"It's as lively as ever!"
After the practice for the stage was over, Lexia and the others came to a shopping mall.
"I thought about it the last time I was here with Luna and the others, but it's amazing how many different stores are in one building, isn't it?"
"Huh? Is it unusual in Lexia-san's country?"
Kaede was the only one among them who did not know that Lexia and the others were from a different world, and she was mystified when she noticed Lexia's amazement at the shopping mall.
"I'd like to have one in our country, too, seeing as it's so convenient."
"That's true! There are a lot of problems with the land, but… we'll manage!"
"?"
Listening to the words alone, it was as if Lexia was saying that she would build this shopping mall-like facility in her own country, which made Kaede, who thought she was just an exchange student, tilt her head in confusion even more.
"Nevertheless… When I first came to this world, I was hoping to learn just a little bit about the culture, but after taking a closer look around, I'm learning a lot!"
"Well, your real purpose was Yuuya, after all."
"That's obvious! But… this world and the science and technology that Merl uses are also interesting to learn about, but the intangible things like architectural styles and commercial forms like this are also very informative."
Lexia's eyes were somewhat serious as she said this.
However, she soon returned to her usual demeanor and turned her head to everyone else.
"Well! Let's take a look around then! I've always wanted to go to a place called a game center!"
"Is that so? Oh, but I wonder if game centers are unusual for people from other countries…?"
"At least, there aren't any in my country! When I was looking around the city with Luna and the others before, we passed by a game center…"
"Not only Lexia but also me and Yuti didn't know, so we didn't stop by, did we?"
"Affirmative. When it comes to the unknown, it's best not to touch it."
"Come to think of it; I'm curious too."
"Merl-san, too?"
Although the planet Amel has more advanced science and technology than Earth, it seems that science and technology are not used much for entertainment, which has been one of her concerns since she came to Earth.
"Besides, I didn't have that much money at the time."
"Well, it wasn't money to play with; it was money to buy what we needed."
"Secured. I'm getting money from Yuuya today."
Although they could not play the other day due to financial reasons, this time, they could play because Yuti had received money from Yuuya in advance.
Lexia and the others, who had thus decided on a game center as their destination… did not go there directly.
"Huh? What is that?"
"Hey, Lexia!"
Lexia spotted a sign that said "Tapioca" and moved to it.
"Tapioca? What is that? Luna, do you know about it?"
"I don't know… but what are those creepy, black lumps…?"
"It's sweet. I had it once with a friend."
"Eehh? Yuti, you have friends?"
"…Protest. I have good friends."
Yuti was displeased with Lexia's reaction.
However, Lexia did not care and continued.
"But that means that is sweet food, right?"
"That's right. It may look weird, but the texture is interesting and tasty."
Satisfied with Kaede's explanation, Lexia began to look around again.
"Interesting! Oh, and over there too!"
"As I said, don't move on your own!"
And Lexia never made it to the game center, as she would find something that caught her interest and head in that direction.
"Look! It's ice cream! Let's try some!"
"Ice cream? What's that…?"
"Huh? Luna-san, have you never had ice cream before? It's a cold sweet…"
"Cold sweets? I-it can't be helped. If Lexia wants to eat it, let's eat it."
"Affirmative. Sugar content is important."
"Fufu, that's good."
After each of them finished ordering and received the order…
"Mmmm! It's so cold and delicious!"
"A-amazing… The crepe I had before was amazing, but I didn't know there was such a sweet…"
"Delicious."
"I guess this planet has made great progress in entertainment and food culture."
As they ate the ice cream and shared their impressions, Lexia and the others attracted a lot of attention from the people around them.
"Hey, that…"
"Wow, they're so pretty…!"
"They look like foreigners, but they are beautiful!"
"Hey, let's go talk to them, shall we?"
"Stop it; you're not going to get any attention."
Lexia and the others were attracting attention, but they were too engrossed in their ice cream to pay any attention.
After finishing their ice cream, Lexia and the others finally arrived at the game center.
"This is it!"
"What can I say… it's pretty noisy when you're near…"
"Affirmative. I didn't recognize it from a distance before, but up close, it looks completely different."
"So you can play with everything here?"
As each of them looked around the game center, Lexia noticed something.
"T-that's so cute!"
Lexia was interested in a stuffed bear inside a crane game machine.
"Hey, Kaede! How do you play with this?"
"Well, it's, you know…"
After a brief lecture from Kaede, Lexia rolled up her arms.
"I see. Well, I'll give it a try then!"
Lexia tries it, putting in her money in high spirits.
However…
"H-hey! You're pushing it too far!"
Lexia's button operation failed to move the arm to the desired position.
On the contrary…
"Aaaaah! No, no, no, no! There's nothing there!"
"Pfft… that's brilliant. It's such a big target, and you didn't even graze it…"
"Kiii! If you're going to go that far, Luna should try it!"
In the end, Lexia was unable to win the stuffed bear and was quickly replaced by Luna.
And…
"Good grief… You're totally hopeless if you can't do such a simple thing, Lexia! This is how you do it… H-huh?"
However, Luna also could not move the arm to the targeted position, and as a result, she could not win the prize.
"Arara~? I thought this was supposed to be easy."
"Kuh! N-no, it's not me! There is something wrong with this strange machine!"
"You shouldn't make such excuses! You didn't get it, so you're just the same as me!"
"…I don't like the idea of being on the same side as Lexia."
"Hey, what do you mean by that?"
While Lexia and Luna continue to argue, Merl and Kaede try their hand at it…
"Oh, no."
"It's difficult, isn't it…?"
"Right. I can move the arm to where I want it to go…"
"This arm? I did not expect how weak it was…"
Kaede and Merl were able to move the arm to the targeted spot, but the arm was unable to lift the prize.
"Yuuya-kun seemed to be good at crane games, though…"
"Yuuya-san can do anything, isn't he…?"
It seemed as if no one would end up winning any prizes except for Yuti.
"…I saw it."
"Eh?"
Yuti muttered quietly and went to the machine and put in her money.
And then, with a button operation she had learned from watching Lexia and the others, she moved the arm to the exact position she wanted it to go.
However…
"Yu-Yuti-chan? There are no prizes placed there…"
Surprisingly, Yuti moved the arm to the back of the machine, ignoring the bear prize that had been placed on it.
But…
"Eeehh!?"
"Success. Right on target."
To their surprise, the arm that Yuti moved caught the tag of another stuffed bear that was lined up behind the machine.
The arm pulled the stuffed bear away from the wall as if to pull it out and then carried it straight to the retrieval slot, where it was safely retrieved.
Yuti took out the stuffed bear and handed it to Lexia.
"Transfer. Lexia, I'll give it to you."
"Yu-Yuti! You're the best!"
"A-amazing… that you achieved the goal by focusing not on the target in front of you, but on a different target…"
"That's a good lesson for me."
"I-I wonder what this is all about? I wonder if it's safe in terms of the rules…?"
Luna and the others were impressed by Yuti's skill, but Kaede was concerned about whether this method of acquisition was acceptable under the rules.
After that, Lexia and the others continued to play another game, but…
"Lu-Luna! You should help me!"
"Don't be reckless! You showed your face on your own, and you died!"
In one shooting game, Lexia was unable to defeat the enemies properly and soon died, leaving Luna, who was playing cooperatively, to do her best alone.
"One more time! Let's try one more time!"
"Hey, you know, even money is precious! Besides, even if you revive, you will die soon anyway. I'll just go on alone."
"Hey, hey! Luna is my escort, right? Don't leave your escort behind!"
"Fufu… I won't let your death be in vain!"
"Kiiii! In this case! I'm going to… interrupt you now!"
"Oh, hey! Stop it!"
Annoyed that she could not be revived, Lexia went behind Luna's back during play and began tickling her.
"H-hey, Lexia! S-stop…!"
"Now, can you keep going under these circumstances!"
"Ah, damn it! My sights are…!"
In the end, Luna and Lexia were unable to clear the stage, but Yuti and Kaede tried…
"Yu-Yuti-chan, you're amazing!"
"I can afford it. I can guess it even with my eyes closed."
"Really?"
"That's a trick only Yuti-san can do, isn't it…?"
As the disciple of the "Bow Saint," Yuti demonstrated her skills to the fullest and was able to beat the high score.
Also, in music-related games…
"T-this is too hard, isn't it?"
"Kuh! I can dance, but I can't move my fingers to the music…!"
"Struggling. It's too difficult."
"Well, maybe it's because you suddenly challenged the highest difficulty level…"
Lexia and the others, who were determined that they could do this, naturally selected the highest difficulty level, but they could not even press the buttons properly in time with the sounds.
However, Merl was the only one who could keep up with this difficulty level.
"Oh, hey, that girl…"
"Wow… She hasn't missed a single…"
Merl was pushing buttons with the precision of a machine.
"It's just a matter of getting the timing right, so that's…"
"No, even if you know the timing, it's too complicated to get the moves right…"
"I guess it's just a matter of getting used to it."
"…Agreed. Merl must be used to it since she was operating a strange machine."
Knowing Merl and her fighting style, Yuti remembered that Merl was operating a machine attached to her arm and was convinced.
Thus, Merl had achieved a perfect clearance with no mistakes.
"Phew… I guess I can do it better than I thought."
"Merl-san is amazing too…"
Kaede could only be stunned by the out-of-the-ordinary talent of Yuti and Merl.
When Lexia and the others finished playing in this way, they decided to part ways, as it was almost time to go.
"Phew~! We had a lot of fun today!"
"Yeah, that's for sure."
"That's all thanks to you, Kaede. Thank you."
"Gratitude. Thank you, Kaede."
Kaede waved her hand hurriedly as everyone expressed their gratitude.
"No, no! I was just showing you around and…"
"No, that's not true. If it were just us, we wouldn't have been able to enjoy it as much as we did."
"Yes, that's right! Thanks to Kaede, we could have enjoyed ourselves so much! Thank you!"
"Y-you're welcome…"
Kaede was embarrassed by the straightforward goodwill to no end.
Then…
"Uoooh! Those girls are super cute, aren't they?"
"It's nice, isn't it?"
"Hey, you girls. Wanna hang out with us?"
Suddenly, a group of men with a somewhat frivolous atmosphere approached.
Luna steps forward to protect Lexia against the men who suddenly appear.
"What are you people?"
"Hey, hey, she's staring at us!"
"We just wanted to get to know you girls better."
"Is that so? Unfortunately, we have no intention of doing so. You'll have to find someone else."
"Well, well, don't say that."
"Eh, u-uh…"
"Kaede!"
Luna replied in a nonchalant manner, and one of the men put out his hand to Kaede.
The people around them knew that something was going on, and although some of them went to contact the police or security guards, no one was going to stop them.
Luna and Yuti, who had decided that they would be harmed if they did not do something, immediately tried to subdue the man.──.
"U-um… those girls… I don't think they like…"
"Huh?"
At that moment, a young man stopped the men.
The young man appeared frail at first glance, with a generally gloomy air about him.
However, there was a strong will in his eyes, and one could sense his desire to help Kaede and the others who were in trouble right in front of him.
Then, one of the men came up to him, perhaps offended by the young man's attitude.
"What's the matter with you? You got a problem with us?"
"…T-the girls look like they don't want to go with you, and I don't think it's a good idea to force them to go with you."
The man looked down at the young man in a somewhat intimidating manner, but the young man paid no attention to that intimidation and said so.
"You bastard… Don't get carried away!"
"!"
"Hey!"
Irritated by the young man's attitude, the man pushed him away forcefully.
Lexia tried to stop him in a hurry, but Luna restrained her with her hand.
"Luna!"
"Don't move. I'm your guard."
"But!"
As Lexia tried to argue with Luna, who had a serious expression on her face, the other men began to surround the young man.
They could have left at any moment, but they could not leave the young man who came out to help them.
"You! Leave us alone and get out of here!"
"I-it's okay!"
But even after Lexia's words, the young man did not stop facing the men.
"Are you alright?"
"I was just in the mood to talk to the girls when you interrupted me."
"Seriously, it's people like you that get on my nerves the most!"
"!"
"Hey!"
At that moment, one of the men punched at the young man.
The other men followed suit, assaulting the young man one after the other.
"Lu-Luna! Stop those men right away!"
"Kuh!"
Luna, unable to leave the scene of the young man being assaulted, tried to subdue the men as if following Lexia's orders.
But…
"──You people! What are you doing!"
"Shit! Let's get the hell out of here."
"You bastard, I will remember your face, okay?"
The men left in a hurry when a police officer rushed to the scene after receiving a call.
For the remaining young man, Lexia immediately rushed over to him.
"A-are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"I-I'm fine."
The young man was startled by the hand that was extended to him, but he fearfully took the hand and got up.
The young man then spoke softly to Kaede, who had frozen up earlier when the man grabbed her hand.
"U-um… are you alright?"
"Eh? Ah, yes! I'm fine! Or rather… It's me who should ask you if you're okay!"
Kaede came to her senses and asked the young man in a hurry, and he smiled softly.
"I-I'm fine. I'm glad nothing happened to you."
"──You all, are you okay?"
One of the police officers then approached Lexia and the others.
"We're here because of a report… Can you explain to us what happened?"
"Y-yes. Actually, some men came in and messed with us, and we were in trouble, and then this guy… H-huh?"
The young man was gone before anyone knew it, though Lexia tried to explain the young man to the police officer.
Aside from Kaede and Lexia, everyone was surprised that the young man disappeared without anyone being able to detect him, even in the presence of such powerful people as Luna and Yuti.
However, Luna and Yuti were also surprised by something else about the young man.
"Yuti, the man from earlier…"
"Astonished. There wasn't a single scratch on him…"
Luna and Yuti had seen that the young man who had just been assaulted, albeit for a short time, had not a single wound.
Moreover, the young man had disappeared without being detected by the two girls, which raised more and more questions.
Who exactly was the young man…?
In the end, Lexia and the others were unable to find the young man who had helped them after that, so after a brief question, they decided to go home.
"Haaaa. I was in such a good mood, but those people ruined it!"
"It can't be helped, can it? Lexia-san attracts attention, so…"
"Negative. It's not just Lexia. Merl stands out enough, too."
"I-is that so?"
"If you say so, then so does Yuti…"
"It doesn't matter! I wonder who that man was, after all. While everyone else pretends not to see anything… he was a very nice person to come out to help in that way! Right, Kaede?"
"….."
"Kaede?"
"Huh? Oh, I-I'm sorry! What's wrong?"
"I was just asking about the person from earlier… what's happening with you?"
When Lexia asked this to the strange-looking Kaede, Kaede spoke with a slightly puzzled look on her face.
"U-um… I'm not sure how to say it… I thought the person who tried to help us looked like Yuuya-kun…"
"Yuuya-sama?"
"Yes… How should I put it? The atmosphere? I felt at ease… I had a feeling like that."
Kaede was bewildered by emotions she did not understand.
However, Lexia and the others seemed to understand it and were equally puzzled.
"If you say so…"
"Affirmative. It was a very gentle presence."
"Yuuya-san's presence is unique. I thought that there were not many people who have such a sign as Yuuya-san's…"
"He suddenly disappeared, and there are many mysteries, but… he saved us. He's not a bad guy, is he?"
"That's true! If we meet again some other time, let's thank him again!"
Lexia and the others returned home safely and without incident, determined to one day express their gratitude to the mysterious young man.