“Just who am I supposed to be?”
His consciousness tried to sleep, but his eyes opened as though to reject that.
The words that left his lips were a scathing critique of his own conduct.
“My master.”
“…That’s not what I meant.”
The person who responded to him from atop his head was none other than Youko, who herself wondered whether her answer was correct or not, but of course, she couldn’t be further off the mark.
“I gotta hand it to me though… I sure am something to be able to sleep in a place like this even if only for a few minutes.”
His foster showed that only a few minutes passed, but Shinichi felt like he actually lived through that dream.
Just a little, it felt like he’d taken a peek at the mysteriousness of dreams.
But of course, what really surprised him was that he actually fell asleep despite all the hustle and bustle occurring right in front of him.
“Oh, but you can sleep surprisingly anywhere, you know.”
“Only when the need calls for it. Being able to sleep in the middle of a bridge without needing to is amazing.”
He had a tendency to be really brazen in the strangest of places.
Leaning his back onto the railing, he watched the bridge that was jam packed with people.
As a tourist, Shinichi did not know how many people normally passed through this area, but there were probably more people than usual because of all the students from different schools here on a field trip.
“You know, Icchi, sometimes I can’t help but wonder what language you’re speaking in.”
“Huh?”
Was it because he was captivated, or was it merely because he had just woken up, but regardless, he found himself muttering like a dolt when he heard that familiar voice call out to him from beside him.
When he turned directly to his side, he could see a pair of fox ears happily moving.
When he lowered his gaze, a carefree smile wrapped in pink shorts could be seen.
“Hina?”
“That’s right, it’s the Hina-chan that’s always at your side!”
When he noticed her and called out to her, she winked at him slyly with a huge smile.
The flirtatious tone of her voice and her adorable appearances combined to make her out to be just like those idols from a bygone era.
“Uwaah, my stalker is too scary.”
But to the person in question, there was no other way to interpret her conduct than that.
Astonished, Myuhi’s jaws fell, and her mouth refused to close as though she were reenacting an advertisement from somewhere.
The fact that it seemed she was doing that on purpose was truly impressive.
“Don’t call me a stalker!”
She cried, but a moment later, she started giggling.
The two of them spoke as though they their actions were scripted, but it was strangely funny to the both of them.
“Sorry, sorry, I guess you’re more like a ghost than a stalker.”
“I don’t want to hear that from someone who fights fierce enough to scare even ghosts. Be careful about the jokes you make about the bridge, okay? Or you’ll have people telling calling your jokes out-of-date.”
“There’s no helping it. I didn’t even know about Ebisu Bridge until I came here. I mean, I am someone from the past.”
As they slipped into a casual chat, Shinichi continued without minding her warning.
Myuhi sighed, but she understood Shinichi’s reasoning.
“Is it more constructive to ignore it and just keep trudging along than to try and fill the hole?”
“There are too many things I don’t know, so it would be unproductive to even bother.”
It was almost impossible to completely cover all of the aspects that have changed or fallen into disuse due to the eight-year gap and the great changes brought about by the otherworld exchange.
But of course, that was also because Shinichi’s initial knowledge was lacking and prejudiced.
That’s why he basically gave up and decided to just look things up when he needed to.
Myuhi wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or not at how fast he sometimes gave up.
But of course, that wasn’t the number one concern she had at the moment.
“I see… Well, I thought this too during the flight, but as expected, even you don’t know notice it when you’re asleep, huh.”
She hid her presence and approached, but she was actually surprised that he didn’t notice her just because he was asleep.
He slept a lot even at school, but she has always been hesitant to approach him because of how comfy he looked, so it wasn’t until now that she realized something that should have been obvious.
But Shinichi just responded with dismay.
“I’m not a dolphin, you know. Obviously I’d be defenseless while asleep; however…”
“Kyu!”
“Unless you can do something about this girl here, you still won’t be able to do anything about me.”
The boy smiled fearlessly, while the beast bared her fangs, and sweat poured from all over Myuhi.
The fear of the Tenkorius was just too much for Garestonians who knew of their power and the dangers of incurring their wrath.
Her fox ears and her tail stood on end as though in a panic.
“U-Uwaah, your escort is too strong! So that’s why I was always able to take pictures of the Amaryllis-chan too whenever you’re sleeping.”
“…Hey, don’t start brazenly looking at your peeping photos just because you’ve been found out.”
Perhaps, in order to distract herself from the fear, Myuhi started going through all the pictures of his sleeping face that she took in secret.
She seemed to come to an understanding all on her own, while the boy called out to her with dismay.
“Ehehe, then consider this as payment for the pictures.”
As she said that, she held up a large paper plate shaped like a boat.
Riding on it like guests was a pile of steaming spheres covered in dried bonito flakes.
That was none other than Osaka’s specialty, the Takoyaki.
“Kinda cheap, don’t you think? …Amu—That’s hot! Hamuhamu, nku! Ah! It’s so good! When you go to Osaka, you really have to try their takoyaki!”
Despite his complaints, Shinichi was more than happy to dig in.
The freshly made dish was so hot he struggled with the heat, but he tasted it thoroughly and smiled a big smile.
“You eat too. It’s good.”
“Kyu, afu, hafu, kyui!”
He threw some up for Youko, who was above his head, and she too took a mouthful.
She was surprised by the heat while chewing but soon nodded in satisfaction, letting out chirps of joy, which the boy looked at fondly, and Myuhi too smiled.
The beast and the man pecked away at the takoyaki.
For a while, they enjoyed the taste of Osaka while watching the crowd in front of them, then Myuhi said something in a murmur.
“…Well done.”
“Hot, hafu… Mn. What you talking about?”
“There’s been three incidents since we came here. There were those kidnappers pretending to do a TV interview on the street, a pack of bad wolves that tried to get a young and tender girl into an unpopulated alley, and a group of self-proclaimed activists, whose only redeeming point was their equipment, who tried to take over Osaka Castle… Seriously, well done.”
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