With Mephisto leading the way, Alice and Arale walked into the park.
It was an ordinary park, not very large but nicely laid out, with an artificial lake surrounded by a broad stretch of grass.
Local residents often chose it as the venue for picnics and other outdoor gatherings.
Martin Lee had brought Kraft and Alice here before, along with Peter Parker's family and some people from the homeless shelter.
Once Arale could move around freely, Alice had taken her to all the places she had visited before and let her experience all the activities she had enjoyed. They had happened to visit this park just recently.
After following a tree-lined path, the three arrived beside the artificial lake. Colorful tents of all sizes now occupied most of the once-empty lawn.
A group of children laughed as they darted between the tents, while clowns sold snacks, drinks, balloons, and other little trinkets.
"Huh? This place was still empty when we came here two days ago."
Alice covered her mouth and murmured, "When did they bring all this stuff in? I didn't notice a thing."
She had assumed the circus show meant a small circus, since large circuses had long since abandoned traditional methods like soliciting customers on the spot.
Generally, large circus shows advertised in advance and sold tickets beforehand. They also wouldn't choose such an ordinary, even inconspicuous venue, or they would never recoup their costs.
But Alice knew nothing about those considerations. She simply found it rather novel to suddenly discover a large circus performing here.
As for Arale, she had already joined the children with a laugh and was having the time of her life.
"You can look around for now. Our performance won't officially begin for another thirteen minutes and forty-six seconds."
Determined to keep up