Once her curiosity was satisfied, Rita stopped paying attention to Dawn Cicada and used the remaining time to browse the stalls until the start signal rang out.
As thick smoke rose around her, she realized she had been teleported to the other side of the Oasis Town. Her two pets and the golden rain curtain were gone, and she herself had turned into a small, round mochi ball—barely thirty centimeters in diameter—with short stubby arms. The capsule machine and her storage gear were all temporarily inaccessible.
Everyone else was the same. The entire game zone was packed with identical white mochi-like blobs, each with a pair of shiny black-dot eyes that blinked and swiveled to see the surroundings.
Behind the stalls, the Mechanoids watched with great interest, as if the whole thing was their entertainment show.
Rita began hopping around immediately, her little arms moving in a rhythmic pattern, mimicking the motion of drawing Mahjong tiles in midair.
