" Oh, what a cute baby!"
" Isn't she a darling!"
" How old is she?"
Standing at a distance observing Goro being the center of attention with the salesgirl in the baby shop, the remaining four looked sour.
" Men with babies look so charismatic!" One sales girl starts to coo in a lovelorn voice.
" Aren't they really!" Her colleague agrees flickering her eyelashes furiously at Goro. The baby began to fidget restlessly, kicking her short legs vigorously in the air. Her tiny cherubic body proves to be too slippery for him to grip well.
Suddenly a series of loud laughter interrupted their cozy chat. Everyone turned towards the source and Goro frowned. Nakai is guffawing loudly as he made his way towards them. " Hello ladies ~ let me tell you a secret!"
Goro frowned even more when Nakai lowered his voice conspiringly and made a great show of shielding him from the secret. " Actually, that's my baby!" He whispered loud enough for all to hear. Goro rolled his eyes while the other three standing behind Nakai clucked with disapproval.
Takuya approached the twittering girls and flashed them a great smile. " Would you like her? We are giving her away!"
" Huh? What?" The girls cried in dismay.
" He's joking of course!" Nakai laughed nervously.
" I am not." Takuya replied stiffly.
" Yes, he is ~" Nakai laughed awkwardly.
" No, I am not." Takuya insists angrily.
" Yes, you are!" Nakai glared frustratingly at the stubborn man standing between him and Goro.
" No I am not." Takuya replied in a low growl.
" Yes, you are." Nakai spits out each vowel slowly in a constricted voice.
Everyone, including the two salesgirls are watching the exchange with fear for danger premeats the air like a time bomb about to explode. Just as everyone feels that the final moment has arrived, the baby decides to announce her displeasure.
Goro nearly drops her from surprise. " What's the matter, honey? Are you uncomfy ~ "
Shingo's face turned ashen upon hearing Goro's baby talk again. He is about to turned and ran out of the shop when Tsuyoshi reached out and grabbed his arm. " No way." Tsuyoshi mouths silently.
Nakai had abandoned the fight and came forward to comfort the shrieking baby. The rigidnes on Takuya's face relaxed too.
" We need diapers!" Takuya exclaimed abruptly.
" Shush honey shush ~" Goro mutters in a lulling whisper as he strokes her upper arms gently.
" We need diapers, bottles, milk powder, new clothes ~" Nakai rattles off the list.
" How heavy is she?" One of the girls asked helpfully.
" Heavy?" All five men cried out.
" Yes, the diapers sizes are sold according to the weight of the baby." She explains patiently.
" How are we to know?" Nakai cried. " We only got her this morning!"
" Do you have scales here?" Takuya asks but the two girls shook their heads sadly.
" Let's find a way to weigh her." Takuya suggests and lead the way out of the store.
Once outside, they looked in different directions. " Let's split up, guys." Takuya said and they paired off and walked off in different directions.
The baby has stopped crying and even fell asleep as Goro and Tsuyoshi walked about looking for scales. " Are your arms tired? Let me carry her for a while." Tsuyoshi offers sincerely.
" Thanks." Goro smiled. " But I am afraid she'll be disturbed if we change hands now. I can still take it."
Meanwhile Nakai and Shingo had wondered into the marketplace. " Plenty of scales here!" Shingo remarked when Nakai starts running towards the butcher. " Hey, where are you going?"
" Can you lend us your scales?" Nakai asks the man behind the meat counter.
" What?"
" We need to know the weight of our baby so we can get her diapers!"
" No, no!"
Shingo bowed apologetically at the butcher before dragging Nakai forcefully away from the man who is looking quite frustrated.
" That's the best idea I could think of!" Nakai chided while Shingo glared at him.
" Hey guys! Let's go back to the store!" Tsuyoshi yelled from a distance. Takuya came out from nowhere and together they ran back to the store.
" Where did you find scales?" Nakai asks while they waited for the cashier to total up the bill.
" The post office." Goro replied smugly as the cashier mumbled the total bill to Shingo.
" He's paying." Shingo told the cashier with a wide grin, moving aside as the others do. Nakai finds himself isolated and prominently placed before the cashier counter.
" What? I am paying?" Nakai coughs.
" She's your new toy, of course you pay for the accessories!" Shingo replied matter-of-factly.
Under their fierce scrutinies, Nakai gave up the fight and pull out his wallet with utmost reluctance.
