In the late afternoon, as the massive food market gradually wound down and the crowds and vendors began to thin, the troublesome little girl—who had disappeared for most of the day and hadn't been seen anywhere, with no one knowing what she'd been up to—hummed a tune and bounced her way back to the parking spot where she had parted ways with Uncle Toriko and Big-Nostrils Uncle.
"Hmm-hmm~?"
??(′?｀?)???
"Huh?"
Σ(°△ °|||)︴
From far away, Annie spotted the people waiting for her. Besides the two familiar weird uncles, there was a group of men in black and a luxurious stretch limousine?
"What's wrong?"
(°ー°〃)
"Uncle Toriko, did you two get into trouble? How could you be so careless? And you even got caught! You're really useless!"
(??ˇ?ˇ??)
Seeing the black-suited men looking so serious, and Uncle Toriko and Big-Nostrils Uncle looking so anxious, Annie instinctively assumed the two had gotten into trouble and were waiting for her to come back and rescue them—or pay their bail or something.
So she gave each of them an utterly unimpressed little look.
"Don't jump to conclusions!"
"Anyway, you're back. That's what matters!"
"We were wondering how we'd find you..."
Uncle Toriko didn't answer Annie's silly question. He just let out a relieved sigh.
"Come on!"
"Get in!"
"The big shots from the IGO are getting impatient. Hurry up."
Then Toriko offered no further explanation. He opened the door of the stretch limousine and urged the little girl, who'd been playing around all afternoon, to get in.
They had to hurry and take care of business now. If they hadn't been waiting for her, they might have left two hours ago.
"Business?"
く(゜-゜)ゝ
"Come on!"
"Don't ask yet. We'll explain everything on the way. Let's go!"
"Or we'll leave you behind."
As he spoke,