chapter twenty-seven;

"HIMI!!! WHERE ARE WE GOING??", YOUKO ASKED, seeing as they were standing right in front of johnny, who youko hadn't seen in a long time.

     "johnny, teleport us to a nearby shopping center", toga commanded.

     youko then started laughing. "himi, johnny can't teleport us to—"

     as soon as the little nomu spit out some black goo, the two girls appeared before the shopping center that was bustling with business today.

     "w-wait...what??"

     "oh, I guess tomura didn't tell you, but johnny has a warp quirk too", toga grinned.

     "well at least I know now...but speaking of warping, when will we see kuro again?", youko asked, to which toga had froze in her footsteps.

     "I'm not sure yoko, but soon. we will all go save him, you trust us don't you?"

"of course!! I just miss kuro a lot...", youko sadly mumbled.

"I know, but kurogiri wouldn't want you to be sad now would he? instead, let's have fun today shopping!!", toga exclaimed, pumping her fist up in the air while youko did the same with her recovering arm.

     "true...but with what money?", youko asked.

toga widely grinned at that. "the partnership of the paranormal liberation front of course!", the girl excitedly said, basically referring to re-destro as their ultimate bank account.

"so what are we getting??", youko asked, excitedly gripping onto toga's hand.

     "some warm clothes for you of course!! winter's approaching and tomura said that he can't have you getting hypothermia in all your cute little dresses!!"

     "really? papa said all that?"

     "well...he said something like that", toga giggled, dragging little youko into a clothing store for people of all sizes and genders.

     "what do you think about this?", toga asked, holding up a little pink puffy jacket that made youko shrug her shoulders.

     "it's okay".

     "just okay?? what about this one then?", toga questioned, showing youko a yellow jacket with four pockets on the front.

     "sure", youko blandly answered.

     toga's demeanor visually sagged. she had thought that shopping was supposed to be fun, like sister to sister, or mother to daughter.

"come on yoko~ isn't there anything that you like in here?", toga pouted, to which youko had taken a better glance around the warm and welcoming store.

     as the little girl skimmed across the room, she came across a beautiful ruby red that reflected the exact brilliance she had witnessed when looking into shigaraki's eyes.

"I want that one!", youko pointed at the mannequin, making toga excitingly glance up.

"hmm..that seems a little too big for you yoko...", toga hummed.

"then can we get it for papa? I think he would look great in it!! and maybe we can find me a smaller size", youko jumped, trying to run over as toga was still keeping her by her side.

"I suppose so", toga sighed, smiling as youko finally found something she was interested in, even if it wasn't particularly for herself.

"hi miss!! can you get the red coat down for us please? I want to get it for my papa", youko nicely requested, to which the worker had immediately grabbed a fresh red coat off the rack.

"and by the way, do you guys have the same coat in her size?", toga asked, clearly referring to youko.

"oh sorry, we only have this style for adults. but if you guys would like, there's some similar ones in the kids section", the woman smiled, handing the red coat to youko to hold onto.

"alright, I suppose we could take a look", toga said, as she led youko towards the kid section once more.

majority of the coats and jackets were either pink or other pastel colors, no deep bloody red like the one youko held.

     "what about this one? it has some faux fur around the brims of the hood", toga smiled, wishing that she could fit into something that small.

     "mm...okay!"

     youko didn't want toga to be more discouraged, even though she herself wanted the exact same jacket as her father.

     "are you sure? I know it's not exactly...well...not even close to the red one", toga sighed.

     "of course!! pink's a nice color too. and you're right, the fur's very soft", youko smiled, trying to be as grateful as she can. after all, it was simply just another piece of clothing.

     "if you say so~ now, let's pay and go get some groceries. we're having hot pot for dinner today!!"

     "really? what's the special occasion?", youko asked, walking with toga to the front desk.

     "no particular reason", toga answered. "oh, and please wrap the red one up please", the blonde girl requested, to which the cashier had neatly folded it into a black box and stuffed it in a bag.

     "hope you revisit soon!"

     "what should we get for the hot pot then?", youko asked, waddling beside toga as the girl grinned at the meat store.

     "some lamb, beef, pork...lettuce, fish balls, and you know, some other stuff".

     "will mr. re-destro be eating with us?", youko inquired.

     "do you want him to?", toga asked, reversing the question.

     youko softly hummed as she blanked out for a moment, casually swinging her right arm while her left held onto toga's hand.

"if he wants...", youko muttered.

"you don't have to if you don't want to you know", toga commented.

"yeah...but he's a good ally for papa", youko answered.

toga then swooped youko up, catching the girl by surprise.

"oh yoko, you silly silly girl. tomura cares more about you than some stupid ally. so if you don't want him to come, then don't force yourself okay?"

toga then kissed the top of youko's head as the little girl just nodded, laying her head on the blonde girl's shoulder while she pondered her decision.

_♚_

as a rather enticing smell filled little youko's nostrils, the girl yawned, stretching her arms and legs like a starfish as she woke up.

"have a good nap?", a male voice asked, making youko blink many times before her eyesight had finally cleared up.

"papa...?"

"thanks for the coat", shigaraki mumbled, helping youko sit up on his lap, as apparently everyone was waiting for the princess to wake up to start dinner.

youko gasped as her eyes immediately widened. "you're wearing it!!"

toga giggled. "tomura would probably even wear a trash bag if it's from you", the girl teased, making shigaraki glare daggers at her meanwhile the table joined in on the joke.

"does it keep you warm? do you like it??", youko worried.

'at least now it matches his red shoes..', youko thought.

"if I didn't like it, I wouldn't have worn it", shigaraki stated, brushing through the little girl's black locks with four of his fingers as it became tangled while she napped.

"I'm glad then", youko smiled.

"we get it, you two love each other. can we just start dinner already? I'm starving", dabi interrupted.

"can you quit being jealous for one moment?", shigaraki rebutted, to which dabi just clicked his tongue.

"jealous? me?? please, what do you have that I don't?", dabi scoffed.

"the throne", compress commented.

"the red jacket", spinner said.

"a loving and cute daughter", toga giggled.

"and all of you skin—"

dabi glared at twice, making him immediately shut up.

youko laughed as she had started on her meal of fish balls and beef, dipped in some non-spicy sauce. and to her relief, re-destro was not present. she was sure that one day she'll get used to him, just not today.

shigaraki preferred spicy food, actually, he loved it. hence why when the spicy dipping sauce was a few feet away and he couldn't reach with youko on his lap, he frowned.

"now now, let's all take a picture to remember this!!", toga exclaimed, pulling out her phone as she handed it to dabi.

"why're you giving it to me?!", the scarred male asked, clearly annoyed.

     "you've got the longest arms!! now hurry up, the food's getting cold!", toga whined.

     "and who's fault is that?", dabi grumpily muttered as he positioned himself so that everyone was in the frame.

     "okay...smile or some shit. 3...2....1....fuck you", dabi said as he flipped everyone off, making twice gasp.

     "dabi!!! there's a child in your presence! oh whatever, it's not like she hasn't heard or seen it all", twice said.

     "toga send it to me", shigaraki commanded, returning to his non-spicy food.

     "gotchu boss!! are you gonna make it your wallpaper?"

     "no".

     "why not?? it's adorable!!"

     shigaraki kept quiet as he already had youko and him as his lock screen and home screen. there was no need for the rest of the league to bombard his phone screen.

     "no reason".

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