After everything he'd been through over the past few weeks, there were only a select few of his friends who Shin could tolerate: those being Kanna, Nao, Gin, Ryoko, and Alice. (He supposed Majima counted as well.) But even then, it didn't necessarily mean he didn't feel any sort of trepidation stirring within him whenever he caught sight of them entering the store- it was only that the fear they stirred in him was a little less intense than the fear spurred on by the others.

At least, he had liked to believe that was the case, until one day, the sound of the door's bell followed by a "Hiya, Shin, meow!" left him feeling more apprehensive than he'd ever felt before. Maybe it was the fact that Kanna was with him, or maybe it was the fact that there was another girl who, although he had never actually met her before, gave him an indescribable feeling- almost as if he'd seen her before somewhere; but he had a nagging feeling that these three students were up to no good.

Referring to them as students made him recall the not-so-pleasant events of the incident from a few days ago. (More specifically, Kugie and Anzu forcing him to do their math homework.) "No, no, no, we are not doing another study hall!" Shin cried out before either of them could say anything else. "If I have to see another geometry problem I think I'm gonna go mad!" (As if he hadn't already gone mad by day one.)

"Uh...?" The new girl just stared at him with a confused, almost judgemental look. "Is he okay?" She turned her gaze to the other two to find that they looked just as lost as she was.

"It's okay, Shin," Kanna assured the stressed out worker, holding her hands out in front of her. "We're not here for a study hall."

"Oh, thank god!" Shin exhaled loudly, his shoulders slouching down as relief washed over him.

"Doesn't mean you can let your guard down just yet, bottom boy, woof!"

Shin had never heard such an ominous sounding warning before, let alone one from a twelve year old. Feeling a tad bit unnerved, he quickly changed the subject. "So, who's the new girl?"

"The name's Hinako Mishuku." The girl in question nodded her head, shoving her hands into her pockets. "So, I just gotta bully the fuck out of you, right? Seems easy enough."

"Hey!" He wasn't particularly a fan of how she hadn't been the first person to have that exact same thought- but more importantly; "How come you can swear and I can't?!"

"Seriously? That's what you're worried about?" Hinako asked. "You're not gonna question why a thirteen year old just dropped the f bomb?"

"I've heard worse." If anything, Shin looked as if he'd seen worse, too, judging from the worn out look in his eyes. "Way worse."

Before Hinako could say something witty in response, she was interrupted by the youngest member of the group. "Enough of this boring talk, meow! I wanna get started, woof!"

"But, um, how exactly are we gonna go about this again?" Kanna twiddled her thumbs together.

"Good question, meow!" Gin chirped. "I have no idea, woof!"

Shin narrowed his gaze. "How are you gonna come all the way here and still not be ready?"

Hinako shrugged. "Well, I mean, worst case scenario, we could always just have a study hall." She suggested, closing her eyes as a smirk tugged at her lips.

Shin's eyes widened in horror. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Kidding, kidding." Hinako chuckled dryly. "I can see why you guys have been doing this for so long, this is already kinda fun and I've only said like, three things."

"Look, if you're coming here just to roast me, then it's not even worth it," Shin shook his head, pressing his palms flat against the counter and staring intensely at Hinako. "You probably have better things to do then just insult me, so how about you make it easier for the both of us and get out already?"

Unfortunately for him. Shin's attempt at dissuading them didn't quite work out the way he had hoped it would. "Oh, don't get me wrong here, we're gonna do more than just verbally assault you." Hinako assured him.

Splendid. "Then what exactly are you planning on doing?" He asked, unsure if he even wanted to know.

"We're gonna physically assault you too." Hinako smiled.

What?

Before Shin had a chance to process what he said, there was a flash of orange in his face. He yelped out in surprise, whipping his hands out and grabbing onto the object that was suddenly launched into his field of view. It was surprisingly soft and round, and when he pulled it away to get a look at it, in his hands was none other than Mew-Chan.

The sound of quickly approaching footsteps, alongside a roar of sorts, prompted Shin to look away from the cushion. For a split second, he caught sight of Gin, who had somehow launched himself over the counter and was now heading directly towards him with his claws outstretched. As soon as he saw Gin, he was sent flying backwards by the impact of the child colliding with him, crashing directly onto the floor below him with an unceremonious thud.

"I got him, meow!" Gin cheered, scooping up Mew-Chan from off of the floor and standing directly on top of Shin's chest. "Now's your chance, Bucket girl, woof!!"

"A-Are you sure this is a good idea?" Kanna asked, her green eyes dark with concern. "Couldn't he just push you off of him?"

"The loner's not going anywhere, meow!" Gin exclaimed as he brushed the dirt off of Mew-Chan's fur. "He's super weak, woof!"

"If you say so..." With great reluctance, Kanna went behind the counter. True to his word, Shin was actually somehow struggling under Gin's weight. "Um, could you at least not stand on his chest?"

"Oh, my bad, meow!" Gin took a step forward, now standing on top of Shin's stomach, eliciting a pained wheeze from the poor worker. "Now, hurry up before someone stops us, woof!"

"Don't even worry about anyone else stopping us." Hinako turned away from the counter. "That's what I'm here for. So just do your thing, Kanna." She turned her head back to her friend, nodding in encouragement.

Glancing between Gin and Hinako, both of which had assuring looks on their faces, Kanna managed to find her resolve, curling up her fist and returning the latter's nod. "I'm on it!" Carefully stepping over Shin's body, she started to get to work, doing something on one of the monitors at the counter.

Around three minutes had passed uneventfully until they finally ran into trouble in the form of a big, burly man holding some items he wanted to check out. "Uh, what the hell's going on here?"

"Yo, Kanna!" Hinako turned her head back, calling out to her friend from over her shoulder. "You think you can figure out how to work the cash register?"

"Oh, um," Kanna turned her attention to the register. "Yeah! It shouldn't be too hard."

"If the loner can do it, I'm sure you definitely can do it, meow!" Gin encouraged, giving Kanna a thumbs up. The man in question let out a groan in protest.

"Let me ask again, what the hell are you three kids up to?" The man repeated, a skeptical look on his face.

Hinako turned her head back to the customer before her. "We're trying to make a living here, you got a problem with that?"

The man huffed. "You guys are like, what, eight years old?" He asked, paying no attention to the offended look on all three of their faces. "What are you doing working the cash register at a convenience store? Go watch some TV or go outside and play in the mud or something."

"We're not eight, woof!" Gin hissed. "I'll have you know we're all teenagers, meow! Except me, but I turn thirteen in a few months, woof!"

"Okay, eight, thirteen, close enough." The customer put his hand on his side. "You're still too young to have a job. How did you even get back there anyways?"

"Why are you all up in our business?" Hinako shook her head, clicking her tongue in disdain as she pulled her hands out of her pockets and crossed her arms over her chest. "We're just kids, stop breathing all over us like some kind of creep."

"I'm not tryna be a creep!" The man exclaimed, clearly affronted by the accusation. "I'll have you know kids love me!"

Hinako rolled her eyes. "That's literally something a creep would say."

"Do you know me?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Nope." Hinako smiled wryly. "I think I'd remember a mug as ugly as yours."

"The name's Naomichi Kurumada." He smirked. "Ring any bells?" Much to his chagrin, the unholy trinity shook their heads no. Naomichi frowned at the unexpected result. "Professional Boxer?" He added, but still to no avail. "Convertible of Destruction?"

"Oh!" Gin suddenly exclaimed, his green eyes lighting up. "Now I know you, meow!"

"Finally!" Naomichi exclaimed, his smirk returning.

"You're the boxer who sucks big time, woof!" Gin cheered.

Naomichi's eyes widened. "Why you- I've literally won so many competitions, what do you mean I suck?!"

"Don't you get money from those competitions?" Hinako asked, picking at her ear with her pinky. "How are you gonna be loaded and still walk around with those dusty ass jesus sandals? Ain't nobody wanna see those ugly toes, you better put that shit away."

"You better watch your fucking language, missy." Naomichi gritted his teeth, clearly restraining himself from doing something he'd regret. "Do you speak to your momma with that mouth?"

"My mother's dead." Hinako's gaze darkened.

The entire store went dead silent- even Kanna's typing and clicking came to a brief pause at the revelation.

"Oh." Kurumada blinked, not at all expecting the conversation to have taken such a dark turn.

The pink haired girl nodded. "She died of ligma a little over a year ago." At the mention of this, Kanna's typing immediately resumed.

"Ligma?" Kurumada asked with hesitance.

Hinako grinned widely. "LIGMA NUTS!" She yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth for emphasis.

"FUCK!" Naomichi gripped his head in frustration, howling out in pain from the emotional damage.

"I finally got in!" Kanna exclaimed before he could say anything else, catching the attention of both Gin and Hinako. "Now all I have to do is just..." She clicked a few more things, typing in something before she finally...

...Rick-Rolled the entire store, with Never Gonna Give You Up blaring from all over the place at an incredibly loud volume.

Gin and Hinako both cheered wildly. "We did it, meow!" The former chirped, jumping up in excitement. He had forgotten all about Shin being underneath him, only remembering as soon as he landed back on his stomach. "Whoops! Sorry loner, woof!"

"This is... the worst rick-roll I've ever experienced..." He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Let's ditch this joint while we still can!" Hinako scurried behind the counter, grabbing both Gin's hand and Kanna's hand and running out of the store with them, the three of them cackling and giggling at their success, leaving Naomichi and Shin in the dust.

After a few seconds or so of silence (save for Rick Astley's incredibly loud singing in the background), Naomichi took a step closer to the counter, peeing over it to find- "Oh, shit, there really was someone back here." His eyes widened in surprise. "Now how the fuck did you let some kids take advantage of you like that?" He chided the worker.

Shin could only groan pitifully in response.

Words: ~2k

Author's Note: OH MY GOD THIS CHAPTER TOOK LONGER TO WRITE THEN I THOUGHT IT WOULD LOLOL I really like this chapter, I think it's so funny and I hope y'all do too! I would normally apologize for how late this chapter is coming out (it's 3 in the morning and I have to be awake by 7 LOL), but I got a nice comment yesterday so instead, I want to thank you all for reading my works and being patient with me! Next chapter will be a valentine's day special :D Look forward to it, because I sure am!