Interstellar Mariage

(Kafka ended up drinking a lot with the other mayors tonight. I hope he’s okay. He got drunk pretty easily at his 20th birthday party…)

Ahhh, Chiiiief, there you aaaare. Uppiiiees.

Huh?! I lost sight of you for one second, and you’re already hammered?!

Looks like he got a little carried away with the celebration. I can carry him instead.

Ah, thanks for the offer, but I think it’d be better for Sakujiro-san to do it.

(We had no other choice during our trip to Kobe, but Kafka would definitely get upset if he found out that Yuki-nii carried him again.)

But Sakujiro-san left with Liguang, Kinari, and Yodaka to get some mahjong tiles.

Huh? What do they need those for?

Noooo, I’m not sleeping until Netaro gets here! We’re gonna take over the whoooole world together! Ahahaha!

(Kafka’s been really attached in Netaro-kun ever since he interviewed with us on Daniel-san’s recommendation.)

(It makes me happy to have another mayor who could be friends with Kafka.)

Yeah… Hm? Did you hear that just now?

Huh?

Ted!

Ahhhh! They’re SOOOOO cute and dazzable! ☆ And the little gyaru accessories on your pet robot are totes adorbs! ♪

Oh, you run the pork bun cafe, right? Yowa-san, was it…? You said that you’d be late.

Why, yes. Indeed, I am the future Ward 18 mayor, Yowa Netaro! I entirely lost track of the time as I was making these special new buns for the party.

Chii’s name is Chihiro! And this is Taotao! These mystery pork buns literally look SO delish! ♪

These ones are the Interstellar Mariage ☆ Natto-Curry Buns, and these are the Laughing Bon Voyage ☆ Mushroom-Cheese Buns.

Nattuuuu. ♪ Na-na-na, pi-pi-piii.

O-M-G! Taroppu, your pet robot’s singing is literally the cutest! ☆ Can I take a pic of it standing next to you? Oh, and can I post it on dazzle?

Why of course, Chii!

Damn, they already gave each other nicknames…

Do you have fingers, little guy? You wanna make finger hearts with Chii?

Alright, you have fun with that. I’m gonna take a bun. Hmm… I’ll try the mushroom and cheese one…

Then Chii’s gonna take this wicked-sounding natto and curry one! ♪

*munch*

……

Wha?! Taotao…?!

Woah! I dunno what’s going on, but seeing Taotao belly laugh is, like, an SSR-level pull! I gotta record this!

Nattu, goke, pyruuup.

I-It’s Chii-sama…! I’m walking on the same ground as Chii-sama…! Breathing the same air…!

Ahh…! I offer my eternal thanks to all of existence! Thank the stars above for birthing me into the same era as my bias…!

Chii-sama is certainly one of the greatest humans to grace this planet, yes!

Ohh, sho Chii-shama musht be the choshen one! I get it now!

…I believe that all beings are equal, but I shall refrain from being so Tactless.

Ah, Netaro-kun’s here. But Kafka’s already asleep…

Good evening, cica. Are you enjoying yourself?

Haven’t talked to you all night, Chief. ’Grats on finding all the mayors. Cheers.

Thank you both! Cheers!

(The mayors have all gotten to know each other since they moved into the dorms, but…I’m not sure how Ten-kun and Kuguri-san got so friendly. They’re definitely an odd pair.)

Shumai was going crazy when the pork bun guy got here, y’know?

Aha, his animal instincts alerted him of something, I suppose. Are you sure you’re fine with letting that in this house?

“That”…? Are you talking about Netaro-kun? He’s a little eccentric, but he’s not a bad guy.

(Toi-kun said that we needed Netaro-kun with us in order to look for his brother. I wanna find him like we promised.)

*pant, pant…* Everything’s so frickin’ good that I can’t stop eating…!

I gotta stuff my stomach with enough food to last a lifetime… Don’t stop me now!

Stop running around like a headless chicken. Your levels of gluttony are actually disgusting.

But…Kurama…that’s your…third plate of…yakisoba.

Huh? That’s not the point here.

You don’t have to…be embarrassed… It’s really good…so…

I’m not even the slightest bit embarrassed.

Hm… I’m still hungry. I’m going to get another helping.

Oh, I’ll go with you. I wanna get some more of that pizza… Hm?

Phew, it’s finally over… Man, my cheeks hurt from laughing.

Huh? When’d I take all these pics of Tao? I feel like I had this weird maternal instinct to take them…

Ahaha! I hid a special little ingredient into the buns! Isn’t that right, Laika?

Smeshal.

Ah… Wh… What?!

Euclidean Disassembly Insta-Undress Pen. A fantastic invention, if I do say so myself!

Human clothes are quite the hinderance, are they not? That GRRRIP they have on your throat is unbearable.

…Where…did you…?

Never mind that, who are you?! Where’d you come from?! The door’s over there…

And where’s the egg?!

Ah…!

What’s wrong? You’re trembling.

That… That’s him…!

Hm?

*gasp*

AAAGHH, the calories are racing through my bloodstream!

Everyone, stay calm and listen to me.

?

The man we met on the roof after our HosLive is here. The secret agent who took the egg.

HUH?! Don’t lie…

That’s definitely him. There’s no way you could mistake him for anyone else.

Seriously? I don’t remember the guy.

I don’t expect your brain to remember anything. But…why is he here? I don’t get it.

Is he the Ward 18 mayor who said he was gonna show up late?

Most likely. That must be Yowa Netaro.

What was the name of that secret service again? Ponzu? No…

Yorozu!

That’s what you remember?

He…has the…egg…!

Huh?

There…

Pi-pi-pi. Ji-ji-ji. Vrrr.

Umm… I don’t think that’s the egg. It just looks like a pet robot.

I agree with Panda.

No… I know it…is…

Kinugawa, you had the deepest connection with the egg out of anyone on our team, so I believe you.

But the egg thing aside, do you think that guy’s safe to approach?

Beats me. He seems dangerous. Probably better to keep our distance. Who knows, he might make something explode or make our clothes fall off.

Heyyo, didn’t we meet on the roof that one time?

Hmmm?

That fucking…! Don’t just waltz up to him and start askin’ questions!

Yeeeaaah, my buddies back there told me that we met before, soooo…

Right, guys?!

I don’t know him, I don’t know him…

Ah… Muneuji?!

Hello. I’m Kaguya Muneuji, the Ward 8 mayor. I’m not sure if you remember me.

Your eyeballs are positively stunning, Uji. I do feel like as if seen them before, a long, long time ago…

……

But I don’t quite recall. Let us consider this our first time meeting, yes?

……

Hajimemashite, nice to meet you! Je m’appelle Akuta, spa-heero!¹

Muu-chan, we’re leaving! You too!

…I see. It must be because he’s part of the Yorozu.

They’re undercover agents who need to work regular jobs to blend into society. He can’t reveal his identity to us like he did on the rooftop.

What are you muttering about?

Seems he actually doesn’t know us.

If he’s saying that we haven’t met before, then we should go along with it. We shouldn’t interfere with his mission.

Mm…

Fine with me.

Hmm… Sure, whatever.

Sounds good. Alright, let’s get back to feastin’!

……

*sigh…*

Are you okay, Nagi-shan?

Yeah…

You musht be worried.

I am. I can feel something terrible brewing.

Maybe I should just go back to the shop and hand out some flowers.

But it’sh sho cold out.

That makes it better.

……

Yeah. Right. It makes it better… I’m gonna go.

Nagi-sha⁠—

Hm, Nagi-kun? What are you doing here?

Ah… Um… Well…

U-Um, a shudden order came in!

Right, a sudden order.

Y-Yesh! We made sure to close the shtore for today, but we’re just alwaysh sho busy!

Oh, really? Okay. Make sure to come back soon. We have cake!

O-Okay. Thank you. Bye…

Drive safe!

Urk!

It’s nothing… See you later…!

Nagi-shan! Are you okay?!

Yeah… For now.

But any more happiness, and I won’t last. I need to balance it out…

Alright, Sonia, let’s go. Handing out flowers in this freezing cold weather should help to dilute this happiness.

Okay!