Apparently, what had shaken Kieran wasn't some Eldritch horror or anything of the sorts. It was just a cleaning robot.
Its size and shape were similar to a drum container (large trashcan). It had small tires on the bottom and a circular rotating mop similar to those on a street cleaner. It had cameras in order to avoid people and other obstacles. For some reason, they were quite hated by girls in miniskirts.
A faint vacuum sound emitted from its underside, sucking up stray leaves and dust.
"That thing," Kieran whispered, inching backward a few steps, "it's… it's alive. I think it's alive. It's watching us. It knows."
Elias tilted his head, his cane thwacking once against the ground.
"Kieran… it's literally a cleaning robot. It has no consciousness or even a brain. How are you afraid of something like that?"
"No!" Kieran interrupted, waving a hand frantically. "I'm telling you, it's plotting something! You see the way it moves? It's too calculated and Sinister!"
Maris raised a single brow, folding her arms over her chest.
"What, you're afraid of a Roomba?"
Kieran gave her a glare sharp enough to cut glass.
"It's not a Roomba. It's an advanced reconnaissance unit! One of the new models! Probably sent to spy on… something. Probably us!"
"And why exactly would it spy on us?"
"Oh, I don't know. Why would the Government ever want your precious data I wonder!?"
Maris stared at him for a long, unblinking moment, the kind of stare usually reserved for people who had just confessed to believing the moon was hollow.
"…Kieran," she said slowly, enunciating every syllable, "what data do you think a street-cleaning robot could possibly want from us?"
Kieran jabbed a finger toward the machine as it hummed along the curb, blissfully ignorant of the existential crisis it was causing.
"Walking patterns. Behavioral tendencies. Threat assessments. You know, the basics."
"The basics of what?" Maris shot back. "A dust-powered coup?"
Elias made a low, thoughtful hum. "To be fair," he added dryly, "my walking pattern is extremely consistent. Cane. Limp. Very classified."
Kieran rounded on him immediately.
"See? Exactly! You're a statistical anomaly! That's how it starts!"
Maris sighed and rubbed her temple.
"You do realize those things are designed to avoid people, right? That's why it has cameras."
"Or," Kieran countered, "that's what they want you to think!"
Maris stared at him again. Then she nodded once.
"Alright. Hypothetically. Let's say this thing is spying on us."
"Finally," Kieran muttered triumphantly.
She held up a finger. "Hypothetically. Why would it start with three students on their way to school?"
Kieran opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
"Low suspicion targets."
"Low value targets," Maris corrected. "We're boring. Elias' most dangerous weapon is his sarcasm. Yours is misinformation. And I argue with people."
Kieran crossed his arms. "That's exactly why you're dangerous. You'd never see it coming."
The robot chose that exact moment to rotate in place, its mop whirring slightly louder as it adjusted course.
Kieran yelped and jumped behind Elias.
"IT TURNED," he hissed. "IT TURNED ON PURPOSE."
Elias barely flinched. "It turned because you stepped into its path."
"That's what it wants you to believe!"
"Ugh. I swear, one day your paranoia is going to get you tackled by a vending machine."
Kieran peeked around Elias' shoulder, watching the robot roll past them and continue down the street without so much as a second glance.
"…It's retreating," he said cautiously.
"Or," Maris replied flatly, "it finished cleaning."
Kieran didn't answer immediately. Instead, he straightened his bag and cleared his throat, trying to regain some dignity.
"I'm just saying, when the robot uprising happens, don't come crying to me."
Maris smirked.
"Oh, don't worry. When it happens, I'll push you toward it first."
Elias sighed, tapping his cane once against the pavement. "Are you two done with your lovers' quarrel? Jeez. You two remind me of an old couple."
Both of them instantly stiffened.
It was as though the air between Kieran and Maris had turned rigid in an instant.
"…What?" Maris said flatly.
Kieran blinked. Once. Twice. Then his face flushed a shade darker. "Hah? Lovers? Don't lump me in with her."
"Excuse you?" Maris snapped, spinning toward him. "You're the one hiding behind Elias from a glorified trashcan."
"At least I have survival instincts," Kieran shot back. "You'd probably try to debate the robot into submission."
"I'd win," she replied without hesitation.
Elias watched the two of them with half-lidded eyes, the faintest hint of amusement tugging at his lips. He tapped his cane again, the suction cup letting out a soft, traitorous squelch.
"You see? Bickering over nothing, finishing each other's sentences, escalating trivial nonsense into a full argument. Textbook."
Both of them turned on him at once.
"We do not finish each other's sentences," Maris said.
"And we're not an old couple," Kieran added.
There was a brief pause.
"…Textbook," Elias repeated.
Maris opened her mouth to argue, then stopped herself. She exhaled sharply and adjusted her bag strap. "Ignore him. He's just projecting because his morning has been terrible."
Kieran nodded sagely.
"Yeah. He's bitter. Also, you're wrong."
Maris shot him a sideways glare. "I wasn't talking to you."
"See?" Kieran said immediately, pointing. "Hostile affection."
"That's not a thing."
"It absolutely is."
Elias stepped forward, cane tapping lightly as he resumed walking.
"Are we going to school or are we staging a public domestic dispute in front of municipal property?"
The two exchanged a glance, then looked away at the same time.
"…We're going," Maris muttered.
Kieran fell into step beside them, hands behind his head. "Just saying, Elias, if we were an old couple, I'd clearly be the charming one."
Maris scoffed.
"Yeah right. You'd be the one who forgets anniversaries and blames it on government surveillance."
Kieran grinned.
"Hm. That's a pretty valid excuse. Thank you, Maris."
"You're not supposed to be thanking me, you idiot!"
The robot was long gone now, the street quiet once more, but their voices filled the space easily. Elias listened to their pointless argument trail on, the sound oddly comforting.
For all the absurdity of the morning, for all the small betrayals and petty misfortunes, moments like this made it feel… manageable.
He tapped his cane again.
Squelch!
"…I'm never living that sound down, am I?"
"Nope," both of them replied in unison.
Elias sighed.
Definitely an old couple. He thought to himself.
Hmm...
At the moment they entered a familiar street, Elias Crowe noticed something. Or rather, someone.
More precisely, it was a girl. A young woman.
She looked to be around nineteen or twenty, standing just outside a shop named Paper Moon Café as if she belonged there. She was roughly 162 centimeters tall, with short raven hair that framed her face in uneven, almost careless layers, giving her an oddly striking presence. Her golden eyes were what truly drew attention, carrying an intensity that made it difficult to look away once noticed.
Her build was… unusual in its contrast. Her upper body appeared fairly average, unremarkable even, while her lower half was distinctly more pronounced, defined by a slim waist and wide, full hips that gave her silhouette a natural curve. She didn't strike Elias as particularly athletic, despite a certain firmness in her posture.
What caught his attention most, however, was what she was wearing.
It was something caught between a maid uniform and modern street fashion. The outfit featured a short, dark dress with a fitted bodice and a flared skirt, accented by white trim that evoked the aesthetic of a traditional café maid. However, the design had been clearly modified. The sleeves were shorter, the fabric sleeker, and the overall cut far more contemporary. A small apron was tied neatly at her waist and a ribbon was fastened at her collar, adding a touch of deliberate charm rather than forced cuteness.
It wasn't cosplay. And it wasn't a standard uniform either.
It was carefully styled.
Elias found himself slowing his steps without realizing it, lingering for just a second too long as the girl leaned casually against the café's window, sunlight catching faintly in her golden gaze.
Paper Moon Café, huh.
He had never noticed her there before. More importantly...
'What's up with that sign board?'
Elias' gaze drifted from the girl to the object she was holding, and his faint curiosity immediately sharpened into mild confusion. The words written on the sign were simple enough.
[NOW OPEN]
[WELCOME]
Nothing strange there. However, the. problem was the design.
The signboard itself was cut into an odd silhouette, its edges rounded in an almost aggressively cute fashion. At the top sat a pair of long, lopsided shapes that immediately caught the eye.
Seriously… was that supposed to be a bunny?
The "ears" drooped unevenly, one bent at an angle as if tired of standing upright, while the other leaned outward in quiet rebellion. A simple face had been drawn beneath the text, consisting of two dots for eyes and a tiny cross-shaped mouth that somehow managed to look both vacant and judgmental at the same time. The pastel colors only made it worse. Soft pinks and creams clashed gently against the darker street backdrop, making the sign stand out far more than Elias felt it had any right to.
Truthfully, it wasn't bad design. It was just intentionally loud.
Too much so.
Elias frowned slightly, trying to process why a café named Paper Moon would advertise itself with a vaguely unsettling bunny sign. It didn't match the aesthetic he remembered. Or maybe it did, and he had simply never paid enough attention before.
Either way, something about it bothered him.
And for reasons he couldn't quite articulate, he had the distinct impression that the sign was doing its job a little too well. Compared to the girl, the signboard was the one actually serving its intended purpose.
The expression on the face of its holder was unreadable.
At first glance, it seemed neutral, but closer inspection revealed the truth. It was a frown.
No, she was definitely frowning.
Perhaps standing outside under the beating heat of the harsh morning sun was not something she wanted to do but had been forced into regardless. No matter how Elias looked at it, she did not seem pleased in the slightest. And in her foul mood, she appeared to be driving customers away rather than drawing them in, as though she were quietly declaring, "I dare you to step into this territory!"
Elias watched her for another second longer than was polite.
Weird.
That was the only word that came to mind. Everything about her felt slightly misaligned, like a detail that belonged to a different scene but had wandered into this one by mistake. The outfit was too deliberate, the sign too loud, and her expression far too hostile for someone whose job was to welcome people inside.
If she was meant to draw attention, she was succeeding. If she was meant to make people comfortable, she was doing the exact opposite.
Come to think of it, wouldn't someone like this make a good manga character?
Coincidentally, he had been toying with the idea of creating his own manga. Who would have thought he'd stumble upon such striking inspiration during a casual morning stroll?
"Yo, Elias! What's the hold up?! Move your lazy legs!"
Kieran's energetic shout snapped him out of his thoughts. Elias sighed and averted his gaze.
"Give me a second. Jeez, you guys walk too fast. Must be nice having two fully working feet, huh."
Grumbling under his breath, he resumed walking, his cane tapping against the pavement with every step, producing that familiar, ridiculous sound.
Behind him, the Paper Moon Café slipped out of view, but the image of the frowning girl with the absurd bunny sign lingered in Elias' mind.