Chapter Text
Outside of the Mirai Mall, the scene was bustling. Various Modules, Wanderers, and ordinary people passed by. The mall’s exterior, was fully decked out for the Christmas and holiday season, one couldn’t walk past a streetlamp without noticing a twisted wreath and a red ribbon around it. There were of course the traditional Christmas lights, in various colors, hung above windows and awnings (where it was safe to hang them that is) And no Christmas season could be complete without snow, albiet today only a small dusting.
Among the holiday burst was just a fraction of some particular people coming here for a stop. One of which contains Malina, a doll-like Miku with makeup on, a pretty dress, and looking like she's about to star on Project Runway. Except today, she's just here for a Christmas shopping trip to not only get some essentials, but also some gifts for her family. She was not expecting much, for she was just here to get what she needed and go. But little did she know, she was in for a treat.
So too, was Colette, a Rin module with no makeup, but still with a doll-like face. She was maybe a little shorter than the average Rin (which was saying something given the average height of Rins), somewhat pale, and had a misty like look in her eye. The limousine which had brought her drove off, with the driver making only a glance to Colette before leaving her to her own devices. But Colette, who wasn’t often left on her own, may have been a bit overwhelmed by the scope and scale of the mall. And the people! They were everywhere, or at least, that was how Colette viewed it. She wasn’t sure where to begin.
A more uncanny Miku lookalike, who almost looks exactly like the real Miku except she's known for having a short-sleeved shirt underneath came Ivanka. Usually she'd come with her family, but today, she wanted to get the experience of coming here by herself. Not just for Christmas, but she was also hoping to buy some gifts for her older brother and sister-in-law because they just had a baby, and she was excited to be an auntie. She came on her own… or so it seemed, because the neighbor who lives next door to her had been dying to spend time with her “awesome neighbor”, so Ivanka was stuck with her.
The neighbor in question is a young tween girl by the name of Mimi, someone who's overly social and loves games, but is a bad sport at Uno, especially. She was hoping to buy some awesome holiday-themed games to play, and most of all, get a picture with Santa. Ivanka did not really want to take Mimi, but she had to out of pity, and she's half Ivanka's age. Though it'll be hard due to Ivanka's limited English knowledge.
Sneaking around the mall’s back door were a group of…performers? Either that, or they were superheroes with weird ideas of emblems to put on their suits. One looked a little unsure of what they were about to do, but she was swiftly pushed through the door with the rest of the would-be heroes. Why they didn’t use the front entrance was anyone’s guess.
Who else is approaching? Oh yes. Here comes a petite girl with hair all wavy and her outfit looking like she's ready to party. Jaclyn, an avid Rin fangirl, was here to check out what sort of Christmas chaos this mall has in store. Maybe there are some gifts she could get for her little sisters, and maybe even her favorite cousins. But they couldn't come with her because they're
busy, so she's wondering what sort of shenanigans she'll get herself into.
Two identical twin girls, who looked like the first two Snow Mikus (2010 and 2011), were walking freakishly perfect in sync through the doors. Their names are January and Janice respectively. It had always been tradition for the two of them to shop together, and this year was no exception. They were participating in this year's Snow Miku Secret Santa, so they needed to get a present one of their friends will love. January was just about over the moon when she saw the big tree, though Janice wasn't as excited, not because she isn't, rather she's more lax than her sister.
Standing around outside of a store, where she probably shouldn’t have been selling things in the first place, was a Meiko in an elaborate dessert-themed witch outfit with a tray of pastries. Only this time, she’d Christmassed it up, adding a sprig of holly to her hat and tied a red apron around her waist instead of the usual white. She’s here hoping for a good sale day. One might want to wish her luck.
Last of all was a another pair of twins, a Rin and Len, naturally, one in a futuristic white coat, the other in a matching, but also rather fluffy one. They were there to get presents for their friends, and perhaps even their frenemies, though Edge, as he called himself, was a bit hesitant about the latter. Fairy, on the other hand, was perfectly in the spirit, admiring the twinkling lights before following her brother inside.
January had her phone out taking picture after picture of the Santa display, where families were lined up to get a picture with Santa.
“This year's Santa display is totes amazing, isn't it, Janice?” She boasted, showing the pictures she took to her face.
“Well, it certainly is. I hope we get a picture with Santa, though I wouldn't count on it, because the line is longer than an anaconda.” Janice said, anxiously looking at the line that seemed to stretch across the hall. During their conversation, some of the other mentioned modules were making their way towards their direction.
The group of odd heroes had apparently decided to set up for a mock hero show, but they didn’t seem to be getting much attention that wasn’t strange looks or people swiftly walking past, trying not to see what was going on. The brother and sister, meanwhile, stopped in front of it nearly bumping into January and Janice respectively.
“Oww…” Edge said.
“Ah!” Janice basically comically jumped ten feet in the air feeling Edge's touch. January, however, didn't seem fazed.
“You good?” January asked, moving her head as if referring to them both.
“Sorry…I don’t think we were watching where we were going.” Fairy said, swiftly. “I didn’t mean to bump into you, honest!”
“Don't worry about it!” The twin girls spoke in unison.
“Jinx! You owe me a Pepsi!” January said, pointing as Janice.
“Aw man!”
“Seriously, we’re sorry. We got distracted by…whatever that is” Edge said, gesturing to the “hero show” which was now being broken up by a few mall cops.
The twin girls laughed nervously as they saw this going on. As the show was being broken up, Jaclyn was recording everything on her phone.
“Yo yo yo, look at these Power Ranger wannabes, thinking they can just perform next to a Santa display! Oh goodness!” She was giggling and pointing at them as this ensued.
The green member of the group, a Miku, took off her helmet. She seemed to look a little embarrassed about the whole deal.
“Neighbor!! Look at these people dressed as Power Rangers!!” Mimi shouted, pointing at the group and practically tugging her hand. Ivanka, sighing, followed her.
A giggle escaped from Colette’s mouth. A rare thing to see from her, not because she was jaded as her status would suggest, but merely that her parents hadn’t thought it was proper to laugh like that. Still, Colette didn’t burst out laughing like other Modules would. She wanted to remain courteous.
Midori, the green Underhanded Ranger, was still trying to explain herself to a mall cop when she noticed Jaclyn filming.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” she said to the other.
Malina was watching this with a poker face, needless to say. But Jaclyn just doubled down; she zoomed the camera into Midori's face.
“Hey, this isn't Tommy Oliver!” Jaclyn says. “It's a girl! Smile for the camera!” She giggled.
Midori stepped back, a bit shocked, before Blue managed to nudge her out of the way and started monologuing about truth, justice, and cowardice right in front of Jaclyn’s camera. Midori, meanwhile, tried to sneak away while the rest of her team was occupied by mall cops and unprecedented filming.
“Who do you think you are? A hero?” Jaclyn said with a smug smile. “You’re just as delusional as I am!” She pointed the camera briefly at the other rangers before pointing it back to Blue.
Fairy and Edge had been watching the scene dubiously. They turned back to January and Janice. “Man, they sure are drawing a crowd. I guess they didn’t count on their audience being security”
“Who are those kids?” January asked, cocking her head. “Unless this was approved in advance, why would they just… do that?” The people who were waiting in the Santa line were also watching, causing the last few people in the front to hold it up.
“Who knows? Knowing performers, it was probably a publicity stunt or something.” Edge shrugged. “Anyway, sorry we bumped into you. I’m, uh, Edge, and this is my sister, Fairy.”
“I’m January/Janice!”. The sisters both spoke their names at the same time, and looked at each other blankly. “Hey, you weren’t supposed to do that!” They both said.
“Well, I’m older by 3 minutes, so I go first!” January demanded.
“Alright, fine!” Janice crossed her arms in a huff.
“Well, I’m January, and that’s my -” January started.
“Twin sister Janice!” Janice completed the sentence.
Fairy looked rather impressed at this. “You finished each other’s sentence! Wow! Can you also read each other’s minds?”
Edge shook his head. “I kinda doubt that, Fairy”
“Oh, we know each other like the back of our hands!” The sisters spoke in unison. They looked at each other.
“Why do we keep syncing?” They asked. “Stop copying me!” They shouted.
“This is what twenty-six years of life together does…” Janice muttered.
“Guess we’re not experienced enough to do stuff like that.” said Edge. “We’re both only 14.”
Fairy giggled, obviously finding January and Janice’s exchange amusing.
“Maybe because we’re identical twins!” January said. She looked over at Janice. “Oh, thank God. But we’re -”
“Like two peas in a pod.” Janice completed. “January is -”
“The only person who -”
“Knows me as much as I know myself.”
“Wow…” Fairy and Edge were impressed. “Hey, maybe we could do that, if we tried?”
“I doubt it, Fairy. We’re fraternal twins, so I don’t think it works that way” Edge said.
Still, Fairy was determined to give it a try. “Do you know where we can find the…”
They both said almost in unison “Bathroom?/Macy’s?”
“Close enough!” January and Janice said. “But it’s more than just finishing each other’s sentences. All this experience comes from knowing what my sister does, what she likes, what she dislikes, and everything she does in the day.” January goes on.
“We’re older, so it took us years to perfect it!” Janice said.
“I guess we’ll have to keep that in mind, huh, Fairy?” asked Edge.
“You’re right. We have a way to go” Fairy agreed.
The hero show, meanwhile, seemed to have finally ended, the heroes in question being ushered out of the mall. All except one, who was rather unceremoniously hiding behind a trash can. Too bad her pigtails happened to be sticking out.
“Aw man, we missed them!” Mimi complained when she and Ivanka had entered the scene. “I wanted their autograph!”
“No worries, Mimi.” Ivanka said to her, her Russian accent quite thick. “I’m sure they come back.”
Jaclyn hit stop on her phone and looked over the video in her camera roll. “Oh goodness, this is going to go viral in no time!”
Midori, beleiving the coast was clear, started creeping out from behind the trash can, noticing Jaclyn’s filming had stopped, and started to make a break for the exit.
“Oop, guess she’s still here!” Jaclyn said. At that moment, Mimi broke free of her neighbor’s grasp and darted towards the now face-exposed ranger.
“Er…Hello, uh, citizen!” Midori said, all attempts at not blowing her cover having failed. “How can I, help you?” She may have been smiling, but her expression looked anything but happy.
“Where did your group go?” The little girl asked. “I wanted their autograph. But more importantly, why are you showing your face? I wanted to see that show, but I missed it!”
Midori could have facepalmed. “Well, you see, uh, young citizen, I’m on a, uh, special mission. Hiding in plain sight! It’s something only the Underhanded Rangers could think of!” Ugh. She sounded like Blue! A very nervous and bluffing Blue.
“Wanna play with me?” Mimi asked. “It must be tiring to do duties all day!”
Midori nodded. Hey, there were worse things in her mind that hanging out with kids at the mall. Truthfully, she’d rather she had been an actual performer rather than a ranger pretending to be a performer. But this little girl wasn’t going to notice if she just went along with it. After all, she was just a kid.
“Okay, what do you want to play, young citizen?”
Mimi opened her mouth to answer, but then Ivanka caught up to her.
“Mimi, what doing?” She asked. “You bothering this poor woman!”
“No I’m not! I’m just asking if she can play with me!” Mimi explained.
“Sorry about her. She… my next door…” Ivanka couldn’t recall the word for “neighbor”, but she figured what limited English she knew would provide enough context. It wasn’t every day she had a duty to look after the neighbor’s kid, as both sets of parents wanted them to get along. But perhaps the language barrier also set problems.
“She annoy you?” She asked Midori.
“On the contrary!” Midori said, trying to sound confident. “She’s very nice to be around!” Just make sure her team doesn’t notice she’s gone, or that weird girl who was filming her doesn’t show up. she thought to herself.
While Midori tried to sort out the situation, Colette had to admit she was now, for certain, lost. It wouldn’t be impossible for one of the other Modules to spot the Rin in a fancy dress wandering around the mall aimlessly.
Anyone else would think Colette is just another shopper, so they wouldn’t suspect anything. Still, back to these girls.
“Yay!” Mimi cheered, digging into Ivanka’s purse to find her Uno deck. When she did, she held it out in all of its glory. “Wanna play?”
“Why not?” Midori smiled, a bit more sincerely now. “But you know, Uno with just two people isn’t a lot of fun. We should find more people!”
Unbeknownst to them, the others were still watching. January turned to Janice.
“Did you see that? That kid is offering the green ranger to play Uno with her. And did I hear her looking for more people?”
“Oh yes, I did!” Janice said. “Maybe we should offer to play too!”
Jaclyn was also watching from a distance, and so she decided she’d take this opportunity to formally place herself in the picture. So she walked closer to them.
“Did somebody say Uno?” She asked.
“Someone did indeed say Uno, and it was this one here…oh…” Midori had just noticed Jaclyn joining in. But she didn’t want to disappoint the younger girl. “You can play with us if you want!”
A somewhat airy voice said. “I…would like to play as well.” This of course came from Colette. She had given up trying to find where she needed to go, and she figured one game wouldn’t hurt.
Malina shrugged and went over to them. “Room for one more player?” She asked.
“Of course, fellow citizens!” Midori said, trying her best to sound like a confident hero. “Anyone is welcome!”
“Awesome!” Mimi exclaims. “Let's go sit over at those tables! They can fit at least 20 people!” She starts skipping towards a rectangular set of tables with chairs neatly lined up. It looked like one of those food court table arrangements, for reference. The others started to follow as well.
Soon Midori, Fairy, Edge, and eventually Colette were seated at the table. The sweet-peddling witch, Ichigo, wanted to join in as well. “Why not?” she thought. “Maybe it’ll be good for business!”
As everyone gathered, Mimi started setting up the deck. Per game rules, she gave each player 7 cards, and put the rest of the deck in the center. At least she tried to make it as reachable as possible. Ivanka decided to sit this out, however. Mimi saw the witch girl approach the table.
“Why hello! You here to watch, or join?” She asked.
“Oh, hello! I was wondering if I could join in. I even brought snacks, look!” She gestured to the tray of tarts she was now setting on one of the tables.
Mimi counted the number of players. There was Fairy, Edge, Colette, Midori, January, Janice, Jaclyn, and herself. And here Ichigo was. She looked at the Uno box.
“You know… Uno is recommended for 3-10 players, and it looks like you're our 10th player! Welcome aboard!” She said, gesturing Ichigo to sit.
“Thank you, sweetie!” Ichigo said before sitting down in between Janice and Colette. Edge sat next to January, and Fairy next to him. Midori found the last empty seat available in between Mimi and Jaclyn. This was going to be quite a game.
Ivanka was just watching this unfold, and a few other people came to spectate the game. “Alright, if we're all ready to begin, I'll go first, since I'm the youngest!” With that, Mimi throws down a green 6.
“My turn” said Fairy. She looked disappointedly at her cards. Not having any to match, she drew a card. Having received a red 6, she threw it down gingerly, relieved at her luck.
Janice smirked at her hand. She was about to do a move that was going to destroy the player next to her. So she put down a wild Draw 4 card and let out an evil-like giggle.
The recipient of the Draw 4, which happened to be Ichigo, sighed and drew four cards.
“By the way, it's blue!” Janice says. Following her, January put down a blue 7.
Edge grinned triumphantly as he put down a blue 6.
Malina carefully scanned her hand. Only one card was going to do the trick, and that was a blue 0. So that's what she did.
Colette gave a small smile, as if she had already won. Which she hadn’t, of course. But she smiled as she put down a blue Reverse.
Malina's eyes widened as she saw this. She looked back at her hand. No blue cards. Eh, whatever. So she grabs a card from the deck.
Edge looked a bit surprised, as if he hadn’t expected the Reverse from Colette. Finding no cards to match the blue Reverse, he drew a card. Yellow 9. Not very useful.
The order went backwards due to the Reverse card, with everyone either drawing a card or putting down anything they happened to get lucky with, until it's up to Jaclyn. The card face up, now a green 5 (don't question how that got there), placed a wild card down.
“Yellow! Like my Rin-chan!” She said with full confidence.
“Yellow, huh?” Said Midori, who, surprisingly enough, was having fun. She wondered if the girl next to her liked all Rins, or just the original. If she did, she’d have to introduce her to Orange. She wasn’t so lucky with her hand though, reluctantly drawing a card.
And so, the order went back around again. This would go on several more times. Putting down cards, begrudgingly taking cards thanks to the surprises of Draw cards, and overall tension, but in a good way. It wasn’t until Mimi got in the lead, throwing down a red 3.
“Uno!” She boasted, holding up her final card and standing on top of her chair. “I’m going to beat all of you, I just know it! Nyehehehe!!”
All eyes were on Midori when it was her turn, no one having played a Reverse since Mimi’s last turn. She had three cards left, the question was, would she be able to delay or stop Mimi’s victory? She looked at her cards and…A Red +2! Grinning ear to ear at her luck, Midori nearly slammed down the Red +2.
Mimi was just about dancing on top of the chair. Others were watching obviously. It was almost baffling that the chair didn’t collapse, but even then, she’s a pretty small girl.
“I’m gonna beat everyone! All you losers! Kiss my - huh?!” Her victory dance was cut short at the sight of the draw 2 staring back at her. “Wh-wh-wh-what?!” An anime sweatdrop appeared at the corner of her head. “Are… are you serious?!” She slunk into her chair as if she melted. “I… I…” taking the two cards from the deck, her happiness faded, sitting with her arms crossed like she didn’t get her way. One moment she was celebrating about to win, the next, that gets ripped away from her by a stupid Draw 2 card. What could be worse than this?
Ivanka, obviously having secondhand embarrassment from the whole thing, facepalmed.
And in fact it was Ichigo the witch who had the last laugh, although she tried her best not to show too much excitement. A victorious red 7 gave her the win. She was apparently better at playing card games than she was at cooking, the tarts having gone untouched after someone’s unlucky bite.
“We have a winner!!” Jaclyn shouted. The others, save for Mimi, clapped and cheered for her. It was that moment when Mimi noticed the plate of tarts. Maybe it was her size, maybe it was her locked into the game, but the point is, she leaned over to take a look, figuring she could snag one of those tarts as a consolation prize.
Fortunately for Mimi, Edge noticed her eyeing the tarts and whispered. “Uh, might not be a good idea to eat those. Ichigo’s cooking…isn’t that great.”
Mimi did not listen, for she had already grabbed one of them. She was about to put it in her mouth when she looked at Edge.
“What is this thing going to do, poison me?”
Fairy added “It won’t poison you, but it might make your stomach feel weird”
“And how would you know that? You’ve ever eaten such specialty food like this?” Mimi asked.
“Umm, listen them, Mimi.” Ivanka chimed in. “We… get better food? That don’t… make sick? You only 10, though.” What she was saying sounded like nonsense, but it was enough to get her point across.
“Actually, I’m getting kind of hungry after that. Want to get something to eat? We’re in the food court after all” Fairy suggested.
“Good idea, sis” said Edge. “Maybe we can do some of our shopping afterwards”
“I just hope we’ll have time afterwards to get a picture with Santa. I wanna ask him for the Uno Launcher game!” Mimi exclaims. “Speaking of Santa, how long is he gonna be here?”
Ichigo said in reply “I think until after Christmas, or at least, that’s how it usually works. I’ve never been to this mall before, so I wouldn’t know specifically”
“I'm talking about today, buster!” Mimi protested. “Everyone knows that Santa sticks around until
Christmas, but if there's one thing I know, he doesn't sleep in malls!”
Midori was the one to answer that. ‘Obviously until the mall closes! So that would be…” She trailed off, not being able to remember the mall hours.
“Today is Saturday, which means today they're open until… I think 9 PM?” Malina adds. “So we have so much time until then.”
“Yeah! And since we're all here together, perhaps this would be a good time to stick together! We could get all the things we need, and have fun along the way! After all, it's giving season!” Janice says.
“That’s a good idea,” said Fairy. “Let’s start right after lunch, okay?”
“Roger that!” Jaclyn shouts. “Alright, off we go to get some munchies!” With that, the group had split up across the food court to decide what they want to buy.
Edge and Fairy stopped by Slice of Heaven to get pizza, eventually encouraging Colette to get some too, although they were a bit perplexed at her saying she usually had her parents order for her. Midori headed to Hot Dog on a Stick to get the obvious, and Ichigo, somewhat disappointed she wasn’t able to sell any treats, chose Cheesecake Factory.
Jaclyn decided she was in the mood for some sushi, so she went over to Specialty Sushi. Ivanka went over to Subway with Mimi, as Mimi wanted that. The Snow Miku twins both settled on Wendy's, as that was one of their favorites. As for Malina, she was feeling quite fancy, so she chose Panda Express. Over time, everyone got what they wanted and sat down to eat, conversing about where they're planning to go to get what they need, learning each other's named, and whatnot. Almost like fate had brought them together.
It took a while for everyone to be finished when they cleaned up their trash and started to head away like they were about to embark on the next big adventure.