Ch.44Amusement Park (2)

I thought I hadn’t done much, but it was already 3 PM.

Honestly… I wanted to go home.

‘My inner self is a 25-year-old old man after all…’

Yes. That was important. My mental stamina was already depleted.

“Hehe. 3 PM. The golden time has arrived,” Umi said with her arms crossed.

“This is when visitors who’ve been here since morning start getting tired!! That’s when we hit the attractions hard!”

Umi exclaimed.

“We have to stay until nighttime!!”

Umi declared.

“Night?!! Are you crazy?!!”

How many more hours did I have to endure here?

“There’s a fireworks show tonight!! How about that!! Doesn’t that get you excited?”

Umi shouted.

“Fireworks?!!”

Ah. That’s right. It was a regular event at the amusement park. It’s useless information, but amusement parks use much more gunpowder than the military. I was once surprised to learn that Disneyland uses more gunpowder in a year than the US military. This was massive capitalism.

“Th-then what about a parade?! Is there one?”

I immediately brightened up. That would change things. My excitement was rising a bit.

“Ah… there isn’t one.”

Umi’s expression turned bitter.

“It costs too much money…”

Umi explained the adult circumstances.

Well… Emoshita City was a small rural city. It barely functioned as a satellite city to the metropolis. Every year, many people left the city, and the birth rate continued to decline. The financial situation of such a small city was predictable.

“…In my next life, I want to be born as a city girl in Tokyo or Osaka.”

Umi said. Something… Mr. Gonzaemon or Ms. Asuna would be sad to hear that.

“Fireworks? Well… I’m not particularly interested.”

And I noticed something different about Taiga. Hmm… I’ll ask her about it later. I decided.

“Well, I haven’t collected all the stamps yet. We should stay until evening.”

Sassitsu said. This guy was just obsessed with stamps. You know the type. The kind who must complete all achievements when playing games.

“Then I have a suggestion.”

At that moment, Taiga pulled Umi aside.

Whisper-! Whisper-!

The two were having some conversation.

“…Ah. They give stamps over there too.”

Sassitsu, apparently used to going off on his own, immediately headed toward an attraction. This guy is really doing his own thing!! I couldn’t help but comment.

Soon, Umi and Taiga came trotting back.

“Shota. Spend time with me from 3 PM to 5 PM. Got it?”

Taiga said while running her hand through her hair.

“…Huh?”

Once again, my schedule was decided for me. Just like the Golden Week schedule… Do I even have free will? I was overwhelmed by such fundamental questions.

“From 5 to 6, we’ll eat, and from 6 to 8, you’ll spend time with me. Then we’ll watch the fireworks and that’s it!”

Umi shouted.

“S-sure…”

Well, I guess they want to be alone. I understood that much.

“I’ll lend you my man for now.”

Umi said to Taiga with a tone full of superiority.

“What do you mean ‘lend’!”

Taiga immediately got angry.

“Then I’ll hang out with Sassitsu.”

Umi said.

“Don’t be jealous. You’re the only one I see anyway.”

Umi added a seductive remark.

Smooch-!

After suddenly kissing me on the cheek, Umi immediately joined Sassitsu.

“…Let’s go then.”

Taiga said, strangely flustered.

“Yeah. Sure.”

The gap from her usual self was so stark that I was a bit taken aback.

———–

Taiga and I decided to just walk around the amusement park for a while.

“………”

About 15 minutes later.

“This is taking forever!! How long are we going to walk?!”

I immediately complained.

“W-well, we’ve already been on most rides!! I don’t know what else to do!!”

Taiga shouted.

“…I don’t have much experience with amusement parks, so I don’t know. The only attraction I’ve been on is a modified motorcycle.”

Taiga said.

“Is that… even an attraction?”

I asked seriously. She really was a delinquent. I recalled her setting as the leader of a biker gang.

“Anyway!! You lead the way!!”

Taiga shouted.

“………”

Well, I understood that I was the only one who could make suggestions.

Of course, I was a veteran who had chewed, torn apart, tasted, and enjoyed this game for three playthroughs.

I also knew well what kind of preferences Taiga had.

“You want to go there, right?”

I pointed to a corner.

“Guh?!”

Taiga reacted immediately.

‘Magical Thief Goemon’

It was a magical girl series popular among girls. It was a show-within-the-game.

It was about girls who awaken to magical powers and use them to act as noble thieves. Apparently, many girls felt catharsis from the fact that the characters openly assaulted police officers and school teachers.

While it had many ethical issues, the truth was that ethically problematic works were often much more entertaining.

With half the content consumed by sticky love triangles and jealousy fights among the main characters, there was plenty to criticize, but honestly, the character designs were pretty.

The Arigiri Shota I had possessed also secretly liked that series. There were figurines at home.

Anyway, Taiga’s hobby was secretly watching girls’ anime.

“W-what are you talking about!!!”

Taiga’s face immediately turned red.

“What do you mean? You kept glancing over there.”

I said.

“I-I’m not interested!!”

Taiga immediately turned her face away.

Sigh… this girl is hopeless.

“From what I can see, it’s quite a big collaboration event. It says you can rent character costumes and walk around in cosplay? They really put effort into this.”

Perk-!

Taiga’s ears perked up at those words.

“B-but… it wouldn’t suit me anyway…”

Taiga mumbled hesitantly.

“What do you mean it wouldn’t suit you!!!!”

I immediately scolded Taiga.

“Why are you suddenly yelling!!”

Taiga shouted.

“Taiga, you’re super beautiful!! Cosplay would definitely suit you!! Not doing it would be a loss for your life!! No!! A loss for the cosplay industry!!”

I grabbed Taiga’s hands and shouted.

“W-what nonsense… aren’t you embarrassed to flatter me so shamelessly?”

Taiga’s face turned red.

“Well… I understand being embarrassed.”

Right. It takes courage to cosplay. I understand. I also had to gather quite a bit of courage the first time I cosplayed in public.

But it’s different when you’re together.

“I’m not being irresponsible. I’ll do it too. Cosplay.”

I declared to Taiga with my arms crossed.

“A-are you serious?!!”

Taiga shouted. She seemed unable to comprehend my casual willingness to cosplay.

“It’s something you like. What’s embarrassing about genuinely enjoying something you like?”

I patted Taiga’s shoulder.

I’d feel bad if she couldn’t enjoy herself at the amusement park.

“…You really are different.”

Taiga stared at me blankly, then shook her head.

“Alright. Let’s do it.”

Taiga soon regained her usual expression.

“That’s it!! That’s the face of someone ready to take someone down!! As expected of Big Sis Taiga!!”

I immediately reacted.

Whack-!

“This guy always has one too many comments.”

Taiga immediately kicked my shin.

——-

Anyway, we went to the store and rented costumes.

“There are quite a lot of adults too… I thought it would just be kids.”

Taiga said.

“There’s demand from adults too, you know.”

With many similar adults around, it would be less embarrassing. Taiga’s expression also relaxed a bit.

Anyway, I quickly changed clothes.

What I wore was Arsène, a villain in this series. He was a handsome thief concept and an antagonist to the protagonist party.

All the main magical girls in the series mysteriously had feelings for and were obsessed with Arsène. Arsène secretly left room for possibilities and turned the main party into a catfight scene. The latest episode was about them nearly falling apart due to jealousy fights. In some sense, he was truly a “villain.”

This is for kids to watch… is this really okay? This world was somehow twisted.

“Phew…”

The clothes fit well enough. I was definitely better than the initial Arigiri Shota I had possessed. The suit fit much better thanks to the muscle I had gained.

Click!

I opened the changing room door.

As expected, Taiga hadn’t come out yet. It took women longer to change.

After a while, Taiga came out of the women’s changing room. She was Kirune, one of the magical girls in the series. She was a magical girl with a red ponytail. Since the original design was so good, Taiga’s outfit suited her very well.

“Ohhh… quite high quality.”

“The aesthetics are really good www”

“This is good cosplay wwww”

Some otaku were pushing up their glasses and admiring Taiga.

“Sorry for the wait…”

Taiga, with a flushed face, stared at me blankly.

“A-Arsène…”

Taiga called me Arsène.

Ah… I see. Now that we’re in cosplay, she wants to fully immerse herself in the role. I clearly received her determination.

Then I had no choice but to embrace the concept as well.

Swoosh-!

I politely extended my hand toward Taiga.

“Shall we go, my lady?”

I said with a wink.

“Heheeh…❤”

Taiga made a somewhat dazed sound and took my hand.

Grip-!

She interlocked each of our fingers. She really wanted to follow the in-series situation. Fine by me.

And so, I walked through the collaboration exhibition with Taiga.

“This! This!! It’s that scene from Season 1 Episode 6!! When she witnesses her boyfriend cheating and awakens her power!!”

“To even recreate how her suit melts off when dissolved by the slime… this is good.”

Taiga seemed completely excited. She must really like it. I thought that as I half-listened to her explanations.

“Taiga, you really do like this anime, huh.”

I said without thinking.

“H-hmph. Not particularly? I’m just explaining it to you because you don’t know about it.”

Taiga cleared her throat and said.

The moment you want to explain something to someone who doesn’t know about it, you’re definitely an otaku… but I decided not to point that out.

“Somehow… your sparkling eyes make you look really pretty.”

I blurted out my honest thoughts again.

Worried that I might have offended her, I looked at Taiga.

“…Heung.”

Some indescribable sound escaped from Taiga’s mouth. It was a signal for an incoming outburst.

“Shota… you know.”

At that moment, Taiga closed the distance between us.

“Why are you so nice to me? Even doing cosplay together… encouraging me to do what I want.”

Taiga then looked straight at me.

“Well… because we’re good comrades.”

I gave the model answer.

“Not that.”

Taiga wouldn’t allow evasion.

“I like you. I like you, idiot.”

Taiga finally issued a death sentence to our friendship. I had vaguely noticed her feelings, but I didn’t expect her to throw a punch so quickly.

“Um…”

How should I respond?

“What? Is it wrong for me to like you?”

Suddenly Taiga grabbed my collar.

W-what do I do…

Help me!!! Magical Thief Goemon!!!!!