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Everyone in the car applauded loudly. The crowd surged in on me. The man from before slapped my back heartily. I stared into the darkness outside, my stomach falling into a pit.
“He stared it down!” the man exclaimed.
“Hahaha... you were mistaken,” that skeptical woman shouted, “Nothing we’ve seen indicates that he’s more than a publicity stuntman.”
“Y-yeah... it could be an attempt to capitalize on the anxiety of the people of Tokyo,” another person suggested.
“Maybe,” the savvy woman spoke up again, going with the momentum of the conversation swinging her way. “It was just a sophisticated advertisement from the very beginning! Perhaps there were never any victims. It’s been getting closer to Halloween, after all. To take advantage of the spirit of a holiday is excellent marketing sense. Does that not make sense?”
Reiko-chan... she lost her life. Don’t make a mockery of her loss, the loss of her family and friends... and mine! My fists clenched as I turned to face the woman and staring off against her, I nearly exploded. My whole body was filled with tension and my anger.
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Suddenly, I was struck from behind. I stumbled to my knees and leaned against the row of seats before me. “Magiranger. Of course it was all a stunt! Don’t worry! Wasn’t it a great campaign? Being as Halloween is nearly over, it doesn’t much matter that the truth has come out. Remember, Natalia’s Fashion Mansion! Come on by!” Rui lifted my cape again. “The number is scrawled across his spacious bottom.” She gestured. My anger drowned with a whimper in a sea of humiliation. L-Loli oni! Damn it!
People cheered and laughed behind me. I pulled my cloak over my head. I bet people were tapping the phone number on their phones. “Don’t forget the web address too! You’ll get to see all the wonderful trendy designs she has to offer! No one else offers them in all of Tokyo! It’s not a chain store yet, but with your aid, she’ll be the trendiest woman in Tokyo!”
I surged to my feet when I reached my pride’s limit. “Oni!!!” I yelled.
“Don’t you want to help Natalia-sama?” Rui batted her eyelashes. “We might as well do our best since we took the job.” She winked. “Anyhow..." She stepped close and whispered. “You were looking kind of dangerous again. Right now, we can’t do anything else, idiot. When we get to the station, we’ll need to return... and by foot. That’s going to be difficult.”
“W-why?” I noh-gasped.
She rolled her eyes. “It was challenging you. It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
“Y-you heard the voice, too?” I noh-stared her down.
“Nope.” Rui shrugged and smiled. “I only heard it shrieking outside the car. It was muffled, since it was outside. It was in how it acted that I think it was challenging you. It didn’t come in, despite making such an intensely aggressive move. I gather it spoke to you somehow privately. Was it some kind of strange noh-speak?”
I paused and nodded. “Yes, I guess, but..."
“It told you to follow it, didn’t it?” Rui somehow intuited exactly what it had said.
“But I..."
“Do you want to be like this for life? Do you want to end up just like it? Or are you really a sad noh-nuts?”
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