The next morning.

Kino and Hermes set off after the cat-eared citizens bid them farewell.

When the traveler was already out of sight, the leader removed the dark brown cat ears from his head with a somewhat regretful look on his face. The other citizens removed their own cat ears as well while the crowd dissolved.

The female secretary beside the man came and took his ears and removed her own. She put them in a basket with the words ‘Collection Box’ written on it.

The woman spoke to the man who still looked disappointed. “It’s no good, huh? She didn’t join in.”

“Yeah, it’s no good…. Ring the bell to announce that it’s over.”

“I’ve arranged for it.”

“With this, we already have 549 wins and 233 losses. In my tenure, we had 3 wins and 8 losses…. The travelers we had for several years must have circulated rumors about this country to several others.”

“Indeed.”

“Well, that’s that. Now, what do we do next time? We should decide quickly, or else we won’t be able to prepare and practice. We have to change the painting too——”


—

A motorrad was running along a road in the forest.

“Cat ears…, I didn’t see that coming. Everyone was cute to some extent. I cannot count the number of times I had to stop myself from laughing, you know. That dance was really amusing too,” Kino said with a smile.

“It would be amusing if you wore them too, Kino. I’m sure they would suit you very well.”

“Well, whatever. Riding with lies is something I’m not good at, after all.”

And then, with an extremely serious tone,

“They did not show the slightest bit of a character’s element of surprise, even if it’s for the spirit of service, don’t you think Kino?”

“What’s that about…? But they sure don’t run out of ideas. I only heard this but…, it was said that they also wore turtle shells on their backs, attached lion tails on their bottoms, imitated how crows walk, used an intense dance as a greeting, cry suddenly while greeting, ate while they sang…. What will they do next?”

“Decorate their heads with crow feathers, enter a room hopping with their right leg, eat while their left hand is pointing at the sky, put on white make-up around their eyes, greet with thumbs up and say ‘Yay!’, maybe?”

“Yeah, that’s it. I too won’t give any spoilers to the travelers we meet. Everyone will be happy if they get to drag someone to their tradition.”

“Jeez…, there’s one over here too,” [2] Hermes said with an upset expression to the very relaxed Kino.