[Weekend]
"Yo! Heading out, Sato?"
Just as Sato finished getting ready and stepped out, he ran into his upstairs neighbor, Mr. Saitama, on the stairs.
"Yeah, my older brother lives in this city too. He asked me to drop by when I had time. Are you heading out for groceries, Saitama-san?"
Sato greeted him politely, though his eyes were clearly filled with curiosity and… caution.
Saitama looked a little rough. He was holding a plastic bag full of vegetables, wearing only one slipper. The other one mysteriously missing, and his clothes were smeared with weird patches of mud and… slime?
Maybe sensing Sato's gaze, Saitama scratched his bald head and laughed. "Yeah… I kind of slipped earlier."
"Is that so? Are you alright?"
Though Sato was still a bit skeptical, he asked with genuine concern.
He hadn't known Saitama for very long, but he'd already figured out that the man could be pretty careless and unbothered by details.
"No problem, no problem at all! Today I got...ahembought a massive lobster claw. If you're free tonight, come over and help me eat it!"
Saitama grinned as he raised the bag proudly.
Lobster claw?
Sato glanced into the bag. Sure enough, nestled among the vegetables was an absurdly large lobster claw, nearly the size of two human faces stacked together.
Whoa!
Sato couldn't help but be stunned. That thing was enormous!
What kind of mutant lobster did this come from? And just imagining the price made his wallet ache…
"If I'm free, I'll swing by."
"Great, it's a promise!"
Saitama gave Sato's shoulder a hearty slap, then trudged upstairs while brushing off some lingering slime.
"Tch… Lobsters turning into monsters now…"
A faint voice echoed through the empty stairwell…
…
[Kasukabe Town]
Kasukabe wasn't far from Usagiyama Town, just a few stops on the train.
Strolling through a quiet residential neighborhood, Sato compared the buildings around him to the images in his memory. As he passed a convenience store, he suddenly had a thought and ducked inside, picking up a few boxes of koala cookies.
Eventually, he stopped in front of a single-family house.
The nameplate outside clearly read: Nohara.
Ding dong!
The doorbell rang crisply.
A moment later, a cautious child's voice came from inside.
"Who is it?"
Recognizing the voice, Sato replied, "Shin-chan, it's me."
"You? Who's me?!"
Sato narrowed his eyes at the door. It seemed his second brother and sister-in-law weren't home.
But… surely they'd told the little potato inside who to expect?
Lifting the bag in his hand, Sato spoke softly toward the peephole. "I'll give you ten seconds to reconsider."
"Ah! Koala cookies?!"
From inside came a delighted squeal, followed by the sound of a chair scraping and a doorknob turning.
Click!
The door swung open, revealing the unmistakable potato-shaped head of Shinnosuke Nohara.
Shin-chan wriggled his body dramatically and gave Sato an over-the-top shy look. "Ah! If it isn't my handsome and charming uncle! I had no idea you were coming! What a terrible lapse in hospitality!"
"Tch."
Sato clicked his tongue. This kid… sometimes he's just too much.
He ruffled the boy's potato-head and handed over the bag of snacks.
"Here, brat. One box a day, you hear me?"
"Uncle is the best! Long live Uncle!"
Shinnosuke's eyes sparkled as he took the bag full of koala cookies and bounced up and down with joy.
Inside the entryway, Sato moved aside the stool blocking the door and began switching into indoor slippers.
"Shin-chan, where are your parents?"
Shin thought for a second. "Daddy, with the loud snoring and stinky feet, went to work overtime."
"And Mommy, the bargain-hunting, three-layer belly, big-butt monster, went to the supermarket."
Following close behind Sato, Shin-chan swung the bag in one hand while the other kept tossing cookies from an already-opened box into his mouth.
"What about little Himawari?"
"She's asleep."
Just then, Sato's ears picked up the soft babbling of a baby from the other room.
Heart skipping, he hurried over.
Inside was the usual chaos of the Nohara household: toys strewn everywhere, manga and rice crackers piled on the low table.
In the middle of the mess, little Himawari (Just over a year old) was crawling around energetically like a chubby, golden-furred mouse.
"Himawari."
A warm smile lit up Sato's face as he called softly.
"Ee-ya!"
Hearing her name, Himawari turned her head toward him.
For a moment, Sato swore he saw her eyes light up.
"Ee-ya ee-ya!"
Too young to form real words, her babbling was all simple sounds, just the basics of baby talk.
As she hurriedly crawled toward him, Sato reached out and scooped her up under the arms.
"Heh, did you miss me, Himawari?"
Lifting her up to eye level, Sato grinned.
"Yah! Yah!"
Himawari wiggled her hands, trying to touch his face.
He leaned in, and the little one touched his cheeks with her chubby fingers before suddenly nuzzling him with her soft, baby-like skin.
Sato laughed and played with her happily.
Himawari giggled too, squealing with delight.
"Sigh… Sato, you're really something. A high schooler getting all excited over a baby that cries and drools?"
From the table, Shin-chan threw up his hands and shook his head in mock dismay.
"You little potato, where do you get all this nonsense?"
Sato looked down at the pint-sized know-it-all, completely exasperated.
This kid… totally takes after that old man of his.
(A/N: Now entering "Crayon Shin-chan" time, please imagine reading with a old country Kansai accent for full immersion.)