Sylvester and Rossa looked at each other for a second, silently asking the other what they should do. As no one seems to be bothering to tend to the lost child, the pair decided it would be best if they dealt with it themselves.
The two then walked towards the crying girl and Sylvester can be seen trying to reach something inside the pocket of his jeans.
“Hey there little missy, are you lost?” Sylvester called to the little girl and sat down in front of her, their eyes now at the same level.
Upon a closer look Sylvester realized that the girl was wearing an ID card strapped to her neck.
“Honey S. Carter huh?” Sylvester thought to himself.
Surprisingly enough the girl, while still teary eyed, responded in the proper way a child should respond to a suspicious adult.
“No. M-mom said I should not talk to supicious strangers!” She said in her crying voice.
“Suspicious, that's one way to describe you.” Rossa made a passing comment and Sylvester could swear she let out a slight chuckle.
Sylvester then turned his head to look at Rossa, with a sarcastic scowl present on his face.
“Really? How about you just help me out here and call Estelle or Artian on the phone. Tell them about a missing girl named Honey S Carter and report it somewhere so her mom or dad can come and find her.” He said to Rossa in a rather serious voice, when suddenly his face lit up into his usual teasing smile.
“Unless of course, you still don’t know how to use your new smartphone hmm?”
Rossa seemed to be offended over that comment and hurriedly took out her smartphone, clumsily unlocking it and using a separate index finger to fiddle with the phone. With a proud smile she displayed the screen towards Sylvester and said.
“Hmm, look I already saved Estelle’s digits. Your world’s funny contraptions are not complicated in the least!” She said in a proud tone.
“Okay good. Now call her and tell her about the missing child we are currently with.” He repeated. Rossa wanted to retort but decided to let out a sigh and drop the matter entirely.
“Hello? Estelle we need you two do something for us.” Rossa said as she began her conversion with the one on the other end.
Sylvester, knowing that he “won” that exchange, shifted his attention back to the cautious child who had all the right to be suspicious of him.
“Now, now. I’m not here to hurt you or anything, I am simply a magician that was happening to pass by!” He said, trying to comfort the girl.
“Magician? Aren’t you guys fake?” She said in a flat but childish tone, like a child saying an uncomfortable truth through their innocence.
“Pfft.”
Sylvester could hear the duchess let out a scoff, but chose to ignore such a sharp stab to his prideful magician heart.
With a soft smile, he calmly replied to the still cautious little girl and said.
“Now, now little one. That depends on who you are talking to. I however am a true and certified magician. Nothing fake about me whatsoever.” Sylvester said in a whimsical voice.
“And to prove it, how about a little demonstration?”
Sylvester then took out a coin, the coin he used to coerce Artian into letting him be the leader of their ragtag team during the festival of the beginning. One side features a tophat, one side has the tail ends of a swallowtail coat.
“This coin is one of a kind and very valuable.” He started to explain. “If you can tell which hand holds it, then you can have it!”
And with that small bit of persuasion, the child seemed to have calmed down as she fully focused on Sylvester who was now playing with the coin, shifting it around left and right until finally he threw it into the air caught it and then placed the two closed fists in front of the child.
In the girl’s point of view Sylvester clearly caught the coin using his left hand, so naturally she pointed at his left hand. But as everyone expected, the coin wasn’t on the left hand.
Feeling a little surprised, she then pointed at the right hand and saw that the coin wasn’t there either.
“Oh no, looks like you guessed wrong little miss.” Sylvester said in a gentle yet mischievous tone.
He then reached out behind the little girl’s ear and suddenly, the coin magically appeared. The little girl’s eyes widened in shock as she quickly touched both her ears, finding it hard to believe that the coin was hidden there.
“You cheater!” She said in an annoyed tone.
“What? How can you say I cheated?” Sylvester said in a cartoonishly offended tone.
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“You used magic! It’s not fair!” She shouted.
“So you admit that I am genuine and not fake then.” He replied with a victorious smile, this circular logic checkmate seemed to have caused the girl to freeze up and think about stuff inside her head.
But she immediately recovered and continued with her tirade.
“Whatever! Mom said that you should never trust cheaters!” The little girl said with conviction.
“It’s mom again.” Sylvester said in a defeated tone. “If your dad was here he’d be depressed that you keep on mentioning just one parent over and over again. At least, my father does that though he tries not to show it.” He said with a smile.
“Dad? I don’t have a dad, what’s a dad?” The girl replied as she tilted her head, her eyes were blank and looked unnatural.
“Yikes, I seemed to have stepped on a landmine. I’m so sorry I didn’t mean it!” Sylvester quietly thought to himself.
Sylvester continued to smile while remaining silent as he tried to figure out a way to salvage the disastrous turn of events. But as he was about to give up, a female voice called out to the child in front of him.
“Honey! Honey! It’s me, mama!”
Sylvester and Rossa then looked to the direction where the voice was coming from and saw a panic stricken woman running towards them. The little girl then smiled and ran towards this new character then entered the fray.
“Mama!” She shouted as she jumped into her mother’s arms. The parent and child then shared a warm embrace causing Sylvester and Rossa to look at each other's smiles. They felt that they had done a good deed today after all.
The woman then approached the pair to thank them, though her words were rather worrying, at least for Sylvester.
“Thank you for staying with my child!” She said. “As I was going down to the beach to look for her, I heard two people talking about a suspicious guy hanging around a lone little girl and I was so afraid something bad might have happened!” She explained.
“Did I really look suspicious? Come on! I’m wearing a normal looking baseball cap, not a tophat!” He silently complained to himself as Rossa tried her best to contain her giggling.
“No need to thank us ma’am!” Sylvester said as he excused himself and Rossa so they could continue with their search. As they walked back up towards the town proper, Sylvester started to compliment Rossa on a job well done.
“All’s well that ends well I suppose. I even think that call I made was unnecessary.” Rossa commented.
“So, where do you want to go?” Sylvester asked.
“Let’s try the streets up top. I’m not really sensing any fluctuations here.” Rossa replied in a serious manner as she began walking up the hill back to the town proper.
“No, I meant after this mission. You have that freedom now too you know.” Sylvester suddenly called out as he looked up towards Rossa who was now halfway up.
Rossa then faced Sylvester with a perplexed expression and one eyebrow raised.
“What do you mean?” She asked for clarification.
“The freedom to go wherever you please. Well it’s not exactly freedom but you can go where you want thanks to the missions.” He said with a smile.
“I appreciate the sentiment, but I do not intend to play around during these official activities.” She replied in a stern tone.
“Also, I am not a denizen of Earth even if you asked me where I want to go I really have no idea, so I leave it to your discretion, Mr Sylvester.” She then crossed her arms and looked down on Sylvester, an amused smile forming on her face.
“Show me what lies ahead the blue horizon.” She said in an expectant tone and dignified tone.
---
NIght time arrived and the group of four gathered at the inn they were staying at, deciding to eat there instead of looking for restaurants outside.
They then told each other of their findings and sadly, none of them felt any sort of abnormalities. Sylvester then said that they would be switching up strategy tomorrow and thus dismissed after they finished eating.
The two women went to their room while the boys decided they would hang out for a little while longer saying they will be doing some more scouting.
As Rossa prepared to go to sleep, Estelle suddenly made a strange request. A request the she knows is something is acceptable now.
“Hey, can I brush your hair? I really really want to brush it please!” She suddenly asked, and Rossa surprisingly agreed.
“Your hair is just as smooth as I expected. I bet you have maids back at home to take care of it!” Estelle marveled as the brush smoothly went through the silver strands.
“While I do have maids, I typically take care of it on my own.” Rossa explained, only for Estelle to smile.
“You know you seem much more relaxed now compared to how you were when we first met at the dorm. Are you getting used to this world now?” Estelle asked as she continued to brush along.
“You think so? I don’t think I’m acting any different.” Rossa replied as Estelle finished up.
“Well, for starters you talk a lot more now. You even let me do this now too!” Estelle pointed at the brush she was holding. “When I first met you, you looked super scary and intimidating!”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Rossa said as she faced Estelle. “Now, let me return the favor” She said as she took the brush from Estelle’s hand.
“Oh dear, your hair is very curvy. It’s thanks to that hairstyle of yours.” Rossa commented as the brush encountered a bit of resistance, however Estelle wanted to use this opportunity to ask for certain little tidbits of info.
“Soo, Rossa. How was your walk with Sylvester at the beach?” She asked, trying to sound as impartial and neutral as she can.
“Hmm? Uneventful except for that little girl we found. Honestly, I wonder if we’re even going to find any ghouls here. It’s too peaceful, was our information wrong?” Rossa replied in a serious tone causing Estelle to let out a sigh.
"Uggh, this is gonna take a while." Estelle then voiced her disappointment out loud.
"Hmm? What is?"
"Fufufu Nothing~!"
Meanwhile at the boy’s side of things.
“Hah, 10th shot down the hole, and still going strong! It’s okay if you want to quit now Artian.” Sylvester said as he slammed a small glass down on the table.
“You think that’s fucking impressive? Heh, you ain’t seen nothing yet you magical hobo, you’re the one who’s backing down first!” Artian declared as he drank some liquid from a small glass. The two then continued their meaningless contest, focused only on out drinking the other.
However, as things seemed to remain peaceful , a large metallic box can be seen left alone in the middle of a street. People passed by the box who seemed out of place and yet, no one seemed to care in this calm and beautiful night.