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“This is where the first tear opened,” Yukari said, leading Sumireko.
The two arrived in Kappa Town to quite a sight. Several machines were broken with very confused kappa surrounding them. Oil spilled out of the destroyed machines creating sticky puddles on the ground.
“Seems like whatever got through has a thing against the kappa,” Sumireko commented.
“Or their machinery,” Yukari replied.
Sumireko, taking the initiative, slid down the hill towards the kappa. She then took off at a run looking for a familiar face. Until she came across it.
“Hey! Kawashiro!”
Nitori looked up from one of her fellow kappa’s broken machines. She gave a bit of a smile but seemed rather distracted.
“Hey, Usami! Love to talk but I’m pretty busy with-”
Sumireko interrupted her with a smile in return.
“Actually that’s why I’m here! I’m incident solving! You have any leads on what destroyed your machines?”
“Yeah, we managed to corner whatever it was under a pile of scrap. Only problem is that no one wants to deal with it. The first person who tried got thrown back by some weird power.”
Nitori pointed to said pile of broken machine parts. Sumireko almost thought she was seeing things, but she could’ve sworn something was moving underneath it. Yukari then stepped forward.
“No worries, Kawashiro. That’s why we’re here.”
“Oh! Yukari? You’re dealing with this too?”
“It’s something only I and Sumireko can deal with.”
She then motioned for Sumireko to follow her to the pile of scrap. Quickly catching up, Sumireko did so, soon now clearly seeing that something was definitely moving under the pile. She readied herself for a fight, but Yukari seemed remarkably calm. Summoning her parasol, Yukari held it point-first to the scrap. She watched carefully, seeing where most of the movement was coming from. Then, in a split second, she gapped a piece of it away, revealing two very odd beings hiding behind it.
They screamed.
Sumireko screamed.
Yukari laughed.
Before one of them brandished a sword in Yukari’s direction and the other conjured what appeared to be a sigil between their fingers. Sumireko in response prepared a spell as well. As the three were ready for a fight, Yukari took a closer look at the strange people. They were clearly robots of some kind, having silver bodies and visors in place of their eyes. One wore a pilot’s uniform and had white hair and yellow eyes. The other wore a more casual outfit, having purple hair and two toned yellow and purple eyes. Quite a strange pair, but Yukari had to stop the three from attacking each other first.
Yukari extended her arm placing her parasol between the two robots and Sumireko, creating a makeshift barrier.
“Now, now,” she chided.
“There’s no need to resort to a fight at this moment. We simply want to help you two.”
“Help us?” the purple haired robot asked, sharply.
“And why should we trust you and your weird portal magic?” she continued.
“Uzi, wait.” the white haired one said, putting a hand in front of her.
“N, what are you-” the robot with purple hair, Uzi, both of them could guess, tried to interject.
“Look at the one with the glasses,” the white haired robot, N, said while pointing.
The two odd robots stared at Sumireko as if she was the strange one. N reached out, almost as if Sumireko would vanish in an instant. Something in his gaze was almost heartbroken, giving a sad sort of nostalgia.
“Are you…human…?” he asked.
Sumireko tilted her head to the side, not sure what to make of the question.
“I am,” she answered.
then crossed her arms, as if she wasn’t all that impressed.
“Huh. Never seen an actual human before.”
Uzi then turned to Yukari, narrowing her eyes.
“What does that make you, then?”
Yukari laughed before carefully pulling her parasol back.
“What am I? Well, how can I say?”
“Sure, that’s not suspicious at all,” Uzi muttered while rolling her eyes.
“In short, I am a being of something quite unknown to both of you. Magic.”
Before Uzi could say anything, N moved forward again, his eyes almost seeming to sparkle with excitement.
“Magic? No way, that’s so cool! What kinda magic do you have? Is magic how we ended up here?”
“Portal magic, little one,” Yukari answered, not feeling the need to tell them everything.
“And yes, magic is indeed how you are here now. But I think perhaps getting somewhere a bit more comfortable would make it easier to explain.”
“Yeah, about that. We can’t go out in the sun,” Uzi said.
Yukari gave them both a warm smile before opening her parasol. She then moved it over the two, giving them shade. Uzi seemed to shy away, her lack of trust obvious in her expression. But N took her hand and looked towards her. He gave her a smile and a nod. Hesitantly, they both stepped under the shade of Yukari’s parasol, seeming to brace for something. But nothing came. Sumireko smiled at them, seeing the somewhat surprised looks on their faces.
“See? You’re alright,” she said sweetly.
“Now,” Yukari began.
“Care to explain why you destroyed so much of the machines around here?”
N laughed awkwardly. He put his hand behind his head.
“Oh, haha. Yeah, sorry about that. Uzi and I need to drink oil to keep ourselves from overheating.”
Clarity then came to his expression.
“Oh right! I forgot to introduce us! I’m N! And this is my girlfriend, Uzi!”
Uzi punched N in the arm.
“N! Do you really have to say it like that everytime?”
“I can’t help it if I’m happy about it!”
“Ugh, you dork!”
Both Yukari and Sumireko couldn’t help but laugh at the display. It was rather cute. They then introduced themselves.
“I’m Sumireko, and she’s Yukari.”
“A pleasure, Uzi and N,” Yukari said.
“And while I’m sure it would be wonderful to get to know both of you, perhaps it’s best you should be back home.”
Yukari, with a wave of her hand, opened a gap. She then gestured to Uzi and N to walk through.
“Now, be on your way, you two.”
“O-Oh! I didn’t think it would be that easy! Thanks Miss Yukari! And take care Sumireko!”
N gave a wave while Uzi just gave a small appreciative nod. With that, the two existed out of the gap and it snapped shut. Sumireko let out a sigh of relief.
“That was surprisingly simple,” she commented.
“Yes,” Yukari replied.
“Although I doubt the others will be as simple to solve.”