They are still close to me today despite their negative feelings

The old man looked at Chen Di with admiration, and at the same time sighed slightly at me.

"You've won, young people. The Magician is the most promising and miraculous representative in Tarot. You've obtained it, so naturally the entire park deserves a celebration for you."

"—So, tell us your wishes. Whether it's a permanent ticket to the park or ownership of the entire park for a whole day, as long as it's reasonable, we will grant it."

I looked at Chen Di.

"Why are you looking at me? I'm just your agent. This wish should naturally belong to you."

Chen Di shook his head.

"Aren't you tempted?"

"To be honest, I'm incredibly excited. But I always feel that since you came here specifically for the reward, you'd definitely give a more interesting answer, right?"

"Alright, you two good male classmates! Let's put that aside for now. This is a reward that the entire park has helped us out of the woods! We can even eat at the themed restaurant all day long! Ning Ruoyu, Ning Ruoyu, hurry up and make a wish!"

An Yu looked at me with starry eyes.

"And you guys, have you...?"

Before I could even exchange pleasantries, everyone else shook their heads.

"Big brother's wish must be the most interesting!"

Su Qiqi waved her little fist.

"...Then I'll use it up, okay?"

I no longer hesitated and looked at the white-bearded old man who was smiling.

"—Then let's hold a fireworks festival tonight!"

When I finished speaking, everyone else, including the white-bearded old man, was slightly taken aback. Only Qiu Luxi suddenly raised her head and looked at me with astonishment.

Like a kitten suddenly waking up and happily finding itself in a fish can carriage.

[Next chapter preview: "Those awful high school students!!!"]

"I want to be the captain," the girl said earnestly.

"Here, here, I'm in your hands!"

Please spare me this classic question; I've been playing brain teasers all day.

"Just like fireworks. Whether on the phone or in reality, Ning Ruoyu is Ning Ruoyu."

Interlude: What shape does a firework that bursts into bloom look like when viewed from the side? (Bonus Chapter)

"Whew, I'm exhausted, so tired!"

Moving from the stage to the backstage, the staff member playing the old man didn't even have time to remove his beard before hurriedly picking up a box of cardboard boxes.

"How are the locations for the mobile food stalls allocated?!"

"The fireworks over there aren't ready yet!!"

"Wearing costumes?! I'm missing a horse-face skirt and hairpins! Do you have any makeup artists available who could help with the tourists' makeup?!"

"We can't even keep up with our own NPC actors!!! You should just find a part-time female college student to fill in!!!"

Despite being a theme park, the backstage and control center are filled with scenes that have a very realistic feel.

"Those awful high school students!!!"

The staff member playing the old man sighed deeply.

"They said it was fine if it couldn't be 100% recreated, as long as it could create the right atmosphere—and the boss actually agreed to this outrageous wish!!!"

"Alright, alright, it's all because you lost," a colleague comforted her.

"Who would have thought these high school students would be so amazing? Who in their right mind could figure out how to win such a brain-teasing game in just a few minutes? I haven't even understood the rules yet."

The elderly staff member poured out his grievances.

"But they didn't make any outrageous demands like permanent tickets or luxury cruises. With those kinds of demands, it's reasonable for them to work a little harder."

"...That's true, but we've run ourselves ragged."

"With such a great opportunity, why insist on seeing the fireworks festival today? It's something that happens every year, can't we wait another year?"

The colleague next to him was slightly taken aback, then sighed.

“Ah, I’m afraid that won’t work. Because the youngest of them, she actually…”

-

"Although we were told we could have free time after visiting the food street, isn't it a bit too remote to bring a child to a place like this?"

Down the long street, people dressed in classical costumes strolled about. At the entrance of the "Sky Garden" located halfway up the mountain in the park, a boy spoke with a half-smile to two girls, one big and one small, who were sitting on a bench.

"Brother Ning!!"

The smaller girl cheered and ran over quickly, raising her hand.

"Be careful."

The boy knelt down, hugged the little girl who had buried her face in his arms, and rubbed her head.

"Very dangerous."

"Brother Ning is so amazing, he'll definitely catch me!"

"Haha..." The boy laughed with some trouble in his eyes, seemingly because he rarely heard such straightforward praise, and he looked somewhat helpless.

"Oh right, right, Brother Ning, come here, come here!"

The little girl seemed to have thought of something, and took the boy's hand, trying to lead him to the bench.

Letting her hold his hand, the boy followed the little girl and sat down next to another girl.

"The sky here is so beautiful! Just now, the fireworks went off with a 'whoosh,' and the whole sky lit up in an instant!"

The little girl excitedly showed the boy what she had just seen, and the boy listened with a smile, occasionally letting out a soft "wow" to match the little girl's emotions.

"...And then, Qiu-jie and I came over here." The little girl's eyes crinkled with laughter. "Qiu-jie even gave me a pendant! It's so cute!"

"A pendant?" The boy glanced at the girl who hadn't spoken but occasionally glanced at the two of them out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes, yes, it's a cat with whiskers and wearing a pirate hat! Hehe, it's this one!"

The little girl showed the boy the pendant from her pocket as if it were a treasure. The boy glanced at it and was slightly taken aback.

"...Not the pirate ship one."

He said this to the girl who was also looking at the pendant.

“That was a gift from you, I can’t just give it away.” The girl also took out a pendant from her pocket. “I bought one from the same series at the gift shop, so we can make a pair.”

The boy chuckled bitterly a few times and silently took out different styles of pendants from the same series from his pocket.

"...I originally wanted to give it to Su Qiqi too. Xiao Xin also really likes the Mustache Cat series. I just spent a long time with her opening blind boxes, and I also picked out a pirate-themed one for myself."

Silence lingered between the boy and the girl.

"Then all three of us will have whiskered cats! And, and we're all pirates, so we're a pirate family!"

Su Qiqi pulled the boy and girl's hands together.

"Brother Ning's dad is the pirate captain! Sister Qiu's mom is the pirate navigator! And I'm the little pirate doctor!"

"You even know the word 'navigator'?" The boy blinked.

"Hehe, Mom bought me comic books before, and the navigator in them was a beautiful older sister just like Qiu-jie~"

"I want to be the captain," the girl said earnestly.

"...Instead of competing for a position on the ship, shouldn't we first complain about this absurd relationship between the characters? Why is the doctor a child? This is going to cause trouble!"

"Ning Ruoyu, a boring man without a childlike heart."

"Don't think you won't do anything just because Qiqi is here, okay?"

The girl was quiet but always knew how to keep up with the conversation, and the boy could accurately quip off the girl's rambling topics. Su Qiqi watched the conversation between the two older siblings with a smile, and before she knew it, she felt a few drops of water on the back of her hand.

"……Eh?"

"That's strange."

Su Qiqi wiped the back of her hand in surprise, but for some reason, more and more water droplets appeared on the back of her hand.

"It's clearly not raining."

The boy and girl stopped talking. They looked at Su Qiqi.

The girl's eyes were filled with sadness, while the boy's eyes, like the dim sky, reflected nothing but a captivating darkness.

"I...I clearly...I had already thought it through..."

"No, I won't cry anymore—"

The little girl vigorously rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, as if trying to hide the evidence.

But her voice was already choked with sobs and choked with emotion.

"sorry Sorry sorry……"

"You haven't done anything wrong."

The girl hugged the little girl in her arms and gently patted her back.

"Qiqi has done very well."

"...But, but."

With red eyes, the little girl tugged at the girl's arm and gently questioned her through a sniffle.

"If Qiqi hadn't been naughty, why would Mommy not want Qiqi? Why did Mommy abandon Qiqi?"

"Why is it that no one wants Qiqi?"

The girl trembled, her usually calm and serene gaze now rippling violently as if a boulder had been thrown into a lake.

"...I, I, I."

The girl's pupils trembled slightly, and she opened her mouth.

"I don't either..."

"Hey! Little sailor!"

The voice of Captain Bearded Cat, the pirate captain, suddenly rang out, startling both the wavering girl and the crying little girl.

Why are you crying! Who bullied you!

The pirate captain's voice continued to ring out. The little girl looked around in surprise, but apart from the smiling boy and the thoughtful girl, there was no one else.

But none of them seemed to be saying a word.

"Here, here, I'm in your hands!"

"Captain Whiskered Cat?"

The little girl looked at the pendant in her hand with a mixture of belief and doubt.

"Ouch, be gentle! Don't be so rough!"

The voice sounded like a complaint.

"Ah, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry..."

The little girl now completely believed it and carefully picked up the pendant.

"No apologies allowed! We are all brave little sailors on this ship, and we are not allowed to apologize unless we have done something wrong!"

"Hey, but you just said I used too much force..."

The little girl answered the unpredictable "Captain" timidly.

"Hmm... I don't care! In any case, from now on, if you feel you haven't done anything wrong, you're not allowed to apologize casually. I, the captain, hate cowardly kids the most, do you hear me!"

"But... I don't know if I did anything wrong?"

"Well, to give you an example. Imagine someone steals your snacks."

"Uh-huh."