Full Metal Panic! - Volume SS02.1 - Unflinching Two-Out Inning? - Chapter 5

Single-Minded Strikeout

She stood alone in an empty room, basketballs lying untidied on the floor. Beat-up old tennis shoes hung in an otherwise empty locker. The middle school graduation ceremony was over.

His locker. Senpai’s locker. 

Senpai, who just graduated... who’ll be going to a distant high school starting in April...

What in the world am I doing? she thought, staring into space. Senpai won’t be coming back here. He’ll be walking out the school gate around now, surrounded by his fellow graduates and horde of fangirls. A place I’d never be welcome.

In the end, she’d never been able to say anything to him. Not “Congratulations.” Not “Thank you for everything you did for me.” Not even “I love you.” She traced her fingers along the locker and sighed. I should just go, she was thinking... When just then, the door opened, and he was there.

“Senpai?” she asked, breathlessly.

“I thought you’d be here,” he said with a smile. “I knew you’d pick a place no one else would be. You’re a little perverse like that, Chidori.”

“W-Well, excuse me! I guess perverse and unpleasant is just who I am!” She turned to him with a pout. She always acted this way around him.

“But I’m glad you’re still here,” he continued. “I really wanted to see you before I left.”

“What?” she asked in surprise.

His expression suddenly became awkward. “Is that strange?”

“No... not really. It’s not... very strange.” A long silence fell. Despite the fact that, just minutes ago, she’d felt like she’d had so much to say, her mind was suddenly blank. “S-Senpai?”

“Y-Yes?”

“I... Senpai, I really...” She couldn’t say it. She didn’t have the courage. In the end, she ran away. Putting on a suddenly cheerful voice, she spoke, trying to dismiss the awkwardness, “...I w-want to take a photo. For the occasion. I’ve got a camera.”

“Ah... sure thing,” he agreed.

“Okay... Here, then.” She put the camera on top of a desk and set the timer, then she ran to his side and stood there.

The camera’s flash lit up. They separated, and then as the other club members arrived, she thanked him and left the club room behind.

And then he became a part of her past.

●

“Class has started, everyone! Stop talking already!” the math teacher shouted over the forty or so chattering students. “Grr... just shut up!”

The students kept on chatting about what they’d watched on TV yesterday, or the newscaster who’d been caught in an affair. It was a standard predicament for the math teacher, who was short and unattractive and whose class was always boring.

“This will be on the test!” he tried again. Nevertheless, the conversation around him continued. “What’s wrong with this class?! Why don’t you take me seriously? Darn it...” The teacher stamped his feet like a spoiled child.

“Um, should I call for attention again?” asked the class representative, Chidori Kaname. She was dressed in her usual uniform, her long black hair tied at the end with a red ribbon.

Unfortunately, her polite offer just seemed to irritate the math teacher more. “Oh, please!” he scoffed. “It’s obvious that shouting won’t do any good!”

“True, but...” Kaname had ordered their silence over and over, but whatever quiet she achieved never lasted more than half a minute.

“It’s just no use! Isn’t there anyone else who can help? Who’s on day duty?” the teacher demanded. “Speak up!”

“Er... It’s Sagara-kun,” said Kaname, “but—”

“Okay, then! Sagara! You here?”

“I’m here.” Sagara Sousuke, who had been reading a thick Western novel in the corner, looked up. He was a transfer student who’d been raised on the battlefield. He had a sullen expression, a tight frown, and an aura of perpetual readiness.

“You’re on day duty, right?! Quiet them down!” the teacher told him.

“Sir,” Sousuke replied, “I don’t believe that falls under the purview of day du—”

“Just quiet them down already!” The math teacher, having completely lost his mind with rage at this point, vented his anger unjustly on Sousuke.

“Understood.” At this, Sousuke began rooting around in his bag.

Kaname, watching him from the side, said, “Hey, Sousuke.”

“Yes, Chidori?”

“No firing your gun at the ceiling, okay?”

Sousuke shook his head. “Don’t worry. I won’t use a gun.”

“Really? Well... all right then, I suppose.”

“Close your eyes and cover your ears. You too, sir.”

“Eh?” Kaname asked with alarm. “Wait, what are you—”

He pulled a grenade from his bag, removed the pin and threw it into the air.

The chatter continued to fill the room, and then... Blam!!!

The grenade detonated two meters up in the center of the classroom. It didn’t produce dangerous shrapnel or flames, just a powerful flash and a bang. Then, silence reigned.

As the smoke cleared, the students could be made out again, either collapsed on the floor or slumped over their desks. The chorus of chatter and gossip that had once reigned was completely gone.

Sousuke had employed a powerful stun grenade, designed to disable terrorists without killing them.

“All right.” Sousuke knelt down and shook the math teacher, who was now slumped at the foot of his lectern. “They’ve been silenced, as ordered... Sir?” He closed his eyes silently as he realized the math teacher had been rendered unconscious and was foaming at the mouth. “The fool...”

“You’re the fool!” Kaname, the first to recover from the attack, charged in and landed a hard kick to Sousuke’s back.

They were on the train home after class that day.

“Darn it... It’s some trouble or other every three days. When will that idiot finally learn how life works here?” Kaname asked in exhaustion.

“Hmm... But when he first got here, it was three times every day. That’s progress, right?” said her classmate, Tokiwa Kyoko, a petite girl with coke bottle glasses and braids. She’d fallen victim to her fair share of Sousuke’s mischief, but mainly seemed to find it amusing.

“You’re way too generous, Kyoko.”

“Yeah, I hear that a lot,” said Kyoko with a shrug. Hers was a truly impressive personality; she could have had a halo over her head and little wings on her back.

“Point is, scolding him and cleaning up after him all the time is a huge pain in my neck,” said Kaname, continuing to rant. “I wish he’d consider how it makes me feel!”

“I mean, you don’t actually have to do all that...”

“But... I’m the class representative, and the student council vice president...”

These were her usual excuses, which Kyoko waved off dismissively. “Yeah, yeah...”

“What’s with the attitude?” Kaname said with a scowl.

Kyoko ignored her. “Nothing. It’s just, I feel like you’re stuck in a rut too, Kana-chan. You still won’t admit how you feel—”

“Kyoko.” Kaname leaned in close to her, enunciating carefully so the other girl didn’t miss a word. “Read my lips. Sousuke is not even in the universe of what I’d ever consider for a romantic partner.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’ve known that from the start. He’s a war-addled fool, a pain in my butt, and he hasn’t got a single scrap of tact.”

“Well, I know all that... But you always seem to have a lot of fun when you’re together,” Kyoko pointed out.

Her friend’s words gave Kaname a moment of doubt, but she soon snapped back to herself with a snort. “I-It might look that way, but it’s an optical illusion.”

“Oh, yeah?”

The train stopped at Chofu Station. They’d decided to get off together there to go shopping at the nearby Parco. But as the train doors opened...

“Ah...” Kaname stared at the boy who was now directly across from her. “Fuwa... senpai?”

He was dressed in a suit-style school uniform with disheveled hair; effortlessly good-looking, with a confident air. He was taller now, she noted, with broader shoulders.

“Chidori,” said Fuwa. “This is a surprise...”

Kaname and the young man, Fuwa, stared at each other for such a long time that the train pulled out, leaving the three on the platform.

“That’s a cute uniform,” Fuwa finally said. “Is that from Jindai?”

“Eh?” Kaname snapped back to attention. “Ah... Yes, it is.”

Fuwa’s voice took on a slightly teasing tone. “Seriously, Chidori. How’d you make it into Jindai with grades like yours?”

“Hey, don’t make fun of me!” said Kaname, poking at Fuwa’s arm with an easy playfulness.

“Sorry,” Fuwa said with a laugh, seemingly unbothered. “But... you’re looking well. I’m glad to see that.”

“Thanks,” she told him. “So are you.”

“Cool. You want to grab a drink somewhere? Oh, I see you’re with a friend...”

“Ah? Oh... can we, Kyoko?”

“Um... sure.” Kyoko looked a little uncertain, but Kaname completely failed to notice her friend’s discomfort.

Over the next few days, Kaname began acting strangely. It was so noticeable that even Sousuke, who was typically as dense as a dinosaur when it came to daily social niceties, had picked up on it.

In the morning, Kaname walked quietly, lost in thought, from the train station to school. She’d look a little startled whenever someone greeted her, then say in a strangely cheery voice, “Oh, good morning!” She wasn’t usually a morning person, and her typical greeting was a listless, “Geh... morning...”

In the afternoon, one of her classmates got his hands on a smoke grenade while cleaning his weapons, and detonated it. Upon seeing this, Kaname just said distractedly, “Try to be more careful, okay?” Normally she would’ve said “You’re going to pay for this!” and smacked him over the head.

And then, in the evening... On most days, when there was nothing better to do, she ate in the student council room. But she’d spent that time alone on the roof for the past few days, staring into space. She seemed like she was in good enough spirits, but also like she was concerned about something. There was a strangely dissonant air about her that was hard to describe.

“Chidori,” said Sousuke. It was lunchtime on the third day of such behavior, and Kaname was just leaving for the student council room.

“What is it, Sousuke?” Kaname stopped to ask. When he did nothing but stare at her silently in response, she spoke up again, fidgeting, “Is there something on my face?”

“No,” he finally said, “but is there some kind of problem?”

“Er?”

“If you’re facing some sort of difficulty, I’d be happy to help you.”

The minute he said that, Kaname masked her feelings with a forced smile. But upon realizing she couldn’t fully hide her uncertainty from him, she then looked away and said, “It’s fine... It’s nothing bad. Really, don’t worry about it. Sorry.” And with that, she left him behind.

“Something really is strange. Don’t you agree?” Sousuke asked Kyoko, who was poking at her lunch nearby.

“Strange? What do you mean?” asked Kyoko, popping a piece of tamagoyaki into her mouth.

“Chidori,” he clarified. “She’s acting strangely.”

“Yeah... maybe.”

“Do you know something, Tokiwa?”

“Ah... No, I don’t,” said Kyoko, as her expression clouded over. Her braids, which usually popped straight out from her head, almost seemed to droop.

“Do you think someone’s threatening her again?” Sousuke asked.

“I don’t think that’s it...”

“Or she’s going through withdrawal from some kind of narcotic?”

“Definitely not.”

“Has the president asked her to take part in a secret mission?”

“Um, Sagara-kun...” Kyoko smiled at him with a wince.

Sousuke folded his arms. “Tokiwa,” he said, “I have a favor to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“If you find a clue to explain it, let me know. No matter how minor it seems.”

Kyoko fell silent.

“I’d really like to know,” he told her earnestly. “I’m worried.” With that, he pulled a lunch box from under his desk—it contained a strange cut of dried meat and a tomato—and began slicing at them with his combat knife.

While he did so, Kyoko paused in her eating, her gaze focused downward. After a long period of hesitation, she said, “Sagara-kun...”

“Yes?”

“Are you free two days from now? Sunday?”

“I can make myself free,” he said.

“Want to go out with me then? I can show you why Kana-chan’s acting strangely.”

The amusement park on the outskirts of Tokyo was, frankly speaking, not particularly popular. The roller coaster was showing patches of rust. The buildings were reminiscent of abandoned hospitals. The arcade featured ancient cabinets, like Xevious and Kung-Fu Master. The employees barely cared about their jobs, so even on a Sunday the visitors were sparse. It felt like the world’s most half-hearted amusement park.

But Kaname and Fuwa had pleasant memories of this place, which is why they had chosen it for their date.

“We ditched class to come here, remember?” Fuwa, who was dressed in his street clothes today, said as they passed through the entrance. “We ran into each other on the morning commute and you said you didn’t want to go to school today. I could barely believe it.”

“But you still came with me, Senpai.” Kaname had eschewed her usual casual street clothes, instead opting for a billowy knit sweater and a pleated skirt in pale brown. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail.

“That’s true,” he agreed. “But this time, it was you who agreed to come with me.”

“Is it all right, though? Don’t you have entrance exams?”

“Yeah... But it’s good to take a breather now and again. Don’t worry about it.”

“Well, if you’re sure...” said Kaname, trailing off uncertainly.

The day they’d bumped into each other, Fuwa had asked if she’d like to get together sometime. Kaname had initially agreed, but she’d felt strangely distracted ever since. On one hand, she was looking forward to seeing him again. But at the same time, she felt hesitant, and that awkward feeling had yet to go away. She’d felt guilty when Sousuke had asked if she was in trouble, even though she’d done nothing wrong.

Now, Kaname took a deep breath and drove that feeling from her mind. Yes, she told herself, I’m not doing anything wrong...

“Let’s just have fun,” she proposed. “For as long as we’re here, you know?”

“Yeah, good idea,” said Fuwa.

And with that, they walked off, side by side.

“...And that’s basically it,” Kyoko said from her hiding place, which was behind a pillar at the park’s entrance. She was dressed in a highly suspect outfit today, consisting of a black suit, round sunglasses, and a long coat. Sousuke was hiding with her, similarly dressed. Side by side, they looked like bad Blues Brothers imitators.

The park’s mascot, Bonta-kun, stood nearby. It was looking suspiciously at the two of them with its strangely wide eyes, but they elected to ignore it.

“That’s Kana-chan’s senpai,” Kyoko explained. “They dated a little in middle school, and then they ran into each other on the way home from school the other day.”

“Dated?” Sousuke echoed.

“They weren’t just any senpai and kouhai, you know?”

Sousuke put a hand on his chin. “He appears to be a student from another high school.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Chidori is our vice president,” he pointed out. “The most rational explanation is that he’s getting close to her in order to steal our school’s secrets.”

Kyoko slumped over dejectedly. “Come on, you know that’s not it,” she insisted. “Our student council doesn’t have any secrets anyone would want.”

“Actually, it does.”

“Huh? Like what?”

“All kinds of things: the way we use parts of our budget; blackmail material on the teachers and PTA members; a list of undercover agents infiltrating delinquent groups,” Sousuke told her. “There’s plenty of dangerous information we wouldn’t want to leak.”

“Sheesh, Hayashimizu-senpai...” said Kyoko with a despondent sigh.

Sousuke chose to ignore her. “The point is, however close he and Chidori may be... I believe I must put a stop to this before the information gets out,” he said gravely. Then, pulling a shotgun out from under his coat, he took aim at the two as they began to walk away.

Kyoko grabbed his arm tightly. “No! Sagara-kun, don’t you dare!”

“Tokiwa?” he asked, perplexed by her intervention.

“Kana-chan will seriously hate you!” she insisted. “Do not hurt him, okay?!”

Even Sousuke couldn’t help but be intimidated. He’d never heard Kyoko speak so harshly about anything.

She snapped back to her usual manner a moment later. “L-Look... they’re not spies, okay? Watch them a little longer and think it over again. Okay?”

“Hmm... If you insist, I’ll watch a while longer,” said Sousuke, putting his shotgun away.

Kyoko breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks. Now, let’s just tail them quietly.”

“Right,” he agreed. “Keep your guard up, Tokiwa.”

And so, they followed the pair in secret.

In fact, the mood between Fuwa and Kaname was as far from ‘collaborating spies’ as one could get. They got down off the roller coaster with genuine smiles. She then pleaded with him cutely, tugging at his arm until they rode it again.

After taking a turn on the teacups, Kaname was feeling a little ill, and Fuwa doted on her with a smile. He bought her a balloon that Bonta-kun was selling; Kaname patted the mascot’s head with a bright smile and took a picture with him. Then they played a measure-your-strength game in the arcade, where Kaname clapped enthusiastically as Fuwa set a new record with a 130 kg punch.

They had walked with a degree of distance between them at the start, but the distance between them was gradually closing. Now and then, a melancholy look came into Kaname’s eyes, but other than that, they looked just like any couple in love.

After hours of fun, Fuwa and Kaname bought some snacks and drinks at a nearby kiosk, then sat down on a nearby bench.

“Indeed, it wasn’t at all what I expected,” Sousuke finally acknowledged from behind some plants. “There’s none of the intensity of covert activities here. They appear to be... enjoying each other’s company. That’s good.” he said firmly, adjusting his sunglasses.

“Sagara-kun... Are you okay?” Kyoko asked from beside him.

“Of course I am. I’m fine. I understand the relieved and feel very situation.”

“Really?” she asked suspiciously. “I think you’re scrambling your words a little...”

“Purely your imagination. I am calm. Calm enough to burn.” With that, Sousuke suddenly began doing maintenance on his pistol. “I can move very precisely. Even with my eyes closed...” Then, with a silly ‘ping’ sound, the pistol’s recoil spring went flying. “I can even send parts of my gun flying.”

“I didn’t think you’d understand if I just told you,” Kyoko told him apologetically. “That’s why I brought you here. I thought you’d end up in a really awkward situation otherwise.”

“I see.”

“Maybe that was cruel. I’m sorry.”

“No, there’s no issue,” said Sousuke, swiftly repairing his pistol and sticking it back in his holster. Then he gave a series of precise but baffling orders to Kyoko: “Our reconnaissance is complete, so we should return home. We’ll secure an exit and erase our tracks. I’ll leave my explosives here and take you to the de Danaan. RV at point Alpha. Don’t forget to ask for the helicopter’s ETA.”

“It’s gotten to you pretty badly, huh?” she commented.

“Anyway, let’s go.” Sousuke began to walk away stiffly. But just then...

“Heeeya there!” said a slovenly voice.

Sousuke turned in time to see Kaname and Fuwa, seated together on a bench, as they were accosted by a strange group of middle-aged men with punch perms and tottering about as if drunk. “Looka you two, flirtin’ in the middle’a the day,” one of them slurred. “You students, yeah? You oughta be home, studyin’!” Middle-aged men day-drinking in an amusement park seemed like the far bigger societal problem than students taking a Sunday off, but at any rate, they were clearly trying to pick a fight.

Kaname was saying something to the men with a sarcastic expression. Sousuke couldn’t hear it from this distance, but...

“What was that, ya little brat?!” She’d probably made some kind of biting comment, he reasoned next, because the old men with their punch perms became agitated and moved to surround them.

“Oh... maybe they’re professional yakuza,” Kyoko realized. “That’s not good,”

“Not an issue,” Sousuke reminded her. “I’m a professional mercenary.”

“Can you save them?”

“Yes. It doesn’t matter who she’s getting friendly with. I will protect her,” said Sousuke, his eyes downcast. “I was never doing this to earn her favor, after all.”

Kyoko’s eyes began to shine. “Sagara-kun... you’re awesome!”

“Indeed,” he agreed solemnly. “Here I go...”

“Ah, but wait! You need a better disguise,” said Kyoko, “or Kana-chan will know it’s you.”

“Hmm...” Even in a suit with sunglasses on, she would recognize him if he got too close. Sousuke rubbed the back of his head and began to look around swiftly. Around the back of a kiosk, he laid eyes on an old man in a tank top who’d just removed his heavy mascot costume and was taking a breather.

“Show a little respect fer yer elders, brat!” the drunken old man shouted at Kaname.

But despite wrinkling her nose a little from the beer on his breath, she didn’t falter. “Elders?” she retorted. “More like drunkards and bullies! And I haven’t forgotten what you said before: you think me being a teenager means he must be paying me? How stupid are you?”

“C-Chidori,” said Fuwa, trying to talk her down. “That’s a little...”

But Kaname ignored him. “Just piss off already!” she told the old men. “My senpai’s taking entrance exams and I don’t want him catching your brain rot!”

“The hell’d you say?!”

Now completely enraged, the men reached for Kaname. Fuwa tried to intervene and Kaname began to stiffen up, but what stopped them was the interruption of a sharp voice. “Fumoffu.”

Scratch that... A strange voice.

The teenagers and old men looked up in unison to see a strange plush mascot standing on the roof of the kiosk across the way.

“Bonta... kun?” Kaname muttered. It had a strange head—almost canine, but not quite—a squat, two-heads-tall body like Q-Taro, and big round eyes. It was rather charming, really.

“Fumo. Fumoffu. Fumooo?” After saying something that had the cadence of an introduction, Bonta-kun tried to cross his arms boldly and failed; they were simply too stubby for the gesture. “Fumo, fumoffu, fumo!” said Bonta-kun, scolding the group with greater intensity now.

“Wha?”

“Fumoffu! Fumoffu! Fumoffu!” Bonta-kun shouted angrily at the drunks, who just looked at him in confusion. Then, clearly angry over the fact that he couldn’t make his feelings known, Bonta-kun pulled a pebble from somewhere and tossed it at them. “Fumo!”

The pebble plonked against one of the drunkards’ heads. “Ow,” the man said angrily. “What the hell’re you doin’?!”

“Fumoffu.” Bonta beckoned haughtily with one hand.

“All right! Come down from there, asshole!” one of the men shouted, striding toward the kiosk.

“Fumo... Fumoffu.” Bonta-kun crouched down, then ran into a cute little jog before leaping from the kiosk roof.

“Oh—”

Crash! Bonta-kun’s body slam knocked the man to the ground!

“B-Boss!” said one of the men, who appeared to be yakuza after all. The other men, now infuriated, charged at Bonta-kun, who was still lying on the ground. “You’re gonna get it now, asshole!”

“Fumoffu...” Bonta-kun tried to get back up, but failed—his legs were short, and he was shaped like a dumpling. Nevertheless, he remained calm, rolling along the ground until he could use his momentum to get up like an okiagari-koboshi doll.

“Very agile...” Kaname said in mild disbelief.

Meanwhile, Bonta-kun launched into action. He gave one man a headbutt, threw another, then stamped on each of them as they hit the ground. When the men begged him to stop, all they got in return was a heartless “Fumo, fumo!” and more pounding.

Bonta-kun fought like an angry god incarnate.

“E-Eek!” The last of the men, uncertain of what to do, flew into a rage. After giving Bonta-kun the slip, he pulled out a knife and charged at Kaname, clearly in want of a hostage.

“Ah...”

“Chidori!” Fuwa moved in front of her as the man charged, his knife flashing...

Crash! Bam! There was a loud gunshot, and the man collapsed. He’d taken a rubber slug to the back.

Kaname looked up in surprise and saw Bonta-kun, holding a shotgun whose muzzle was trailing white smoke. Eh?

Noticing Kaname’s gaze on him, Bonta-kun quickly stowed the shotgun back under his costume.

Just then, a child arrived and began shouting hysterically, “Mommy! Daddy and his friends got drunk and passed out again!”

“Oh? Not again. Honestly...” This appeared to be the drunkard’s family. Other rubberneckers began to gather as well, which in turn drew park security.

“Ah, that’s him! That’s the one who stole my precious Bonta-kun!” an old man in a tank top shouted from the back of the guard group.

“Fumoffu...” Clearly panicked, Bonta-kun began to run. He must have mastered the costume’s unique gait already, because he moved quickly despite his stubby legs.

“G-Get back here!” yelled the guards in hot pursuit.

Kaname and Fuwa just stood there for a while, staring, as the commotion left them behind. Then they snapped out of their trance and, after walking around a while longer, got on the Ferris wheel that let them overlook the park.

“What was that all about? A new attraction?” said Fuwa, once they’d finally caught their breath.

“Seems a little extreme for that,” Kaname told him uneasily. “Ha ha...”

“Yeah, but the way you talked to those men was really extreme, too,” he told her. “They were just drunken jerks, but you really riled them up...”

“Ah... sorry. I guess I put you in danger, huh?” Kaname bowed to him regretfully.

Fuwa smiled and waved it off. “It’s okay. It was kind of exciting, actually. And it’s very... you, Chidori. That kind of behavior is one thing I really like about you.”

“Er...” Kaname felt her heart skip a beat. She’d never been complimented on something she thought of as a fault before.

“Hey...” They were at around 2 o’clock on the Ferris wheel, when Fuwa changed the subject. “I wasn’t able to say it back then, but... will you be my girlfriend, Chidori?”

“Senpai...”

“I think... I really like you. I did then, and I still do,” he told her earnestly. “So... Chidori...”

In theory, she had been waiting for years to hear those words. And she was certainly happy to hear them. But... “I’m sorry,” said Kaname, who didn’t even have to think about it. The moment he’d said those words, she’d known the answer plain as day. There was no way she could respond, “Yes, I’d love to,” when she’d known it felt wrong from the start.

But why? she wondered.

“I see.” Fuwa let out a deep sigh. He looked pained for about three seconds, and then smiled again in relief. “There’s another guy, huh?”

“Er?”

“I just got that feeling. Today’s been fun,” he admitted, “but from time to time, you seemed like you were thinking about someone else.”

His observation sent Kaname into a panic. “Um... well, er...”

“What’s he like? I’m curious.”

“Er, there’s really...” Not anyone else? she thought, but she couldn’t bring herself to say so with confidence. Even though normally, she’d have been able to say it with ease...

Her hesitance seemed to confirm Fuwa’s suspicions. “For you to fall for him, he must be pretty dependable and mature.”

“Not at all,” she denied vehemently. “Yeah, totally not!”

Fuwa just blinked at her abrupt, fervent denial.

Kaname felt herself getting a little flustered just then, so she turned her eyes away from him to gaze out of the car. She could see the full grounds of the amusement park from here and watch Bonta-kun, the size of an ant, running full tilt around the merry-go-round, a gang of security guards in pursuit. As one leaped into his way, Bonta-kun leaped over him, mounting one of the horses to keep up the chase.

That idiot, she thought. Kyoko had probably egged him into tailing her. Normally she’d be angry with them, but for some reason today, she felt happy about it. Darn it, she realized. There’s just no getting around it, I guess... Looking on as Bonta-kun determinedly gave them the slip, Kaname felt a smile come to her face.

The mascot suit was incredibly heavy and hard to maneuver in. And since the zipper had broken off in the brawl earlier, he couldn’t remove it. He’d shaken off the guards’ pursuit for now, but there was no way for him to get away entirely in something so conspicuous. Drat, thought Sousuke.

Beginning to panic, he ran along an empty road and... Suddenly, Kaname was standing in the middle of it. Her senpai, Fuwa, wasn’t with her. She seemed to have been waiting for him, and held her hands out as if to block Sousuke’s passage.

He stopped, questioningly, but didn’t know what to say.

“Hide in the bushes there,” she urged him. “Hurry.”

Sousuke did as he was told without a second thought. The moment after his squat body took shelter in the underbrush, a group of security guards arrived. “Excuse me, miss! Have you seen a shotgun-wielding Bonta-kun mascot? We saw him come down this path...”

“He went that-a-way,” Kaname told them, sending the guards off in a completely random direction. Once they were gone, it was just the two of them left. “You should be safe a while now, Bonta-kun.”

“Right. Thank you,” he said breathlessly, but the strange voice changer just turned his words into “Fumo. Fumoffu.”

Kaname laughed in great amusement. “Thanks for before.”

“Fumo. Fumoffu. (It was nothing.)”

“As long as you’re here to help,” she said next, “can I tell you about a personal thing that’s going on with me?”

“Fumo, (Very well),” he responded suspiciously, as she sat down on a nearby bench.

“Today... I went on a date with a guy I used to have a crush on.”

“...Fumo. (...I see.)” Bonta-kun’s shoulders slumped.

A sort of amusement came into Kaname’s eyes as she noticed the gesture. “He was my senpai back in middle school...” Slowly, she told him about her and her senpai: that she’d gotten to know him as an assistant in his club; that she’d always had feelings for him; that recently, she’d happened to run into him again; and that just a little while ago, he asked if she wanted to be his girlfriend, and that she’d turned him down.

Sousuke could only sit there, surprised by this development.

“Do you know why I said no, Bonta-kun?” asked Kaname.

“Fumo... (Er...)”

“I don’t really know either,” she admitted. “But recently, while I was really trying to process the whole thing, a classmate came up and asked if I was okay. For once, he was actually worried about me, even though he’s usually dense as a rock.”

A classmate, Sousuke thought to himself. Usually dense as a rock. To whom could she be referring?

She gently squeezed Bonta-kun’s fluffy paw. “It made me really happy...”

“Fumoffu? (Chidori?)”

“...Though I felt a little guilty about it.” With that, Kaname smiled again. Then she stood up from the bench, feeling like a weight had dropped from her shoulders. “And that’s that,” she concluded. “Starting tomorrow, everything’s back to normal. So rest easy, Bonta-kun. Later.”

She patted the mascot on the head and left. As her light footsteps drifted away, Sousuke just stood there and watched her go.

“Fumo... (Hmm...)”

Back to normal, he thought. As he felt those words, for some reason, the weight of the costume seemed to vanish. It was a curious feeling.

“There he is! Over there!” Sousuke heard a shout, followed by multiple footsteps.

Time to escape! 

Bonta-kun dug down deep and ran like the wind.