"A Valkyrie!?"
With her staying behind, it didn't take long for Juni's identity to be exposed, especially after Ingrid went and revealed herself to Setsuna and Rollo. As soon as they went out, the kids who had been playing around quickly gathered wanting to take a look at the visiting aliens.
"Ah! I saw her on TV yesterday!" One of the older kids exclaimed. "They gave her a medal!"
"What!?" A girl looked up with eyes wide open.
"Seriously!?" Another one followed.
As the excited chatter continued, Juni struck a pose causing all of them to go silent.
"Hello everyone! I'm a Valkyrie and my name is Juni! I hope we can be friends!"
The silence went on for a second then the chatter resumed, this time with twice the excitement.
"It's true!"
"So cool!"
"So pretty!"
"A real Valkyrie!"
Ever since the mission to the Nephilim World, Juni had shown quite a bit of skill when dealing with children. Because of that, she had no trouble mingling with the orphans living in the slums. Ingrid was thankful that she took all the attention to herself. As the Valkyrie went to play with the children, the Nephilim kept to the sides watching as Rollo talked with the kids his age.
"Why!?" Setsuna asked, doing her best to stop the tears from flowing. "What did you do? What do they want from you."
"It's nothing big, really." Rollo smiled wryly. "They probably realized my talent and wanted to hire me."
"That's not what it sounded like!"
Kevin and Kai were back from wherever they were hiding, and along with Saif they all stared at Ingrid, their faces a little pale.
"She's..." Saif turned to the others.
"Don't say it." Kai shook his head.
Simon was offering her one of the smokes he handed him earlier, but she decided to decline this time.
"Well, suit yourself." Shrugging his shoulders, the young man placed a cigarette between his lips then took out a lighter.
"Strange, isn't it." Said Sara. "They're getting along like it's nothing."
The kids seemed to have asked Juni what powers she had. Because of that, she formed her halo and was now showing a glowing blue baseball bat she produced out of nowhere.
"Never in my life did I think the day a Valkyrie visits us would come." Exhaling, Simon released a small cloud of smoke and watched it disappear into the air. "How did you do it?"
"Hm? Did what?" Sara raised an eyebrow.
"Don't tell me You only met them by coincidence."
The reporter seemed to catch on to what he meant as she turned her sight to the playground.
"They wanted to see the city so they had me sneak them out." She said, realizing how absurd that sounded halfway through. "It wasn't much of a success, though. The big man sent a message saying I would be responsible for any mess they make."
"That... a bit lax..."
"Tell me about it."
Before they knew it, the kids had spread around and started a game of baseball. Apparently, the Valkyrie was dying to try it out and was now in the batter position with an old helmet on her head and a normal bat in her hands. One of the older boys threw the ball and she swung her bat, but despite hitting the ball it didn't go as far as everyone had expected.
"I did it!"
With a cheerful smile, Juni tossed the bat and started running around. By the time she reached the base, though, the ball had been passed around and a young girl tapped it against her body putting an end to the round.
"Aaah! I lost!"
"You aren't very fast, miss." the girl said. "Are you sure you're a superhuman?"
"Guess I'm not good at running."
From the start, it was clear that Juni was holding back her strength, but that only helped her blend with the kids more. Before long, those who had been wary of her began to let their guard down and the game continued for a while.
Time passed like the wind and the sun began to set. Everyone went inside to have dinner and they invited the visitors to eat with them as well. Sara decided to leave and Simon offered to walk her back so only Juni and Ingrid remained behind.
After the meal, Juni played with the kids some more until it was bedtime. Once the young ones were asleep, the older kids gathered outside to send Rollo off.