"Mm..."
"Haha, well now..."
When I woke up, Maria was sleeping right next to me, clinging tightly to my side.
Same as last time. Why does she keep climbing into my bed?
I could only look at Maria, who was still off in dreamland, and feel helpless.
"Maria? Maria?"
"Mm..."
I couldn’t just touch a woman’s body carelessly, so I called her name instead, but she showed no sign of getting up.
If anyone else saw this, I had a feeling it would be social death.
"Maria? Wake up already."
"Mm... H, ai?"
"Yes. It’s me."
In the end, I managed to wake Maria by shaking her shoulders a little.
"Good, morning."
"Yes. Good morning. But why are you sleeping next to me?"
Rubbing her eyes as she woke up, Maria tilted her head when I asked why she had been beside me.
"Because your arms are warm, of course."
"...W-what are you talking about!"
Thud!
Blushing at Maria’s nonsense, I rolled right out of bed.
"Hai. Why are you so flustered?"
Maria still didn’t seem to understand my reaction and kept staring at me with a puzzled look.
"Haa... What am I supposed to do with this pure girl...?"
*******
Today, everyone was going to the amusement park together.
Just like when we went to the karaoke place, the point was to give Maria a chance to experience things firsthand.
And before we left, we were gathered in the living room on the first floor of the spirit mansion, eating breakfast.
"Mm, nice."
Breakfast really is miso soup.
I checked that the soup was ready, then ladled it into a bowl.
"Thanks for the meal~"
It was a classic Japanese breakfast of rice, miso soup, and grilled fish, but it was a great meal.
"Hai. I’d like to pack the lunchboxes myself."
That was what Maria said to me after we finished eating.
We were going to pack lunchboxes to eat at the amusement park, and since Maria wanted to do it herself, I nodded and agreed.
Then I thought, Fine, I’ll just do it without Maria.
Right around then, Maria added something else.
"I’d also like to make them for the others."
"Huh? You don’t need to go that far and work yourself to the bone."
"No. There are things you can only feel by doing this sort of thing yourself."
Maria firmly declared that she would make lunchboxes for everyone else too, then headed to the kitchen. Her back looked incredibly dependable.
"Oh my, I could fall for her."
"My servant. It would be wise to stop spouting nonsense."
"Worried. Hai is acting weird."
These people never play along with my bits.
"Maria, do you know what kind of place the amusement park is?"
"Yes. I know it from information. But this will be my first time actually going."
Maria’s smile bloomed brightly, as if she was looking forward to it.
"Then let’s have a great time."
"Yes."
*******
And so time passed, and before long the promised time to go to the amusement park arrived.
"Mm! I’m looking forward to this!"
"Tohka, aren’t you a little too excited?"
"Big brother, did you pack the lunchboxes?"
The commander was wearing a white ribbon, in other words, what Itsuka-kun called her "little sister mode."
"Ghk."
"Hmm~? Hieta, what was that reaction just now~?"
"Ghk...!"
I looked at the commander in little sister mode with a face like I’d just seen something I shouldn’t have.
Then, after a moment, the commander turned around, swapped out her ribbon, and returned to commander mode.
"Don’t make that face!"
"As if!"
And then came the commander’s Hectopascal Kick flying straight at me.
I immediately raised my guard and blocked it.
Trying to attack me with that level of skill? You’re a hundred years too early.
"Honestly, are you two children?"
Mayuri let out a long sigh as she watched us.
"I may not be, but the commander definitely is."
"Shut up!"
"No chance!"
Hey, why are you attacking again, Commander!
"Ngh...!"
"Hieta. Aren’t you teasing Kotori a little too much?"
"I didn’t say anything that bad. I just thought little sister mode Commander was disgusting to look at."
"That’s exactly what makes it bad!"
I spent a while playing tag with the commander on the way to the amusement park.
"I don’t have confidence... Confidence that I’ll get caught!"
"Stop right there!"
"...Mayuri. Is this normal?"
"More or less...?"
"You’re that slow and you still have red hair? What an insult to redheads!"
"I told you to shut up!"
"You two! Enough!"
For the record, tag only stopped when Rinne finally snapped after enduring it as long as she could.
*******
"So this is the amusement park..."
Maria looked around in wonder after we arrived.
There really is a difference between knowing about something and seeing it for yourself.
"Pretty surprising when you see it in person, right?"
"Yes. There are so many people, and it’s very lively. Smiles are overflowing everywhere, so I feel like I might smile too."
"Yeah, amusement parks are lively places."
If an amusement park looked gloomy, then it wouldn’t be a normal amusement park. It’d be some warped amusement park from the underworld.
"And smiles are contagious, after all. That means joy and fun get doubled."
"Then if I smile a lot, it’ll be good for everyone too."
Maria said that and gave a bright smile.
So I smiled back, just like Maria.
"Suggestion. Rather than talking here, since we came all this way, let’s head for the attractions. Honestly, I think there’s never enough time, no matter how much you have."
Just as Yuzuru said, time is never enough, no matter how much of it you have.
Our goal was to ride the attractions Maria wanted, so we needed to move quickly and enjoy as many rides as possible.
"Yes, yes~! I’m in too~! Let’s have a blast~!"
The commander also agreed, copying Tohka’s way of speaking.
"I still can’t get used to that."
"Hieta, that’s exactly how I felt when I first saw Kotori at [Fraxinus]."
Hearing Itsuka-kun share a similar feeling, I felt a strange sense of kinship.
"Itsuka-kun...!"
"Hieta...!"
"What’s wrong with those two?"
"Ahaha, who knows. It’s not like Shido and Hieta only do this once or twice."
I let Rinne’s words go in one ear and out the other, then asked Maria,
"Hmm. Maria. Is there anywhere you want to go?"
"Then, first of all... how about the horror house?"
"...Eeeh!?"
The horror house.
Just like the name said, it was a fear-themed attraction, and the commander immediately started breaking out in a cold sweat the moment she heard we were going there.
"A horror houser, huh~"
"Itsuka-kun. Why is she acting like that?"
"Ah, Kotori’s bad with scary things."
"She really does seem like a middle schooler at times like this."
"Because she is a middle schooler."
"I can hear you, you know!?"
The commander got annoyed at me and Itsuka-kun whispering about her, then continued speaking.
"A-anyway! I-I just remembered I have something urgent to do... so I’ll wait here!"
By now her face had gone pale, and a tiny bead of water had formed in her eyes.
She’s really scared.
"Does Kotori not like the horror house?"
"N-no, it’s not that..."
"Oh, right. Actually, Kotori just doesn’t like scary things."
Seeing the commander flustered, Rinne stepped in and covered for her.
"I see. Then it’s better not to go."
"It’s fine, so go on! Maria wants to go in, right?"
"But..."
Maria was about to give up on the horror house because she couldn’t leave the commander behind.
Itsuka-kun and Yuzuru spoke to her then.
"You can go to the horror house and then have lots of fun afterward, right?"
"Suggestion. Then Yuzuru will stay too. I can’t leave Kotori alone."
When Yuzuru said she’d stay too, I asked if that was okay, and she answered with her usual expression.
"Denial. Trying to scare Yuzuru to that extent is nothing short of pathetic."
Hearing that, I thought Yuzuru’s nerve was pretty high.
Maybe she wouldn’t even be that surprised if she saw the monsters from Dark Souls.
"Then the commander and Yuzuru will stay here, and we’ll head out?"
When I said that, everyone nodded.
"The horror house! Now that sounds exciting!"
"Tohka. Don’t go attacking people just because you get scared, okay?"
On the way to the horror house, Itsuka-kun tried to talk Tohka down.
Probably because if she started attacking out of fear, the staff would be dropping like flies.
"Yoshino! If you get scared, grab Yoshinon or Hieta-kun tight~!"
"O-okay...!"
"No, what exactly are you teaching her...?"
Yoshinon was telling Yoshino some weird stuff.
If you get scared, cling to me. Use that to seduce me. That sort of thing.
I lightly tapped Yoshinon on the head to stop it.
"It’s been forever since I last came to a horror house!"
"My, Mana has a childish side too, huh~?"
"Shut up. [Nightmare]."
Those two were like cats and dogs, so they kept bickering the whole way there.
"This is my first time at an amusement park too, so I’m kind of excited."
"Me too. If I get scared, I’ll have to cling to Hai tightly!"
Rinne and Mayuri were both newly born spirits, so this was their first time not just at the horror house but at an amusement park in general, which was why they were saying the same thing.
And cling to me if they get scared, huh...
"I’m excited too, honored guest!"
"Well, Sachi, this is your first time too."
Fire Keeper was the same as Rinne and Mayuri.
Looking at it this way, there really were a lot of people here experiencing an amusement park for the first time.
"Then, let’s go in."
When we reached the horror house, we opened the door and went inside.
"Oh, it’s cleaner inside than I expected."
Who said that? Come forward.
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