After finishing the circuit of the Trick House with Alice, I stepped back outside to swap places with Kuro. Since some of the tasks—the planetarium included—had taken a fair amount of time, I’d worried that I had kept her waiting, but that didn't seem to be the case.
"Ah, welcome back, you two! Does the flow of time change inside? Only about two minutes have passed out here though..."
"That's right, ssu. There are tasks that take quite a bit of time, after all."
"Heh... Shaltier, your face is red."
"It's just your imagination, ssu!"
"Eh? But—"
"It's just your imagination, ssu!!"
"...O-Okay. I got it."
Alice's face was undoubtedly red because of that final kiss. She really was an easy person to embarrass. Regardless, having gone through the attraction once, I was relieved to see that the tasks weren't generally too extreme and felt like something lovers could genuinely enjoy together.
It seemed like the kind of thing that would be popular if it were ever opened to the public for couples. Having already done a practice run, I felt I had the mental composure to go in with Kuro now.
"Now then, next is me and Kaito-kun!"
"Yeah."
"Alright, let's go!"
Kuro was quick to get moving. With a bright smile, she took my hand and started walking. She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the amusement park itself, so she was likely looking forward to this Trick House as well.
Feeling a sense of warmth at the sight of her enthusiasm, I entered the attraction with her. It didn't seem like the order of the tasks changed with each entry, as the challenge in the first room we reached was the princess carry, just like it had been with Alice.
Unlike Alice, Kuro didn't seem embarrassed at all. Instead, she beamed with a happy smile when I picked her up.
"Ohhh, this feels so fresh! It’s rare for me to be the one lifted up by Kaito-kun!"
"Now that you mention it, you've carried or held me when we were flying, but I've almost never been the one to lift you up, have I?"
"Yeah, yeah! This is fun in its own way."
"Alright, I'll head to the next room like this then..."
"Okay—Oh, I know!"
The situation of me carrying Kuro was novel in itself, and while she was acting quite playful and enjoying the moment, her expression suddenly changed as if she had just thought of something.
In the next instant, while still being held in my arms, she wrapped her hands around the back of my neck and hugged me tightly.
"Wait, Kuro?"
"Ehehe, this way of hugging is fresh too."
After hugging me and nuzzling her head against me, Kuro looked up and gave me a beaming smile. She looked innocent and incredibly cute.
Since she had been so high-spirited all day, her gestures felt more youthful than usual, which only added to her charm.
"Hey, hey, Kaito-kun. I wonder what's next?"
"It should be the task where we take turns feeding each other a parfait."
"Doing 'aaahn'? Taking turns might be a bit fresh too."
Unlike Alice, Kuro didn't seem particularly shy about it. At this stage, she certainly wasn't going to get flustered over a princess carry or feeding each other. It was just that Alice tended to overreact.
"...If we're making it a Baby Castella Parfait..."
"Let's not."
Since we were already about to eat a second parfait in a relatively short window of time, I really wanted her to refrain from any strange magical modifications.
With those thoughts in mind, we moved to the second room. Just as before, a random box sat there, with the task written on it in large letters.
'Finish the stick-shaped chocolate cookie inside by eating it from both ends'
...Wait, the task is different? That’s strange.
"...Huh? It's not a parfait."
"The task changed... Does this mean it’s different every time someone enters?"
I was pretty sure this was what people called the Pocky Game. Since the task in the first room had been identical, I had assumed they would all be the same, but perhaps it had been a coincidence. Maybe the tasks rotated every time.
Actually, the Pocky Game itself had existed back when I visited the park with Shiro-san, so its presence wasn't necessarily weird... No, wait a minute.
"Don't tell me... did Alice change the tasks?"
"Hmm... Oh, come to think of it, I think I heard Shaltier muttering something like 'switching to Advanced Mode' in a tiny voice earlier."
"...That's it."
Setting aside Shiro-san or Kuro, if this task had come up when I was with Alice, she would have been mortified. However, as someone who loved classic romantic tropes, Alice probably felt the need to include something like a Pocky Game in her design.
And the "Advanced Mode" Kuro mentioned... In other words, I suspected that this Trick House had a "Normal Mode" which I had experienced with Alice, and an "Advanced Mode" with increased intimacy levels.
"It's probably a mode Alice prepared, thinking we should use it once we got used to the normal version."
"I see. She might have been being considerate so that Kaito-kun wouldn't get bored with the same content."
"...Maybe."
Or perhaps it was retaliation for me teasing her while she was blushing so hard... Well, regardless, if the content was changing, then just as Kuro said, I could enjoy it with a fresh feeling. It was fine by me.
Serious-senpai: "A-Advanced Mode... you say?! (Trembling with horror)"
Machina: "I see, I see. It looks like Normal Mode was light on physical contact, so this must be a mode that ramps it up. Given that the instructions for the Pocky Game are de facto a kiss, the level might have jumped quite a bit for just the second step."