourselves to some pancakes, shall we~”
“Nope! We budget this for Pancake-Pancake Tuesdays-Thursdays. We focus on room decorations today, remember?”
“Oh, right! your room!” Gael utters as he slightly giggles.
A few minutes later…
“The nearest Mall is 35 kilometers east of Limehills Academy.” The voice assistant replies, spiceless.
“Well, what do you think? We’ll just have to ride a bus to the mall and find whatever decorations I want for my room.” Umi asks Gael.
“Wait, wha..~? Umi, my parents will not let me go beyond this subdivision, why would I even make them think I’m 35000 meters away!? Let’s not get ourselves punished; take it from me, I had to crawl on mud thrice. Bleh!” Gael replied.
“Huh, you actually have a fair point! But, where in Limehills could we even buy stuff for my room? It just trees, trees, pancakes, cabins, trees, trees, trees, cabins, trees, trees…”
Gael quickly comes up with a suggestion, all the while Umi continues to say trees and cabins.
“Well, I know of a last resort…”
“Cabins, trees, trees, trees… Pardon?” Umi curiously replies.
After a short walk, the two ended up at their desired location; staring directly at the billboards of the outside emporium.
“The Hotpots and Waffles General Emporium Merchandise…? And Food Court and Co?” Umi confusingly asks. “This… weird place is your last resort shop?”
“Beats me! My mom buys here every single day. I mean, who else goes through the stress of riding a bus, anyway?”
“Eh, Fair point.”
The outdoor emporium was full of items, which surprises Umi. The place is bustling with customers.
“Get your Footlongs! It’s for all the Americans out there!”
“Gears! Buy them while they’re irrelevant in our modern society!”
“Who wants to buy a copy of the top-selling children’s book called ‘The Son of a Motherly Dog?!”
Umi barely was able to speak. There was a lot going on. “This… is a weird place to shop in…”
There are a lot of pirated and secondhand items for sale, but those numbers can’t keep up with the number of broken items listed. After a few minutes of touring and gathering, they sat on a bench and Umi began rollcalling the things they’ve gathered so far.
“Okay. we have an expired orange, a microphone stand, a pirated Steg Multiverse cartoon DVD, and a poster of GS-102 in their latest K-pop concert…”
Umi then looks at their… very enigmatic shopping cart.
“And a few more pieces of absolute garbage along the way… Not including you though, Gael.”
“Why thank you!” Gael joyfully responds. “But now that you said it...” He added, with his tone negatively shifting the last second.
Umi gibberishly mutters until she forms a decisive conclusion.
“It all doesn’t work!”
The two let out a groan of shallow disappointment.
“So much for good items, Gael.” Umi lets a quick chuckle. “So, are we going to make do with what we have now?”
“Nope, we search for more!”
Many minutes later, both of them are very, very exhausted. A lot of items are laid on the table.
Gael, feeling tired, let out a disappointed groan. “Yup, we don’t search for more!”
“What even are these items? A broken plastic trophy? A fifty-year-old soleless boot? A defective toy phone!? A bowling ball!? We don’t even have a bowling alley!”
After her rant, Umi immediately snaps and whispers to Gael. “W~ We don’t have a bowling alley~ right?”
“Beats me.” Gael replies, scratching his head.
The two went ahead and screamed in an incredibly loud and empathic way.
“Well, Umi, you know the drill. We still have one more store to visit here, and it’s our last resort!”
“Oh! It’s like that cartoon! The last store you enter will ALWAYS be suspicious and then surprise! You get that one item that’s interesting and relevant to the plot!” Umi shrieks in excitement.
“Uh, yeah, but…”
“There’s gonna be this merchant with a crystal ball, and jars of suspicious eyeballs and insects; that’s exactly gonna be here in an emporium like this~”
“The last store is the flower shop over there.” Gael interrupts, pointing at a certain direction. It was counterintuitively decorated against Umi expectations of a last-resort shop.
“Dang it. Who wants watering cans as room decorations!?”
With a hopeless heart, Umi, accompanied by a confused Gael, went ahead to the flower shop to search for ornaments. It was never her preference, but at least it’s better than the items they gathered, no? The two positions themselves at the counter.
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“Aunt Blossom? It’s Gael! Any spare watering cans we can buy?”
“Hmm, let me guess, It’s for your livelihood project?” Blossom replied.
“No, it’s for my friend. She needs room decorations.”
Umi let out a fake grin and said; “Uh… Hi! I love watering cans!”
“Ah, I see! You got yourself a friend now, Gael!”
“Her name is Umi, a new move! Umi, this is Aunt Blossom!”
Still grinning, Umi is frozen solid. Gael went ahead and toyed with her arm and face out of curiosity.
“Oh, a new move eh? Do ya’ll really use watering cans for room decorations where you came from? You could instead use yourselves a flower pot with a bouquet of flowers in it, if you like.” Blossom suggested. For some reason, the presence of flower pots in the store did not shake Umi’s decision of preferring watering cans.
Two words: Umi stutters.
“Oh. I~ didn’t think of that!” Umi replied, screaming inside saying “Why did I think of watering cans!? THERE ARE LITERAL FLOWER POTS IN HERE!”
“Well, since you’re a newcomer, I’ll give you a discount! Anyway, how much is your budget for the flowers?”
“Well, do you accept credit?”
Blossom hysterically laughs for a blank reason as the story’s last resort to being funny.
“No.” Blossom emotionlessly replies.
As the word “Yikes” goes through Umi’s forehead, she then reveals her pocket money. It was the typical piggybank; a few cents, some buttons, and some Lego Bricks. Like the usual merchant expecting high budget from its customers, Blossom decided to resort to just give the vase away, even with insufficient funds from Umi. Of course, this is never a practical business practice, but everything for his nephew’s friend, no?
“You know, kid, you have guts to try and pay credit in an emporium like this! Unfortunately, with that budget, I can only give you Vase set A14-3302! No buts; it’s your last resort! Flowers don’t apply.”
“Jeez, your naming scheme do be needing a lot of work, Auntie!”
Umi immediately interrupts by asking a question. “Hate to interfere with a rather personal problem, but Ma’am, what am I supposed to do with an empty flower pot?”
“Don’t be dense, dear! You just got to pick some! I know of a place where you find tons of catnip to put in your vase instead; if you don’t have cats, that is.”
“You know of a place?” Knowing the nature of Catnips and their importance in storybooks, Umi’s eyes begin to shimmer.
“Is it a magical place full of weird creatures with everything fantasy and rainbows and sunsets and fairies and pixie dust!?”
“Huh, I never knew you had an interest in fairy shows.” A surprised Gael replied.
Feeling slightly ashamed, Umi replies to his reply. “Well, what’s your last resort then…? Barbie girls?”
Feeling more slightly ashamed, Gael replies to her reply to his reply. “Well, uh, what’s YOUR problem…?”
The place fell silent. Umi smugly lets out the word “GAY” in a memetic way in the middle of the silence.
Blossom immediately interrupts by asking a question. “Hate to interfere with a rather personal problem, but Umi, the catnip patch is just behind my stall.”
Looking directly at the catnip patch, which was once again the exact opposite of what Umi’s perception of a catnip patch is, her eyes fill with disappointment~ again.
“If there’s one thing I learned about genetics, it’s the fact that both you and your aunt are killjoys. Merry heigh, Gael. Let’s get ourselves some catnips and let’s get the heck out of here.”
However, Umi~
“FORGET ABOUT GETTING THE HECK OUT OF HERE!” Umi replies a few steps later. At that moment, paradise occurs. The wavering pine trees perfectly shadow the big patch of catnips. It was nothing but a beautiful sight to behold.
“Wow, it does look beautiful!” Gael replied as Umi swiftly makes her way to pick catnip flowers from the patch.
“A~ Anyway, Umi, why do you love catnip so much?”
Umi simply replied with one word; “Facticity”.
“Facticity because you’re allergic to cats?”
“No, Facticity because I’m broke and I have no other choice, silly!” Umi responds, happily elbow-striking Gael. Both laugh out the entire time until one tiny-sized creature came along.
“Wait, what’s that moving thing over there?” Gael curiously asks.
“Huh?” Umi replies, turning her head over. She notices the movements and her eyes begin to shimmer.
“Aha! This IS a magical place, isn’t it!?” Umi excitedly exclaimed. She begins break-dancing; simultaneously chanting “In your face, flower lady!”
She quickly holds Gael’s hand and carefully follows the creature. The creature turns its head around and stares at them both, assuming that the two had left and that they were unnoticed.
“Oh, my gosh! IT’S A MIDGET!” Umi reacted, happily pointing at the creature who had nothing to say.
“That’s… a rather controversial statement.” Gael reluctantly replies.
The creature immediately finds a way to get rid of itself; jumping off the nearest cliff. The creature disappears into oblivion, which was to the surprise of both Umi and Gael.
“Did the little guy… just…” Gael confusingly asks.
With guilt and confusion in her eyes, Umi stutteringly replies. “I guess you’re right; it is in fact a controversial statement.”
“Anyway, let’s get back on track~” Umi adds as she gets interrupted by the rather strange object she felt she was stepping on. She sweeps the place with her foot and discovers the perfect room decoration.
“Woah… A fancy net?”
“No, Gael! It’s a dreamcatcher! What is it doing here?” Umi replies as she vigorously checks the dreamcatcher, somewhat being blinded by its awe. Oh, and her eyes are shimmering too.
“Oh, those things that catch bad dreams and nightmares? Umi? Umi??? Hello?”
“This wonderful, insane, lustrous, ludicrous, amazing, eye-catching, fantastic, world-class son of a ~”
“UMI!” Gael furiously screamed.
“Oh, was I daydreaming?”
“You’re being off-character again.”
“No, no. It’s just that… that… It’s the perfect room decoration!” Umi replies, shrieking in excitement.
Gael decided to casually reply. “Alright, Imma take your word for it.”
“Come on, Gael. Let’s get the heck out of here!”
“B~ But what about the flower vase?”
“Forget about it!”
“But it’s from my auntie’s…” Gael says, picking up the vase with catnips all while caressing it in a motherly fashion. It takes Umi a few seconds to respond.
“You know, I was just about to say something, but I really don’t want to offend your aunt right now.”
“Says the hypocrite.”
Umi, complements Gael from a distance.
“That’s a good comeback!”
“B~ but I didn’t roast you beforehand though…” Gael confusingly responds as he walks away with her.
A few hundred steps later, the two go separate ways as they head to their respective homes. Gael faintly smiles and waves at Umi.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Umi!”
“Yeah! It was fun shopping with you today!”
“W~ Was it?” Gael shyly replies.
Umi lightly wheezes at Gael’s question, and with her tomboyish nature, she freely lets out what she has to say.
“Scram off, Introvert!”
“Alright, alright! I’ll go!” Gael happily responds as he walks toward home.
After a couple retouches, Umi went to her room and hangs her newly-found dreamcatcher on the wall.
“And you’re hanged… here! Perfect!” Umi utters as she personifies the dreamcatcher’s sudden existence. Meanwhile, from a far distance, her mother is calling her to do her usual afternoon errands.
“Umi! Where’s your uniform!? Do your laundry!”
“I will, Mom! I will!”
Umi swiftly obliges and leaves her room with the door open. The sights of the room menacingly begin to glow lavender, and the dreamcatcher begins to magically flicker. It is certainly something worth finding out for the likes of the adventurous Umi~
“Oh wait! My pajamas from yesterday! Better not forget to put in the washing machine!” Umi rushes back to her room and took her laundry basket, and the lavender lights shut down. It was a rather fun way to ruin the mood.
“Okay! NOW I’m actually gonna do my laundry!
Umi leaves her room with the door open. The sights of the room menacingly begin to glow lavender again, and the dreamcatcher begins to magically flicker~ again. It is certainly something worth finding out for the likes of the adventurous Umi. Will she ever discover the dreamcatcher’s full potential?
In your dreams.