Chapter 78

The Imposter The Band of Gluttons end up remaining with Director Bear while Lammis and Hulemy set out to spy on the enemy, but I want to go with them, too. I am most interested in this imposter. I don’t only want to hear about them—I want to see them directly. Nevertheless, if they carry me around in my usual vending machine state, the jig will be up the moment we step outside. The best course of action would be to hide my identity first. Therefore, we decide that I’ll change into my cardboard vending machine form and be put into a largish bag so Hulemy can carry me. That’s enough of a camouflage for me, but these two are actually already in disguise. Lammis has her hair down instead of in a side ponytail, and she’s wearing a wide-brimmed hat made of a soft material. Her clothing also consists of a cardigan and a long skirt, quieting her habitually energetic aura and making her seem more like a carefully raised young lady. “Th-this seems kind of weird, Boxxo. Does it look good?” “Welcome.” It’s the exact opposite of her usual image, and combined with her bashful behavior, it makes her exorbitantly cute. Time to take another recording with my surveillance camera. “That’s a total transformation, Lammis,” says Hulemy, looking at her hard. You can barely recognize Hulemy, either. Her normally sloppily tied-back hair is in a braid hanging at her back, and she’s wearing a front-peaked hat that makes her head look larger. She has on sleeveless clothes, but the collar is a turtleneck, and you can see from the outline of her body… She’s padding her chest. She’s much more buxom than usual. Below that, she’s wearing low-rise shorts that expose her thighs, from which her slender, fair legs extend smoothly. The outfit makes her look active and energetic instead of frail and reclusive. “Your clothes are really cool, Hulemy. Don’t you think so, Boxxo?” “Welcome.” “Well, I don’t prefer clothes like this.” She scratches at her head in a rare instance of shyness. Her usual black coat doesn’t show too much skin, so her new outfit looks refreshing and charming. Actually, if she takes off the black coat, she ends up exposing a whole lot of skin, but only a few people know that. She was attractive to begin with, so she’d be popular if she groomed herself a little more regularly. “All right, let’s go scouting!” “Yeah. This is a little embarrassing, but let’s go.” “Welcome.” The three of us are walking through the settlement now, but I’ve felt eyes from both men and women on us. The men look at us with carnal lust in their gazes, the kind they have when talking to a beautiful woman, but the women sometimes sigh in admiration, as though captivated. Both these girls are top-tier beauties, so I understand people wanting to stare at them, but these were certainly not the right disguises for scouting out the enemy. “Hey, this was definitely the place the fake Boxxo was, right?” “Yeah. Where is it…? Look—close to the place the Chains Restaurant used to be.” The moment I hear that, I get a bad feeling. No, it’s less a feeling and more a conviction. Actually, I think I see where this is going. If the Chains Restaurant is involved with this incident… No, I shouldn’t make assumptions. The first thing we should do is gather information at the scene.