After chatting with Shiro-san to some extent, I’m off towards where Makina-san is next. No, that may have been a bit of a misnomer. It would be more correct to say I’m off towards where Makina-san and Eden-san are.
Well, both Makina-san and Eden-san are participating in this party. They are technically the same person, but perhaps because the people of this world are more familiar with her Eden identity, Eden-san is operating at the same time as Makina-san.
I don’t really understand the logic behind it, but I suppose it would be something like how Alice is like with her clones.
[My beloved child, welcome! I’m so glad you came to see Mother!]
[Hello, Makina-san…… That said, we already met before the party…… Errr, hello to you too, Eden-san?][For my child to greet this me too, my child really is very kind.]
Hmmm…… Arehh? Dunno if it’s just my imagination, but this Eden-san somehow feels calmer. No, even when Makina-san isn’t on a rampage, she tends to refer to me as “my beloved child”, making me hard to distinguish Makina-san from Eden-san, but if Eden-san doesn’t refer to me as “my beloved child”, she’s likely in a considerably calm state.
While I was having doubts about this, Alice, who was next to Makina-san, called out to me with a somewhat astounded expression on her face.
[Ahh~~ I can somewhat understand what Kaito-san is thinking. You’ll probably also be taken aback if you hear about the details, but I’ll explain it to you. It seems like that terminal over there, Eden, had been interacting with the past Hero Actors over there, and she’s aiming to keep herself calm and composed so as not to break their image of her.]
Errr, in other words, because the other otherworlders…… such as Kaori-san and Akane-san don’t know about Eden-san’s outbursts, so in order not to destroy the image she had in their mind, Eden-san is keeping herself calm…… If that’s the case, it seems like she’s trying to prevent herself from going on a rampage, but if she can do that, doesn’t that mean she can usually restrain herself?
[That’s right, my beloved child! As a mother, I also want to preserve the image my children had of me. But rest assured, my beloved child, my love for you will be firmly expressed from my side! If it’s pampering you want, it’s a pampering this me will give! While we’re at it, my beloved child can come and leap into my bosom! Or rather, just leap here already. Come, be filled with Mother’s overflowing lo———– Ouch!?]
Ahh, I see…… The rampages are being done on Makina-san’s side huh…… Come to think of it, since a while ago, it’s mostly been Makina-san who’s been talking, so it seems like conversations with me, which might result in her going on a rampage, will mainly be conducted by Makina-san.Just as Makina-san started saying strange things, Alice’s fist was immediately slammed into her face without hesitation.
[A- Alice…… that hurts…… Alice said you’d never let me participate unless I’ve reduced this body’s power, so the power of this terminal had been reduced, so if you hit me with a strike with that power, it’ll normally hurt, you know?]
[Isn’t that obvious? I’m hitting you in a way that hurts you…… I mean, Makina, with the way things are going, it seems like I’m almost exclusively assigned to deal with you during the party, so I’m at my wits’ end here. If I see even the slightest sign of you about to cause trouble, I won’t hesitate to give you a good punch.]
[Hyiiihhh…… Your eyes…… They’re really serious……]
Indeed, Alice’s presence here is truly invaluable. Given that Makina-san and Alice are best friends, Makina-san tends to be quite indulgent towards Alice. Alice’s influence in restraining Makina-san, even greater than Shiro-san’s or Kuro’s, is quite effective.
Up until now, to prevent Shiro-san from realizing that she was meeting up with me in my dreams, Makina-san temporarily erased her existence from my memory, including her connection with Alice, and Alice was being considerate of that as well.
However, thanks to the lifting of that restriction, Alice can now proudly go around suppressing her like this, which is really reassuring. No, I know it’s quite rough for Alice…… but a rampaging Makina-san is seriously dangerous, so I really wish she would do her best to restrain her.
[Look here, Makina. If you go on a rampage this time, I’ll hand all the photos from our previous trip together on a luxury liner to Kaito-san.]
[Can you not!? You’d totally break my calm and reliable mother image here!!! Heck, you still have those!? I told you to get rid of those before!!!]
I don’t know what kind of pictures those are, but I never thought of Makina-san as a calm and reliable mother, so I don’t think she has to worry about ruining her image.
[……For me, those are pictures of happy memories with my dear best friend though. There’s no way I can get rid of it……]
[……Ahh, I- I see. In that case, it can’t be helped…… When you say it like that, I can’t just forcefully demand you dispose of them. H- However, it’s embarrassing, so don’t show them to anyone else.]
Despite Makina-san’s vehement protest, the fact that she readily forgave Alice with just a few words from her, Makina-san really is quite indulgent towards Alice…… or rather, Makina-san is quite gullible.
I mean, can she not see Alice’s evil smile over there, looking as if everything is going according to her plan? Well, regardless, having Alice involved in this party brings relief to Makina-san-related stuff, and that’s something I’m really grateful for.
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [What an excellent Makina Caretaker. I mean, Makina is actually very lenient with Alice in a different way from when she’s with Kaito, and in a sense, the only person who can perfectly control Makina is Alice…… It’s decided she’d also be on Makina Duty in the future huh.]
? ? ? : [Please stop. How much more burden do you want to place on Alice-chan’s shoulders……]
