The Veteran Elementary Schoolgirl
"Hiyah!"
I was recreating a famous scene from Little Magician Rumi on top of the bed. Haru watched me wage a solemn, magnificent battle against empty air and, as if thoroughly impressed, broke into applause.
"You could enter a taekwondo tournament like that."
I was about to tell her it wasn't taekwondo but some other martial art. I couldn't actually tell the difference, though, so I didn't argue.
While we were playing, Bora came in carrying a large box.
"Hana, did you order something online? I don't think I ever let you use my name."
She said it while looking the box over.
"It came in my name, but I didn't order anything...?"
At that, I tilted my head.
"I didn't either."
I turned it over in my head, but I was sure I had never set foot on a shopping site. I couldn't even make an account. There was no way I could have bought anything.
Then a single memory flashed through my mind. The instant I recalled it, I rushed to Bora's side as if I had caught fire.
"Bora, the event! The event from before!"
"Event...? Oh, right. We entered that drawing, didn't we?"
I was pretty sure I knew what this box was. My precious weapon was in there.
I circled her, feet pattering, practically dancing in place. I wanted the box at once, but she was so tall my hands couldn't reach it.
Bursting with excitement, I looked up at her.
"Bora, give me the box...!"
Bora laughed at the sight of me. The corners of her eyes curved as she answered.
"Yes, yes."
With that, she set the box down in front of me. I immediately started pawing at it to get it open, but the tape had been stuck down so carefully that it refused to give.
"Hng... it won't open."
I had lost to the box. A small humiliation rose in me at a box that would not open. In a fit of spite I slapped it, and only my hand hurt worse.
"The person it's for ought to be the one to open it, right?"
Saying so, Bora vanished somewhere and came back. In her hand was a small office box cutter. I reached out, begging her to hand it over. With that, I was certain the box would open easily.
I looked at the box on the floor and smiled. I was only looking at it, and yet a strange laugh kept spilling out of me.
"Ta-ra-ran, ta-ra-ran, kung-jjak-jjak, kung-jjak-jjak, ta-ra-ra-ran~"
Humming a jaunty bit of background music I had picked up somewhere on NewTube, I took up the cutter. Then I aimed it at the dead center of the box, buried under that devilish tape.
Careful not to cut myself, I sliced the tape away with practiced ease. Then I drew out the contents, half expecting a brilliant light to spill from within.
The box was full of all kinds of merchandise. I was certain I had entered the event for the magic wand alone. Apparently not.
There was a book listing the characters' specs, an assortment of CDs, and even a chibi figure of the heroine, Rumi...
I carefully lifted the figure and set it on the desk where I could see it. From this day on, I decided, it would be Treasure No. 2.
The most important thing, the magic wand, lay at the very bottom once everything else was out.
"Ooh..."
I raised the wand toward the sky. Glittering in the sunlight, it was more dazzling than anything else in the world.
Bora and Haru applauded at the sight. I felt needlessly proud. This was my true self. Today was a truly happy day.
But that was not the end. There was another, smaller box inside.
Curious, I carefully laid the wand on the bed and opened it. Fortunately it was not sealed with tape, only a simple sticker, so it came open easily.
"What's this...?"
It looked like some kind of admission ticket.
Looking at the ticket in Hana's hand, Kim Bora wondered whether she had pushed a little too hard.
Hana seemed to love the anime so much that Bora had looked into it properly, and the popularity of Little Magician Rumi was beyond anything she had imagined. The heroine was an idol to children. Tens of thousands applied, and only a few dozen were chosen. Winning had looked hopeless.
So Bora decided to borrow just a little of Starlight Guild's power. Their turf might have been different, but pressuring the studio behind a children's cartoon with the might of the country's number-one company was as easy as pie.
Before the august authority of Starlight Guild, they were a field of reeds collapsing at a breath of wind.
Add even a touch of the pull that came with being immediate family to Starlight Guild, and winning the event became easier than twisting a child's wrist. Bora had meant for it to stop at the magic wand. From the studio's side, though, even that small pressure must have felt enormous.
She had expected, at most, to walk away with a single wand. Instead they had taken the grand prize. Like that movie about a child and a chocolate factory, the ticket reserved for first place alone—the one Hana was holding—came with staggering benefits.
Not only could they enter, free of charge, the theme park run by the company behind Little Magician Rumi, they could use any attraction first, no matter how long the line. They could take photos with the professional voice actors and enjoy all sorts of other perks besides. Delighted, Hana ran around the room with the ticket in her hand. She looked happy.
"But this came in my name..."
The unfortunate part was that the ticket was under Bora's name. Up to four people could go together, but sadly Hana had no identification. She could not enter anywhere that required her to prove who she was.
"Bora, I can't go?"
A moment ago she had been racing around shouting with joy. Now, seeing how serious Bora looked, she seemed to sense something, and gazed up as if tears were about to fall.
Bora was weak to that face. In the end, she had no choice.
"I'll do everything I can."
"Okay!"
She had to do her very best to keep Hana from crying.
Lately, there was no joy in living. I sat wilted, staring at the magic wand on the desk. Beside me, Haru tried to catch my eye with a gun that sprayed soap bubbles, which only made me more depressed.
"Uuu... still no news?"
I said it while looking at Haru. She avoided my gaze, awkward, and only let out an empty laugh.
"Well... Hana, just wait a little longer."
"But..."
With every day that passed, I felt my blood drying to dust. The event—the opening of Rumi's Theme Park—was almost upon us, and there was still no good news.
At this rate I would have the ticket in hand and still be left wide-eyed, unable to go. I stared blankly at Haru's gun as it kept puffing out bubbles. Noticing my gaze, she only sent more of them my way.
In a daze, I snatched the bubble gun from her. It had already fired so many bubbles that it was light enough to hold in one hand.
Even so, it was a gun, and the moment I gripped it I felt a certain solid weight. Everything but the grip Haru had been holding seemed to carry the chill of metal.
Bubble gun in hand, I slowly looked it over.
Click.
Then I brought the muzzle up beside my head. Haru took one look and snatched the gun away in a panic.
"Hana! Who taught you to do something that awful!"
Being scolded only deepened the gloom. My heart was growing more and more unsettled, and I was just squaring myself up for a proper cry when someone flung the door open and burst in.
"Hana!"
Clutching something in her hand, Bora rushed in, gasping for breath. She must have run the whole way.
"You can go to the theme park now, too!"
What she held was an envelope. Inside it was my identification card.
The moment I heard her, I ran to her in delight. The gloom of a moment ago had long since blown away.
"Whoa! Bora!!!"
I plastered myself against her leg. The identity I had dreamed of even in my sleep was finally mine. Something in her expression said there had been no shortage of trouble along the way.
"It isn't fully official yet... but this much is something."
Bora stroked my hair, then drew the ID from the envelope and showed it to me.
When the small, business-card-sized card with my photo on it was placed in my hands, I nearly shouted for joy.
I held it high.
"I can go to the theme park!"
How much fun would it be? My heart was buoyant with anticipation. On this happy day, though, the two women were talking to each other.
"Hana has to start elementary school now, doesn't she?"
"Yeah. She does."
Elementary school...? I'm a man who's already done his military service...?