Luca squeaked as Jiru grabbed him and deputised him at the shop. He really must have loved the dog a lot. So much so that he left Luca in charge of the store. The worried look upon Zhijiru's face as he looked into the distance, especially when his face twisted into so many depictions of terror, was a mixture of horrifying and just a tinge of amusing to Luca. Zhijiru looked terrified, but cartoonishly so.

The young man stared in awe as Zhijiru vaulted over the store counter and towards some random direction. He forgot where the woman went, and she was hopefully unrelated to this. With Jiru come, he could at least do something.

Crouching under the counter, he lifted off his shirt and adjusted his chest-bindings. Luca called himself a man, but biology decided otherwise. It was fortunate that Zhijiru never knew. Once that was done, he stood up, picked off an apple from the counter, and placed another silver coin of his own.

He bit into it and munched noisily, watching passers-by with a lazy gaze.