XVII. A child's toy

"Run!" Daniel grabbed my hand and we sprinted away from the giant statue's hand bashing the ground chunking away the grass.

"This is a bit cliche isn't it? Like some kind of comedy show" i said

"You watch a lot of TV don't you?" he smiled

Another thump on the ground shook us off ground.

"Let me call Leo, he knows how to deal with these kind of situations"

I took out my phone from my bag and quickly dialed his number, which he immediately picked up

"Kyouri, i'm in a middle of a business meeting here" his voice was low and tense

"Leo, i need a little help here-"

"Make it quick. What is it?"

"A giant statue is attacking us."

"What? Don't be ridiculous. A giant statue?"

"Well i saw a lion punching the ground with glowing fists dragging someone up a building"

He hmmed, was clearly thinking

"Okay. Sorry. Where are you right now?"

"The central park"

"I'll be right there" the call then ended

We were hiding behind a tree, and thankfully the giant statue hasn't discovered us yet.

"So did your friend Answer?"

"Yes, he'll be coming anytime now"

My phone rang again

"Where are you?" Leo said, he sounded so calm. Maybe prior to last experiences, he's gotten used to it... I guess.

"Behind a tree"

He then started to laugh

"What's funny?" i asked

"I remember this thing long ago, back in the seventeen hundreds"

"seventeen what?"

"Nevermind, this thing was a training dummy back when I was young"

"That doesn't make sense, you are still young!"

"Didn't I tell you I'm already old?"

"What!? Anyway, can you get rid of it? I'm already exhausted my brains and legs out from calculus and running."

"Okay" he said, hanging up.

"Turn off!" I hear Leo's voice from a distance.

A metalic sound followed after his words, a sound of rocks and soil crumbling apart.

I turned to look and there it was, the rock statue, but in a tiny version. Almost looking like a normal stone carved doll.

"Kyouri!" Leo called us over

I called Daniel to come out as the statue was gone, and came over to Leo

"You two okay?" he asked

"Yep, we're fine. So it's my friend Daniel here"

"Is he the guy you were talking about? The one you dated?" he said, leaning his face over Daniel's frozen face"

"Hello sir!" Daniel greeted so politely, shaking Leo's hand.

"Kyouri is this your father?" he whispered

"No, he was the friend i was talking about"

"Really!?" he said. "This is the second time I've seen someone of his species"

"Kyouri" Leo stared at me

"Do you know where this statue came from?"

"No, Daniel only told me to run because he said something weird was going to happen."

He turned to Daniel, meeting his eyes, squinting.

"Do you know where this came from?"

"No, sir. A friend of mine just called me a while ago, saying that all of this would happen."

"Your friend, huh? Well, if that's so, then you're friend is very smart and mischievous, planning all of this"

Daniel turned to me and met my own gaze, we both somehow agreed that we were confused.

"Your friend of yours, Daniel, whoever he or she is, made fun of the both of you. She even had the trouble to plant these on your heads"

Leo pulled something out of our hair, and we both saw two butterflies in his hands and flew them away

"Butterflies?" i watched them fly away

"Trained ones. They carried poison in their mouths, planting it in your heads"

"So... Wouldn't that mean-"

"You've been played for fools. Look around you."

A number of people were staring at us, some were even giggling and murmuring. And I haven't even noticed that around were missing during the Golem's attack.

"But they saw the giant statue too, right?" Daniel stepped up

"No. Only you two are hallucinating it."

Me and Daniel both feel silent.

"So we were running around like a bunch of idiots?" i frowned

"Exactly what i said." he smiled