I Came Back but the World is Still a Fantasy!? - 4-54: There’s No One Inside! (5/5)

4-54: There’s No One Inside! (5/5)

With no way to see through the tricks, the shadows couldn’t help but become agitated. Unfortunately for them, neither Aristel nor Shinichi were soft enough to let that pass.

The pirate cat stepped out with his saber and crushed a shadow’s gun before it could even fire, then with that momentum, slammed down on the shadow with his saber.

With the damage too great for a simple exoskeleton to mitigate, the shadow tottered, and in the next moment, a giant paw greeted him.

A Warunyaa flying kick landed square on his face, sending him flying into one of his comrades to tumble together a few times off the ground before vanishing into a puff of smoke.

In a display of courage, the two other shadows managed to bring their attention back into the battle and jumped at Nyani-nya, but unfortunately for them, even Aristel’s conditioned reflex was more than enough to deal with them what with that rapier of hers that was actually a club.

Yes, they were just like a ball thrown at the perfect speed and angle for a homerun.

It was doubtful if Aristel had any knowledge of that, but regardless, she swung her sword(blunt weapon) like a baseball bat and sent the two shadows flying into the night sky.

Before long, those two shadows transformed into a pair of twinkling stars, garnering the laughter of the audience charmed by the marvelous performance of the cats and the shadows, not knowing that the shadows have all actually been bound tight and teleported away.

『Hmph, you’re 100 years too early if you want to fight me, nyaa!』

The two cats each took half of the shadows and defeated them, but only Warunyaa laughed with a 『nyahahaha』because Nyani-nya was busy tiptoeing from behind to try and sneak up on him.

Most of the audience didn’t say anything and just grinned, but the innocent children yelled out, “behind you!”

However, Warunyaa just feigned ignorance and said, 『What’s that, nyaa?』

『Got you, nyaa！』

『Uwaah, what are you doing, nyaa!』

『I’m taking this back, Warunyaa!』

The knight cat’s paws had reached out for the treasure box that the pirate cat had been carrying.

When Warunyaa realized that Nyani-nya was trying to steal his treasure, he got mad.

『Let go, nyaa! It’s not good to steal from people, nyaa!』

『H-How could you say that, nyaa!』

As the audience laughed, Warunyaa and Nyani-nya acted according to their own script and began to play tug of war with the treasure chest.

The audience cheered for the cats, but they probably wouldn’t be acting like this had they known what was inside.

Of course, neither Shinichi nor Aristel ever intended on letting them know. Especially, since they believed that the ensuing chaos was exactly what the true mastermind wanted.

That’s why turning this whole thing into nothing more than a show was the greatest way to get back at that foul criminal.

After several rounds of playing tug of war with the treasure chest, Aristel and Shinichi glanced at each other through the internal display of their costumes and nodded.

In the next moment, the gift slipped from the two cats’ paws, and the evil cat ran for it to grab it, then jumped to distance himself from Nyani-nya.

『Oh no!』

『Mine! Nyahahaha, now then, what could possibly be inside… Nyaa?』

Warunyaa opened the treasure chest to confirm his spoils only to freeze upon peeking inside.

『W-What is this, nyaa!? Why is this treasure chest full of cannonballs, nyaa!?』

The cat said loudly as he lifted up the treasure chest full of cannonballs.

But of course, thos cannonballs were really a bomb, and they were just relying on a projection to make it look like a bunch of cannonballs.

They did that to prevent anyone from suspecting that it might actually be a bomb, and to prevent the remaining criminals from becoming desperate by making them bleieve that they still had weapons left.

“…It’s a pity, Warunyaa! However, the treasure chest I was talking about earlier is this one! You stole the wrong treasure chest!”

The songstress, Monica, stood atop her pirate-themed float car and raised up her treasure chest to reveal a jewel prop inside, then looked down at the shocked Warunyaa with a mischievous grin.

『Nyaat did you say!?!?』

While secretly grateful for the songstress’ improvisation, Warunyaa collapsed limply onto the ground.

Though Monica believed this to have been part of the script anyway, she was just happy to be able to get back at this cat that tickled her so mercilessly.

As for the audience, the sight of the evil cat’s clumsy mistake was always a joy to watch.

『I don’t need something like this, nyaa!!』

It was curious whether the cat was furious that he’d been tricked or merely ashamed, but he made the treasure chest float, then sent it flying with a full-powered kick that launched it into the night sky as fast as that human home run from earlier.

While the audience’s eyes were gathered onto the treasure chest, Shinichi turned off the microphone and voice changer of his costume and muttered.

“Dye the sky, make bloom the flower, Light(Rint)Fire(Gorga)!”

That was a technique known as Simultaneous Dual-Attribute Chanting, a high level skill that would stupefy even the people of Falandia, but it was exactly that that he cast on the flying treasure chest to make it fulfill its original role(・・・・・).

“Wow!” Ryou said.

“Amazing───────It’s so beautiful,” Youko said.

“Huh… What was that just now?” Tomoe said.

As a large flower bloomed in the night sky, the explosives meant to ruin the parade became a beautiful painting that adorned it instead.

Explosions thundered in rhythm as though to accompany the blooming flower of light.

A sight made dazzling precisely because it was a different reality(real thing) from the reality(realistic) lights they’ve seen until now.

“Oh, so they’re not cannonballs but fireworks. So Warunyaa can do some good.”

In the end, Monica muttered those words, and that became the last line of the show.

The flower of light drew the eyes and heart of the people, so doing any more wouldn’t be proper.

As a singer and entertainer, that was something that she understood very well.

That’s why she just quietly turned off her microphone.

“…But it’s a bit frustrating. With this, there’s no room for my song to make an entrance.”

But of course, her pride as a singer(pro) was a different story altogether.

After all, she had to come down from the stage without being able to charm people with her song.

The evil cat quietly slipped away while the audience’s attention was on the night sky, but he couldn’t escape Monica’s gaze, and as she watched him with amusement, she pointed a finger gun at him and said, “I’ll remember this, you naughty cat.”