26. Shounen Brave III

Shounen Brave III (少年ブレイブIII Shōnen Bureivu III) is the twenty-sixth chapter of the Kagerou Daze manga.

Summary

 * A tiny bird flies down on a window sill of a vine-covered house where Marry is reading a book. After she reaches the last page, Marry shuts the book with a gleeful expression. She hugs the book, thinking about how much she adores it, how charming the princess was, and about the ending where the princess sets off to see her prince. Marry notices the bird watching her, prompting her to hold up the book and ask it if it thinks so as well. The bird tilts its head in confusion since the two don't understand each other's languages. With a sigh, Marry begins to daydream what it would be like to be a princess and if her prince would ever come for her. After she realizes that the bird is staring at her, she becomes flustered and tries to justify herself, scaring away the bird in the process. Her expression becomes sullen and says that she already knows that she isn't a princess. At that moment, a breeze blows open the book to a page where a prince is fighting against a medusa.


 * The scene switches to Seto, who is running away after he learned of the chief's plan. He stops next to a tree and leans against it to catch his breath, then starts thinking about how the monster and the forest are too scary for him and that he has to go home. After he glances around himself, he realizes that he is lost and starts to panic, but remembers the phone that his father had gifted to him and his siblings. In a short flashback, Seto remembers how happy the four kids were to receive their new phones and how his father reassured him to call if anything ever happened to him.


 * After the flashback, Seto sees that his phone out of range so he puts it up in the air in an attempt to get a signal. The phone begins to vibrate as new messages from his sisters begin to come in, the total of which are 148 new messages. His mood sinks as he reads them, but he is then interrupted by a call coming from Kano. He quickly answers it and immediately begins to apologize. Before he can continue, Kano asks him where he is, to which Seto replies that he is in a forest. This surprises Kano, so questions why he would run away like that and tells him that the three of them are freaking out over it. Seto replies that his eye ability went out of control to the point where he could even hear people's internal feelings. He explains that he was scared that he would hear everyone's emotions forever. Before Kano can reply to him, Ayano snatches the phone out of his hand and tearfully yells at Seto that she was extremely worried and that he needs to get home right away. Kido informs her that the line broke, which causes Ayano to cry even more while Kido tries to comfort her. With a tired look on his face, Kano says he hopes that Seto is doing okay because the gang is not the same without him.


 * Back in the forest, Seto slumps against a tree and tears up, not knowing what he should do next. While he is crying, a voice calling out for help startles him. The voice continues to call for help, saying that it can't stand being alone anymore. This makes Seto stand up as he realizes that the voice is coming from a girl, but he can't determine where it is coming from. Meanwhile, Marry is asleep on the table with tears flowing down her face.

Trivia

 * This chapter was originally titled Kuusou Forest I (空想フォレストI), but was changed to Shounen Brave III in the volume.