And hey presto, illusion complete! Yay~! ♪

.........

Ha-ha-ha, just the thought of Nazunyan's face all panicked and freaked out is enough to make me laugh!

Oh, that feels so good—that's what you get for treating someone like a straight up criminal⁠♪

I wonder if I should mess with him a little more. What if I sent him a message with something like, "If you want To-mo-ya-kun back, pay me a ransom fee..."

...Do you think he'd actually get the police involved if I did?

.........

Hey now, To-mo-ya-kun, what's with that look on your face? Cheer up, won't you? We made a clean getaway from that hoard of zombies, and look, we're no longer handcuffed together. So why the long face...?

Yeah... For some reason, Hibiki-senpai had it. The key, I mean.

I'm telling you—that guy definitely stole the key and sneakily hid it away somewhere, then stood back to watch and laugh at our distress.

But he also acted as a decoy for us to lure Nazunyan's hoard of zombies away from us, so what's the problem?

Think of it as give-and-take. I'm not fan of how the saying goes but, as they say, "No man is an island~" ♪

Ugh~... But in the end, the two of us just danced along to the beat of Hibiki-senpai's script from start to finish. Doesn't that irritate you?

All because I asked him to teach me some magic tricks...

Which means he also taught me how to use him as a decoy and escape using misdirection.

Misdi...what?

Misdirection. It's when you draw attention to one thing, then in the meantime, you sneakily do a whole bunch of stuff behind the scenes. It's one of the fundamentals of magic.

So in this case, you used Hibiki in your misdirection, so you could successfully pull off the escape stunt?

Yes. He should've just told me from the start!

Instead, he went through all this trouble to make sure I was backed right up against the wall, so I had no choice but to go all out. He had me wrack my brains and waited for me to come up with this escape plan all by myself, while he stood back with a stupid grin on his face!

Ha-ha. When you explain something with words alone, there's no guarantee that you'll get the hang of it. You've got to think things through yourself, then repeat the process of trial and error until you get it right.

We aren't geniuses that can hit the nail on the head from the start, after all⁠♪

You're in awfully high spirits, Sena-senpai. Are you really that happy about showing Nii~chan and the others who's boss?

Yeah. Besides, we're finally free from those wretched handcuffs. It's only natural that I can't keep this grin off of my face, isn't it?

I think I've finally understood firsthand just how awful it is to have your freedom taken from you. I'm making a vow—I swear I'll never abduct anyone against their will ever again.

You don't really need to say that so proudly, though. Most people already know that sort of thing is unacceptable—you don't have to go through the trouble of putting it into words. It's kinda scary...

Ha-ha. But even if I do scare you, you've got nowhere to escape to, have you, To-mo-ya-kun? This is my turf now—even if you go running to the police, you won't be able to do much because of the language barrier. Checkmate!

Ugh, I can't believe the very first trip abroad in my life ended up like this... It's fine though, not like I had any immediate plans.

Exactly. The two of us have plenty of time to kill, so we might as well spend it productively, hmm? ♪

I'll show you around. We've got some time to fritter away before Nazunyan and the others get wind of the situation and call off their "Idol Of The Dead" farce.

Yeah. If we'd stayed in Japan, we'd just get chased by zombies forever. But well, there's no way those guys would go as far as chasing us overseas.

Right. These cuff marks alone are enough to stir up a fuss if anyone catches sight of them, but I don't know how I'd begin to explain bite marks from a zombie.

This is a far more refined use of our time, at least until the excitement dies down over there⁠♪

I get it. But I seriously wasn't prepared to hop overseas at all, so all I've got with me are the clothes on my back. I've got to rely on you for everything else, Sena-senpai—a change of clothes, food, and accommodation. So uh, please don't take off without me.

I know, I know. You let me stay in your room last night, so I'll at least return the favor there. That said, who knows what'll happen after that...?

Let's take this bizarre episode and call it an experience, something we can learn to grow from, even by a little. Just like any ordinary creature that can be found anywhere else in the world.

Got it. Aha-ha. Just making it through life is an experience in itself...⁠♪