LOST TIME MEMORY Vol. 1

Chapter 6.3

"OKAY OKAY, I'M SORRY! SO SORRY! REALLY SORRY!" The cries of Kano writhing in agony could only be heard within their group of six people, and an A.I., as they strolled past the amusement park on their way home.

"How sorry are you?" Kido asked, holding Kano in a chokehold.

"INCREDIBLY SORRY! TRULY SORRY!" he yelled, struggling to keep his balance as he got dragged along.

"I don't think that's sorry enough."

"PLEASE!"

Seto smiled at them. "I still have no idea what happened between you guys."

He looked to Mary, who just shook her head. She'd been out cold from the start and seemed relieved she hadn't witnessed that.

"I thought it'd be funny to give 'em little prank," said Ene. "Didn't think the reception would be this bad. Sorry? Heh."

Kido glared at her but stopped as soon as Ene buckled down in fear.

"And I just... wanted to demonstrate my powers to Shintaro here." Kano gave a forced smile, asking for a reprieve as if he'd given a reasonable answer.

"You couldn't have done that outside of the haunted house? Or just shown him a flying horse?" asked Kido.

"A Pegasus?" asked Mary.

"Yeah, that."

"I wanted something with a bit more atmosphere..." Kano was about to continue until Kido tightened the chokehold. "BUT I WAS WRONG, OH MY GOD I WAS SO, SO WRONG FOR EVER WANTING THAT!"

"I'm really sorry...." Momo's eyes were downcast as she apologized. "I wanted to join in on the prank, but I didn't think it would end this badly...."

"Well, you just don't know what my brother's like yet, it's fine. Just stay clear of him from now on," then she glanced at Ene. "And you. More Google, less Bing."

"Will do," said Momo.

"Yes ma'am," Ene said with her back straight and a hand to her forehead, somehow understanding what she'd meant.

"No, wait, this was a one-time thing. I didn't think it through, but gimme another chance, yeah?" said Kano.

"Wait, you guys are siblings?" asked Shintaro. He was a little surprised Kido knew memes, too.

"Yup," Seto answered. "I'm the second young- um... oldest. Second oldest after Kido."

"Huh." Shintaro didn't think they resembled each other at all.

"Adoptive, though. That's why we don't look the same," Seto added.

"Oh." He thought it was strange Seto would say that as soon as the thought popped up in his head. Seto himself, oddly enough, started looking away.

"Anyway... Now you know my powers," said Kano. "By the way, Mary can turn people into stone."

Shintaro raised his eyebrows as he looked her way.

"J-Just for a little while...They turn to normal after..." Mary hastily explained.

"Right." Shintaro nodded.

"She used that on those guys at the mall," Seto said, making binocular signs with his hands as Mary struggled to make him stop.

"Hm. Right. Really though, what did those men even want?" Shintaro thought out loud. "This all happened yesterday and now it feels like we're acting like everything's alright."

"Yeah, but... We gotta have something to take our minds off it." Kido let go of Kano and continued: "I think we could use a little break. A lot of things have happened to us. Not just yesterday. And it just feels like things have been kind of tough for a while now. So I think this is great. It's nice. You know?"