Rebirth From Ordinary Person To The Strongest

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."

"What happens if we spin it as fast as possible?"

"Uh… something bad, I promise."

Despite my warning, Nina-chan spun the handle with all her might.

Didn't I say to spin it gently!?

But, well, she's seven. A child's curiosity isn't something that words can easily suppress.

As the teacup spun rapidly, I focused on Nina-chan's face.

When the world around you is spinning, the trick is to fix your gaze on something still. I had learned that from watching a gaming livestream in my past life.

So now, Nina-chan had become my anti-dizziness point of focus.

Once the wild ride finally came to an end, Nina-chan, looking serious, nodded.

"That was fun."

"Y-Yeah…"

In the end, I didn't get sick, thankfully.

Maybe all the training I've done has strengthened my inner ear, or maybe the gaming livestream tip actually worked. Probably a bit of both.

Now that I'd managed to survive my least favorite ride, I wondered what Nina-chan would want to ride next. But it seemed like she had fallen in love with the spinning teacups because, surprisingly, she asked to go again.

Of course, I couldn't say no, so we got on for another round.

I couldn't help but wonder if this was how fathers feel when their kids ask to go on the same ride over and over.

After the second ride, before she could ask for a third, I quickly suggested something else.

"…How about we take a snack break?"

"Sure, but what do they have?"

"They had churros over there."

I pointed to a typical amusement park food stall that I had spotted earlier while waiting in line.

This was my plan to redirect her attention, and as I'd hoped, Nina-chan agreed, so we made our way to the stall.

Thanks to the man in black, who had gotten me some spending money from Akane-san for this job, we had a small budget. She had said it would count as "expenses," so I decided to use some of it here.

We stood in line and bought some snacks together.

Nina-chan got a churro, and since they didn't have my favorite curry bread, I settled for an orange juice.

Amusement parks don't sell curry bread, huh. That's a bit disappointing.

With our snacks in hand, we found a nearby bench and sat down to take a break.

As soon as we sat down, Nina-chan started eating her churro.

"Is it good?"

"…Yeah."

Nina-chan nodded, and I took a sip of my orange juice. It was sweet and refreshing.

For a moment, I almost forgot we were here for work, relaxing in the atmosphere.

But I couldn't let myself forget.

We were here to hunt a monster.

I shook off the relaxed feeling and looked around.

We were supposed to be looking for a pink rabbit costume that only appeared when children were playing alone.

However, as I scanned the area, I only saw families—parents with their children.

Nina-chan and I were the only ones here without adults.

Any moment now, we could become targets. We couldn't let our guard down.

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."