Sightseeing in New York

"I heard there was a guy who made the statue of liberty disappear. Wonder if I could escape from it if he came back and transported it to another dimension," Madoka mused.

"Come on Madoka, give your poor Onee-chan a break, her hand will get stuck to her face if you keep this up," Serika jibbed.

"The chili's making you dumber," Emeri grumbled.

"Is not! It's delicious!" Madoka retorted.

"It may not be making you dumber, but it is making you pass more gas," Yuni groaned.

Madoka's face went red as she tried to hide her embarrassment.

The girls were currently touring the statue of liberty in New York. After the Salem incident, Emeri gave an ultimatum that they'd only do sightseeing for a single day before heading off to Norway to meet back up with Harumi at the mansion. While she did want to see some sights, she was more concerned about everyone's safety. The girls had opted to start the day at the statue of liberty. After finishing up there, Madoka requested they visit Staten Island.

"Why Staten Island?" Serika asked.

"I hear there's a legendary streamer that lives there," Madoka replied.

"Mado-chan, we're NOT going stalking," Emeri growled.

"It's a pilgrimage! As an avid Beansoup enjoyer, I feel I have to at least visit the island since we're here."

                                                                           ...

Madoka led everyone as they toured Staten Island.

"Look! The duck pond! Quick, someone go get some canned beans to feed them!" Madoka smiled.

Emeri walked up and disappointingly grabbed Madoka by the ear.

"No, we are not going to feed the ducks canned beans," she growled.

"It is cute to see them acting like this," Yuni chuckled.

"Yeah, I never had siblings, but I guess this is what it would be like to have a childish little sister," Serika smiled.

"Still, I can kind of get why she wants to see the world. With Illumous putting us on the most wanted, it will be near impossible for us to travel like this until they're dealt with."

"At least I did my part to rid the world of some of their influence."

"Now you're truly free. I'm sure Sensei would be proud of you if she was here today."

"Yeah, Hope she's smiling down at us."

                                                                             ...

After returning to the mainland, the girls roamed around the city and visited various restaurants and souvenir shops. Madoka happily filmed herself eating a chili glizzy.

As they passed by a bookstore, Madoka gazed at the title in the the window.

"What are you looking at?" Yuni asked.

"It's a short story called One letter by a guy named Shiruka," Madoka explained.

"Wait, he's the guy that wrote those mangas and got murdered by an Illumous agent."

"You know about him?"

"My mother was the one who witnessed his murder and the corruption that ensured to pass it off as a suicide. It's what drove her to become an underground journalist."

"I never knew that."

"She told me that she took a photo of the man who ordered the hit, however, when she tried to anonymously send the evidence to the police, nothing became of it. She then decided to expose the corruption of the world."

"I think I remember her mentioning that in one of her videos," Serika chimed.

"The crazy thing about all this is that the man she said she saw commit the murder used to be a failed actor, but is now the Prime Minister of Australia."

"It pisses me off how corrupt bastards like that can get so powerful."

"Sadly that's what Illumous is, a gathering of the most corrupt of the corrupt," Emeri stated.

"I wish Illumous was gone. Then I'd be doing a magic show at the statue of liberty," Madoka stated.

"Don't worry, I promised you I'd do all I can to ensure you can do a magic show without getting kidnapped after it," Yuni smiled.

"Hopefully we can find your family too."

"That would be nice, but to be honest, I also consider you guys family too"

Serika, Emeri, and Madoka all smiled back at Yuni.

                                                                                ...

After doing some more sightseeing, they then found themselves standing infront of a museum.

"I don't think we should go in," Emeri groaned.

"Yeah, they even have the same murdered mummy exhibition going on here," Serika replied.

"That's 3 against. Let's head back," Yuni stated.

"I already saw the exhibit anyway," Madoka shrugged.

As they walked away, they ran into a tall mustachioed muscular man. He wore a nice suit and hat and was carrying a clipboard.

"[Apologies ladies, but would you care to take part in a survey about the museum?]" he asked politely.

"[Sorry, we really don't want to,]" Yuni stated.

The man paused and pulled out his phone to look something up.

"Ah, hello apologies for startling you. I just wanted to know if you thought the murdered mummy exhibition was enjoyable," the man said in Japanese.

"You speak Japanese!?"

"Well, I just picked it up just now, so it's not the greatest," the man laughed.

"Wait, just now?" Emeri asked.

"Yes, I figured you'd be more inclined to converse with me if I spoke in your native language, so I looked up some Japanese on the fly."

"You were able to get THIS good in just a short moment of time!?"

"Well, they say I have a talent for mastering new languages. My name's Frank Lingua, I'm the curator of the museum."

"You're the curator!?"

"Haha. I know right. I look more like a muscle head with this large body. Though I'm constantly helping the team move things around in the museum in addition to my regular workload. Guess you could say I like doing everything myself," Frank laughed.

"I actually enjoyed the exhibit. So was the mummy truly murdered?" Madoka asked.

"I think it's likely, funnily enough that was the question I wished to ask,"do you think it was murder or suicide?" So you all think it was murder?"

"I know I was in a bad mood at the time, but I still think it was suicide," Serika declared.

"I never really saw it so no comment," Yuni sighed.

"Seems like it's down to you miss," Frank smiled as he turned to Emeri.

"Great, the decision rests with me, murdered," Emeri grumbled.

"Thank you for your input ladies. I hope you enjoyed the museum," Frank smiled as he walked away.

Emeri then began pushing everyone away.

"What's wrong? I didn't sense any danger," Madoka stated.

"He just rubbed me the wrong way. There's no way he could have just learned Japanese just now," Emeri stated.

"It's possible."

"No what I'm saying is that I don't think this is the first time he's spoken Japanese like he claimed. The exhibit just came from Japan a week ago. I'm sure he'd have to at least communicate with someone from the museum considering he said himself that he likes doing all the work himself."

"Maybe he just did it as a way to get us to talk with him. If Madoka didn't sense any danger from him, then maybe that's the reason," Yuni suggested.

"It just rubbed me the wrong way. Let's get back to the hotel."

As the girls went back, a man in a suit stared at the girls from afar.

"Those are the four from Salem," he muttered to himself as he reached for his phone.