IT was a long way from the town where Mia and the Rangers lived to Okutama. Lulled by the car’s movements, Mia found herself gradually nodding off. When her head started lolling forward, someone gently shook her.
“Mia, Mia.”
“Mmh—”
“Wake up, Mia. We’re here. If you won’t wake up in three seconds, I’m gonna kiss you.”
“Mm… Kiss…?”
“Three… Two…” a male voice was counting down.
“One…ze—”
“Aagh!”
Mia’s head shot up with a start. Ren’s face was right in front of her, barely a hair’s distance between their noses.
“Tsk, we’re here, like I said.”
“Did you just click your tongue at me?!”
“Nah, you’re just hearing things!” Ren said nonchalantly and climbed out of the car.
Apparently, she ended up falling completely asleep at some point during the car ride. Mia seemed to vaguely remember leaning against something warm and solid, someone gently holding her shoulders. She could have easily figured it out if she tried, but with her sleep-addled brain refusing to kick into gear, she just stepped out of the car, cuddling her watermelon close to her body.
“Ooh…”
A quick look around showed that she was in some forest. Although she could see a road and a camping site nearby, if she cast her gaze a bit further, countless trees filled her line of vision. A fence stretched over the back of the parking lot; when Mia examined it, she discovered there was a river flowing at the foot of the cliff. Its waters calm and tranquil, it seemed like a great place to enjoy a barbecue or do some fishing.
“Mia, over here!”
When she turned around at the sound of her name, she saw Aya beckoning her to join her with one hand, while the other hand was occupied with a bag. When Mia approached Aya, she took Mia’s free hand in hers and, after walking some distance, they reached a two-story log house, the door to which Aya promptly opened with a key.
“Come on in! This is our home for the day.”
Mia cautiously stepped in. She saw a spacious living room, a kitchen, and a staircase leading up to the second floor.
“There’s two bedrooms upstairs, one for the boys and one for the girls. And over here, we can make our barbecue!” Aya bubbled, calling Mia over to where she was standing.
Mia stepped through the balcony door and found herself on a large roofed terrace; there were a number of wooden chairs lined up on the deck, and a grill too.
“Wow…”
Mia curiously stared at the big grill for a few moments before she went over to the railing, leaning on it with her elbows and examining her surroundings. There was a river flowing under the balcony, the same one she saw earlier at the parking lot, and a number of families and groups of people milling about, enjoying their vacation on riverbanks, fishing and barbecuing.
Taking in the pleasant view and wonderful weather, Mia returned indoors. Aya was just taking food out of the cooler and moving it into the fridge.
“Uh, um…”
“What is it? Ah, the tea’s right there. Lemme give you a cup.”
“Er, no, that’s not what I wanted to ask. Um, why did you take me here?” Mia asked, hugging the watermelon to her chest with both hands.
The question seemed to surprise the older woman, her mouth opening slightly.
“Uhhh, because Shou came up with the idea of doing a barbecue with the whole gang during Obon? If we’re all going, that naturally means that we’re bringing you with us too.”
“B-But why would you bring me with you?”
“Well, if you decide to get up to no good while we’re out of town, we’ll get called back to deal with any mischief, right? If that’s the case, all we need to do is just take you with us in the first place, see?”
“So that’s the reason!”
Mia almost dropped to her knees, her shoulders slouching. She felt deflated. So that was how it was. They had wanted to have some fun together. However, if Mia were to cause trouble in town while they were away, they’d have to intervene as Crow Rangers, which would bring an end to their time off. They had no regard in the slightest for her plans or convenience.
For Champions of Justice, they are terribly inconsiderate, grumbled Mia inside her head.
Aya chuckled at the displeasure written plainly on Mia’s features. She stepped closer to her and gently lifted the watermelon from her hands.
“Come on, you don’t have to carry it around anymore. Let’s eat it for dessert! You came all the way here, so just let it all go and enjoy it! Now, let’s get something ready for when the guys come back. Give me a hand, okay?”
As soon as Aya put the watermelon in the fridge, she went to the kitchen and started setting up for the barbecue.
Truth be told…this ‘kidnapping’ was meaningless—if Mia wanted to, she could just fly back home. Or, fighting the Crow Rangers was certainly an option, too. There were ordinary people here as well, and that would cause trouble for them, but why did she have to care about that? She had her cape and her wand with her, so she was free to fight as she pleased. …And yet—
Mia took some of the ingredients from the fridge to the kitchen, and began peeling the leaves off the cabbage and trimming the stems of the shiitake mushrooms. Why? This was a question she had asked herself countless times already when dealing with humanity in general. It was as if there was something inside her heart that burned with yearning, tingled with excitement, leaped in anticipation.
Barbecue for dinner. Ren and the other guys had gone to the nearby supermarket to buy some drinks and snacks, according to Aya. Mia hadn’t had barbecue since the school camp some years ago.
It had always been Mia and her father, just the two of them. She never really went out to play with her friends, because she had always been told that there was work to be done. Day in, day out, she had trained by meditating on the same image and manifesting it, until the magic that her father had taught her about started coming to her naturally. That, though, had been it. Father had given her love and attention, of course, but they had never done anything for fun. Mia hadn’t known the delight of having fun with someone; she only had memories of being with her father.
Aya kindly showed Mia, who was really clumsy with a knife, how to use it properly. Mia was cutting onions, her movements still awkward, when the door to the log house crashed open, heavily thudding against the wall.
“Honeys, I’m home!”
“Oh, welcome back!” Aya responded to Shou’s greeting.
The latter lumbered into the kitchen, both of his hands weighed down by enormous supermarket bags. “I bought the beer you wanted! It’s E…Bi…Su—Ta-da!” He put the sparkly gold tin can on the table with a flourish.
“Whoa!” Aya exclaimed appreciatively.
“I’m back! I just grabbed a random bottle of juice off the racks, I hope you’re o—Hey, Mia, why are you crying?”
“…Huh?”
Ren entered the house soon after Shou, and immediately upon reaching the kitchen, he let a startled question fall from his lips at the sight that greeted him. Tears were dripping down Mia’s face in two fat streams.
“Ah, it’s the onions.”
“The onions?! I almost had a heart attack!”
“Wh-What are you getting mad for? I can’t help this; the tears just keep on flowing!”
Mia couldn’t fathom why Ren had looked so shaken at the sight of her crying. Now, the tears weren’t the only thing running down her face anymore, there was copious amounts of snot involved, too. As Mia sniffled repeatedly, snot bouncing up and down from her nose each time, Ren couldn’t take it anymore. He fished a cloth out of his pocket and began wiping her face down with it.
“Mmh! Mmph! R-Ren…too…rough!”
“Zip it. …Hm, there ya go. All clean.”
When the rough bout of wiping was over, the liquids covering Mia’s face were gone without a trace. Ren put the hand towel back in his pocket and headed out to the terrace. …He probably needed a smoke.
“What was that even supposed to be, ugh,” Mia muttered under her breath as she transferred the onions she managed to finish cutting to a plate, grimacing slightly at her tingling nose and undereye area that took the brunt of the towel assault.
Shou and Aya snickered behind her back at that.
“Is he trying to be her boyfriend or her big brother?”
“That’s ‘cause Ren’s absolutely no good at expressing his feelings. He’s only got two modes: trying to shove his tongue down her throat from the get-go, or behaving like a mother hen. That’s what makes it so amusing to watch though!” Shou shrugged with a devilish grin.
Just then, Misaki and Subaru appeared, having finished parking in the garage, and joined in the preparations for the barbecue.