The liquid gently flowed down, adhering to the curves of my body. Technically it was the shower I had been craving for since this morning, but I didn't expect to receive it in this manner.
In the secret base of the Mekakushi Dan,
With my phone and I both drenched in tea,
Concluding with one-sided apologies, the situation ended up like this.
To put it in words it would sound even stranger, something like the saying "Reality can be stranger than a television drama script."
After showering, I returned to the room while wiping my hair. The three of them looked in my direction shortly, after which the situation immediately returned to normal.
An old clock hanging on the wall was still swinging its pendulum from side to side, tick-tock, tick-tock.
The time was just after 11:30.
"I'm really sorry, you guys even lent me your clothes..."
"No problem, it was our fault in the first place. But really what was that..."
"Yeah... ha... ah! No wait! It's fine! Everything's fine! OK!?"
Despite the fact that she had apologized countless times since just now, but even if I uttered a small sigh Mary-chan's eyes would begin to fill to the brim with tears.
"But... but...!"
Mary-chan was holding onto an airtight bag virtually completely filled up with drier, not to mention my phone that had been drenched in tea earlier.
On the table that was cleaned extremely well lay a small mountain of snacks that we had opened to retrieve the drier within.
"I... I need to pay you back somehow..."
"What do you mean payback, where are you gonna get the money? Selling your books?"
Kido heartlessly said that while lazing about on the couch and reading the magazine from earlier, which of course made Mary-chan start crying again.
"Ah!! Please, stop it Commander!!"
"There's no other way. She really has no way to pay for this."
"But, but still... Ma, Mary-chan, it's really fine if you don't do anything. Hmm? Stop crying~"
Despite my attempts to comfort her, she continued to cry while holding the airtight container.
"But the real problem is, it must be terrible to not have a way to get in contact with the outside world. Kisaragi-chan would be in trouble if she doesn't submit some sort of report right?"
Kano said this with the same old smile on his face, and intentionally shrugged his shoulders.
"Hmm, yeah... that's true..."
The contents of that text message were indeed horrible.
I had a feeling that the situation could only get worse. Although I didn't know of it at the time, there was actually a live newscast in the morning titled "Super-popular idol suddenly goes missing!? Possibly kidnapped!?", and it was slowly but surely becoming a hot topic.
"Let's not mention your agent's number for now, but you should at least be able to remember your house number right?"
Speaking of my agency's phone number, Kano had already found it earlier and attempted to contact them, but he couldn't get through as all their lines were busy.
"...Well, about that..."
"Eh...? Don't tell me Kisaragi-chan you..."
"Um, no, I'm just not very good with numbers! I, I remember clearly that all the numbers in it added together give 50!"
"What kind of useless information is that?"
"Um..."
Ever since this morning, it appeared that I was being patronized for the extent of my unintelligence.
"Ah, the police have probably been involved as well, so this place probably will be discovered soon..."
"If that happens than all of us will probably be arrested on charges of kidnapping right... If the phone was fine we wouldn't be in this situation..."
Kido sighed and looked at Mary-chan who was so shocked that she began shivering, and released an even larger torrent of tears.
The situation was indeed very serious, but I got that feeling that the other two (probably because they got to bully Mary-chan) were indeed enjoying it very much.
"So how about we let Mary take a daily-paying job, and slowly earn the money back!"
Kido suddenly unleashed a dazzling smile, and said that while clapping.
"Sounds like a plan. Hmm... oh, there appears to be a job as a traffic officer. The best part is, no prior experience is required."
Kido slammed the magazine flipped open to the job application section, which had a drawing of a man wearing a white helmet and waving a red light stick.
Mary stopped crying upon seeing the advertisement, but then turned a shade of green instead.
"Nah, this one here looks better. 'With your sweat everyone's lives will be better! Penguin label 石风吕shipping! Uh, um... the pay is a bit low, but both genders can apply!"
"Isn't it great to have the opportunity to train one's body as well? Speaking of which, come back here will you?"
Kido took hold of the sleeve of Mary-chan who had put down the airtight bag she had been carefully holding onto the table, stood up silently and was attempting to sneak away, and set her back down on the couch.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Despite being questioned by Kido, Mary-chan's face had an expression of immense fear for her own personal safety, larger than that of which she had for my phone.
A drawing of a cute pink-colored penguin was on the open pages of the job application magazine. It appeared to be the mascot of the shipping company, although it did look cute, but in contrast this slogan that instantly reminded me of the stink of sweat was written underneath: "No experience needed. No matter male or female, as long as you welcome physical activity and are in good shape, feel free to sign up!"
"Wait a second, wouldn't this be a bit too hard on Mary-chan?"
"No, this is what we call experiencing society! Look here, the working hours can even stretch from six in the morning to eleven at night!"
Kano's expression had changed from his usual warm smile to a sinister sneer, which he directed towards Mary-chan.
With every sentence, Mary-chan would react with an "Eh?"
Why did this seem like bullying?
"Enough! This is just too pitiful! Mary-chan looks troubled enough!"
Immediately after I snatched the job application magazine from atop the table, Mary-chan looked at me as though I were some sort of goddess.
"Seriously speaking, that may be true but it's about time that we reveal to Mary how cruel society can be. She can't just go on being a NEET forever, you know."
Kano spoke while stretching lazily against the armrest of the couch, while Kido nodded her head with an "Mm."
So does that mean the two of them were in some line of work?
"I, I have been working as well...!"
Mary-chan unexpectedly attempted to explain.
But Kido and Kano instead continued talking as though to drown out her explanations.
"Eh? That side business of making paper flowers? Don't you only earn 500 yen a month?"
"Five, five hundred yen!?"
Upon hearing that their income was only in the three-digit range, I was unable to contain my shock and yelled aloud.
Observing my reaction, Mary-chan's face turned as red as a beetroot due to embarrassment.
"That's true... but, I really have been trying my best at making them myself one by one..."
"You... only charge about 5 yen for one of those things right? And you only make three or four a day anyway..."
Kido said that with a sigh.
Kano relentlessly pressed the attack.
"A normal person probably would earn about a hundred times Mary does per day right? Right? Kisaragi-chan?"
"Eh!? You're asking me!?"
Mary-chan looked at me as if to say "save me". But honestly, I couldn't exactly play along with her when their monthly earnings were a measly 500 yen.
"Uh, um... no! With this sort of thing everyone has their own pace, yes that's it! So Mary-chan's job is really amazing... so to speak!"
"...Even though it only generates one coin a month?"
"Yes, even if she only earns one coin a month...!"
While replying Kido's questions without any sign of backing down, I looked over at Mary who was still extremely nervous only to realize that she was looking at us with a rather satisfied expression.
Although my inner thoughts were still chaotic, that at least gave me a slight breather. But I did feel uneasy regarding that kid's future.
"Hmm... meh, considering we're already in this situation, the only thing we can do is let Kisaragi-chan pay for the phone first then."
Kano confirmed this with Kido, who merely nodded her head.
"Fine then! Isn't this great Mary, Kisaragi-chan said that she will pay for it herself instead!"
"Eh!? Um, isn't this... eh!?"
Facing a sudden drastic change in the situation, I felt rather confused.
"Hmm? So you want Mary to pay for it then?"
Kano faced me with an overly cheerful smile.
"...! No, there's no need.... I, I'll pay for it..."
"She said it! Isn't this great Mary!"
"So we finally settled this huh."
Even though I had decided from the start that I would pay for the phone myself, I had a sneaking suspicion that I was being led into a trap. I guess these people really give off this sort of atmosphere...
Secretly, I thought this was a rather weird organization.
"Um... is, is this really OK...?"
Mary-chan looked at me uneasily.
"Ah! Uh, um! No problem!"
Well the real problem was that the money I earned from my "job" had all been surrendered to my parents to take care of so the only spendable cash I had was my pocket money, so if I could only rely on this month's cash then we'd have a problem.
Luckily I didn't have any friends to go out with so I had saved up tons of money, so if I could just get to it the problem would be solved -.
"But this amount may not be enough... is it really OK? Kisaragi-chan?"
"I'll think of something... wait!! Why is my wallet with you!? Eh? When!?"
The wallet that Kano was searching openly, was the wallet that had supposed to be inside my bag.
After some checking, I found that my wallet really wasn't inside my bag. When the heck did he take it...
"Wah! Kisaragi-chan you should really throw away all those receipts~! Speaking of which haven't you been eating too much dried mango peels?"
"You're always buying these every day and what's this... dried fish snacks. Are you trying to train your teeth or something?"
Kano took out a huge bundle of receipts from my wallet, and Kido was looking at them as well.
"Uh, whoa, what's this drink? Something carbonated... bean soup? You've been buying these daily since. You poisoned or something?"
Even Mary who was spectating from the side began to laugh, which made my face so red that it looked as if it was going to release a jet of flames.
"Waaaaaaah!!"
Using an overly dramatic move to gather up all the receipts on the table at once, I snatched my wallet away from Kano.
"You, what are you doing!? Looking at other people's wallets without permission...!"
"Eh? Didn't you... not realize?"
If I had known something like this would happen I would've bought sandwiches and red tea daily from the clubhouse instead.
"An idol that likes anchovies and bean soup, eh."
"What, what is it...! Is something wrong with that!?"
Kido mumbled that while looking down at the receipts in her hand with a pitiful expression, and Kano followed suit.
"Really... it's been hard on you huh... sorry for looking."
"Let's, let's change the subject!! Ah!! Um, wow this snack looks pretty interesting!! The packaging looks nice as well so it must be delicious..."
Trying to find a way to change the subject, I snatched a snack packet off the table that Mary-chan hadn't opened earlier.
That thing had the tagline "Especially thick seaweed gravy. A snack for real men!" on it.
"Uh, um... just take it..."
Kido seemed to falter slightly, while Kano sputtered and laughed suddenly.
Again, I felt like if there were a hole there, I would've buried myself inside and never come out.
"But, but bean soup is delicious... I like it as well..."
"Ma, Mary-chan...!"
Mary-chan hurriedly tried to play along with me.
"But there's added carbonate in it."
"That's just disgusting, um..."
In the end it still achieved an adverse effect for being too direct, I guess. My emotional state once again fell into a slump.
"Fine then... I am a strange person anyway... that's why I don't have any friends, huh."
A normal female high school student's wallet, probably wouldn't be filled with purchase receipts of dried fish snacks.
"Oi, don't get too depressed! Get a hold of yourself...!"
"Especially thick seaweed gravy... my stomach hurts... ugh..."
"How long are you planning to laugh!? Ah...! Sorry?"
After I yelled angrily at Kano who was laughing while clutching his stomach, Mary-chan had a shock, and her shoulders began shaking with a scared expression appearing on her face.
"Ah, really sorry about that. I thought I would've died. Anyway let's just cut the crap for now, shouldn't we be heading out?"
"Eh? Heading out... where?"
Kano stood up and stretched energetically.
"If we don't handle your cellphone for now we'd be in deep trouble right? There's a phone retailer nearby you know."
"Yeah, there is."
Kido flipped noisily through a phonebook placed on a magazine stand located opposite from the sofa, and answered lazily. "E, even if you're saying this now, but switching phones won't have much use right...?"
"Yeah, but we can at least transfer your contacts right? Anyway we should ask about there."
"Um, no, but... if I go out..."
Now, if I headed out it would definitely be much worse.
If I once again attracted a huge crowd, I wouldn't be able to escape.
"Ah, we'll follow as well so there won't be any problem. Right, Kido?"
"...I guess."
Kano laughed cheerily upon observing my confused expression.
"Kido's 'ability' is exactly as you saw just now, but that was only a part of it."
He intentionally spread his arms wide, and continued.
"I'll cut to the chase, the range of Kido's ability isn't just 'herself', as she can manipulate 'anything around her' as well. I call this the 'Mekakushi' (Blindfold) ability. Which means -"
"Even, even I can appear invisible!?"
I unconsciously increased my speaking volume due to overexcitement.
"It's not making you invisible but actually making your presence less obvious to an unlimited extent. Kisarag-chan, you've never felt like this haven't you? Not blindly attracting attention to yourself but instead having the knowledge of attracting others from your 'actions' and 'words' -" A few images flashed through my head. The drawings I drew in primary school were the same thing.
"Which is to say, your ability to 'attract attention' can be used on other things as well. Well, despite that now you attract the attention of others no matter what you do. Anyway, Kido's ability can completely nullify that, so just relax. Even though it was Kido that got the wrong person initially, but who knows? It could be fate that brought you here as well."
Kido embarrassedly shielded her face with a magazine.
"Eh, what do you mean the wrong person? What happened?"
Mary-chan asked Kano with a confused expression on her face, while Kano's smile once again turned unspeakably sinister.
I had the feeling that this guy really loved teasing others.
"Oh, so this is how it happened. Well she did bully Mary pretty hard but Kido actually -"
"Um, let's go then! Ah, Mary don't pay attention to that. Nothing happened."
As Kido said that she threw the magazine onto the couch, and hurriedly stood up.
"We're going out...?"
"Uh, to the nearby phone store."
Apparently unused to having Mary-chan start a conversation with him, Kano replied as though he had a shock.
Probably because Kido was unrelentingly releasing an aura that seemed to say "Don't say anything". This moment perfectly captured the hierarchy within the Dan.
"...Will we be passing by the park?"
"Hmm? Yes we definitely will be passing by. Is there something you need to do?"
"Then I'll follow... I need to bury something..."
As Kano was staring into space, Mary-chan had stood up and was walking towards the kitchen.
"...Burying would be referring to... did your pet die or something? Mary-chan."
"No, I don't know anything about a dead pet. Speaking of which she never had one in the first place."
"I thought so. And Mary-chan wouldn't be able to afford the pet food, so you probably wouldn't be keeping one behind our backs..."
"So what is it...?"
As the two of them were busy discussing what Mary-chan said about 'burying something', we suddenly heard cracking noises coming from the kitchen. Mary-chan was sweeping up the broken teacup splinters from when she was making tea earlier into a paper bag.
"Ah..."
I remembered that Mary-chan had let me use one of her favorite cups. She had clearly put a lot of effort into it, but in the end she had fell and broke them.
As Mary-chan scooped up the broken pieces of teacup with animal patterns on them, she looked like she was about to cry again. "Ah... so that was what she wanted to bury huh."
"So Mary really did treasure that thing."
She was carefully extracting the broken pieces from the convenience store bag and putting them into a cloth bag decorated with beautiful-looking patterns, which appeared to take a lot of time and effort.
Compared to homework, it appeared to be a process that required much more concentration and effort.
"...Commander, can I talk to you about something?"
"Hmm? What is it?"
"It's no problem even if the phone store isn't nearby right? Like a shopping center that has counters selling phones..."
Kido momentarily looked confusedly at me like a question mark "?", after which she appeared to understand what I was getting at, and her expression immediately softened.
"Since we're going out, it doesn't matter where we go. Just pick somewhere you like."
"Thank, thank you!"
Kano had a simple smile on his face as well.
"Isn't this great? Mary's never been to a shopping center before so she'd be overjoyed. Also Kido will be going as well so we won't have anything to worry about, right?"
"We still have to ask Mary. Go get her."
Being pushed lightly from behind by Kido, I walked towards the kitchen.
Looking closely Mary appeared to have kept away all the bigger shards of glass, and was contemplating on how she should deal with the smaller pieces.
If the pieces were too small, it would definitely be dangerous if she were to use her hands.
"Can I help you?"
Talking to her from the side, Mary-chan turned around, shocked.
"Eh...?"
"The small pieces are very dangerous you know? I'll help you pour them out from the bag, OK?"
"Uh, okay..."
As she said this, Mary-chan passed the paper bag over to me.
Inside the bag were lots of glass shards that made up four teacups.
She probably planned to bury all the pieces except for those from the teacups she liked.
"Those teacups were very precious to you huh?"
"Yeah... my mother gave them to me."
I froze suddenly. From the way that Kano and Kido were always worrying about her, I hadn't realized that Mary-chan might've had parents. Although I didn't know whether or not it was only a temporary situation, or whether they weren't coming back anymore, I couldn't detect the presence of Mary-chan's parents.
- Memories that I hated but I could never forget resurfaced, and made my chest tighten slightly.
"So that's how it is..."
"But it's fine. I'll always remember them..."
I was worried that she might start crying again, but instead a gentle smile blossomed on Mary-chan's face.
That expression made me feel like crying instead.
But, even Mary-chan wasn't crying, so I couldn't let her see me being depressed here.
"Oh... So if Mary-chan wants to, could you follow me shopping later?"
I determinedly uttered the idea I had just thought of.
"Shopping...? Cellphone...?"
"Yeah, if Mary-chan want's to... how about we go buy a tea set for everyone as well?"
Before I had finished my sentence, Mary-chan had already turned around and faced me.
"One, one set!? Can I select it with you...?"
"Of course! You see, if everyone were to use the same tea set to drink tea it would be fun, wouldn't it?"
Maybe because she was happy with my suggestion, Mary-chan instantly appeared cheerful.
"...I want to go...!"
"Really!? That's great... so let's go!"
"Ok...! But where exactly are we going...?"
"Today, we're going to the shopping center! It's a place where all sorts of stores are! If we all go together it'll be very fun, you know?"
"Shopping center...!?"
Mary-chan's face appeared to glow with anticipation.
I didn't expect her to be this happy...!
Well I did think that today was a disastrous day earlier or something, but in reality it was an unbelievably fun occasion.
Going to the shopping center to buy things... even I couldn't resist the cheers within my heart.
"I, I'll go get ready...!"
Placing the bag carefully on the kitchen counter, Mary-chan trotted in the direction of her room.
Watching her cheery footsteps I began feeling truly happy for her, and naturally smiled.
Ah... but if she wasn't careful she'd fall down again... "So, you accepted Kisaragi-chan's invitation?"
"Um, yeah... I'll go get ready!"
Mary who had replied to Kano's question had an expression of uncontrollable joy on her face.
- Until Kano said something he shouldn't have.
"That's great! Ah, you're going to wear that pair of socks aren't you? ...Pfft...Heh...!"
As if he remembered something, Kano suddenly attempted to hold in his laughter.
Socks...?
Probably something mentioned earlier, about Mary-chan's socks being very funny.
Well, Mary-chan was currently barefooted...
As I was in the midst of my thoughts, her smile stopped short unnaturally.
At that time, as though only the time around him had stopped, Kano suddenly stopped moving.
Kido had an expression that said "This is bad",
"Ka, Kano...? What is it..." as I was about to approach him, I noticed Mary-chan's expression first instead.
Her aura was completely different from just now, and she bent her head down, releasing a killing intent.
The two ends of her hair that billowed down from her shoulders began moving about, as though they were living things. From the gaps between her hair I saw her 'eyes' that were clearly not pink anymore... red, they had turned red.
"Waah!!"
Reacting to this sudden change in the situation, the pitch of my voice rose drastically.
Because the girl that had been so polite from just now, was now releasing a killer vibe and shaking her hair about.
"Sigh... is he an idiot or something...?"
Although Kido was knocking on Kano's head repeatedly, he continued to remain motionless.
His expression didn't budge as well, making him look like a human-sized mannequin.
"What, what's going on...?"
"Ah, Mary here, can turn whoever she 'locks eyes on' into stone."
"S, stone!?"
Despite the fact that Kido was once again knocking on Kano's head while explaining to me, but I couldn't understand her at all as there entire affair was too strange.
Turning people into stone, compared to the ability of 'attracting attention' was in another dimension entirely.
It was almost like magic. Mary-chan was still breathing heavily while glaring at Kano.
"What is that... speaking of which will Kano be fine!?"
Although it wasn't very nice to say so, Kano's frozen expression that seemed to say 'it's too funny I can't help but laugh" was rather funny.
"No, if this happens it's too late... he can't ever return back to normal."
"...Eh?"
"It's sad but... OK! Let's use him as a decoration for maybe a coat hanger or something! But honestly we don't need it..."
Kido said that expressionlessly.
Kano... we had to say goodbye like this even though we'd just met...
Ah, but no one would need a coat hanger shaped like this...
"Anyway it's in the way so let's dump it in the city dump first... Grunt... Mary-chan help me get that end, will you?"
"Mm... this sort of thing must be quickly thrown away..."
"-Huh!? What are you doing why is Kido suddenly grabbing me from behind what is this AAAHHH!!"
As the two were about to shift him out of the room, Kano suddenly moved.
Kido didn't waste any time in shoving a knee into his spine. Even though I had kind of guessed from Kido's tone that Kano should be able to return to normal, but this was the real killer, wasn't it? Kano fell onto the floor groaning.
"Are you stupid!? I've already said that we're going out so don't do anything unnecessary!"
"Commander, sor-ry..."
Kano was still lying on the floor, but as he answered he was smiling as usual.
"OK, Mary you go get ready first. If you don't hurry up the stores will close, you know."
"Eh!? Ah... I'll go get ready immediately...!"
Mary-chan scampered back to her own room.
Kido's shoulders sagged in a manner that seemed to say 'What can we do with her'.
"Uh... Ma, Mary-chan she... what?"
"We aren't very sure either... that fellow seems to be a descendant of Medusa."
"Me, Medusa!? That... the one that turns people into stone... right!?"
"Mm. I had my suspicions initially as well, but she really isn't human."
Being given an unbelievably strange answer, I stared blankly back at Kido.
I had heard of Medusa, of course.
Well I had, but it was merely limited to the commonplace knowledge that she was 'a monster that could turn people into stone and had snakes growing out of her head'.
That Medusa was right in front of my eyes, and I had actually saw her using her ability.
"Apparently her parents had told her that they were Medusas (Medusae?) since she was born, and her mother allegedly could turn people into actual stone, but the extent of Mary's ability is merely to stop people in time."
"But, that's... so supernatural..."
"Yeah, I understand how you're feeling, anyway Mary does exist in this world. So do I and so do you. And so do things that are exactly like her. Let's not talk about science for now, the fact that strange abilities do exist in this world, you know all too well about it right?"
"Yes, that's true..."
"- Would you hate her?"
"...Eh?"
"Since you know that she isn't human, would you because of this, become to hate her?"
"...How is that possible? I want to be friends with her...!"
"...Then, just keep it that way. If we get the chance we'll tell you everything about us. If you will, tell us about you as well."
"Um, OK...!"
"I, I'm ready..."
Mary-chan had opened her room door and was stretching her head out.
But she appeared to be embarrassed and was unwilling to step out.
"What are you doing? Once you're ready we're leaving."
"Oh, OK."
Mary-chan who pushed open the door and walked out didn't have anything strange about her.
The socks that caused her to be laughed at so badly just now, was merely a normal pair of pure white ankle-length socks.
"Eh? Those socks, is there anything strange about it?"
"Ah, those are perfectly normal. But, just now she was wearing loose socks." (TL note: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loose_socks)
"Loose, loose sucks...!?"
Imagining her current clothing in combination with bubble socks, it was really pretty strange.
At this time Mary-chan red-facedly questioned Kido.
"Why, why did you have to tell her!? Even when I wore a perfectly normal pair this time...!"
"Hmm? Sorry, I was asked so it just slipped out. There's no problem, right?"
"B, but...!"
Mary-chan stared at me with a glint in her eyes. She was probably pretty hurt for being treated like an idiot.
But why loose socks...?
"Kano's... this is?"
Taking over the magazine Kano was looking at, I noticed the words "Special edition! Super-vintage girl's fashion collection" printed on the top, and a long queue of female models wearing rather modern clothes.
"...Be, because it was pretty so... I..."
The fashion sense of the modern Medusa is pretty good after all.
"I did try my best sewing it after all..."
And they were home-made as well.
Navigating the alleyways, the main roads were still extremely noisy.
The restaurant on the opposite side of the road, was packed with customers that had probably brought their own families.
Unexpectedly returning here after causing such a large commotion, the situation was completely different from just now.
I didn't disguise myself, nor did I attempt to hide myself, but there wasn't even a crowd gathering, not even anyone called my name. The passers-by on the streets didn't notice us at all, but instead merely looked directly forward while hurriedly rushing past us.
"This, just feels... a rather new sensation..."
"There's no use even if you tell me that. Speaking of which, how long is Kano planning to not notice us?"
Kano who was walking slightly ahead of us, turned around and looked in my direction.
As though searching for some small detail, he surveyed everything intently, then walked back towards us with a satisfied expression on his face.
"Yep, absolutely flawless. It took me a long time to find you even when I tried so hard."
"You take too long."
Kido sighed as though frustrated.
"Even if you say that there's nothing I can do, I couldn't see you anyway."
Kano grumbled with that smile still on his face.
"Hah... you really couldn't see us huh..."
"Yeah, how should I put this? I probably could've seen you but I wouldn't have noticed you. Experiencing it once again is rather irritating huh."
According to what Kido had said, she really could eliminate the presence of everything in a radius of two meters around her. But it isn't because we were invisible, so from our point of view nothing had changed.
"Huh...! I want to try...!"
"Are you stupid or something, if you come out the entire purpose of this whole thing would be nullified, wouldn't it... And I say, Mary you're too close! It's too hot!"
Mary-chan's hand was fearfully grabbing onto the underside of Kido's jacket, which Kido promptly swatted away.
"There's, so many people..."
"Isn't this normal on a main road like this? Anyway everything's normal, continue with the mission."
"O, OK!"
For some reason hearing the words "Continue the mission", made me feel like I was actually going on a mission to infiltrate or spy on something, which of course made me excited.
Well, even though it was just something normal like getting a new phone and teacups.
With Kido and Kano taking the lead, the main road we had reached was like another world entirely.
The scenery that lay in the 360 degrees around us, was exactly like a movie, moving along without impeding us.
The passers-by appeared to not notice us at all. It really felt like being invisible, which brought me a sense of comfort I hadn't felt in my entire life.
But the amount of traffic on the furthermost right lane was humongous, which made me slightly fearful. I was rather worried about Mary-chan so I looked at her, only to realize that her face had turned pale white. I could hear small whispers coming from her that I hadn't noticed until now, small hints that said "It's fine... it's fine..."
"Uh... Kano... um..."
"Eh? What is it? Why're you speaking so softly?"
"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean it..."
"It's fine even if you speak normally you know? Even if you sing as well, like that single you released, what was it called again, peach-colored something or whatever..."
"Ah!! Why did you have to remind me of that!! You want me to hit you!?"
"Hit me!? ...Even if you do and create a loud noise in the process no one should notice right?"
"Argh, really... I didn't want to talk to you about that! Mary-chan looks like she's in bad shape..."
Mary-chan was still chanting something under her breath as though she was about to put a curse on someone.
If others could see it, some passers-by would definitely approach us to ask what's going on.
"Ah... anyway I knew this would happen. Hey Mary? Oi. Hey, I don't think she can do it."
Kano began walking backwards and was waving his hand in Mary's face. But she continued looking far ahead of us, and had absolutely no reaction.
But could this guy really walk backwards in this sort of situation?
Because everyone else couldn't notice us, so we had to avoid them instead.
"Hey, stop for a while."
As I was worrying about it, Kano suddenly stopped.
At the same time Kido halted her footsteps, and Mary-chan bumped into her back.
"Eh...?"
As I was about to ask "What happened?" some kid riding a bicycle appeared from our left. If we had continued walking ahead like we had just now, we would've bumped into him.
But that place was, a blind spot that I wouldn't have noticed in my position.
"...! Oi, Mary!"
"Um... so, sorry..."
Mary immediately bent her head down and apologized as Kido turned around.
"But really, can't you pay more attention for once..."
"But it's so scary...! People everywhere..."
What I meant was you need to pay attention exactly because there are so many people around. Are you really an idiot?"
"I, I'm not an idiot...!" Mary-chan attempted to explain herself, but she couldn't help stuttering.
"Sigh... forget it. Let's go."
Kido began walking forward again, after which everyone started walking as well.
Mary-chan was definitely much calmer than she was before, but this time she began grumbling "Why would you say something like that..." which was clearly directed at Kido.
Kano walked as if nothing had happened.
