I headed toward the plaza stalls with Tre, our hands joined. It was a strange feeling; just watching her walk beside me with such a bright, cheerful smile made my own spirits lift.
We’d already had Sinfonia-yaki, and I’d been snacking on the various treats Tre picked up as we strolled along, so I wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon focusing on the game stalls.
"Oh, Kaito! Let's try that one!"
"Target practice? Ah, I remember you being pretty good at that, Tre."
"Heh heh, leave it to me."
Tre had shown off some impressive sharpshooting at the White God Festival. Even though she’d insisted back then that it was her very first time, it was just like her to carry herself like a seasoned pro now.
As we stepped up to the stall together, I finally realized the secret to her success. It was all in the reach. Since she was tall with long limbs, the tip of her gun ended up significantly closer to the prizes than mine. Natural talent played a part, of course, but that reach was a formidable advantage.
Just as she had before, Tre started picking off prizes left and right. She didn't have a perfect record, but she was hitting her mark about ninety percent of the time.
"Hmph! See that, Kaito? Pretty great, right?"
"You really are a natural."
"Ehehe!"
Tre puffed out her chest with a Doyaaa Face, stowing her winnings in her Magic Box. Having one of those was incredibly handy at a festival; it kept our hands free and our haul from getting in the way.
We swapped places with Cento and Sien after that. While I was watching the sisters take their turn at the range, someone suddenly tugged on my hand.
"Look, Kaito! Isn't that one of those Otherworld stalls?"
"I'd say target practice counts as one, too, but... oh, hey, it's Superball Scooping! That takes me back."
"Oh? Have you played this before?"
"A long time ago. Like... ten years or so."
"So, just recently then?"
"...I guess so."
Come to think of it, Tre was well over ten thousand years old. From her perspective, a decade probably felt like last week.
In any case, it was Superball Scooping—the kind where you use a paper scoop called a 'poi.' I remembered using monaka wafers back in elementary school, but this stall used the standard paper ones.
"Come on, let's give it a shot!"
"Sure, why not? One round."
"All right, I'm up first!"
"Tre, isn't that one a little too big? You're going to tear the paper for sure."
"It's fine, it's fine—ah."
"See! I told you!"
The second she got her scoop, Tre went straight for the biggest superball—the one that was clearly just for show—and shredded the paper instantly.
"...I really thought I could pull it off. You know, through some kind of mysterious power."
"The moment you have to rely on 'mysterious power' for a carnival game, you've already lost."
"Aw, fine. Your turn, Kaito. We can't have a post-game review unless we both fail."
"Don't just assume I'm going to lose."
Surely I could manage at least one, right? I decided to aim for a small one. Carefully... very carefully... Huh? Something felt off. The sensation traveling up the scoop suggested the ball was much heavier than it appeared.
Maybe it was high density, or maybe there was something inside... either way, I could feel the tension on the paper—ah.
"..."
"...There, there, Kaito. Don't be discouraged. Everyone has bad days. You shouldn't let one little loss get you down."
"Why are you acting like you're the winner here?!"
We both ended up with zero, though the stall owner gave us each a superball as a Consolation Prize. Since Tre and I were so evenly matched in... well, lack of skill, I found myself getting surprisingly competitive.
"Hey, Kaito?"
"Yeah? Did you find another stall?"
"Cento and Sien are gone."
"...What?"
I whirled around at Tre’s words. She was right—they were nowhere to be seen. They’d been right behind us just a moment ago. Why...? Ah, wait. Tre had dragged me away to the Superball Scooping Stall while the other two were still focused on their target practice.
The stalls weren't that far apart, but with the massive crowds, they must have lost sight of us and wandered off to search. I looked back toward the target practice game, but I couldn't see a trace of them.
Magic Power Detection was supposedly difficult in dense crowds, and besides, Shiro-san's Blessing made it impossible for anyone to sense my presence anyway.
"Oh well! Getting lost is just part of the fun. I'm sure we'll run into them eventually. On to the next—"
"Wait, wait! I'll contact them. We are not moving another inch until we regroup."
It was a good thing I was with her. If Tre were alone, she probably would have just shrugged and skipped off to the next stall without a second thought. Since I was here, however, I could use a Hummingbird to send them our coordinates.
I was genuinely relieved. Still, it was a little unnerving. Even though I’d been trying to stay alert, we’d become separated so naturally, as if she’d just slipped through a crack in my consciousness.
No wonder those two lost sight of her so often despite their own formidable skills. Tre’s ability to vanish by exploiting the lapses in people's awareness was a talent in its own right.
Serious-senpai: "I suppose one could call it a talent for the Stealth Force... actually, never mind. She's way too noisy for that."