I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"Ah!" Souji exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. "I want to play that too! Let's go, let's go play together!"

After speaking, the commander personally led the way, jogging towards the arrow-throwing game stall.

"..." Qing Deng, with a stiff expression, repeatedly scanned Souji, who had rushed to the stall, and Elodie, whose face was full of expectant smiles.

In this situation, how could Qingdeng possibly say something like, "Maybe we shouldn't do that anymore?"

Having found himself in a difficult situation, Qing Deng could only take a deep breath and, with slightly stiff feet, grit his teeth and follow the steps of the commander.

Souji: "Boss! How much do you charge here?"

"Oh! One arrow costs two coins! Whatever you hit on the shelf, that item belongs to you..."

The boss abruptly stopped talking.

Qingdeng: "..."

boss:"……"

After exchanging a few glances with the bald boss he had met the day before yesterday and yesterday, Qingdeng involuntarily looked away slightly...

The bald boss stared at Qingdeng for a moment, dumbfounded.

Then, he turned his gaze and scanned Qingdeng's surroundings.

He didn't see the red figure that had almost traumatized him, nor the blue figure of a noble princess with such graceful bearing that she seemed to have stepped out of a storybook... He only saw a very cute young boy and a girl in yellow who, judging from her voice and figure, was at most around 13 years old.

When he saw the chief, the bald boss managed to maintain a calm demeanor.

But upon seeing Elodie, he could no longer hold back.

In an instant, the bald boss's expression changed rapidly.

He turned his gaze back to Qingdeng, his expression changing from "dumbfounded" to... as if he had seen some strangely shaped insect...

"Huh?" Souji asked, puzzled. "Boss, what's wrong? Why are you suddenly spacing out?"

"Uh... um, it's nothing."

The bald boss demonstrated excellent professionalism.

His bizarre expression, as if he were looking at an insect, vanished in an instant.

With his face once again beaming with a professional smile, he said warmly:

"One arrow, two coins! Whatever you hit on the shelf, that item is yours! Sir, would you like to give it a try?"

"Oh! It's pretty cheap! Tachibana-kun, do you want to come and play too?"

"I don't need to..."

Having already played the game twice over two consecutive days, Qingdeng found it difficult to muster any more interest in it.

Moreover, the coincidence of meeting the bald boss three times, with each time accompanied by a different partner, made Qing Deng feel inexplicably embarrassed, and he really had no mood to play the game.

Qingdeng felt that the bald boss must have misunderstood something...

But in the current situation, it was inconvenient for him to explain to the bald boss.

All I could do was silently endure the bald boss's strange gaze...

"You're not playing? Okay then. Little Ti, let's just play, the two of us! How about we each play 10 arrows first?"

"Little Ti" is a nickname given to Elodie by the commander because he thought her name was a bit hard to pronounce.

Elodie seems to really like her nickname.

"Yes! Okay!" Elodie nodded vigorously.

"Then boss, give me 20 arrows first!" The commander reached into his robes, pulled out his money pouch, and counted out 40 copper coins.

Elodie, who had just been lifted off Qingdeng's neck, stood excitedly beside Souji, scanning the shelves for the prizes she wanted.

These two energetic girls are truly a perfect match – their throwing skills are so bad that the bald boss is all smiles.

……

"Hmm...that's strange..."

……

"...Ugh...Is there something wrong with the fletching on this arrow...? Ouch, that hurts! Damn it! I got pricked in the hand by the fletching...!"

……

"Listen to me! Fly straight ahead! Ugh! Why won't this arrow fly the way I say it?! Honestly...!"

……

"Awoooo ...

……

The commander, having repeatedly missed his target and only hitting air until all his arrows were gone, threw a tantrum and roared to the sky.

Elodie, standing nearby, was in a similar situation—

……

"Ah... I almost made it..."

……

"Missed again... What a pity, so close again..."

……

"Ugh... Only 3 arrows left..."

……

"Ugh, how annoying! The wind's picked up again, and it's blowing the arrows off course again...!"

……

"Awoooo ...

……

Perhaps influenced by the commander, Elodie also let out a resentful "roar".

Seeing this, Qing Deng couldn't help but chuckle, and the awkward feeling that had risen again due to the reunion with the bald boss dissipated considerably—although the two little ones were both "howling," they didn't exude any negative emotions.

All that exists is the desire to win the game and the joy of being completely immersed in it.

"Boss! We want to play 20 more arrows!" the commander shouted.

……

In the end, neither Souji nor Elodie won a single prize.

However, neither of them cared about such a trivial matter.

The two girls, who simply wanted to play games and didn't necessarily need any of the prizes on the shelf, were drawn to another game stall not far away after they had their fill of playing.

"Ah! Mr. Okita! Look, that stall looks like you can fish for small fish!"

"Fishing for small fish? Let's go, let's go take a look!"

Souji and Elodie happily headed to the stall that offered the "fishing game".

—Looks like there's no chance to explain to the bald boss… Oh well, let him misunderstand… It's not a big deal. He doesn't seem to know who I am, so he probably won't spread strange rumors like "Niou is a playboy who goes out on dates with different women every night"…

After comforting himself in this way, Qing Deng quickly caught up with Souji and Elodie under the strange gaze of the bald boss.

The bald boss, who had no new customers and was free at the moment, watched Qingdeng walk away.

After confirming that Qingdeng had gone far away, he breathed a sigh of relief:

"This guy is really something... men, women, old, young, he'll take it all... he's not picky at all... who is he? Oh well, whatever, I probably won't have a chance to see him again anyway... right?"

……

……

Caught up in the festive atmosphere, Elodie, completely letting loose, wandered around every game stall and food stall accompanied by Aoto and Souji.

At almost every game stall, Elodie and Souji could be seen playing together.

The joy brought by playing games and eating delicious food transformed into an increasingly bright light in the two girls' eyes and an even more radiant smile on their cheeks.

Before we knew it, it was almost time for tonight's fireworks display to begin.

Aoto, Souji, and Elodie, who had climbed back onto his neck, hurried to the meeting place they had just arranged with Kondo: the east entrance of the Ryogoku Bridge.

Elodie, being young and lacking the stamina of a young man like Souji, showed obvious signs of fatigue and weariness on her face after playing to her heart's content.

However, the highlight of the night—the fireworks display—was yet to be seen. Not wanting to leave any regrets tonight, Elodie strained her eyes and forced herself to stay alert.

The closer you get to the bridge between the two countries, the more tourists there are, making it harder to move forward.

Although the journey was difficult, we eventually arrived at our destination safely and smoothly.

"Huh? Where are Kondo and the others...?"

The commander stood on tiptoe, placed his outstretched palms on his eyebrows, and looked around.

"Aren't they here yet...? The fireworks display is about to start..."

There are about 5 minutes left until the first firework of the night sky lights up.

“They should still be on their way here…” Qingdeng said. “There’s no other way but to wait for them here for now.”

"Well... hopefully they're not lost..."

"..."

"..."

After Souji finished speaking, she and Aoto, unable to find a topic to talk about, both fell silent.

However, this silence lasted for less than half a minute before it ended with a hesitant question posed by Souji.

"Tachibana-kun...are you in a bad mood tonight?"

"Huh? No." Qing Dengchao suddenly asked the commander a question out of the blue, giving him a puzzled look. "What's wrong? Why are you suddenly asking me this?"

The commander pondered for a moment and said: