Caleriette dropped the car, sending it crashing back to the ground. However, there was still an imprint of her hand on its bumper.
“...Crap,” Kyouhei groaned.
It would have been awful if someone had seen them; it would definitely have been reported.
At a loss, Kyouhei turned to Pamil for help, thinking that she at least would have more common sense. “Pamil! Do something about that, would you?!”
“I will. Leave it to me,” she said with a trustworthy nod before walking briskly towards them.
“Mother, Lorie,” she addressed them, “a word please.”
“What would that be?”
“What is it?”
The two of them asked in turn, blinking at her.
“You must always wash your hands after playing with animals,” she told them gravely.
“Ah!” Both mother and child nodded as if they’d forgotten.
“That’s not what I meant!!” Kyouhei yelled.
Dolph gave a satisfied nod from where he was standing next to Kyouhei, watching them warmly. “Behold, Kyouhei-kun. This is the warmth of a family. A pet certainly does grease the wheels of conversation.”
“...You don’t have any other comment?”
“Hmm?” Dolph questioned.
Yes, they were Pamil’s family. Missing common sense like that was just like Pamil had been when they’d first met—and now too, on occasion. He honestly had no idea how they’d survived up until now with their utter lack of normalcy and such.
Nope... I can’t let them go around town like this; it’ll be chaos.
It would be about ten times more than Pamil (the nearest competing product).
“Dolph-san,” Kyouhei said, “let’s not go to the town.”
Dolph turned to look at Kyouhei with a serious expression on his face. “Why?” he asked, his eyebrows furrowing.
“Because...” Kyouhei began, containing his urge to say that he didn’t want to lead around a troupe of crazies through the city, and keeping as even a tone as he could, “there’s a better place for a family to go on a day off.”
Honestly, to go to that place in question was an idea born from desperation, but Dolph seemed to be interested, as he nodded several times. “Oh...? Is it a place that would be more family-ish than window-shopping around town with my daughter and wife, with the former crying out: ‘Papa, buy thaaat’?”
He still spoke with all the majesty befitting a ruler as he drew closer to Kyouhei. The things he was saying, though, sounded more like some crappy joke.
“Indeed, I’m sure it’ll get family lines like: ‘Papa, give me a piggyback♪’ and... maybe some sweet words like: ‘Dear, don’t you think we should try for another child~?’ I’m sure of it...!”
Kyouhei’s idea was his only hope. He was so desperate that even he had no idea what he was actually saying... but he had to bear with it.
For the peace of the shopping district.
And his own tranquility.
“...Oh hoh. Then, let’s hear it. What is the name of this paradise?” Dolph exclaimed, a sharp glint in his eyes.
● ● ●
Her azure eyes stared at him, watery.
“Onii-sama...”
Kyouhei faltered in the face of Lorie’s pleading gaze.
She was clinging to his waist, holding her still-undeveloped body to his.
“Please... I... I want to!”
Due to her short stature, she came up to about his waist, so the position of her face against his body would... make it seem like there was a crime being committed if someone saw them.
“I said no, and no means no; you’re still too small,” he managed, stiffening with the strain. Ah, I mean his voice, of course, just in case.
“Kyouhei, I’m asking you too. Please grant her wish?” Pamil muttered... quietly embracing him as well.
“...Wai... Pamil?!” Kyouhei stuttered, sandwiched between the sisters.
It hadn’t bothered him until now, but he could feel the soft sensations—sensations that seemed unlikely from an android—through their clothes, and could smell their sweet feminine scent. And, you know, Kyouhei was a healthy seventeen-year-old boy...
“Would you... Kyouhei?”
“Please... Onii-sama.”
Lorie was at his front, and Pamil was at his back. He could feel the threat that neither would let go until he gave the okay.
Therefore, Kyouhei sighed in exaggeration.
“Fine, do what you like!”
They were in the Midorikawa Zoo, a small attraction in the corner of a large park about 12 kilometers from the city.
There were fewer animals exhibited than in the average zoo. Even so, there were animals you’d never see in day-to-day life in a city, and it was well situated too. There was an offer for families, so the tired workers of the area could bring their families for an evening—it was perfect.
There was an area in the pamphlet’s map labeled “Petting Plaza.” It was an area of bare ground about 100 meters in diameter, divided into three areas separated with wooden fencing. In that area, you could stroke rabbits and goats as they went around grazing on the grass.
Even more popular was the third area, where you could ride a horse for 500 yen a time.
“Just once,” he insisted, pulling out a coin from his wallet and placing it in Lorie’s small palm.
“Father, Onii-sama said I could!” she cried happily after receiving the coin. She then raced over to the horses.
“My apologies for all of this, boy,” he nodded, apologizing excessively seriously again.
“Man... who ever heard of a penniless royal family...” Kyouhei muttered irritatedly.
Having come out of their coffins stark naked, the Bergmann family was literally penniless indeed. Therefore, it had been Kyouhei who had fronted the cost for the trip and entry fees.
Incidentally, if you were wondering where the rest of the family was, they were safely in the other corners—where you could enter for free—with the rabbits and goats, all of them enjoying themselves.
As Kyouhei had surmised, the screws in their heads weren’t loose enough to use their Royal Powers on the animals, and he was sure that it was at the very least a better option than the city would have been.
“I guess I’ll just claim the costs back from Dad later...” Kyouhei muttered, considering his funds for the rest of the month. Entertaining Dolph and the others had nothing to do with Shuuhei, but since it was related to Pamil, he didn’t think he wouldn’t take responsibility. “...Well, whatever.”
Looking towards where Lorie was buying her ticket, he could see her happiness emanating from the depths of her heart. She might be a little... off, but seeing a girl like that seemed well worth the 500 yen.
Pamil came around from behind him to stand next to him, looking at the sight with bright eyes and a smile on her face.
“Everything we see and touch... is all a new experience, so each sensation like this is precious. Particularly for Lorie; I heard from Father that she’s set up as a young girl, so she isn’t programmed with the skills of an equestrian, and that’s why she wanted to try it so much.”
Kyouhei was lost for words and gazed deeply at Pamil’s face.
“Hm, Kyouhei, do you find a problem with my facial expression?”
“Nah... your problems are all with your persona—I mean, I just thought you looked like a real big sister.”
“Hmm?” Pamil frowned in thought at the unexpected statement. “Hmm... I didn’t expect that. To think that contact with sister machines would cause partial changes.”
“That’s not what I mean!” Kyouhei cried, thinking: Well, I guess it’s fairly peaceful? as he did.
However, as always, he remembered that not everything goes according to plan immediately afterward.
● ● ●
The peace... was shattered by the neigh of a horse piercing his eardrums.
The fun mood within the park transitioned instantly to one of confusion. Kyouhei looked around frantically, and saw a horse rearing up on its hind legs, as well as Lorie holding on to its back for dear life. “Onee-sama!” she bawled, as she pulled on the reins.
At that, the horse got even more excited, its eyes bulging as it began to froth at the mouth and kick its forelegs. Even a horse of average height was easily taller than a human on its hind legs, and easily heavy enough to trample a small child.
“What happened?!” The royal couple came rushing over, their expressions changing.
Kyouhei heard a nearby child speaking to their parents nearby: “I saw it. That girl took the reins from the guide!”
He looked and saw an attendant slumped against the fence, twitching. Lorie had probably used her Royal Thunder or something.
While he didn’t know the specifics... the girl had probably had a fit of childish selfishness and demanded to be allowed to ride on her own. The attendant hadn’t let her, and then... or something like that.
“What on...”
Horses were sensitive animals, and could easily spook from sudden changes. If its handler collapsed in front of it, then...
“Jump down, Lorie!” Kyouhei cried.
Another attendant had rushed over and was trying to calm the horse by yelling “Whoa!”
The horse, though, swiveled madly before bolting off like an arrow.
“Kyaaaaaahhhhhh!”
Lorie and the horse vanished into the distance with a scream.
“Kyouhei!” Pamil called for help, her expression panicked.
At her eyes asking—actually, it was more like pleading—for help, Kyouhei quickly surveyed the area.
His gaze came to rest upon another corner of the Petting Plaza. There was a sign above it reading “Cycling Corner.”
“There!” he shouted, seeing the bikes lined up with a note saying that they could be borrowed freely.
● ● ●
The horse was galloping along the fence, taking a large, circular path. Its huge body was going flat out, racing away like a bouncy ball with astounding acceleration.
Of course, no one there was marveling at the majesty of the animal, as should be the case, considering there was a little girl clinging to it.
The Petting Plaza was in an uproar, screams and angry yells flying about the place.
Amid all that... Kyouhei was keenly feeling the absurd power contained in Pamil’s frame as they sped off just as fast as the horse.
Pamil was pedaling the borrowed bike, so she was on the saddle, while Kyouhei was sitting on the luggage rack over the back wheel.
It was fast, okay? Fast.
Pamil was spinning the pedals with a strength that belied her slight frame, accelerating the bike, which was burdened by two people, as if it were weightless. The scenery seemed to blur past them, and Kyouhei felt like the wind resistance was going to blow him off the rack.
Impossible as it may normally seem, the bike was steadily gaining on the runaway horse.
Kyouhei’s arms were wrapped tightly around Pamil’s waist—narrower than he’d expected. He could easily wrap his arms around it so he didn’t fall off.
“Lorie!” Kyouhei yelled once the bike pulled alongside the horse, leaving the riding all to Pamil. “What are you doing?! Jump off!”
He thought that, if she had super-strength and could fire lightning and eye beams, falling from a horse should be nothing to her.
“No, if I jump down, the horse might hit something!” Lorie cried, turning her face from where it was buried in the horse’s mane. The look in her eyes wasn’t one of fear; it was a look of confusion from not knowing what to do.