I rode the merry-go-round for the first time in a while.
My main thought after getting off was less emotional and more practical: "Plastic is surprisingly hard." Quite different from me, Nina-chan was in high spirits, and I turned to her with a smile.
"How was it, Nina-chan?"
"It was fun!"
She replied with a bright smile, and that made me smile as well.
Nina-chan has started to smile a lot more.
Knowing her from a year ago makes me feel this even more strongly.
Back then, she had been rejected by Irena-san, moved to an unfamiliar country like Japan, and despite everything, she kept trying to beat me, just to earn Irena-san's recognition.
Seeing Nina-chan smile now fills me with warmth, so naturally, I smile too.
"What should we ride next?"
"Hmm, I want to try that spinning one."
Nina-chan pointed to the teacup ride.
Speaking of teacups, I remembered a time in my previous life when I rode one without knowing anything and spun it like a fool, making myself sick. It was a bit of a traumatic experience.
"Alright, but let's not spin it too much, okay?"
"Spin it...?"
Nina-chan tilted her head in confusion.
I didn't bother explaining. I figured she'd understand once we got on, so we joined the line.
As we waited in line, I noticed Nina-chan staring intently at something ahead.
"What is it?"
"..."
At first, I thought she might have spotted something related to the monster, so I asked, but she didn't answer. Maybe she was just daydreaming.
Then suddenly, she snapped back to attention and turned to me with a quick, "It's nothing," followed by a quiet shake of her head.
It didn't seem like she had seen a monster, but I was still curious, so I looked in the direction she had been staring. All I saw was a regular family.
Maybe she wished she could be here with Irena-san, I thought to myself, but before I could dwell on it, Nina-chan pulled my hand when the teacup ride stopped.
"Let's go, Itsuki."
"Uh? Oh, yeah. Let's go."
I was a bit surprised by how quickly she moved, but I followed Nina-chan as she led me to one of the teacups.
Once inside, she pointed at the silver handle in the center of the cup.
"What's this?"
"Oh, that's for spinning..."
"Hmm?"
Nina-chan made a curious sound, and soon, the cheerful music started as the teacups began to move slowly.
With curiosity in her eyes, Nina-chan placed her hands on the handle.
"Can I spin it?"
"Just... gently, okay?"
I answered in a small voice, but Nina-chan, excited, spun the handle with a sudden burst of energy.
"Wow! It's spinning!"
"Yeah, just... take it slow, please."
While I kept a careful eye on our surroundings, Nina-chan continued eating her churro.
I quickly finished my orange juice to avoid keeping her waiting. As I tried to match her pace, I found myself draining the cup quickly—I must have been hungrier than I thought.
After tossing my empty cup in the nearby trash can, Nina-chan asked me a question.
"Hey, Itsuki, is there anything you want to ride?"
"Me?"
"Yeah, we've only been doing things I want."
"Really? But I've been having fun too."
Even as I said that, Nina-chan puffed out her cheeks in mild annoyance.
"But maybe because we haven't done anything you want to do, the monster hasn't shown up."
"Do you think that's really possible?"
"It could be, right? We're dealing with a monster, after all."
Nina-chan's words made me pause. She might have a point.
Monsters often come with strange conditions for appearing, and while "children playing alone" might be one condition, there could easily be others.
Considering that, I thought for a moment about what I wanted to ride. I pointed to the biggest attraction in the park, located in the far corner.
Actually, I wasn't sure if you could call it an "attraction."
After all, I had pointed to the Ferris wheel.
"I'd like to ride that."
"The Ferris wheel? Sure, let's go."
I chose the Ferris wheel because I didn't want to deal with the fear of a roller coaster, especially since I didn't meet the height requirement.
We had already ridden the merry-go-round and the teacups, and the go-karts weren't an option because Nina-chan wouldn't be able to ride with me. Most of the other attractions here were thrill rides, which didn't appeal to me.
So, I chose the Ferris wheel by process of elimination.
It also had the added benefit of giving us a good vantage point, in case we could spot the monster from above—my exorcist's reasoning, I suppose.
We headed toward the Ferris wheel together. There wasn't much of a line, so it didn't take long for us to get on. We stepped into the small gondola, just the two of us.
Inside the small, swaying capsule, I could smell the faint scent of metal and something sweet, like sugar. Maybe someone had been eating candy in here earlier.
As the door clanged shut and the ride began to ascend slowly, I sat across from Nina-chan in the small four-seater gondola.
I stared out the window, hoping to spot the monster from up here, when Nina-chan suddenly spoke up.
"It feels like we've done something like this before."
"Before?"
I tilted my head in response to her words, and Nina-chan, who had started the conversation, tilted her head too, as if searching through her memories.
"Yeah, I feel like we came to an amusement park for 'work' once before..."
Just as she trailed off, something blocked the window.
At first, I thought it was a cloud covering the sun. But before my mind could fully process that explanation, my body moved instinctively.
"Do you know the privilege of being a child, boy?"
Standing outside the window was a pink, ragged rabbit costume.
In one hand, it held two pink balloons.
There was no platform outside the gondola for it to stand on, and yet, the monster was there—floating.
The rabbit costume spoke in a soft, almost tender voice.
"It's the ability to dream."