She’d wanted to let him know how she felt during a special moment like this one, where no one else would interrupt them.
Hajime wrapped his arms around Shea’s waist, and though they were practically melting into each other already, he pulled her even closer. She settled comfortably onto his lap.
“I see. Glad to hear it. I’m really happy right now too.”
“He he he, that’s great.”
Their gondola reached the apex of its arc, and the jealous stares from the adjacent gondolas fell away. Remia and Myu were probably the only two who were actually enjoying the scenery on this Ferris wheel ride.
Naturally, Shea was planning on making full use of the special privilege she’d won fair and square. Hajime was more than willing as well, and the two shared an intimate moment at the top of the Ferris wheel, the scenery all but forgotten.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
“Did you have a good time on the Ferris wheel?”
That was the first thing Yue and the others asked Hajime and Shea the moment they all got off. Aside from Remia and Myu, they were all glaring at the pair of them. However, Shea just grinned and nodded, rubbing her victory in.
There was only one thing Hajime could do to placate the others. Myu had been kind enough to point out that there was another ride that had a much shorter line, could also be ridden in pairs, and made for the perfect photo op—the merry-go-round. In other words, Hajime was about to ride the merry-go-round nine times in a row.
Unsurprisingly, the ride operators and the other people riding the merry-go-round shot him a lot of stares, but Hajime tried to ignore them and focus solely on satisfying Yue and the others. Afterward, Yue and the others all stared gleefully at the pictures they’d gotten with Hajime, so in the end, it was a worthwhile sacrifice.
Next, they went to the bumper cars, where Yue and Kaori got into a heated battle that nearly ended with them destroying each other’s flimsy plastic vehicles. Then, they went into the large maze, where Aiko spotted some other kids who went to their school and immediately tried to find a place to hide. As a result, she ended up getting so lost that she had to leave through the emergency exit with tears in her eyes. Incidentally, Liliana who went back in to search for her, ended up taking a very long time to come back out. After that, they went into the haunted house, where Remia actually got so scared that she reflexively tried to slap one of the people dressed up as a ghost. Fortunately, Tio stepped in to take the hit, but then she started panting excessively which made everything awkward. Once that was done, they went to the carnival games section where Hajime effortlessly won a giant stuffed animal for Shizuku, who accepted it with a beaming smile.
All in all, they had a great time at the amusement park, and before they knew it, the sun was starting to set.
“Daddy, I wanna ride that one next! The one where the boat goes down with a big splash!”
“All right, all right. That’s going to be our last one for the day, though. We need to stop by the gift shop and get some souvenirs before the night parade starts.”
Despite running around all day, Myu was still full of energy. She was riding atop Hajime’s shoulder and pointing to a water raft ride where you passed through a jungle of monsters before splashing down a steep incline. Since it was the middle of winter, the line for the ride was quite short.
The boat’s design was perfectly rugged, with fake rifles attached to the sides with which passengers could ostensibly hunt monsters. Each boat was also quite big, capable of holding up to thirty passengers at once.
Myu jumped off of Hajime’s shoulders, grabbed his hand, and started excitedly leading him over to the front of the boat. Yue and the others followed after them, filing into the same row and the row directly behind. As soon as they were all in, Myu settled into Hajime’s lap.
“Daddy, is this the kind of Search and Destroy game where you have to shoot every enemy you see?”
“Er, something like that, yeah.”
A ride attendant dressed like an explorer gave Myu a shocked look and Hajime looked away awkwardly.
And with that, the final ride of the day began. As soon as all of the other passengers were in, the boat started slowly moving down the river. The ride attendant dressed like an explorer unslung the rifle on her back and started telling everyone about the dangers of the jungle. She was a skilled actress, and she sold the atmosphere perfectly. The adults were enjoying the performance, while the kids glanced around, scared that something might pop out and eat them.
“Pick up your guns, everyone, and look closely into the trees! If you see anything coming out to attack, you make sure you shoot it before it gets you! Like this!”
She swung her gun to the right and shot at a monster—a red-eyed monkey with four eyes—that leaped out of the trees. It seemed this particular attraction had a laser tag-esque mini-game attached to it. The rifles were all laser guns and the “monsters” all had sensors attached to their heads and torsos.
Most of the parents encouraged their frightened children to be brave and to try shooting. For some reason, Myu didn’t pick up her rifle, though. Instead, she stared intently at the ride attendant lady.
Thinking that Myu was scared, the ride attendant smiled encouragingly at her and said, “Don’t worry! You can do it!”
But of course, Myu wasn’t scared in the slightest.
“Heh,” she chuckled and shrugged her shoulders dismissively.
“What?!”
The attendant was so shocked her smile slipped for a second.
“Myu-chan’s totally looking down on that lady, isn’t she?” Shea muttered quietly.
“Mmm... She’s probably comparing her form to Hajime’s,” Yue replied.
“Oh my, I know I taught her better manners than this...” Remia leaned over to scold Myu, but before she could, Myu picked up her rifle. She spread her legs wide and lowered her center of gravity to compensate for the swaying of the boat. She also made sure to nestle the stock of the rifle in the crook of her shoulder and kept her armpits closed tight. In order to get a better aim, she rested her cheek against the stock of the rifle, but she kept her finger off the trigger for now. Keeping her breathing steady, she made sure her line of sight was in line with the direction the muzzle was pointing.
Everyone, including the other kids, looked at her in surprise. It was clear she was experienced in the handling of rifles.
“S-So this is what happens when you teach kids how to shoot from a young age!” Kaori exclaimed.
“I thought I was pretty serious about learning the Yaegashi style even as a kid, but...just how hard has Myu-chan been training?” Shizuku muttered.
“She’s not going to grow into some kind of superhuman master after learning all the combat techniques of the Nagumo family, is she?” Aiko said, shaking her head in disbelief.
“One! Two! Three!” Myu shouted rhythmically, shooting every target that appeared on her left side the moment it leaped into view. Her reaction time was amazing, and her aim was impeccable. While the laser rifles had no recoil, it was still unbelievable how accurate her shots were when coming from a rocking boat.
“Myu-chan’s a terrifying child...” Liliana said, bringing a hand up to her mouth, a shiver running down her spine. Even Hajime was surprised by just how well Myu had absorbed all of his lessons.
Of course, the ride attendant was the most shocked of all. She’d never been more grateful for the fact that the rifles were split between the left and right sides than she was today, since if they weren’t, none of the other kids would get to shoot anything.
Just what is with this girl?! She’s super cute, but when she’s taking aim, her eyes get this hawklike gleam in them! I mean, she’s cute like that too, but still!
However, the ride attendant was a consummate professional who didn’t let any of her inner thoughts leak out. The smile she’d been taught to keep by her senpais at the theme park wouldn’t crack that easily.
“W-Wow, you’re really good at this! Would you mind telling me your name, miss?” the attendant asked, kneeling next to Myu.
“Myu! I’m five years old and a dagon.”
“I-I see, nice to meet you, Myu-chan! All right, everyone, let’s get fired up so we don’t get left behind by Myu-chan!”
The attendant really wanted to ask what a “dagon” was supposed to be, but she maintained her professional attitude and got the other kids fired up to take part in the attraction too. Hajime clapped at her performance, both feeling bad that his daughter was making things so difficult for her and impressed by just how professionally she’d handled the whole situation.
As they made their way down the artificial river, the number of targets started to increase. Snakes and piranhas hopped out of the water, and to top things off there was even a school of sharks.
“All right, everyone, things are going to get even more dangerous from here on out! Let’s protect the boat together and—”
“Onee-san, Onee-san!” Myu shouted, trying to catch the ride attendant’s attention.
“Y-Yes?!”
She looked down at Myu, clearly on her guard and ready for anything.
“Do you have any pistols? Revolvers, preferably!”
“I’m sorry, all we have is these rifles—”
“What about a gatling gun, Onee-san?!”
“I’m sorry, we don’t have that either!”
“Onee-san, grenades are best against enemies hiding in the water!”
“We don’t have those either. You’ll have to work together with your mom and dad to shoot them!”
Despite her best efforts, the attendant’s smile started to slip. She couldn’t help but wonder just why this tiny girl was so familiar with various firearms and why she was so bloodthirsty.
This is all your parents’ fault, isn’t it?!
It was because she thought so that she was willing to just foist Myu onto her parents.
Remia bowed apologetically to the attendant before turning to Myu and saying, “Stop, Myu, you’re bothering the lady!”
Meanwhile, Hajime turned to Myu and said, “Myu, it’s important to handle situations with the equipment you have on hand. You can’t always go into battle fully prepared.”
The nearby parents and the attendant immediately understood that Hajime was the bad influence.
Incidentally, there was one other part of Hajime’s personality that had strongly rubbed off onto Myu.
“Everyone, listen up!” Myu shouted, getting to her feet and hefting the rifle onto her shoulder. She put her free hand on her hip and looked down at the other kids. They naturally turned to her, and she started teaching these innocent children about the tactics of war—all out of the goodness of her heart.
“Numbers are everything!” she shouted, making a fist and pumping it up into the air.
“Have your mommies and daddies help you shoot, then you’ll be able to get more of them!”
The parents stared awkwardly at each other, clearly thinking it would be improper for them to also join in. And yet, Myu remained undaunted.
“It’s okay even if you can’t take down enemies on your own!”
She paused there for a second to look each and every person in the eye before smiling fearlessly and saying, “What’s important is to keep up the barrage! Don’t you all want to become heroes?!”
She sat back down and took aim with her rifle as if to demonstrate that she was definitely becoming a hero. She then took aim at the opposite side from where she had been shooting and shot down a bunch of targets on the other kids’ side. She then grinned provocatively at the other children, and suddenly, their eyes started to burn with a newfound fighting spirit.
“I can do it too!” “Yeah, I don’t need any help!”
They started scooting away from their parents, who’d been trying to help adjust their aim and their posture, and started shooting on their own. Some of them even turned to their parents and started begging them to begin shooting too.
“Remia, I’m afraid your daughter’s been completely corrupted by Master,” Tio said with a sigh.
“Dear, I think we need to have a talk about what you’ve been teaching Myu,” Remia said, flashing Hajime a terrifying smile.
“Y-Yeah...” Hajime mumbled and nodded meekly, knowing that this was indeed his fault.
That being said, Myu at least seemed to be enjoying herself.
“But first,” Hajime said, taking out his phone and turning to Yue and the others. They all nodded and immediately took their phones out as well. No words were needed, they all understood.
As one, they started taking pictures of Myu from various angles, determined to leave a permanent record of her heroic figure as she shot down her enemies.
“Maybe I should redo my training from scratch...” the ride attendant muttered, feeling utterly defeated.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
Night had well and truly fallen on the amusement park now, but it was so brightly lit that it felt like midday still. The guests had all congregated around the main street, where Christmas decorations had been set up and Christmas music was blaring through the loudspeakers. The street itself was empty, as it had been cleared out for the parade that was about to start.
“Oh, there they are!” Myu exclaimed, pointing to the end of the street. She was nestled in Hajime’s arms and looking excitedly over at the night parade. Since it was Christmas, the park was doing a more extravagant night parade than usual.
“Oh, look, they have us too, mommy!”
“Oh my, you’re right. They all look so pretty, don’t they, Myu?”
Indeed, there was a float filled with mermaids on it. They were sitting on a bed of beautiful shells and pearls as they smiled and waved at everyone. With each wave, bubbles shot out of their hands, making them seem even more fantastical.
Of course, they were dressed like what people on Earth imagined mermaids to be, which meant they looked like fish from the waist down. At first, Myu and Remia were surprised by that, but they seemed to take it in stride.
In fact, they were so enamored with the designs that next summer they’d ask Hajime to use metamorphosis magic to turn them into Earth mermaids to go explore the ocean. They’d also get spotted by a very surprised diver, but that was a story for another time.
“Look, Myu, there’s vampires too. Over there,” Yue said, pointing to a different float.
“Oh, hey, they have bunny girls too!” Shea exclaimed.
“Alas, no dragonmen, though. There are regular dragons at least, I suppose. I’ll have to be satisfied with that.”
“I guess that makes Lily the princess, me the angel, and Shizuku-chan...the swordsman?”
“That angel looks like she’s never hurt a fly in her life...that swordsman is old enough to have a full mustache and beard, and I...well, maybe eventually I’ll have a figure that full...” Liliana said, trailing off.
“N-Now, now, no need to sweat the little details, Lily,” Shizuku said with a strained smile as she watched Liliana pat her own modest chest.
At any rate, everyone was happy to have found some fantasy character that at least roughly represented them.
“Oh, there’s a guy with a gun! He’s just like you, daddy!”
“That looks like a ray gun. I’m pretty sure he’s supposed to be the protagonist of that really popular sci-fi movie,” Hajime said, looking down at Myu who was smiling up at him.
However, some among them couldn’t find anyone they related to.
“I’m sorry, Aiko-oneechan,” Myu said as she searched high and low, unable to find an Aiko-like.
“W-Well, it’s not like teachers are particularly popular, so you won’t find one in a parade like this... Ha ha...”
Aiko tried to play it off like it was nothing, but there were tears welling up in the corner of her eyes as Myu shot her a pitying look.
When around half the floats had passed, Hajime suddenly put Myu down. She looked up at him, confused.
“Sorry, Myu, but I just remembered there’s something I need to do. I’ll be right back, so wait here with mommy and everyone, okay?”
“Okay...”
Myu looked visibly depressed, but she didn’t try to stop him. Seeing how hard she was trying to hold in the desire to tell him not to go was so touching that Hajime reflexively clutched at his heart. But today was Myu and Yue and everyone else’s first Christmas, and he wanted to do something special for them no matter what, which was why he needed to step away for a second.
“Fu fu, good luck, Hajime,” Yue said to Hajime as he walked past. Like Shea, she, and most likely everyone else, had already caught on to the fact that Hajime was preparing something special for tonight. Kaori and the others also smiled knowingly at him and he looked away awkwardly.
“Uhhh, yeah, thanks.”
Blushing slightly, he dashed off through the crowd.
“Don’t worry, Myu, he’ll be right back,” Remia said, patting Myu on the head.
“Mkay!”
Myu cheered up a little and went back to focusing on the parade. But while her eyes still sparkled with excitement, they were dimmer than they had been when Hajime had been around.
“Is daddy going to take much longer?” Myu asked around the time the parade was nearing its end. The final float was in sight, and Myu had been hoping to at least see the end with him.
Just then, the sound of bells rang out through the night. At first, everyone assumed it was part of the parade, but as the bells grew louder, people started looking up in confusion. It sounded like the bells were descending from the sky.
The parade was pretty much over, so more and more people started focusing their attention from the floats to the sky, which was when they finally saw it.
“Oh, it’s Santa!” a kid shouted, pointing up. Seconds later, everyone else started shouting as well.
“Whoa, he’s actually flying!” “How’s he doing that?!” “Are those real reindeer?! No way!” “It looks so much like the real Santa!”
Indeed, flying through the sky was someone who looked very much like the real Santa Claus, bushy white beard and all. He had a sleigh being pulled by reindeer as well and was flying through the sky. At first, people thought it was some kind of acrobatic act being held up with wires, or a projection made with smoke and lights, or some kind of newfangled drone, but this Santa seemed too real to be any of those things. It was impossible to figure out how he was flying so freely through the air too.
Normally, people would have been confused, or perhaps scared by this inexplicable phenomenon. But this was an amusement park, a land of fantasy and wonder. A place that made magic real. As a result, people were more accepting of unexplained phenomena while they were here. The adults stopped worrying about what technology was powering this and decided to enjoy the show for what it was. Before long, people erupted into cheers and shouts of delight.
Of course, the people running the parade and the amusement park staff were just as shocked by the sudden appearance of this Santa as the crowd, since this wasn’t part of their program, but no one thought too deeply about that. The sight of Santa Claus running through the night was simply too magical to worry about.
After doing a few circuits around the amusement park, Santa started spiraling down toward the ground as if sliding along a spiral staircase. Now that the floats had all gone past, the main street was empty, and he alighted onto it. Santa then got off his sleigh and walked over to a little girl also dressed as Santa—Myu. He knelt in front of her and said, “Merry Christmas, Little Santa.”
His voice was gruff but jolly, as befitting of old Santa Claus. His face was also hidden by the bushy beard and spectacles, and his stomach was quite round. But even then, neither Myu nor any of the girls around him were fooled for a second.
“Daddy, what are you doing?”
Santa Claus froze in place for a second.
How did she figure it out?!
Yue and the others burst out laughing as they saw his reaction.
“I’m not your dad, I’m Santa.”
“But...”
“I’m Santa.”
“Da—”
“I said I’m Santa!”
“Okay.”
Hajime’s voice was so desperate that Myu finally gave in with a nod. She truly was an obedient kid.
Yue and the others were desperately trying to hold in their laughter, and Hajime could see their shoulders shaking. He coughed loudly to try to reset the atmosphere.
“Now then, little lady, you’ve worked really hard this past year. Your mother and your father are very proud of you, since it wasn’t an easy year to weather.”
“Daddy...”
“I’m Santa.”
“Okay.”
Who just snickered? Was that you, Kaori? No, it was you, wasn’t it, Shizuku? I’m going to have words for you later.
Hajime glared at Shizuku, then cleared his throat again and turned back to Myu.
“Because you’ve been such a good girl, Santa has a present for you.”
“A present?” Myu repeated, cocking her head to one side. People had started spilling out into the main street and were now gathering around Hajime and the others. They were curious to see what was going on.
Under everyone’s watchful gaze, Santa Hajime walked back to his sleigh and took a box out of the giant white bag sitting in the back. It was a very cute box with glittering jewels on the front. For a moment, it seemed like the box itself might be the present, and the crowd gasped in delight. A couple of girls tugged on their parents’ sleeves and begged for a box like that.
As Myu took the box, she looked questioningly up at Hajime, wondering if it was okay to open her present now. He nodded solemnly, and she opened the lid. The spectators leaned in expectantly, wondering what would be inside.
“Ah!”
Myu’s face lit up with a beaming smile. Everyone assumed it had to be an accessory, or perhaps a cute toy or something, but what Myu pulled out of the box defied their expectations.
“It’s Donner and Schlag!”
Indeed, held in her hands were two revolvers.
The spectators looked completely taken aback, while Yue and the others smiled wryly to each other. They’d expected Hajime’s present to be something like this.
The crowd started murmuring to each other.
“Is that a model gun?! Is that really something you gift a little girl? And it doesn’t even got anything to do with the park!”
“Yeah, if you’re gonna go through all this trouble, why not pick a better present?”
Of course, Myu herself was overjoyed.
“I finally got my own pair!”
The peaceful citizens of Japan had no way of knowing that while the revolvers had been slightly customized to fit Myu’s tiny hands, they were otherwise very real guns. She’d been asking for her own revolvers ever since she’d started training with Hajime, and now she’d finally gotten them.
“Little lady, their names aren’t Donner and Schlag. They’re called Donna and Schlak.”
“Donna and Schlak?”
“Yep, Donna and Schlak.”
It seemed the name distinction was important. Hajime then went back to the present bag and started sifting through it. It seemed Myu would be getting more than one present.
“I also gift you a hoppy hammer, in the hopes that you grow big and strong like a certain overpowered rabbit.”
“Hoppy hammer!”
“And to remind you never to end up like a certain worthless dragon, I gift you this weapon. Never forget, this whip is a weapon.”
“Yaaay, a weapon!”
“And we can’t forget these either. Your very own Muraymasa and...”
“Muraymasa!”
“A Kolatetsu.”
“Kolatetsu!”
Myu was unbelievably excited to have been gifted a full suite of weapons that resembled the prized weapons of her beloved older sisters. All in all, she had a mini warhammer, a white whip with a fancy ribbon attached to it, and a pair of katanas with star-shaped crossguards. She was also gifted a belt to holster her guns and a harness to hold all of her other weapons, as well as a set of enchanted magical jewels dubbed “Yue-oneechan’s love.”
Myu wanted to grow up to be strong, so that she could protect the people she loved just like Hajime and her cool older sisters. Next time everyone was in trouble, she wanted to be there to save them, which was why these gifts meant the world to her. She hugged the weapons tight, then handed them over to Remia for safekeeping and looked up at Hajime.
“Da—I mean, Santa-san! Thank you so much! I love you sooooooooo much!”
She ran into his open arms, and he hugged her tight. The crowd was still shocked by the gifts Myu had received, but a lot of the younger boys were staring at the weapons with envy.
It was around this time that the staff finally broke out of their stupor and started heading toward Hajime. He could tell his time as Santa was almost up.
“I also have a present for all of you lovely ladies who worked so hard this year!” he said, turning to Yue and the others.
“Fu fu, you got presents for us too?” Yue asked.
“He was asking us all what we wanted around a week ago, remember?” Shea said with a smile.
“Oh, so that was why. You truly are too kind, Master,” Tio said.
“We got you presents too, but...don’t be disappointed if we just hand them over normally, okay?” Kaori said.
“You really like going all out for these kinds of things, don’t you, Hajime?” Shizuku said with a shake of her head.
“Ha ha ha ha, Hajime-kun really loves his family, doesn’t he...?” Aiko said with a smile.
“Ufu fu, he’s quite a handful, isn’t he?” Remia said with a smile.
“Wait, you mean everyone got presents for each other? Oh no, what should I do? I didn’t bring anything. I didn’t even know there was a holiday like this on Earth...” Lily said, panicking slightly.
Hajime handed presents out to each one of them individually, and they blushed slightly as they took them. Right as he finished, he spotted security guards pushing their way through the crowd, and he knew there was no time left.
Sounding like he was reading off a script, he turned to Myu and said. “Congratulations for being the group that made up this park’s 100 millionth visitor!”
It seemed this was the reason he’d come up with for the special performance. Of course, it was hard for the crowd to believe this was actually part of the park program, so he went one step further and decided to share the joy with everyone and make them worry less about how sanctioned this event had been. He climbed back up into the sleigh and snapped the reins. The reindeer—which were just mechanical golems he’d made—took to the sky once more. As he flew up, Hajime shouted through a loudspeaker, “As a token of the park’s appreciation, take whatever you’d like as a Christmas present, everyone!”
The bottom of the sleigh slid open and a large number of boxes started parachuting down. There were thousands of them, and they’d all been wrapped up nicely into gift boxes. They contained accessories made from jewels and crystals that could be found on Earth for the girls, and keychains and other small trinkets shaped like swords and dragons and so on for the boys.
The crowd started cheering, fully believing this was some kind of event that the park had put on.
Hajime had also spread the presents out over a wide area so people wouldn’t jostle each other and fight over spots, and the crowd quickly dispersed to chase after the falling presents. As he flew away, all the security guards could do was point up at him and stare. Then, before long, the leaving crowd swept them away.
He also teleported a few gifts into the staff room for the park workers he’d caused so much trouble for, then used telepathy to coordinate with Yue and the others and ensure no one got hurt.
As he vanished into the sky, he bellowed out one last, “Merry Christmaaaaaas!”
The guests all clapped and cheered and Hajime looked down to see Myu and the others all waving at him. Smiling, he flew off into the distance before surreptitiously meeting back up with the others.
Unsurprisingly, his stunt was featured on the next morning’s news, and the internet was abuzz with speculation as to how the theme park had pulled off such an amazing show. The park management said it was something they’d only done for that one day, but nevertheless, visitors to the park continued to increase, as did sales in their gift shops. Everyone was impressed by the event they’d coordinated, and of course, they were secretly hoping to see something like that themselves.
Incidentally, the park managers held a meeting where they desperately tried to figure out who that Santa had been, and to either scout him or at the very least buy the rights to whatever technology he’d used to put on that show.
Meanwhile, the Nagumo family watched on as Myu took to her training with newfound zeal and started sleeping with her beloved weapons. Honestly, Hajime began to wonder if he hadn’t somehow gone wrong in raising her.
Is it really all right for my daughter to be like this...?
It wasn’t long before he held a family meeting to discuss how to turn Myu back into a normal girl.
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