“Delta and Cross?”
“Yes. I feel bad for suspecting your old friends, but I can’t help but think it… I mean, isn’t the timing too convenient?”
He seemed to feel bad about speaking badly of Ehn’s friends, but still felt he had to say it.
Melt said nothing, but agreed with him, and wanted to hear what Ehn had to say about that.
Ehn knew Delta and Cross very well. She hung her head as she thought about the possibility of them being involved in those muggings, and responded.
“I know how you feel, and I kind of thought it too… But I don’t think so.”
“Why do you say that? Do you have any particular reason?”
“…The guards suspect me because of information given to them by the victims, right? Those two look nothing like me. There’s no chance someone would mistake them for me.”
“But the smaller boy had a ring that looked like a magic item. Couldn’t he use its abilities to trick the victims?”
Asked the owner, and Melt thought back to what Ehn said the previous night.
She said Cross supported her with a magic item when she stole. Couldn’t he use the magic item’s abilities to create false accusations? She thought.
But Ehn denied it.
“That wouldn’t work either. Cross’ magic item has a good ability to trick people… But at most, it can create small illusions.”
“Illusions? Then…”
“It’s not that good of an ability. All it could really do was make it seem like wallets and accessories I stole were still inside bags or on tables. I can’t see it being used in these muggings.”
Cross’ magic item did have the ability to trick people, but… Ehn thought it could create a small, stationary animal at most.
She said it was impossible to make himself or Delta look like her and move around, and she continued after taking a sip of her coffee.
“To be honest, I also suspected them a little, but Delta and Cross couldn’t do that… And I don’t think they would anyway. I can’t really explain it, but I just don’t think they’re bad people to the core like that…”
Melt now understood that this is what felt off to her about Ehn’s demeanor the previous night.
She suspected them, but at the same time, thought it was impossible for them to do it. And she also believed they were not the kind of people to incriminate her and thoughtlessly hurt people.
Surely that was because somewhere deep down, she still thought of them as friends.
The owner nodded, accepting Ehn’s opinion since she knew them for a lot longer than they did, when the bell at the entrance rang, and someone came inside.
“Excuse me.”
“Ah! Jinba!”
“Hey Melt. You’re here too? Are you with Yuugo?”
“No, he’s not here, it’s just me. Did you want something?”
“Just to talk about something…”
Unfortunately, it was not a customer, it was the guard called Jinba.
He was there looking for Yuugo, which reminded the owner of something.
“Yuugo was actually here when I opened today. He showed me something that looked like a compact and asked me if I found one like it here. I told him no, and he rushed out to look for it…”
“Compact? Is it the communications device An handed to him?”
“He did say the name An when he left. And that she was going to turn Phi into a cyborg if he didn’t find it…?”
That was enough for Melt to more or less understand what was going on, but she had to contain a laugh at the thought of Yuugo panicking like that.
She also thanked him for making the mood lighter despite not even being there, and Jinba turned to the owner with the same exasperated smile.
“That guy… But I’m sure he’ll turn up here if I wait… Might as well have lunch here. Can I see a menu?”
“Yes, hold on! Ehn, time to get to work!”
“Yes!”
Both the owner and Ehn were happy about finally having a customer, and ended their break.
Melt was happy as she watched them working with smiles on their faces but… Immediately after, uninvited guests arrived.
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