The Fourth Period Is Modern Chinese (Continued)

"Don't worry about what I'm wearing... Let's go."

"Yeah. Whose gift should we pick out first?"

"Ah—let's buy yours first."

"Oh. Then let's do that."

Kawasaki and I looked over the shopping mall map.

"Looking at it closely, this place really is huge."

Kawasaki seemed a little surprised.

"Of course. And it has a long history too. Apparently, it was Japan's first LaLaport."

I proudly showed off my knowledge.

"Oh—impressive."

Kawasaki seemed genuinely impressed, and sharing that bit of knowledge made me feel pretty accomplished too.

"Since there are so many stores, instead of deciding on one, maybe we should just wander around and go into any place we like."

"You're right. Let's just browse around."

Kawasaki and I set off.

About thirty minutes later, I slowed to a stop.

"What's wrong?"

"Let's take a break."

As one of Japan's foremost shopping malls, this place was ridiculously large. Thoroughly checking out store after store was pretty exhausting.

"Kawasaki, are you tired? You don't look so good."

"Huh? Yeah... I'm not tired."

She said that, but her expression looked somewhat gloomy. Maybe she really wasn't feeling well and had only forced herself to come because she cared about that earlier incident—the Great Little Sister War. But even if I told her not to push herself if she was sick, what if she went into battle mode and snapped, "What? I'm not sick. I'm actually in perfect condition. Don't act like you know me, okay? Want to check right now whether I'm sick or not?" ...Well, let's not talk about what exactly Kawasaki had become in my mind.

Considering that, we should finish picking out the gifts as soon as possible.

"All right, let's go."

"Yeah."

The two of us started walking again. Before long, we spotted a shop called "Leaf."

"Ah—this