Okay, so here's the next chapter for Daily Life with a Little Brother.

Also, I thought you should know that Uno is exactly the same height as Yuuhi from chapter 38 of the manga...so in other words he's more or less on the same level with Lala's waist.

Also, for a more concrete illustration of the texture of Uno's hand combine the armored layout design of 'Iron man suit mark V' and the scaly, constantly shifting texture of 'Days future past sentinel mark X' and color the result with azure and silver.

Okay, that's enough of that.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 2: Not an Ordinary Shopping Day with a W.M.D.

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After a particularly lengthy episode of pathetic whimpering and squeals of joy, everyone made their way to the shopping district, after finding Kurusu's regular supermarket to be conveniently closed for an apparent holiday.

Once they reached the center of the shopping mall, of course, various meat stall owners, butchers, fishermen, etc. started falling all over themselves to keep their merchendise away from the eyes of some of the girls.

With the speed that they were closing up, you'd think that they were hoarding over relief goods and supplies for an impending apocalypse or something.

Then again, it would be a fairly logical, not to mention very reasonable reaction for the girls to want to 'avenge their fallen brethren', which makes the fact that Mero eats fish all the more...disturbing.

Maybe it's because fish and chicken don't count as liminals, so they're okay with it.

"It's okay, they eat fish and poultry!" Kurusu called out to them, which prompted the stall-owners to cease their packing and closing.

"Really?"

Uno didn't do well under the sudden spotlight. Even though the stall owners were simply looking in their general direction and not specifically at him, he felt the urge to fidget and hide his armored hands, which were now exposed thanks to his new outfit.

Yeah, he didn't exactly look like a weapon of mass destruction. If anything, he actually looks like a cute little middle schooler, who was perfectly innocent and harmless. In other words, to an average stranger, there wouldn't be anything to take note of, aside from his hands.

Still, he didn't like the increased attention, so he simply hid behind Lala, of all people, while trying to use her trenchcoat to hide himself.

Yeah...who better to hide behind than the only liminal in the Kurusu household that has social interaction issues...

Naturally, Lala fidgeted nervously, while looking behind at the little boy's adorable poker face who was calmly using her clothes to hide himself; completely at a loss on what she should do in this situation.

"Uno-chan? There's no need to hide" Said Mero gently as she turned her attention to the neutral-looking boy, hiding behind the Dullahan, who simply stared back at her with a poker face.

"I don't want to give these people a real reason to start closing their stalls and start running for the hills, Mero-nee-sama" Uno said calmly, while looking down at his synthetic and robotic hands.

Seriously, were robot hands really that weird and scary to humans? Honestly, with the exception of Kurusu, Uno looked like the most human out of all of 9 of them. So a pair of robot hands weren't likely going to scare these stall-owners away if they can look past the fact that most of the girls were overtly half-animal and half-human.

Maybe Uno's failed attempts at finding a host family was simply because those people had watched too many terminator movies or sci-fi movies where cyborgs and robots hunt down humans.

Again, I digress.

"I think you are being understandably overcautious regarding this matter, Uno-chan" Said Mero gently with a small smile. "It's highly unlikely that these people would react so poorly to your presence, afterall, you have not done anything to make them do so, have you not?"

Uno blinked at Mero once. Twice. Three times.

He simply kept silent, while eying the stall owners briefly from the corner of his eye, before he turned back to Mero.

"They're clearly showing signs of supressed anxiety" he stated.

"Oh, that's merely because of the earlier misunderstanding and their panic" Mero reassured. "Their panic is not caused by you because they have no reason to do so"

"I beg to differ"

Mero merely waved a hand dismissively.

"You are what you are, Uno-chan and being a unique liminal is not a sufficient reason to panic. Please do not consider yourself as someone who should be feared or let your unsuccessful attempts at finding a host family affect the way you think people see you" And here comes Mero in her royal mode. "Everyone is different, your previous hosts may think of you as someone who must be feared, but not all humans share the same opinion, so please allow these people to form their own opinion instead of letting past events recluse you"

Seriously, wasn't it obvious from that one scene in chapter eleven that Mero was a princess?

Uno simply looked at Mero with his usual poker face, internally considering the mermaid's words and after a few seconds, Uno stepped out from behind Lala and made his way behind Mero's chair.

"Mero-nee-sama, those fish look incredibly fresh, would you like to take a look at them?" Uno asked politely with cute head tilt from behind Mero's chair. Mero simply looked behind her with a close-eyed smile and nodded.

"If you do not mind, Uno-chan"

In response, Uno simply started pushing her chair gently towards the fish stall, whose owner was still a tad anxious, according to the W.M.D.

How could he tell? It's because he has very accurate senses, as well as, several receptors and scanners in his arsenal, he is a weapon of mass destruction afterall.

That's actually how he was able to tell that Kurusu felt anxious and incredulous when they first met and that's also how he can tell that the fish were fresh.

"My, you're right, Uno-chan; these fish do look splendid" Mero said in silent delight with a pleased smile as she eyed the fish. "they're well-marbled and healthy"

She turned her attention to the stall-owner with a close-eyed smile.

"It's been such a long time since I've seen such good fish. For a land-dweller you have an incredibly good eye for fish" Mero said in her royal mode and the fish owner couldn't help but stare in wonder.

Uno, on the other hand, couldn't understand what was happening to the fish stall owner. To him, Mero was simply complimenting him on a job well done; hardly anything that should cause this kind of reaction.

"As a resident of the ocean, I am delighted that you understand the sea so well. I am truly impressed" Mero said delightedly and all the man could do was bow (after recovering from his stunned silence) and thank Mero.

"Thank You!" He said as if he were a mere servant who had just been praised by a queen.

Well...Mero wasn't really a queen, but you get the idea.

"Please take this" unnamed stall owner said while holding out a very heavy-looking fish. "It's our top-quality amberjack"

"Oh my"

Before Kurusu could interupt, Uno simply stepped forward and took the amberjack from the stall-owner, who handed it to him with a grateful bow.

"Thank you" Uno said monotonously.

"You see, Uno, these people have no reason to be afraid of you" Mero said reassuring towards the yoing boy as he turned to face her, amberjacl being effortlessly carried by the boy's deceptively petite arms.

"Mhm." He nodded with a poker face.

Mero spotted the man's curious expression and faced him with a close-eyed smile.

"Uno-chan has had a rather unpleasant experience with his previous host families and as a result, has become rather cautious of being around humans, I'm sure you understand" Mero said gently as Uno made his way behind the wheelchair.

"O-Oh, I see" was what the fish owner said before nodding understandingly.

At that, Uno grabbed the wheelchair's handles, while the amberjack balanced on his forearms and nonchalantly started pushing Mero's wheelchair. He nodded his goodbye to the fish stall owner before leaving.

He was pleasantly surprised to say the least.

...

Once they reached Kurusu, the poor man nearly had a heart attack at the size of the amberjack that Uno was evidently balancing on his forearms with no effort at all.

The fact that the two of them had apparently gotten the fish as a gift from a fish stall owner wasn't Kurusu's first priority right now. At least not yet.

"U-Uno-chan, you shouldn't carry that fish like that, you could sprain your forearms" Kurusu said panickingly, before hefting the amberjack from the young boy.

With a herculean amount of effort, might I add. He had to really strain his muscles to even lift the gigantic thing.

"You shouldn't have done that, Kurusu-nii-sama" Uno said monotonously with a poker face as he watched his host struggle to heft the fish, while Mero was visibly fretting over him and constantly voicing her concerns. "90% of my body is robotic and is made up of a unique synthetic armor plating, which allows me to adapt to any situation, therefore carrying a fish like that with my forearms is not something you should fret over" He recited monotonously as his eyebrows slighly furrowed in concern.

"In other words, out of the three of us, I am the most suited to heft a significantly increasing amount of weight for large amounts of time with no fear of straining myself and risking permanent injury" Uno said as Kurusu continued to heave the fish, while breathing heavily.

"That may be true, Uno-chan, but you're still a young boy, so you shouldn't be carrying heavy loads; it could affect your growth" Kurusu said with a visibly strained face and forced smile.

...I don't need to tell you that there will be NO Yaoi in this story and that Kurusu is just treating Uno like the little brother he never had (at least as far as the manga is concerned), do I?

"Kurusu-nii-sama, as I've said before, my body is 90% machine, armoring, and synthetic material, so I will not 'grow' in any manner similar to a boy of the same age group as me. I will simply evolve and adapt my own body over time, so your point is moot"

"D-D-Don't say that, Uno-chan" the way Kurusu's voice came out, you'd think he was hefting a 500 kilogram barbell. "You're still a young boy, Uno-chan so...hngh!" Kurusu ended his sentence with an increased effort to lift the fish.

"Dear sir, perhaps you should let Uno-chan, carry the fish for you. You are clearly straining yourself in your efforts and I would prefer that you not be injured because of what we were given" Mero suggested worriedly and truth be told, she had some reservations with the idea of a petite boy like Uno carrying the fish, but she had reason to believe that carrying the amberjack wouldn't strain Uno's arms, unlike her dear sir.

Kurusu was spared having to respond, when Uno walked forward and took the amberjack from their host's hands and held it steadily in front of him with no visible effort or strain.

His poker face didn't even falter.

At any rate, Kurusu was too busy panting to notice Uno holding the fish steadily in his arms.

Now, most men would probably be mending their egos, if they were in this exact same situation, but since Kurusu isn't like most men, he only had one other concern.

"Say, where did you get an amberjack of that size, Uno?"

"a fish stall owner gave it to Mero-nee-sama, free of charge, after she complimented him" Uno stated monotonously.

Kurusu did a double take, before taking a moment to register, process, and respond.

"Ehhhhh?!"

It wasn't exactly the most intelligent reponse, though.

"It's just as Uno-chan said, dear sir." Said Mero patiently and primly. "a very kind fisherman was generous enough to give us this amberjack as a token of his gratitude"

"D-Don't you think that this is a little too...much for a token of gratitude" Kurusu said with an awkward headscratch and a meaningful look at the huge amberjack resting steadily in Uno's arms.

"Kurusu-nii-sama, I don't think that the fisherman would give this to us for free if he could not afford to do so" stated Uno monotonously with a high pubescent voice. "Furthermore, Mero-nee-sama is not the type of person who would manipulate someone to do something against their will"

"I-I see..." Kurusu conceded, mostly because Uno had raised some very convincing and solid arguments and partly because there wasn't anything he could do about the matter at this point.

Sure, he still felt bad about taking such an expensive-looking product for no charge at all, but it would be quite rude to return something, which was given to them as a gift.

The size of the fish was also big enough to last them for more than a few days that it would be such a waste to lose, but Kurusu would never admit that.

"Maybe we should look for the others now" Kurusu suggested.

"Papi-nee-sama and Suu-nee-sama are still playing with the kids" Uno recited monotonously and unperturbed "Miia-nee-sama is watching a few cooks, in an attempt to improve her own evividently non-existent culinary skills. Centorea-nee-sama is currently being conversed with by a vegetable stall owner. Rach-nee-sama is inconspicously stealing taste tests off of random customers from a restaurant. Lala-nee-sama is currently without her head"

As if on cue, a scream sounded in the distance.

Mero and Kurusu blinked once. Twice. Three times.

"uh...how did you know all that, Uno-chan?" Kurusu asked with an awkward headscratch and internal sigh of relief.

"I must admit that I am curious as well" Mero said gently.

He looked them in the eye and said: "I know everything"

"..."

"..."

The fact that he was saying this with a poker face and a monotonous neutral voice made it all the more mysterious...and ominous...in retrospect, Uno was like a younger, male, mostly human, and Non-Chuuni version of Lala.

Of course, you, the readers, would know (or at the very least inferred by now) that Uno simply adapted his unique senses to find the other girls.

"Okay then" was all Kurusu could say with a blank smile. He was used to all these liminal quirks by now, so he learned not to worry too much. "So, who should we look for first?"

As if to answer the question for them, several distant screams about a 'severed head' and 'a headless body' suddenly sounded in the distance.

"Lala"

"Miss Lala"

"Lala-nee-sama"

They all said in unison before nodding simultaneously.

"I found her" Uno said monotonously, before the metallic synthetic armor on his hands and neck suddenly started shifting, as if rising and falling like a wave of individual metallic scales.

Kurusu and Mero stared dumbly at the young boy as they got the distinct impression that similar sensation was happening to the rest of his body.

This lasted for about five seconds, until several metallic silver tendrils suddenly started slithering out of his sleeves, which gently wrapped around Kurusu, the amberjack and Mero, along with, her wheelchair.

"U-Uno-chan, what are you d-"

Kurusu's question died on his throat as Uno crouched down before he leapt up 2 stories into the air, taking them along for the ride. Well, it was the fastest way to get to Lala, as far as, Uno is concerned and Uno didn't even need to use his unique senses, he just had to follow the trail of people who were either screaming, running, fainting or all of the above.

On a different note, If Kurusu had felt anything that he remotely bothered him, then it would probably be the lurching feeling in his stomach everytime they (Uno) suddenly leapt to the sky and landed on the ground, which was caused by the inertia of the action's abruptness, of course.

Yup, he certainly didn't bother with logical questions a normal human would be concerned about in this situation, like the weird visual sensation that crawled all over Uno's body or the fact that Uno had apparently adapted and altered his body to leap 2 stories into the air and grow tendrils or the G-forces that said leaps caused him and Mero.

Nope, he certainly didn't worry about those things.

Not at all.

He was worrying about whether or not his breakfast was going to make a reappearance.

...

After what felt like hours to Kurusu and mere minutes to Mero, Uno landed with a crash. Well this would be your typical cliché superhero landing, if Uno didn't look so young and wasn't wearing normal middle school clothes.

Also, Miss Smith would probably receive, one heck of a bill for the property damage, considering the fact that every time Uno landed a small, but sizeable crater was created.

Meh, not that important, anyways.

At any rate, the people would've probably been staring at them in shock and awe after what Uno had just done, if it weren't for the fact that the people were too busy screaming and running as they tried to get away from Lala's headless body, which was down on all fours, while patting the area in front of her, almost as if she was looking for nothing more than a pair of glasses.

Uno set down his passengers gently onto the ground, before he withdrew his tendrils.

"That was quite an exhilirating ride, Uno-chan, I felt like I was soaring through the sky" Mero beamed in ecstacy as she relived the experience, which was a sharp contrast to Kurusu who was lying on ground with his soul leaking out of his mouth.

Uno simply gave Mero a small smile and a nod, before turning his attention to Lala's headless body, which was still causing quite a commotion.

Jeez, you'd think there was a zombie on the street...

...the scary ones like from the walking dead, not like Zombina or Cici...

Uno blinked and wordlessly a singular tendril crawled up from under his jacket, giving the impression of a metallic tail. Again, the same visual sensation happened and the tail seemingly morphed and shapeshifted to create three claw pincers.

The tendril made its way towards the unsuspecting headless body, before picking it up off the ground by its cape.

You know, this actually looked like an upscale liminal version of a crane game.

Once Lala's flailing and panicking body joined the small group of wranglers, Uno blinked and his eyes seemed to glow and several minuscule inscriptions appeared in his eye, there was even a target circle with adjusting features in his cerulean eye.

Uno was clearly looking for Lala's head via his W.M.D. senses, which was in the form of a cerulean-colored view, which changed and shifted as he adapted his sense of sight to look for his target.

Oh and in case, you were curious, Mero was still beaming, Kurusu was still sleeping, and Lala's body was still flailing.

"I found you" Said Uno emotionlessly, as he outstretched his hand in front of him.

A tendril shot out of his sleeve like a snake and morphed in mid-flight to create a three-pincered claw, sailing through the air like a fishing line until it burst through an open window.

Also, I'd like to point out that there were already screams coming from that particular window before Uno's clawed tendril burst through it.

The tendril started receding quickly, giving the impression of a fishing line being reeled in, with Lala's head in its pincers.

Once Lala's head was directly in front of Uno, he could clearly see that the dullahan's head was slightly battered and bruised, which was a clear sign that some people had done more than just scream and run in their panic, while the girl's expression clearly told the W.M.D. that she was dazed and dizzy.

With a deadpan expression, several incredibly thin, needle-like appendages sprouted from each of his fingers and started gently healing Lala's slightly battered head.

Dazed as she was, Lala didn't exactly register Uno's subtle treatment of her head, but she could still feel a slight pinching sensation, like...millions of microscopic scalpel blades were dancing on her skin and taking away the aches.

Nonetheless, it felt very soothing and even in her dazed state, she couldn't help but let out a relieved smile.

"Uno-chan, what are you doing to Lala?" Asked Kurusu curiously, apparently having (mostly) recovered from his fainting spell.

"Hmm, she seems quite disoriented. Is Miss Lala okay?" Asked Mero concernedly, apparently having gone back down from her emotional high.

Uno simply nodded to her question, before elaborating.

"Lala-nee-sama does seem rather dazed and I suspect that it would be due to the fact that a handful of people had accidentally whacked her head in their panic, since she also appeared bruised, when I found her" Uno said with a deadpan voice, before continuing with a small genuine smile. "which is why I am tending to her minor injuries"

Uno felt a hand land on his head, so he looked back to see Kurusu smiling at him while patting his head.

"Thank you, Uno-chan"

At that, Uno simply nodded with a small smile, before continuing his work.

After a few more seconds of treatment, Lala managed to recover her bearings and realized that she was now connected to her body and that her face was no longer aching.

"It seems that you have retrieved my body and regenerated my face's damage...I thank you..." Lala said in her usual ominous and chuuni tone, which Uno responded in his own deadpan tone, albeit with a small smile.

"You really shouldn't walk too far away from us, Lala-nee-sama. People don't react well to severed heads"

"Like death itself, I cannot be controlled" Lala said ominously. "I go where I please, in order to search for those who are near death, so that I may harvest their souls with my scythe and lead them to the afterlife"

"That's probably the reason why they smacked your head off and whacked it repeatedly, though, Lala-nee-sama" Uno said with a poker face, but his tone sounded...concerned and sad. "Please take better care of yourself, Lala-nee-sama"

Yeah...Lala didn't really know how to respond to such an overt social display of concern and worry over her well-being.

Scratch that, Lala didn't really know how to respond to anything social, period.

Anyhoo, after that little exchange, Uno had suggested that they go after Miia next, before the cooks do something they'll regret, like let Miia anywhere near a stove, food, pots, pans, basically anything she can use to cook...

They shuddered at the thought with the exception of Uno who simply stood still, after his body shifted and adapted a third time. His tendrils gently wrapped them up again and lifted them into the air.

This time, however, Uno simply stayed still in the sunlight and stayed silent for a long while, which prompted the three passengers to look in his direction with questioning looks on their faces.

"My body is currently absorbing solar energy" he said in a deadpan voice and before any of them could offer anything more in response.

Uno's whole body suddenly lit up...

...on fire...

"W-W-W-WHA?! Uno-chan, Uno-chan, you're on fire!"

"You don't say" Said Uno in his usual deadpan, but there was a very subtle but distinct condescending and sarcastic tone in his words.

Anyone who's ever seen that particular meme would know how its done.

Still, Kurusu kept on squirming and panicking, while shouting out 'Water!' repeatedly.

Mero was in a similar state of distress, albeit more prim and composed and less panicky.

Lala settled with eyes wide in shock and wonder.

As for the question of why nobody has taken notice and/or tried to help the twelve year old whose body is starting to look like the surface of the sun, complete with solar flares that arced and erupted every now and again...that's better left unasked...

...or you could simply assume that the people were either too shocked, afraid, freaked out to do anything or were too traumatized by Lala, whichever helps you sleep at night...

Anyhoo...

"There is no need to panic for I am not in the least bit being harmed by what I am currently doing" Uno assured calmly in a deadpan tone. "I have simply adapted and altered my body to absorb solar energy and redirect it as infrared radiation."

It's not very reassuring, considering the fact that humans can't achieve such feats, but Kurusu simply accepted that explanation and chalked it down as one of his quirks as a liminal.

He simply felt better with not thinking too much about some of liminal's abilities.

He slept better at night that way.

"You might want to hold on tight" Uno said monotonously and before any of them could react. Uno suddenly thrusted his hands backwards, which shot a thin yet powerful jet of fire, rocketing them forward at a considerably high speed.

More G-forces! Yay!

As they sailed through the district, Kurusu really couldn't help but panic in mid-flight as he almost caught on fire a few times, while Mero and Lala were enjoying the ride and trying to keep their head together (literally) respectively.

Sharp turns would be kinda tricky though, but Uno could handle them by thrusting his hand in front of him to stop their momentum and by thrusting his the other hand in the direction of they needed to turn. Kinda like drifting for race cars.

Anyhoo, the spectacle of a human solar sphere rocketing around the shopping district, like it was some sort of race track, while also carrying a dullahan, a mermaid in a wheelchair, an understandly panicking human, and a sizeable amberjack continued for a few more minutes, until Uno suddenly thrusted his hands downwards, causing them to rocket over the building in front of them, which was roughly five stories high.

Their earlier momentum made certain that they cleared the building cleanly, making Kurusu let out a sigh of relief, since he was slightly concerned that they would come up short and Uno would crash into the building.

He was certainly relieved.

At least, until they started freefalling, which made him scream and yelp like a little girl. Uno wasn't exactly making any effort to slow down their freefall, so they just continued accelarating more and more.

Even Lala was starting to look bluer than usual, out of fear, I presume and Mero didn't really have anything to complain about aside from the slightly parched sensation she felt because of the fact that Uno was drying up the air. As far as Mero was concerned this was a really exhilirating roller coaster ride.

Uno crash-landed onto the ground with a deafening boom and a small mushroom cloud of dust.

You know, in hindsight, Kurusu didn't really have anything to be terrified about, since they were being held up in the air by tendrils and weren't going to experience the force of the impact.

Anyways, once the dust settle and cleared, Uno stood primly and calmly in the center of a crater that looked like it was half-molten and half-fractured; the very picture of innocence.

It looked really shocking and at the same time comical.

Also, his clothes somehow didn't get burned on contact with infrared radiation and extremely high temperatures. Questions of why and how that happened are better left unasked.

Well, it seems that Kurusu has survived two G-force inducing trips with his new liminal exhange student and came out barely unscathed. If you think about it, that's a real accomplishment, considering the fact that Uno is a weapon of mass destruction fully equipped with who knows how many weapons and gadgets to achieve destruction.

Then again, near-death scenarios with Uno's various methods are probably going to be a thing from here on out.

...

...

Okay, so I'm gonna have to split this chapter in half, since I've already reached my standard chapter length a few words ago.

Anyhoo, I encourage you all to leave reviews and feel free to follow/favorite my little story

Stay tuned for the next chapter for more Uno-related almost near-death experiences for Kurusu and some more wacky (and slightly dangerous) shopping trips around the district.