"Huh?! Why me?!"
Phinks stared at Sarasa, looking as if he'd seen a ghost.
But Sarasa showed no fear at all, her big eyes wide open while smiling at him brightly.
Phinks: "..."
Even though veins bulged on his head and the corners of his mouth twitched, he still casually took the bowl of snacks from Sarasa's hand.
"Who hasn't gotten their share yet?! Hurry up and come over!"
He put one hand in his pocket, raised the bowl of dough snacks above his head with the other, and walked towards the children.
Feitan, on the other hand, walked away from Phinks.
"See, I told you..."
Sarasa skipped over to Chrollo, who had just finished greeting Luke and was watching them walk into the church.
She smiled and took credit, saying: "Phinks is kindhearted at heart!"
Then she chuckled and patted her chest, saying: "Leave Uvogin to me!"
"Hmm!"
A smile spread across Chrollo's face as well.
Sheila, who was also distributing food nearby, said gently: "Look at you, having the youngest one, Sarasa, protect you. That means you're everyone's little brother now."
She pursed her lips and teased.
Chrollo: "..."
"I think that's just fine for Chrollo."
Pakunoda, with a buzz cut, thought Chrollo looked even more likeable this way.
"I know Chrollo brings flowers to the church every day."
Father Lisores, the church priest who was also distributing food, also had a kind smile while watching Chrollo and the others' every move.
And it wasn't just Chrollo and his group.
Father Lisores's gaze shifted slightly, gazing in the direction of Luke and others who had just entered the venue.
His eyes, once filled with kindness, gradually deepened.
Soon, the low-quality snacks were distributed.
Many children had already entered the screening room.
The hall, decorated much like an ancient Roman-style meeting chamber, was now packed to the brim with children.
Above the originally large stage stood a large square whiteboard, very much like the whiteboards used in schools back on Luke's old Earth.
Directly in front of the whiteboard, two church staff members were tinkering with an old, crude wooden projector.
Many children found a place to sit, watching the upcoming projection with anticipation.
In a corner of the front row, Uvogin casually occupied almost three seats.
He wasn't alone; there were also Phinks, Feitan, Nobunaga, Machi, and even Luke beside him…
Well, just hearing those names was enough to warn others not to mess with them.
The other children at Meteor City also avoided this small group.
Though a few who weren't afraid of them stayed seated nearby anyway.
"Hmph!"
Sitting in the same row, equally tall and burly, Franklin looked at Uvogin and let out a cold snort.
Beside him, Shalnark, with his handsome face, grinned at Luke and the others, revealing his missing tooth.
Well, it was clear that Franklin and Shalnark, two of Chrollo's usual followers, had also arrived at the venue.
If this were the old Uvogin, he might have exchanged a few more words with Franklin.
But now… absolutely unnecessary!
Once he mastered that power, he would simply crush everyone, using his fists to do the talking!
He was brimming with confidence, even planning nine different ways to deal with Franklin.
Yes, nine!
"This is a great spot."
After taking a look at the young Franklin and Shalnark, Luke focused his attention on the surroundings.
Their location was perfectly placed, right where the shadows met.
If he were to sneak away after the screening began, no one would notice.
So, having secured his spot, Luke quietly waited for the screening to begin.
Click.
Soon enough, with the crisp click of a switch, the entire screening room was plunged into complete darkness.
"Oooohhh!"
Amidst the children's exclamations, a beam of light shot out from the projector, illuminating the whiteboard!
"Sanitazion Sentai: Clean-Up Rangers, we're on the scene!"
"Hey, could this be..."
"Yes, it's the Clean-Up Rangers!"
"Amazing!"
The children cheered, but only for a moment.
As the images began to pan and the voiceovers began to play, the children fell silent again.
They watched the cartoon with excitement, occasionally murmuring in discussion: "Why are they speaking in Meteor City's language?!"
"Has this show ever been broadcast here?!"
"How is that possible?!"
"Is someone else dubbing them?!"
The children were filled with joy, their laughter echoing throughout the room as the story unfolded.
"Huh… The Power Cleaners' voices belong to Chrollo and Pakunoda's, right?!"
Shalnark chuckled, having recognized the voice actors behind the scenes.
"They've been sneaking around lately…"
Franklin muttered: "So they're busy with this."
Since Chrollo wanted to give everyone a surprise, the fewer the people involved, the better.
He purposely didn't include these two friends.
Besides, female voices tend to have more versatility than male ones.
Apart from Chrollo taking care of the main male roles, the rest could all be handled by Sheila, Pakunoda, and Sarasa.
The children present were oblivious to the fact. Instead, they listened to Chrollo's dialogue and voice dubbing, comparing it to the screenplay, and laughed heartily.
"Great, everyone is laughing so happily!"
"Dubbing it is the right move!"
Backstage, Sarasa excitedly watched the children outside, a smile breaking across her face.
"You three must have practiced for ages to get the rhythm right."
Chrollo smiled and praised his friends.
"It's nothing, the amazing one is still you, Chrollo."
Pakunoda smiled and shook her head. "You wrote the script based on the image."
"And you even used different tones for every male character. No one should have noticed."
But someone did notice.
Luke could hear the changes in tone; the voice was essentially the same.
"These male characters must have been voiced by Chrollo, right?"
"A person who writes a script based on the image and then manages to do this kind of voice dubbing..."
Even Luke was amazed.
If an experienced adult managed this, it would be nothing special.
But the person who achieved this was Chrollo, who was only ten years old.
"And if nothing unexpected happens, Chrollo's solo show will begin next…"
Just as this thought flashed through Luke's mind, the large screen suddenly flickered and then went distorted.
Even the sound faded, and the picture disappeared along with it.
"Did it break?!"
The children, who had been enjoying the show, were startled.
"But there's nothing we can do, this is Meteor City..."
"It's Meteor City stuff, after all."
"It's all just discarded garbage..."
After a moment's pause, the children weren't surprised.
It had already been amazing just to watch something, let alone with local voices dubbed in.
Now, due to quality issues, the show couldn't be broadcast properly, but they didn't complain.
They all acted completely indifferent, as if this was perfectly normal.
This was, after all, a place of garbage.
"Hey, hurry up and put on the next one, Chrollo!"
Uvogin, watching the fun, shouted: "That's it? Done already, huh, Chrollo?!"
He seemed to enjoy seeing Chrollo's humiliation.
While he was yelling, he failed to notice Luke beside him, quietly leaving the scene.
Machi and Feitan did notice, but they both remained silent.
Luke had his own ideas about what he wanted to do.
They didn't have any room to intervene yet.
Meanwhile, Chrollo, having already noticed something was wrong, promptly approached Father Lisores.
"Father Lisores, what happened?!"
"The tape's stuck…"
Father Lisores checked the tape backstage and discovered the problem. "It's all tangled up inside."
"It will take quite a while to get it out and straighten it out."
As the two chatted, the noise outside the screening room grew louder. Aside from a few like Uvogin making a ruckus, most of the kids were used to this.
Although they were disappointed, it didn't affect them much.
Everyone was laughing and joking, some even starting to play around.
The entire venue was beginning to descend into chaos.
Seeing this, Chrollo paused, then, with a determined gaze, extended his hand to Father Lisores: "Father Lisores, give me the microphone…"
"Ahh, sorry, I thought it was break time so I went to eat, pffft!"
"Didn't expect to get a stomachache and be stuck in the toilet for ages, pffft!"
As the crowd buzzed, Chrollo stepped onto the stage with the microphone, using an exaggerated, silly voice.
"So the video's on pause, my bad, pffft..."
Chrollo puffed out his cheeks, squinted his eyes, and mimicked a chubby, clownish figure.
"Uh, where was the story?!"
"Hey, where's Cleaner Blue? Where are you, little blue?!"
Chrollo's display, coupled with his voice, sounded incredibly familiar to the children in the room.
"Ah, that sounds like Cleaner Yellow's voice. So cool!"
"Could it be a kid about our age performing this?!"
All the noise in the room stopped at that moment, and all attention was focused on Chrollo on the stage.
The children had no idea that the voice dubbing for the cartoon, Clean-Up Rangers, they were watching was actually from one of their own.
One by one, they temporarily forgot about the tape not working and focused their attention on Chrollo on the stage.