...
The scene instantly became dead silent, with only the sounds from that phone still playing out loud.
"You bastard, give that back to me!"
The sunglasses man saw the situation turning bad and immediately lunged to snatch the phone from Saiki's hand.
"What the hell? Is this place haunted or something?"
Even though the sunglasses man got his phone back, no matter how he tried to turn off the sound, it wouldn't stop—and it even got louder.
In just a moment, the crowd's attitude flipped completely. Everyone started pointing and criticizing the sunglasses man.
"I said from the start this guy looked shady and up to no good!"
"Yeah, yeah! Accusing girls like that—I was supporting these pretty ladies the whole time!"
"You two were the loudest ones shouting earlier!"
...
Motoba Kirie looked at the still-panicking sunglasses man and said coldly: "See? I was right. Apologize to her!"
"I'll %&www.￥ you..."
The sunglasses man instantly lost it and started raging at Motoba Kirie, stepping forward like he was about to get physical.
Motoba Kirie instinctively raised her hand to block.
But the moment her hand touched the sunglasses man's shoulder, he flew back three or four meters.
"Whoa!"
The sunglasses man struggled to get up, quickly ran away, and while fleeing shouted:
"Monster-strength girl! Monster-strength girl..."
Umaru: "Kirie, you're so strong!"
Ebina Nana: "Thank you, Kirie."
Motoba Kirie was still in a daze: "Just now... did I do that?"
Saiki slowly lowered his hand, glanced in the direction the sunglasses man had fled, took one step back, and instantly blended into the crowd and vanished.
"Umaru, where's Saiki-kun?"
"Yeah, he was just here a second ago?"
"Saiki-shishou, he said earlier he had to leave first. He probably went home!"
Umaru explained to Motoba Kirie and Ebina Nana while the people around them kept praising their bravery.
Meanwhile, on the other side...
The sunglasses man ran for a long time until he reached a restroom in a quiet corner of the mall. Panting heavily, he finally managed to turn off his phone, and it returned to normal.
Then, still out of breath, he walked to the sink and splashed water on his face.
"That was freaky. Good thing the phone's okay. I can only say this round wasn't a total loss—I got shots of that big-boobed beauty. I'll reward myself properly when I get home, heh heh!"
"But it's all that damn pink-haired guy's fault. If not for him, my phone wouldn't have acted up. I bet that punk messed with it somehow!"
[Yare yare daze. No matter the outcome, your guess was pretty accurate, you pervert.]
The sunglasses man looked around toward the source of the voice but saw no one—only heard it.
The next second, in the mirror, he saw Saiki suddenly appear behind him. The sunglasses man whipped around and yelled: "It really was you messing with me! Don't let me catch you, or I'll tie you up and make you regret it!"
The sunglasses man lunged at Saiki, but it was useless. The scene he imagined—of grabbing Saiki and slamming him down—ended with him swiping through empty air.
Just as the sunglasses man thought he was seeing ghosts again, Saiki suddenly appeared behind him, grabbed his face with one hand, lifted him up, and showed a "kind" smile.
[Who did you say you were going to tie up?]
Saiki's second "kind" smile of the day →
The sunglasses man looked at the man holding his face single-handedly and suspending him in midair. Terror filled his eyes. The camera pulled back as screams echoed from the restroom.
"No... Nooo!!"
...
While walking, Umaru suddenly sensed something and turned back, but saw nothing.
Ebina Nana: "What's wrong, Umaru?"
Motoba Kirie: "Did you forget something? I'll go back and get it for you!"
Umaru slowly shook her head.
"No, I just thought I heard someone laughing mockingly. But it must have been my imagination, yeah!"
Umaru [I really wonder why Saiki-shishou left in such a hurry? What was he going to do?]
...10 minutes later, Saiki walked out of the restroom.
(What kind of person is this? His phone storage was completely full of photos and videos. He even had a pinhole camera—he could sneak into women's restrooms. How does he even manage that?)
(At first I thought about kindly clearing his phone for him, but nah, forget it.)
Of course Saiki wouldn't just let a pervert like this off easy, but he didn't do anything excessive—just a simple cleanup.
When Saiki walked out of the restroom, he coincidentally saw a police officer coming in to use it. Saiki ignored him and walked straight past, disappearing around a corner.
Whatever happened after the officer went in and saw the eye-searing scene, Saiki didn't care.
...
By now Saiki had left the mall and was on his way home when he suddenly remembered something.
(ー_ー)!!
[Wait, wasn't I supposed to buy clothes today?]
Only now did Saiki realize his original purpose for the day.
[Whatever. I'm too lazy to go back anyway. And if I went back now following the plot, I'd probably run into more familiar faces. So forget it.]
"Ah-choo~"
On the other side, Akihisa suddenly sneezed in the mall.
Sakamoto Yuuji: "What's wrong, Akihisa? You catching a cold?"
"No way, right? It's summer."
Tsuchiya Kouta, holding a camera, said: "Stop nagging. Let's go check out the clothing area first!"
"You're just trying to peep again!"
"What are you saying? I just want to look at clothes. We're here to buy clothes, right, Hideyoshi?"
Kinoshita Hideyoshi: "This old one wants to finish buying clothes and then check out the food court."
...
Of course Saiki had no idea there were still surprises waiting in the mall. Good thing he didn't go back to see them—otherwise today really would have been a dream come true.
[Met a lot of people today. But heading home now, I probably won't run into any more acquaintances, right!]
"Meow! You human, I finally managed to wait you out!"
An orange cat with the mark 屮 on its forehead ran out and proudly declared.
Saiki didn't stop walking and just lifted his foot to step over it.
"Wait up, meow! I've been waiting here for days!"
The orange cat quickly dashed in front of Saiki to block his path.
[You're back again... Amp.]
Amp: "This meow is starving! I've been staking you out for so many days just to catch you. Haven't eaten in forever. First... first give me something to eat!"
[Why are you staking me out? I don't have anything for you to eat.]
"You don't know, meow? This meow is going to become the mascot of this work! Give this meow more screen time. I want to move into the protagonist's house—that way I can become a real mascot!"
Amp kept pawing at Saiki's leg while talking.
[Yare yare daze. It's no use. My apartment doesn't allow pets. Even if it did, I wouldn't keep one. Besides, you're completely useless to me. If you could eat cockroaches or bugs, I might consider it.]
"What are you saying, meow? You jerk! How could this meow possibly eat cockroaches!"
[Then there's nothing to discuss.]
Saiki walked away.
"Damn it! This meow is definitely going to become the mascot of this work!"