Nishihara KeiMocha DreamsIt was frankly a bit weird for me to be suddenly offered help from both giant-san and the glasses girl out of the blue, considering we were just people who happened to be in the same school. Still, I was happy. After noticing that I had grabbed Ria's arm in my bout of worry, I let go, feeling just a bit ashamed for losing my cool for a second.
When I noticed the arrival of the violin girl also out of the blue, I experienced a sinking feeling. I had planned on properly speaking with her later, not among classmates and strangers. And why was she here of all places? Was there no limits to the coincidences of this cafe? "
Hi. Uhm. I'm Nishihara Kei." I spoke a bit meekly, wondering how to admit my wrong doings. "
I was the one sketching you this morning. Sorry..." Not really an apology, but it was all that I could think of on the spot while simultaneously worrying about my cousin.
In the meanwhile, a girl I did not know this time (thankfully!) came over to reprehend Ria and glasses girl. As expected, they were probably gonna delay the service of the café by chatting with us. Though, I could not help but feel annoyed. Right now, getting to Ria to talk was a priority for me, whether or not the orders were delayed was secondary. However, Ria, being the insane Ice Stripper she is, decided to take the opportunity to leave us and her work, unanswered questions remaining unanswered. "
What do I do now...?" I muttered to no one in particular, wondering how to proceed. I could try phoning some of my relatives to verify the situation, but it would have been much easier if Ria had just told me what she knew. At least I probably would have the help of giant-san and glasses girl.
Then all hell broke loose yet again. Of course, in this city, a kidnapped cousing was not bad enough for a single day. Suddenly, a man dragged glasses girl away while people in bizarre outfits appeared. I could only watch as these bizarre criminals waved guns around. It would seem in this city even the criminals were something straight out of comic books. If they weren't criminals, I would applaud their courage for storming into somewhere like that. If they had been just a couple of minutes earlier, they would have stumbled upon Ria. Once again, that ice stripper was never where we needed her.
"
Keep your head cool..." There probably wasn't anything that I could do as the clowns started taking the belongings of people. Having my things taken from me was most uncomfortable. Luckily, they did not seem to notice (or care for) the silver cross underneath my clothes, nor the secret pockets sewn inside my clothes holding my seven steel wires. Judging from what I could see, the clowns had quite a number of people, with some of them having guns. That chainsaw turned towards us was also fairly scary.
To make matters worse, Kirima-senpai turned out to be less logical than I had expected and decided to enact violence upon the clowns. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists while watching, just hoping I could help him somehow as another clown attacked him from behind. It was just like the Ghoul incident yet again. Completely powerless. All I could do for giant-san was take care of his injuries when this was over. Pathetic for a magician.
As giant-san was being dragged away, a thought ocurred to me. I still had my wires. If I could just, instead of setting them in place, send them lashing out forward... They were magically enhanced, they could probably cut through the clowns and save Kirima-senpai. Then I could redirect them towards the other criminals, taking them out and leading the hostages into safety away from that place. A second after, I caught myself wondering why I was thinking that. I was no good with the offensive uses of the wires, so, if my technique worked, I'd have no proper control over them, and the criminals might be killed. Still, a little part of me remembered the Ghoul and thought that maybe it would be better to kill criminals before they killed inoccent people.
Either way, I needed to cool my head. I was about to do something stupid just like Kirima-senpai. I simply waited and watched. I couldn't go after giant-san to check if he was okay, nor could I ensure the other people's safety if I tried something reckless, so all that remained for me was waiting for any opportunity to get my fellow hostages out of here. And pray that these clowns needed all the hostages alive and well.