...
Shin-chan: "I didn't expect Saiki-oniichan to be so amazing. You can even do magic tricks."
[It's nothing special. Just don't tell anyone, okay?]
Saiki hadn't really performed anything outrageous—just things within normal acceptance range, like suddenly making fire appear in his hand to form a little fire person that danced, or producing a balloon out of thin air and tying it into a dog shape without touching it…
(Am I going too far?)
Saiki reminded himself again not to casually expose his superpowers, but it was fine. The other person was just a kid, and treating it as magic was okay.
[So what's your name?]
Saiki patted the child who was leaning excitedly against his chest, eyes sparkling as he looked up at him.
"I'm Ken-ta."
[Then, Kenta, do you remember your mom's name? Or her phone number, anything like that?]
Kenta shook his head: "I don't remember."
[That's fine, no problem.]
Saiki didn't ask any more. In any case, they could just take him to the police station.
[Okay, let's go, Shin-chan.]
"Oh—okay."
Shin-chan agreed right away and hurried to catch up: "Saiki-oniichan, where are we going next to find Kenta's mom?"
[It's better to just go straight to the police.]
"Oh oh. So Kenta, Kenta, is your mom pretty?"
Shin-chan asked expectantly while lightly skipping along.
"Um… my mom is really pretty."
"Oh~ Really?"
Shin-chan's eyes lit up, and he flashed that signature grin again.
"My mom told me to say that."
"…"
Shin-chan's face instantly fell, his expectations gone. After all, his own mom had told him the exact same thing.
As they walked, they spotted a refined-looking young woman in her twenties.
Shin-chan dashed forward and greeted her directly.
"Big sis!"
"What is it?"
The young woman stopped in her tracks when she saw a child approaching her.
"Big sis, is this kid your baby?"
Shin-chan pointed at Kenta in Saiki's arms.
"No, absolutely not!!"
The young woman had thought it was a lost child or something similar.
But she was startled by Shin-chan's sudden question and quickly denied it, clenching her fists.
[You brat, you can't just ask like that.]
On the way to the police station, Shin-chan basically asked every woman who looked about the right age. Young women, mature older-sister types, cool girls, even female high school students.
"Jeez, Kenta, you're way too picky. You don't want this one, don't want that one. If you keep this up, it's gonna be bad when you grow up. I'm seriously worried about your future."
Shin-chan rambled on without a care. He had even passed up someone who looked a lot like Sumiko-chan earlier.
Kenta put his hand on his chin: "But… none of them are my mom."
[Compared to his future, I'm more worried about yours.]
...
When they reached the police station, Saiki went inside and saw only one officer sitting at the desk writing reports.
[This is the perfect time to find a public servant police officer.]
"Excuse me, is there something I can help with?"
The officer looked up with a smile when he saw them enter.
[Oh, this child got lost, and then…]
"Officer! Officer! This is bad, this is really bad! My delivery bike parked in front of the station is gone!!"
A man in a delivery uniform rushed in hurriedly and spoke first.
Hearing about a theft, the officer immediately stood up: "Alright, we'll go right now."
The officer quickly strode out of the station, but then remembered something and turned back to Saiki in a hurry: "Ah, sorry about this. I have to handle something first. Just wait here for me, I'll be back soon…"
[We were here first.]
Saiki watched the officer run off and could only sigh helplessly.
"Saiki-oniichan, what do we do now? Should we wait for Officer Bebe to come back? But Officer Bebe looks really busy."
[Waiting for the police… it seems like it'll take a while…]
From the earlier situation, Saiki figured it would take at least one or two hours for him to come back.
Shin-chan clapped his hands: "Okay! Then there's only one way left. Saiki-oniichan, let's go to the Action Department Store!"
[What for? It's not time to eat chocolate cookies right now.]
"No no, not that! We'll go to the lost child center there. I know it really well. They can help us find Kenta's mom!"
[What do you mean you know it well? You just deliberately get lost there, don't you? And going there won't help anyway!]
"Eh!! It won't help?"
Saiki ignored Shin-chan and started thinking.
(Waiting for a check would take too long. It's better if I go look myself, but…)
Saiki glanced at Shin-chan and instructed him.
[I'll take Kenta to find his mom. Shin-chan, you stay here and wait, okay?]
"Eh! I want to go too! Why aren't you taking me? Are you saying I'm a bother?"
(Yes.)
Of course Saiki couldn't say that out loud. He smiled and explained.
[How could that be? It's better if you stay here. If Officer comes back and you don't help me keep him here, I won't be able to find him again. That would be bad, right? So stay and do me this big favor. This is something only Shin-chan can do.]
"Only I can do it…"
Shin-chan immediately stood at attention and declared seriously: "Got it, Saiki-oniichan! Mission accepted!"
[Mm, I'm counting on you, Shin-chan. Make sure you complete this task properly.]
After explaining to Shin-chan, Saiki took Kenta and left.
"Saiki-oniichan, where are we going to find Mom?"
[Since you got lost, your mom should come to the police station too. Let's start looking nearby.]
Saiki placed Kenta on his shoulders and asked quietly.
[Kenta, hold on tight. By the way, are you scared of heights?]
"Mm, I'm not scared… I'm really brave."
Kenta sat on Saiki's shoulders, tilted his head, and said: "When I was little, Dad played airplane with me and threw me really high. I accidentally got stuck in a tree for an hour, and I didn't even cry afterward."
[Mm, I see. Okay then. Here, put this over your eyes.]
Just to be safe, Saiki pulled a black blindfold from his pocket and handed it to Kenta.
[Put it on. Later I'll carry you to look for your mom faster. Cover your eyes with this. When I say it's okay, you can take it off, alright?]
"Mm, thank you, Saiki-oniichan."
Kenta didn't quite understand but obediently put on the blindfold.
[What a good kid. Alright, here we go.]
Saiki gave a light leap and quickly floated into the air. He closed his eyes and listened to the surrounding thoughts to search.
...