(Yuuta POV)
And that was how I ended up secretly following my own daughter through the streets, with my wife walking right behind me.
A short distance ahead of us, Elena was happily making her way toward the market, her little shopping bag swinging back and forth as she skipped along the sidewalk. Every few steps, she'd do a small hop before continuing forward, completely unaware that her parents were watching her from behind.
Well, technically, we weren't watching her.
We were conducting a secret parental surveillance mission.
There was a difference.
"Oh my goodness, look at that little girl!"
"She's so adorable! She looks like a doll!"
"Look at her hair! Who is she?"
"She's like a little angel!"
As Elena passed by, several people couldn't help turning their heads to look at her. Some women smiled warmly, while others whispered to one another about how adorable she was. Elena, meanwhile, seemed completely oblivious to the attention, happily continuing her little adventure.
Watching all this from a distance, I couldn't help smiling proudly.
"Hehehe... That's my daughter," I muttered, adjusting my goggles. "Look at her, Erza. Isn't she adorable? So beautiful, so innocent... Ah, my little Elena. She's practically an angel walking among humans."
I was still admiring my daughter's overwhelming cuteness when something suddenly struck the back of my head.
Thwack!
"Ouch!"
I immediately turned around, rubbing the sore spot.
"Erza! What was that for?!"
"Stop being creepy," she replied coldly.
"Creepy?! I'm admiring my own daughter!"
"Then admire her quietly. You're drawing attention."
I opened my mouth to protest, but stopped when I finally took a proper look at my wife.
"...Erza?"
"What?"
I pointed at the mask covering her face.
"You're hiding your identity too, aren't you?"
Erza stared at me for a moment before calmly looking away.
"What are you talking about? I'm just here to watch you."
"Watch me?"
"Yes. Someone has to make sure you don't do anything stupid."
"I see..."
I nodded slowly, although I knew perfectly well what was going on. For someone who had spent the entire morning telling me not to worry about Elena, Erza had certainly gone to a lot of trouble to disguise herself.
And what a disguise it was.
My wife, the former Queen of Atlantis, a dragon capable of destroying this entire world, was currently standing behind a street corner wearing a ridiculous cat mask.
A pink cat mask.
With little whiskers.
I stared at it for a few seconds, struggling to comprehend how the same woman who could terrify an entire kingdom had somehow decided that this was the perfect disguise for a secret mission.
"...Erza."
"What now?"
"Why a cat?"
"What's wrong with a cat?"
"Nothing. It's just..." I glanced at the tiny pink ears sticking out from the top of her mask. "You look like you're going to a children's birthday party."
Erza slowly turned toward me.
"Would you prefer I remove it?"
I immediately shook my head.
"No, no. It suits you perfectly."
"Hmph."
She turned away, apparently satisfied with that answer.
Heh. So you were worried about Elena too.
Of course, I wasn't foolish enough to say that aloud. Erza would probably deny it until the end of the world, and considering her earlier threat, I preferred not to bring up the end of the world again.
Besides, I wasn't exactly in a position to criticize her disguise.
While Erza had chosen a cute pink cat mask, I was wearing a large white smiling mask with an enormous, unsettling grin painted across it. Combined with my dark jacket and goggles, I looked less like a concerned father and more like someone the police would immediately want to question.
And standing beside me was the most powerful dragon I knew, disguised as a pink cat.
What a wonderful couple we made.
If Elena happened to turn around right now, she'd probably run away from us before she ever recognized her parents.
I peeked around the corner again, watching our daughter happily hop along the sidewalk with her shopping bag swinging in her little hand.
"Look, Erza. She's hopping again," I whispered, unable to contain my excitement. "Hehehe... our daughter is so cute."
"Yuuta."
"What?"
"Stop laughing like that."
"Why?"
"Because with that mask, you sound like a criminal."
I paused, then glanced at my reflection in a nearby shop window.
A smiling white face stared back at me.
"...Fair enough."
A little farther ahead, Elena reached the intersection where the road split in two directions. She stopped, looked left, then right, and tilted her little head in confusion.
"Huh? Where is chicken shop?"
She stared at both streets, trying to remember the directions I'd given her.
"Is it left... or right?"
Watching from behind a nearby wall, I immediately stiffened.
"Left," I whispered. "It's left, Elena."
Elena continued looking around.
"Come on, sweetheart. Remember what Papa told you. The chicken shop is beside the vegetable store. Left, Elena. Left!"
I was pointing so desperately that my entire upper body had begun leaning out from behind the wall. Unfortunately, the only person who could see my frantic gestures was Erza, who was standing right behind me in her ridiculous pink cat mask.
"Yuuta," she said flatly, "she can't hear you."
"I know!"
"Then stop waving your arms."
"I'm trying to send her a signal!"
"With what? Your stupidity?"
Before I could defend myself, Elena suddenly clapped her little hands.
"Ah! Elena remember!"
My eyes brightened.
"Yes! That's my girl!"
"Must be right!"
My smile vanished.
"NO, IT'S LEFT!"
Elena cheerfully waved her little hand and started walking toward the right street.
I nearly launched myself out from behind the wall, but Erza immediately grabbed the back of my jacket and pulled me into hiding.
"Erza! Let go! She's going the wrong way!"
"Lower your voice."
"She'll get lost!"
"She's barely taken three steps."
"Three steps in the wrong direction!"
Erza stared at me through her cat mask. I couldn't see her expression, but somehow I knew she was questioning every decision that had led to marrying me.
Unfortunately for her, I had no time to worry about that.
My daughter was about to enter the wrong street.
This was an emergency.
I quickly looked around and spotted a small pebble near my shoe. After checking that nobody was standing nearby, I picked it up and carefully tossed it toward a metal signboard beside the vegetable shop on the left.
Clack!
"Huh?"
Elena stopped.
The little girl turned toward the sound, her curious eyes searching for its source. Then she noticed the vegetable shop and the familiar green sign hanging above it.
"Ah! Vegetable shop!"
She looked farther down the street and spotted the chicken shop's sign.
"Chicken shop there! Elena remember!"
With a satisfied nod, she turned around and happily skipped toward the correct street.
I slowly leaned against the wall, pressing a hand against my chest.
"Phew... That was close."
Erza looked at me.
Then at the pebble.
Then back at me.
"...You threw a stone."
"A pebble."
"At a signboard."
"To save our daughter."
"From taking the wrong street."
"Exactly."
Erza remained silent for several seconds.
"Yuuta, you're an idiot."
"An idiot who successfully saved the mission."
She sighed, apparently deciding that arguing with me was no longer worth the effort.
Once Elena had moved far enough ahead, I cautiously peeked around the corner to check whether the coast was clear. Then I raised two fingers and gestured for Erza to follow.
"All right. Target is moving. Maintain distance."
"Don't call our daughter a target."
"Fine. Princess is moving. Maintain distance."
"Yuuta."
"Shh! She might hear us!"
Erza stared at me, but I was already creeping along the sidewalk, keeping my body close to the walls and occasionally ducking behind whatever happened to be nearby.
A tree.
A signboard.
A parked bicycle.
At one point, I even tried hiding behind a streetlamp, although I quickly discovered that streetlamps were considerably thinner than I'd remembered.
Meanwhile, Erza simply walked a few steps behind me with her arms folded, looking completely unimpressed by my professional surveillance techniques.
"Erza!" I whispered urgently. "Get down! Someone might see us!"
"We're walking on a public street."
"Exactly! That's why we need to be careful!"
She looked at my enormous smiling mask, then at the pink cat mask covering her own face.
"...We're already attracting attention."
I glanced around.
Sure enough, an elderly woman standing outside a nearby shop was staring directly at us.
More specifically, she was staring at a grown man wearing a terrifying smiling mask who had somehow managed to squeeze himself behind a streetlamp, accompanied by a woman in a pink cat mask.
I slowly raised my hand.
"...Good afternoon."
The woman immediately walked away.
I watched her leave before turning toward Erza.
"See? Our disguises are working. She didn't recognize us."
"She doesn't know us, Yuuta."
"Even better."
Erza pressed two fingers against her forehead.
Ahead of us, Elena continued happily skipping toward the chicken shop, completely unaware that her parents had somehow become the two most suspicious people on the entire street.
And honestly?
As long as my little girl reached the market safely, I considered that a successful operation.