Just as they exchanged names, nearby—
"Hm? What does this mean? Is it for me?"
Phinks looked at the basin of food filled with low-quality dough held out before him and raised his nonexistent eyebrows.
"Come help hand out the snacks!"
Sarasa's lively little face appeared from beneath the food.
"Ha?! Why me?!!"
Phinks stared at Sarasa as if he had seen a ghost.
Sarasa, however, showed no fear at all. She widened her little eyes and smiled at him.
Phinks: "..."
Though veins bulged across his forehead, the corner of his mouth still twitched.
Then he casually took the basin of snacks from Sarasa's hands.
"Hey, who hasn't gotten any snacks yet?! Get over here!!"
With one hand in his pocket and the other holding the basin of dough snacks over his head, he walked into the crowd of children.
Feitan, meanwhile, promptly moved away from Phinks.
"See? I told you..."
Sarasa skipped over to Chrollo, who had just greeted Mog and watched his group enter the Church, then smiled proudly.
"Phinks is actually really kind at heart~!"
Sarasa chuckled and patted her chest. "Leave Uvogin to me too~!!"
"Mm~!"
A smile appeared on Chrollo's face as well.
Shira, who was handing out food nearby, also said gently, "Look at you. Even the youngest, Sarasa, has to protect you. At this rate, you can only be everyone's [little brother]."
She covered her mouth and teased him.
Chrollo: "~~~"
"Chrollo is fine just the way he is~"
Pakunoda, with her short-cropped hair, found Chrollo like this even more endearing.
"I know Chrollo brings flowers for the Church every day."
Father Zhol, who was also distributing food nearby, always wore a benevolent smile.
He watched every move Chrollo and the others made.
And it was not just Chrollo's group.
Father Zhol's gaze shifted lightly toward Mog's group, who had just entered the venue.
The kindness in his eyes gradually deepened.
Before long, the low-quality snacks had all been handed out.
Many of the children had already entered the screening room.
The hall was decorated like an ancient Roman assembly chamber and packed tightly with children.
At that moment, a massive square whiteboard stood on the enormous stage.
It looked very much like the interactive whiteboards in the meeting rooms of elementary and middle schools from Mog's previous life.
In front of the whiteboard, two Church workers were fiddling with an old-fashioned, crude projector whose casing was made of wood.
Countless children had found places to sit, watching the screen with anticipation for the images about to appear.
In one corner near the front, Uvogin brazenly occupied nearly an entire row.
And he was not alone. There were also Phinks, Feitan, Nobunaga, Machi, and Mog...
Well, just from their names, one could tell they were not people to provoke.
The other Meteor City children all avoided this small group.
Of course, some children who had never feared them still sat there without concern.
"Hmph~!"
Franklin, who was seated in the same row and was just as large and muscular, snorted directly at Uvogin's ostentatious behavior.
Shalnark beside him grinned at Mog's group with his delicate, handsome face.
In doing so, he revealed the missing tooth in his mouth.
Clearly, Franklin and Shalnark, who usually followed Chrollo around, had naturally come to the venue as well.
If it had been the old Uvogin, he might have traded a few more barbs with Franklin.
But now~~~
There was no need at all!!
Once Lord Uvogin mastered that power, he would slaughter everyone in his path and teach them how to talk with his fists!!
He was brimming with confidence, having even thought up nine ways to deal with Franklin.
That was right, nine ways!!
"This is quite a good spot."
After glancing at the young Franklin and Shalnark, Mog focused mainly on their surroundings.
Their location was perfect, tucked into the corner where shadow and light met.
If they slipped away quietly after the screening began, no one would notice at all.
Having confirmed the location, Mog quietly waited for the screening to begin.
Click.
Very soon, not much time passed.
With the crisp sound of the switch being pressed, the entire screening venue was plunged into darkness.
"Oohhh!!"
Amid the children's cries of surprise, a beam of light shot from the projector and shone onto the whiteboard screen!!
"Cleaning Squad, Cleaners, make your entrance!!"
With a slightly childish dubbed slogan, the Cleaning Warriors made their dazzling appearance.
"Hey, isn't this..."
"That's right, they're the Cleaning Warriors!!"
"They're amazing~!!"
The children instantly erupted in cheers, though only for a moment.
As the scenes began unfolding layer by layer and the dubbed lines played, the children immediately quieted down again.
They watched the animation excitedly, occasionally whispering among themselves.
"Why are they speaking Meteor City's language?!!"
"Has this show ever aired here before?!!"
"How could that be?!!"
"Did someone dub it for them?!!"
The children watched in great delight. As the plot developed, their giggles and laughter filled the entire screening room.
"Eh... Aren't the warriors' voices Chrollo's and Pakunoda's?!"
Shalnark laughed as he recognized the people behind the dubbing.
"They've been sneaking around lately..."
Franklin said in his deep, muffled voice, "So they were busy with this."
Since Chrollo wanted to give everyone a surprise, he wanted as few people as possible involved in the dubbing.
That was why he had specifically not invited these two companions.
Besides, girls' voices had always been more penetrating and versatile than boys'.
Aside from Chrollo handling the main male voices, everything else could be done by Shira, Pakunoda, and Sarasa.
And that was indeed the case.
None of the Meteor City children present recognized them. Instead, they watched the scenes while listening to Chrollo's scripted dialogue and dubbing, laughing themselves silly.
"This is great, everyone is laughing so happily~!!"
"Making a dubbed version really was the right choice!!"
Backstage, Sarasa watched the delighted children outside with excitement, and a happy smile spread across her face as well.
"To get the pacing right, the three of you practiced for a long time."
Chrollo smiled as he praised his companions.
"It was nothing. Chrollo is the truly amazing one."
Pakunoda smiled and shook her head. "You wrote the entire script according to how the images changed and developed."
"And you used different tones for every male character. No one should have noticed."
Someone had noticed.
Mog had picked up on the changes in accent; the underlying quality of the voices was the same.
"Those male characters were all voiced by Chrollo, right?"
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