Texas looked up at the dark stranger as she approached the table, her body tensing as she saw the rifle at her side. Across from her, Exusiai, unfazed, greeted the woman with a warm smile and a wave.
"Guides?" the red-haired girl repeated. "I mean, if you're looking to get somewhere, then yeah, we can help."
The woman glanced over at Texas, who returned her gaze whilst keeping her hands in her field of vision. She turned back to Exusiai. "You're capable fighters, then?"
Proudly, Exusiai displayed her weapon of choice to the stranger. "Yep! Armed and dangerous, and all that jazz. Where're you headed?"
The woman looked up, as though gesturing with her head. "Across the mountains. There's a village there. I need to protect it."
"From who?"
The woman turned to gesture to something behind her, before pausing, her eyes flickering wide with surprise for an instant that the two of them caught.
"The… men." She was puzzled, looking out at the restaurant. It was empty, save for waitresses who were busy behind the counter. "Anyway, I have to get there as soon as possible."
"Then we're your girls," Exusiai announced. "Call me Exusiai. From Penguin Logistics. Long live the Penguin Empire!" She nodded at Texas.
"Texas."
"And you are?"
The woman paused, briefly. "Call me M4."
Working part-time was tedious. Money, however, was necessary to make a living in this world, and so, Mirai found herself working at yet another job. As far as workplaces went, it was alright, for the most part. The only thing that was bothering her was the bizarre kind of spell that seemed to be over the place, like a shinobi barrier.
Her senior, Kuroi, appeared behind the counter. If she tried, Mirai found that she could see outside, but it hurt her head, and she'd given up after a while. So, she sat behind the counter, counting change and scanning cards in a neat green apron.
Kuroi handed her a card. "Take this back to the tall lady when you're done," she ordered, pointing at the dangerous-looking woman standing at one of the tables. Mirai scanned the card, and her eyes nearly popped out of her head as a string of numbers, larger than any Mirai had ever seen, appeared on the screen. Was that woman some kind of secret agent?
As she completed the transaction, she listened to the conversation she was having with the other two patrons, focusing her efforts enough to hear them above the muddied din of the diner. She was trying to hire the two of them, for something dangerous, it seemed. For a lot of money, too.
An idea entered Mirai's mind, one that was simple, but lucrative. As she approached the woman with her card in hand, she reflected upon it. She was a shinobi, an elite of Hebijo Academy and a proud member of the Crimson Squad. Surely, there was no better candidate for a dangerous job than her, and, better yet, it was one in a field that she excelled in! Protecting a village was surely a noble mission, too. She could almost hear her comrades' cheers, praising her for her quick thinking, initiative and skill.
"Ah! We can buy so many bean sprouts with this! Especially if we wait for a sale!"
No! They would no longer eat bean sprouts!
"Meat! We can finally have so much meat!"
Yes! Real food, at last!
"My, that was really impressive! You're really maturing, Mirai."
Mirai puffed out her chest. Yes, she did suppose it'd take a smart woman to take on such a job by herself.
"Yeah. Good job, and stuff."
Yes! Great job, Mirai!
She proffered the card to its owner, this M4 lady.
M4 took the card with a nod of gratitude, passing it to the two Penguin Logistics operatives.
"Actually, I couldn't help but overhear you talking," Mirai began. "You can call me Mirai! I'm an elite shinobi, so I can easily take on any mission you have!"
The three women looked at Mirai. M4 briefly wondered if she'd found one of the kids from earlier, but the girl's face didn't match anything in her storage. The girl was proclaiming to be a shinobi, a kind of ninja, although her appearance was that of a girl. Ah.
"Are you a tactical doll of some kind?" M4 asked, finding that to be the simplest explanation, assuming the girl wasn't a delusional human. Certainly, it would make sense to program assassination skills into a t-doll with an unassuming appearance, and besides which, it would not be unheard of for a human to program a doll with a persona that was of an assassin.
"What?" Mirai stammered, raising her voice. "No! I'm human!"
"Hey, take it easy, kid." Exusiai raised an open hand. "You want a cake or something?"
"Don't be patronizing," Texas warned.
"No cake, then? You sure?"
"You shut up!" Mirai shrieked, her face rapidly turning red. She cleared her throat. "I, the great Mirai, would be available to assist you on your mission."
M4 studied the girl. She wasn't ordinary, that was certain. "How could you help me?"
Mirai cheered internally. This woman was getting it. "Like I said, I'm an elite shinobi. When you want people dead, there's no substitutes!"
"No." M4 had made her decision.
"What?"
"I don't trust you." She turned to the other two. "Let's get going."
Mirai watched, aghast, as Exusiai returned M4's card to her, watching as she pocketed it. She pushed past Mirai, with Exusiai ruffling her hair as she and Texas followed suit.
Mirai fumed, grinding her teeth together. She tore off her apron, stamping on it in her rage.
When she calmed down, she popped up onto the seat where Exusiai had been, and began picking at the cake that remained there. She chuckled to herself. No, she thought, this wasn't the time to get mad. This was the time to prove to them that she needed to be taken seriously. She'd forgotten how small minded average people could be; it wasn't their fault that they couldn't see the greatness in front of them.
She'd prove it to them, and then, they wouldn't be able to ignore her any longer.
Author's Notes: Hey everyone! Been a while since I wrote on here. I decided to have a bit of fun with this story, so I threw together a plot to go with the characters and let it go. I think I got a little carried away in writing Mirai here, though. Oh well, I'll just have to get to know Texas and Exusiai better later.