As I watched Alice and Isis-san engage in small talk, I flipped through my guidebook, weighing our options for our next stop.
I wanted to find an attraction of some sort, partly to walk off the food I’d just eaten. However, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with anything physically demanding. Ideally, I was looking for something akin to a classic festival stall.
As I turned the pages of the guidebook with that in mind, a certain entry caught my eye.
Ring toss... How nostalgic. It was relatively close to our current location, too, so it seemed like a solid choice. Looking at the map, though, the area designated for it was unusually large. Was it some kind of oversized version of the game?
“Isis-san, would you like to try this ring toss next?”
“Wha—?!”
“Eh?”
I had intended it as a perfectly ordinary suggestion, but for some reason, both Alice and Isis whipped around to face me, looking utterly stunned. Isis, in particular, stared at me with wide, trembling eyes, looking visibly shaken.
“No... Kaito... it’s dangerous.”
“D-Dangerous? You mean ring toss?”
“Kaito-san... with your current gear, it will literally cost you your life. At the very least, you must wear this armor...”
“Wait, you’re bringing out a suit like the one Noin-san wears?!”
“The material is Orichalcum. With this, you might just stand a chance...”
What? A suit of Full Orichalcum Armor? Why was legendary-tier equipment like that suddenly making an appearance?
“E-Err... you two, it’s just ring toss, you know? Why are you acting like I’m heading off to a final showdown?”
“With Kaito’s magic power... I think... WANAGE would be... too difficult.”
“She’s right. It would be one thing if it were a match between amateurs, but you can’t hope to face a Ranker unless you can at least perform a Sonic Maneuver.”
“A Sonic Maneuver?! And what do you mean, Rankers...? Wait, does ring toss actually have some kind of professional ranking system?”
Something felt very off about this conversation. It was ring toss, right? The game where you throw a ring onto a peg? I wondered if I was just ignorant of some worldwide competitive ring toss league... but no, that was absurd.
“Professional Nagelists are a breed apart—formidable foes who won't be brought down by half-hearted efforts.”
“I’m hearing all these words I don’t recognize! Wait a minute! We are talking about ring toss, right?”
“Yes...”
“Indeed. We are talking about the Super Exciting Battle Sport WANAGE.”
“Battle sport?!”
Setting aside the question of whether ring toss even qualified as a sport, where did the "battle" element come in? Was it that? Were they competing for points or something?
“In WANAGE... you each have fifteen rings... and you fight... you win if you... slip through the opponent's defenses... and score more points.”
“...”
“Releasing shockwaves from the rings is just the basics. There are also advanced techniques like distracting the opponent with afterimages or splitting the thrown rings into multiple projectiles.”
“That is definitely not the ring toss I know...”
Right. I got it now... well, I didn't actually understand it at all, but I understood that the ring toss in this world was a different beast entirely from the one I grew up with.
At any rate, it was apparently a high-risk attraction, and attempting it would be a suicidal act for someone like me.
“T-Then, let’s forget about ring toss... How about Goldfish Scooping?”
“Goldfish Scooping?!”
“...”
Yeah, I had the gist of it now. Goldfish Scooping was dangerous too, wasn't it? Indeed, according to the guidebook, that one also occupied a massive space. It was probably something like the goldfish being insanely huge, right?
“T-Then, how about Target Practice?”
“But... Kaito... you can't use... Magic Bullets... right?”
“Even if you could use them, once the match enters Aerial Combat, it would likely be difficult to score any points.”
“K-Katanuki...?”
“That... should be fine.”
“True. With Isis-san there, the Obstacles should be safe enough. After that, it’s just a matter of manual dexterity.”
This was bizarre. For a while now, not a single one of my suggestions had matched the mental image I had of them. Just as I suspected, certain concepts must have been transmitted to this world in a bizarrely distorted way, much like the strange knowledge Kuro occasionally displayed.
“What about Yo-yo Fishing?”
“Yo-yo Fishing?”
It didn't exist?! Yo-yo Fishing... Why was it that Goldfish Scooping and Katanuki had made the jump to this world, but Yo-yo Fishing hadn't?!
“No, never mind... Err... Are there any safe attractions?”
“Let’s see... Hmm...”
“Shaltier... what about... Ring Target?”
“Oh, that’s a perfect idea! Anyone can play that, even children!”
I decided to stop trying to think for myself and asked for their recommendations instead. Alice suggested something called "Ring Target." Based on the name, I assumed it was some kind of target-hitting game, but...
“Ring Target?”
“Yes, it’s a festival staple. As the name implies, you use rings.”
“From a short distance away... you throw the ring.”
“Wait a minute...”
“The targets are poles with point values assigned to them. There are four types: ten, thirty, fifty, and a hundred points.”
“You throw the ring... hook it on a pole... and if your score is high enough... you get... a prize.”
“...”
I see. To summarize... from a short distance away, you throw rings—loops—to hook them onto poles—sticks—that have point values assigned to them.
“Isn’t that just freaking ring toss?!”
“What are you talking about, Kaito-san? This is entirely different from WANAGE.”
“Mm-hm.”
“No, that’s why... ugh, forget it!”
This feeling of being unable to get through to them... Yeah, I’d just have to give up.
Dear Father, Mother—Today, I finally encountered a classic problem of being in another world. Despite speaking the same language, cultural differences meant our perceptions simply didn't align.
Super Exciting Battle Sport WANAGE Originators: Kuromueina & Shallow Vernal
Absolute Demonic Beast Front: Goldfish Scooping Originators: Kuromueina & Shallow Vernal
Super-Dimensional Sniping Action: Target Practice Originators: Kuromueina & Shallow Vernal
Sensory Four-Dimensional Puzzle: Katanuki Originators: Kuromueina & Shallow Vernal
*These topics primarily arise during tea parties between the two goddesses. Kuromueina gives them physical form based on distorted information. Because her influence is so absolute, these versions spread throughout the world long before anyone can notice the misunderstanding.