Grocery Run

“Get in, kids, we’re going shopping!”

Setsuna’s mom, Tsubomi, made fun out of everything. That didn’t mean she made everything fun. He scowled as he got into the car, with Nagahisa trailing behind him. Elegy took the passenger seat today, as she did most days, unless their mom insisted on switching things up. But riding shotgun made Elegy happy, and of course, she’d rather have one of her three kids match her mood than none of them.

Summer rain battered the car windows, obscuring Setsuna’s view of the dozen parked cars in the driveway of their apartment building. No one would want to go shopping in another city of Tokyo in this weather, but mom always dragged them off to buy cheese, Spam, and whatever else caught her eye. To Setsuna, one plate of food was as good as any other, and Nagahisa was too picky to like the fancy stuff their mom bought.

So, as usual, Elegy won when they went out like this.

“We know,” Setsuna told their mom with audible annoyance.

Tsubomi turned the keys and started the engine with a big grin on her face. The car’s windshield wipers wheezed as they went from side to side, removing some of the rain on the front window.

“Are we going to buy some sushi rice this time?” Nagahisa asked.

“Sure!” Tsubomi replied. “See, was that so hard? Ask and you shall receive!”

“Oh…” Setsuna paused. He wasn’t one for smiling, but he had an idea that made him, maybe, happy? “Can we get less apples this time?”

“Fuck no,” Elegy snapped.

Nagahisa shot a meaningful glance at Setsuna, then chipped in, “half of the last batch went bad.”

“Hmm!” Their mom was distracted, fiddling with her phone to get a route to the store she liked, but she was listening enough to respond. “Well, we can get one that’s half the size.”

“Seriously?” Elegy looked back over the head of her seat to glare at the other two.

“Welllll, if we cut things like that out, I can get some pretzels and a six-pack,” Tsubomi explained. “So, we’ll try that out! Update the shopping list!”

“...we don’t have a shopping list,” Setsuna mumbled.

“Oh, right! Well, enough distractions! Mom’s got to drive!”

And Tsubomi did drive. Poorly.