Something Special - reload

That morning Shibani woke up early. It was even some minutes before middag. He opened his eyes and looked around. First he saw a pile of his beloved pillows and blankets. After that he noticed a strong figure of Dan. This hardworking bun was all in process of making seasonal mochi.

"He is busy as always. Sometimes i want to be more like him. But i was always so cute. It allows me to get everything i need without any work."

And here he made some pause.

"Well, today i'll try to be more useful for Dan's Dango. To be honest, Dan admires me. And his dangos are always so tasty."

The remembrance about Dan's dango helped Shibani to get up and move in the direction to the strand - it was full of delicious-looking balls on sticks. He took the one with strawberry flavor and ate it with huge appetite. After that he greeted a customer with charming smile and went outdoors.

"Two or better three strawberry dango, please" he could hear before he appeared on the street.

It was a hot Burrowgatory day. Though there was nothing trully interesting, Shibani was firmly motivated to have a long walk. And he did it - whole twenty steps without any pause! He even wanted to go on with such progress. But here he noticed a whole pile of beautiful seashells - probably somebody decided not to bring them home from the beach.

"Oh, all these are so lovely. If they were mild, it could be the best pillow pile ever"

Shibani could not resist from invistigating the seashells. And they were not just some seashells, they were trully elite ones - mostly creamy but also rosy, beige, grey, tean...Their shapes were very diffirent - classic seashell, spiral, conic, covered by thorns. Some shapes were so complex that it was difficult to describe them. Multicolored were rare but each of them was unique in something. And it doesn't matter if it was just some seashell or complex nature creation, all of them contained a remembrance about a joyful day on the beach.

But one of them was trully special - not too large, not too complex, not too bright. No. It had a simple but laconic shape - rounded spiral. Its color was as tender as Shibani's skintone. And it was shining mildly very like a pearl.

Shibani pressed it to the ear and was pleasantly surprised - he could hear relaxing song of the sea.

"Oh, it's so nice as Dan's mochi and as simple as Dan. I need to thank him with something for the patience with me"

While Shibani was all concentrated on the seashells, Dan was all in making rice for new party of mild and sweet desserts. After a hour of hard work he decided to take some break. Without any doubts, Dan's Dango was not just a popular shop, it was the pride of his life - millions of dango and mochi for the joice of customers. Sometimes salty but mostly sweet and fruity - strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, even watermelon ones... Cocoa, mitarashi, bean paste, black sezam. Everything is only freash and keeping the warmth of Dan's fingers. But to be honest, to be just a proud was not enough for him - he wanted to feel a Special pride.

"What if to create something new? We could be more developed if Shibani would be more helpful. But probably he is the most lazy bun in whole Burrowgatory."

Here Shibani came back, cute as always and lazy as always. He placed something into Dan's hand, smiled gently and turned into blush.

"It's for you... Nothing special maybe. But you may like it".

Saying this, he moved to his beloved pillow pile and soon fell asleep in a very cute pose.

First it looked as Dan paid no attention to what Shibani said him. But some time passed and he looked on his palm - there were truly nothing special, just a seashell. It was light as Shibani and nice as Shibani. Also it could sing a song of the sea.

"He is kinda strange today. Maybe it's cause of the heat. The seashell is neat tho. What if it can
be "

And here Dan understood that he got not just some pale seashell - he got an a chance to increase his pride. So, he went to the kitchen table and began to work with chopped rice. Finally he got a whole set of nice, sweet and a bit salty mochi in shape of seashells.

He ate some of them and understood one thing - these new mochi can rise Dan's Dango to absolutely new level of popularity. And it will bring the pride he was searching for. But also he understood another thing - this pride can be shared only with one bun. And it's Shibani.

"Let him sleep peacefully. He'll get something very special when he'll get up".

Hot days of swimsuit season were passing by. Shibani was cute as always and sleepy as always. Dan was as hardworking as he used to be. There were always enough of diffirent dango and mochi in the stock - fruity, salty, only of the best quolity. But each day Dan was making a bit of "secret" mochi. They were pale as Shibani and nice as Shibani. It was the pride that can be shared only with Shibani.

As for Shibani, he became more motivated to get up early. Also he began to show some interest in Dan's daily work.