the incident

He then puts the box back inside the fridge and grabs a whisk and some butter.

Hiroaki mixes the batter, making sure not to mix the butter to hard. He then adds the flour and salt and whisks it thoroughly. He then puts the mixture aside and takes out his phone to make a quick call to someone.

Hiroaki finishes making the pancakes and puts them all on a plate. He cuts off a portion and brings the plate over to Natsu.

When Natsu sees his breakfast, he runs across the room and jumps onto the chair. He sits down and looks at his food hungrily. He begins eating his food immediately and continues to eat as Hiroaki watches.

As he ate, Hiroaki watched Natsu eat his food. He smiled to himself and couldn't keep from laughing whenever Natsu would make a face.

About halfway through their breakfast, Hiroaki gets another call.

Hiroaki answers it and says, "Hello, Sakaguchi speaking."

"Hey, Hiroaki. Just checking in. Everything okay?"

"Not really, no." He replies with a frown and shakes his head.

Natsu looks up from his food curiously at Hiroaki as he spoke.

"What happened?"

"Apparently there was a robbery yesterday that was taken care of by the police. They're already starting to suspect the culprit though. So, if anyone wants to talk to whoever they think it might be, then it could be useful."

Hiroaki explains to Sakaguchi what has happened during the morning. He also mentions the call he received from Natsukine, who told him to pick the boy up after school since Natsukine didn't feel very well.

Sakaguchi asks, "Where's the boy now?"

"In his classroom. But I don't know exactly where he is." He replies, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I see. Well, I'm sure that the police will catch whoever robbed those stores before anything happens to Natsukine. Don't worry too much. We'll deal with the matter ourselves. Just stay calm, okay?" Sakaguchi reassures Hiroaki and ends the call.

Hiroaki stares at the receiver for a while before hanging it up and sighing.

Natsu gets curious about his uncle's phone call and asks, "What's wrong, uncle?"

"It seems like our little thief decided to rob two different stores at the same time," Hiroaki explains.

"But why? Did the criminals leave any money behind?"

"No, nothing like that. What the thieves left behind is nothing worth mentioning. That was the trouble."Hiroaki shakes his head sadly.

"I don't understand." Natsu comments as he finishes his breakfast.

"The thieves weren't thinking straight. They were too worried about something else. Something that could ruin everything."

Natsu stares at his uncle and asks, "What did they steal?"

"They stole food."

"Food?"

"Yes. The thieves were hungry. And so were the customers. So, they robbed the store of its supplies. Food, canned goods, things like that."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"So, we're going to have to spend more money for groceries." Natsu concludes.

"I'm afraid so. If we can find something better than canned goods, though, that will help us out a lot."

"Can we go shopping today, uncle?"

"Sure, kid. Let's take the car. I don't want to carry your backpack all day."

"Okay."

"And remember, don't touch anything in there until we've looked at everything."

"Ok, uncle."

Once the dishes are washed and put away, Hiroaki and Natsu head for the car. Hiroaki drives the car out to the parking garage and parks it in front of his apartment building. He walks towards Natsu and opens the door for him.

"Let's go get your backpack."

"Okay."

When they reach Natsu's bedroom, Hiroaki unzips the backpack he had brought from home and starts taking out the items they need to buy for Natsu's new clothes and his toys.

"Is this all?" Natsu asks with wide eyes when Hiroaki hands him some of the items.

"Yeah, kiddo. This is everything we need."

"You got a lot of stuff."

"Yep. I got everything you need, kiddo."

Natsu hums in reply before hugging his uncle.

"Thank you for buying all this stuff for me, uncle."

"You're welcome, kiddo. Now let's go shopping. I wanna show you all the cool stuff I found today!" He says excitedly.

"All right!"

"Now, I need you to listen carefully. We don't wanna walk out of that mall with anything less than perfect. Okay?" Hiroaki tells Natsu.

"Okaaay!"

"Good! Lets go!"

Hiroaki leads Natsu downstairs and out of the house. He locks the door and they both step into the elevator. Once they arrive in the parking garage Hiroaki turns to Natsu and asks him, "Do you want to go get the car first?"

"I wanna go get the toy." Natsu replies.

"Alright, then let's go get the toy first, and then we can go get the car. Ready?"

"Ready, uncle."

Hiroaki smiles and says, "Then lets go!" and heads toward the parking garage entrance.

After they get Natsu's car seat and put it into the trunk, Natsu buckles himself up and closes the car door.

Hiroaki gets into the driver's seat, and he starts driving toward a nearby mall.

"Aha, look at that, Natsukine. A store called 'Shinkansen'. It's so cool! Come check it out, kiddo."

Natsu tilts his head a bit in confusion.

"What is it, uncle?"

Hiroaki shrugs and says, "Just come with me, okay?"

Natsukine grins widely and eagerly says, "Okay, uncle!"

"Let's go!"

Natsu unbuckles the seatbelt and steps out of the car. He then follows his uncle through the parking garage and down the hall.

The children enters the clothing shop and Natsukine'