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❅⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆
THE FOLLOWING DAYS were a lot easier, especially after gojō told umeko to never let him drink chamomile tea at night again.
everyday eventually melted into the same routine, though the relationship between gojō and umeko didn't change much, resulting in the latter's dismay.
however, there were times young gojō would allow umeko to hold his hand whilst walking around the estate, or just anywhere in general.
"young master, i must run some errands this afternoon, so i was wondering if you'd like to come with?"
"sure. it's not like i have anything better to do", gojō shrugged.
"then i'll retrieve you from your classes and we can change before we leave".
as soon as gojō's lessons ended, umeko had changed him into some long black pants and a red hoodie. she herself also switched from the traditional kimono into some dark pants and a pink sweatshirt to match the gojō heir.
gojō stared at the young woman who had grabbed her purse and keys, almost never seeing her in regular clothing.
"ready, young master?", umeko called out.
nodding, gojō also mentioned how she shouldn't refer to him as that in public, for it'd cause unnecessary commotion.
"how should i refer to you then?", the twenty year-old asked, opening the back door of her car for the young gojō.
"my first name's fine. only when we're out in public alone though", gojō clearly stated.
"of course, youn—satoru".
❅
upon arriving at the shopping center, umeko gripped tightly onto gojō's tiny hand, worried that some stranger might swindle him away.
"stay close to me, okay?", umeko whispered.
gojō glanced around with a bored expression, whilst the woman headed immediately towards the book aisle.
'i wonder which series should i start on. there's too many books on my need-to-read list', umeko internally sighed.
gojō noticed the many dumb children running around recklessly and nearly smacking into the other shoppers. some even wiped their boogers onto the closest wall that they could manage to reach.
'gross. is this what normal children are like?'
however, as soon as umeko placed an abundance of books into her basket, gojō was brought back to reality.
glancing upwards at the twenty year-old woman, who was guiding him towards another section of the store, gojō had suddenly felt envious of the other kids.
although they were disgusting, stupid, useless—the point being, at least they had a doting parent.
"satoru, would you like to pick out a toy before we leave?", umeko asked, to which gojō had scoffed.
"toys are for kids".
"you are a kid", the woman reminded, lightly chuckling.
huffing, gojō strolled around the aisle, finding most things quite distasteful until he saw a packaging with this bright red dinosaur yelling "battle commence".
"digimon...", gojō gasped, snatching the packaged digivice and shoving it in front of umeko's face.
"i need this. i need my own virtual pet", gojō sternly stated.
"okay okay", umeko smiled, "did you want a sweet treat for the road as well? i won't tell if you don't tell".
gojō excitedly nodded his head, rushing towards the front of the store as he remembered their location when they had walked past it.
"wait up, satoru!!", umeko called out, hauling her basket of heavy books with her, as she struggled to keep up.
gojō's eyes sparkled at the mountains of candy, each one looking better than the last. he almost wasn't sure which to choose.
"satoru! you can't just run off like that. what if i lost you?!", umeko reprimanded, bending down so that she was eye-level with the white-haired child.
gojō zoned out as umeko continued lecturing him, to which he had spotted a random boy walking with his mom and pointing at him.
the mother ushered her child away, as gojō thought to himself.
'umeko's sort of acting like a mother to me right now'.
after all, she clothed him, allowed him to choose a toy he actually wanted, ate with him (not really, but gojō was working on that), and tucked him in bed.
she was probably the closest person to being gojō's mother.
"—you understand??", umeko asked, as gojō snapped back into reality and just nodded.
huffing, the twenty year-old just shook her head, knowing gojō probably didn't hear a lick of what she was saying.
"let's just pick out a candy you like, pay, and go home, okay?", the woman gently ushered.
doing as told, gojō naturally slipped his hand into umeko's as they walked out the store.
