CH 88

(**Kaito’s POV**)

“Yeah, we’ll be there immediately then.”

I said to Rin, who had called me, and hung up the phone once.

Then I looked at the girls who had come in front of me.

“Why are you guys here…? Kirara and Alice-san…?”

“A-Ahaha…”

“We’re looking to open a new business in Okayama. Blonde gal said she wanted to study for her future and asked Alice for advice, so I brought her along with me. I also brought walking cat-eared bombs and other stuff, but I didn’t want her to just study, so I took her out to have fun for a bit, and that’s when I saw Kai and the others.”

Kirara smiled bitterly, probably from the awkwardness of the encounter.

Alice-san’s face was as expressionless as ever, but she didn’t have the usual languidness.

She’s probably aware that we’re in an emergency situation, since she’s been approaching us since she saw us.

But I wonder if what Alice-san said is true.

…Well, Okayama Prefecture is a prefecture that a lot of big companies have been eyeing for a few years now.

Okayama Prefecture is surrounded by the Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu mountain ranges, so it is known as a sunny place with little damage from typhoons and no rainfall.

There are few earthquakes and other natural disasters in Okayama Prefecture, and the prefecture’s location on the sea makes it convenient for transporting goods, which has attracted the attention of many major companies.

In fact, Okayama Prefecture is home to the headquarters of a number of companies that have been growing rapidly in recent years.

I guess that’s why Alice-san came to check out the area for the future and Kirara came along with her.

―Yeah, that makes sense.

Unlike Aria, Alice-san is a good person, and Kirara must have completely reconciled with Alice-san when they talked before.

So it’s not strange at all for them to be together.

I concluded that it was a coincidence that I ran into Alice-san and the others, and looked at Sakihime, who had been hugging my right arm and threatening Alice-san and the others since the moment Alice-san and the others appeared.

Sakihime had been hugging me like this all day, and now she was hugging me more tightly than ever.

I guess she still doesn’t like Kirara, and she doesn’t like Alice-san who used to come into my room.

“More importantly, something happened, right?”

As I looked at Sakihime, Alice-san asked me.

That’s right― now’s not the right time!

“Yes… actually, Sakura-chan got lost”.

“Little angel got lost…?”

When I mentioned that Sakura-chan was lost, Alice-san looked at me with a suspicious expression.

She looked at me as if to say, “What’s the big deal about that?”

I don’t remember making a fuss, but this is a big deal for me and Sakihime.

No, even Kirara, who knows Sakura-chan very well, seems to have realized that this situation is not good, and she has a panicked look on her face.

“To tell you the truth, Sakura-chan is so directionally-challenged that it’s easy to say she has no sense of direction at all. So if she were to get lost by herself, she wouldn’t know where to go.”

I told Alice-san how bad this situation was.

I tell Alice-san how bad this situation is, but she still looks at me suspiciously.

“Why don’t you call her then?”

“Ah, no… actually, I just got a call from my cousin saying that she got lost, and when I told her the same thing, she said that she tried to call Sakura-chan, but she couldn’t get through.”

It’s true, as Alice-san said, nowadays it’s normal for people to have a smartphone, so even if we get separated, we can quickly get in touch with each other by phone.

That’s why I told Rin about it, but she called me because she couldn’t get through to her even though she had already called Sakura-chan several times, and she couldn’t find me even though she was looking all over for me.

“It’s funny, though, isn’t it? Rin-chan said she went out to pick flowers and when she came back, Sakura was gone, but she never just disappears like that without telling me.”

It was Sakihime who intervened in my conversation with Alice-san.

She was still looking at Alice-san and the others with a suspicious expression, but Sakihime was also worried about Sakura-chan.

“I see… Then we can use Kai’s phone to check the location of the little angel.”

“Oh…?”

Sakihime tilted her head, not understanding what Alice-san meant, but I had an idea of what she meant.

Or rather, that’s why I made that app.

“Kai… loses his cool too much when it comes to the little angel… I fear for the future then.”

“I-I’m sorry…”

I bowed my head to Alice-san who was looking at me with a dumbfounded expression.

“Hey, hey, what’s going on?”

Sakihime, who had been listening to our conversation and was not keeping up, asked me with an upward glance as she pulled on my clothes.

…I’m at a loss of what to do, she’s just so cute…

“Kai…”

“I-I’m so sorry!”

I thought it was cute that Sakihime was looking up at me from close range, but Alice-san was glaring at me.

So I quickly bowed my head again too.

Sakihime and Kirara were looking at us, tilting their heads in puzzlement.

“No… we use this app to know Sakura-chan’s whereabouts.”

I explained to Sakihime as I opened up the app on my phone that showed Sakura-chan’s location.

“Why do you have something like that…?”

“Hiii―!”

As I explained to Sakihime about the app, the cute face that had been looking up at me earlier turned into a disgusted face with no light in its eyes.

I felt my body shiver from the cold, even though it was summer.

Perhaps she is angry with me for making it possible for her to locate her precious little sister.

It’s definitely her that’s emitting the chilly air even though it’s the middle of summer.

It seems that Sakihime’s snow-woman-like chill is still alive and well.

“I’m not sure why you put it in Sakura and not in me… I want Umi-kun to do that for me too…”

“Eh?”

As I was shivering from Sakihime’s cold air, Sakihime muttered something to me.

But her voice was too low for me to hear what she said.

“Kai, please tell me where the little angel is.”

“Oh, that’s right. Erm―Eh…? Why is she here…?”

When I got Sakura-chan’s location information, I noticed that it was in an inconceivable location.

“What’s going on?”

Alice-san peeked at my phone, as if she could tell from my puzzled expression that something was wrong.

“…The mountain?”

“Yes, that’s right, Sakura-chan is at a mountain called Hankuchiyama― no, Sasagasaki. It’s not too far from here, but why the hell was she there?”

Sakura-chan’s location was a 40-minute bike ride from Okayama station, or maybe a 20-minute ride if you really wanted to fly.

I’ve certainly heard that Rin was around there, but no matter how much I’ve heard, I just can’t imagine her being in the mountains…

“She’s directionally challenged, so maybe she got lost and ended up in the mountains?”

It was Sakihime who looked into the phone after Alice-san and said so.

“That’s just crazy, right? Even she can tell the difference between a mountain and a city, can’t she?”

Kirara then joined the conversation, looking into the phone.

“Blonde gal is right. Normally, if you get lost, you’d head for the city because that’s where there are more people. Obviously, it’s strange for her to be in the mountains.”

“””……”””

The three of us fell silent at Alice’s words.

It was obvious that something had happened to Sakura-chan.

“This mountain… has snakes, bees, and even boars. If we don’t get her out of here soon, she might get hurt badly.”

“Yeah, we’d better head for the little angel now.”

“Yes, I’m supposed to meet up with my cousin, so let’s pick her up on the way.”

“No, I want Kai to go alone by bicycle. The cars are so crowded at this time of night that it’s faster to go by bike this distance. Alice and the others will pick up your cousin, and Kai can go to the little angel first.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry, Alice will know where Kai is.”

Alice-san said and took out her phone.

I remember when I consulted with Alice about making an app for Sakura-chan, I gave her the app and we exchanged location information.

“All right, please take care of my cousin for me.”

“Yes, we’ll take care of her. So Kai, get to the little angel as soon as possible.”

“Yes!

“W-Wait!”

As I was about to reply to Alice-san and run out, Sakihime stopped me with a loud voice.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m coming with you! Because I’m worried about Sakura!”

“No, but ……”

Sakihime’s sudden insistence to follow me troubled me, and I looked at Alice-san.

“Of course not. You can rent a bike, but there’s a big difference in travel time in the mountains between someone who’s played in the mountains and someone who hasn’t. Kai has been playing in the mountains since he was a kid, but you haven’t, have you?”

“B-But…”

Even though Alice-san denied it, Sakihime still tried to persist.

I can understand that feeling.

I know how you feel, because Sakura-chan is a very important little sister for me and for Sakihime.

“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely bring Sakura-chan back. So just leave it to me.”

I knew exactly how Sakihime felt, so I told her firmly so that she would feel at ease.

“Umikai-kun… Yes, please take care of Sakura for me…”

Seemingly believing my words, Sakihime withdrew.

So I nodded to Sakihime’s words with a smile.

“Time is running out, go now Kai.”

“Yes!”

I nodded at Alice-san’s words and dashed as fast as I could to the bike yard.

As soon as I got the bike, I started pedaling like a maniac to get to Sakura-chan―.

Part 2

(**Kirara’s POV**)

“So fast~…”

I couldn’t help but mutter to myself as I watched Kaito’s back as he ran towards the bike storage area.

Kaito was such a fast runner…

I guess he’s cutting corners in gym class.

Kaito’s speed was not that much different from the boys in our class who were said to be swift at running.

“Well then, Alice and the others, let’s go.”

As I was watching Kaito’s back, Alice called out to me.

“Oh, yeah, that’s right. And we have to pick up Kaito’s cousin.”

“No, I’m leaving that one behind.”

“”Eh?””

Alice had just told Kaito to leave her cousin to her, but now she said she was leaving her cousin behind.

Naturally, Momoi and I tilted our heads.

“It’s Kai’s birthday today, and that cousin of his isn’t with Kai, you’ve been keeping quiet about it, haven’t you?”

“Ugh…”

Not that Alice was accusing her, but when she asked Momoi about leaving his cousin behind, she looked away awkwardly.

This was a silent affirmation.

“If we meet up with his cousin right now, there will probably be secondary damage. That’s why we’re leaving her behind.”

“T-That’s true…”

Having heard a little about Kaito’s cousin from Alice, it was easy for me to imagine the secondary damage.

As for me, I don’t want to see her if possible.

I don’t know what she’ll do to us.

When Alice saw that we didn’t argue, she started to make a phone call.

“Hello, yeah, it’s Alice, long time no see. I know it’s short notice, but I have a favor to ask―”

Alice kept her distance from us as she made the call, then hung up and came back a little later.

“Who were you calling?”

“Don’t worry about it. Oh, good timing.”

I asked, and as usual, Alice didn’t tell me anything.

And when she said ‘good timing’, it was because Shirousagi and the others had returned.

When I explained the situation to them, they were very worried about Sakura.

Aside from Shirousagi, Camilla was also a friend of Sakura’s, and she tried to run off to the mountains on her own, so Alice grabbed Camilla by the scruff of the neck to calm her down.

And then― I don’t know who Alice called, but I found out a little later who she just called.

“Thank you for your patience! I heard from our superiors. Please get in!”

It was a policeman who appeared.

We were the center of attention, thanks to the sirens that we had used to get here.

“Thank you. Let’s go.”

Alice thanked the policeman, who saluted us, and urged us to get into the police car.

“Oh, um, aren’t we over capacity…?”

There are five of us, and six if you include the policeman, so we’re over the limit of five people that can fit in a standard passenger car.

So Shirousagi asked the policeman about that.

“No, it’s fine! The silver-haired lady there is small, so she could just hide in the back seat and they wouldn’t know!”

“Can a policeman really say that!?”

He said something that I would never expect a policeman to say, and Shirousagi politely made a comment.

The policeman replied to Shirousagi with a gloomy face.

“Because it’s scarier to go against our superiors…”

“I-It’s surely a hard world, isn’t it…?”

No matter what happens, you can’t just go against the higher-ups and defy their orders.

We witnessed such a reality.

“Hey, who is she…?”

Momoi asked me, taken aback by the sudden turn of events.

“Yeah, sorry… I also want to know…”

That’s what I said to her.

Really, just who is Alice…?

After this, thanks to the policeman who flew by with his siren blaring, we were able to continue on our way.

At this rate, even if we had to get off in the middle of the mountain, we would be able to get to Sakura without much time difference from Kaito.

But I wonder why…?

I’m feeling very nervous…

As I was riding in the police car, I couldn’t help but have a bad feeling about this―.