Episode 40: Theme Park (2)
The employee who checked the golden ticket I'd handed over threw both arms wide.
"Come on in~ Welcome to the world of Little Magician Rumi! Have a wonderful time!"
The moment the words ended, the gates opened and the theme park began to unfold before my eyes. My heart pounded. I remembered being drawn, once upon a time, to cartoons full of robots, or cars—that sort of thing...
Looking at those now, I felt no interest whatsoever. Dolls, or stories about princesses, were far more fun. If something like The Little Mermaid ever played at a movie theater, I wanted to see it. I'd heard somewhere that they were making one... and that the heroine was special.
Anyway, I shoved those stray thoughts aside. What the employee had ushered me into was staggering. Starlight lamps glittered and sparkled, and the children inside were laughing and dashing about, each in their own direction. I wanted to run too, but I had a grown-up's dignity to uphold. I cleared my throat, clasped my hands behind my back, and waited for Haru and Bora to come in.
The screen spread across the enormous entrance was pouring out effects so lavish I couldn't look away. I was so absorbed that I completely forgot Bora and Haru were arriving at all.
"Hana looks like she's having fun."
"Doesn't she? If I'd known it would be like this, I should have taken her out to see the world ages ago. But the law..."
Bora and Haru were chatting as they came through the entrance. I went up to them, caught their hands, and pulled.
"Bora! Haru! Come on, let's go inside!"
"All right, all right."
A little farther in, just like arriving at an amusement park, there stood an electronic board made into a map of the park's many attractions. It was so huge that even with my head tipped all the way back, I couldn't take the whole thing in at a glance.
The instant I stood before a sight I'd only ever seen on internet blogs, a great swell of feeling rose up in me. Sensing an atmosphere no photograph could hold, I decided what I wanted to do first.
"I want to go here!"
I jabbed a finger at one particular spot on the map as I said it. The board was so big my finger never actually reached it, of course. I was only pointing from far away.
"The Rumi Tram?"
It was a ride where you boarded a train high above the park and slowly circled the whole place. A cute illustration of Rumi was mounted on the front of the train—the very train that appeared in the anime. Unable to hide my excitement, I took off running.
I reached the boarding platform to the rapid patter of my own feet. Fast as I moved, Haru and Bora kept up without any trouble. I showed the golden ticket, and even with a long line waiting, I was allowed to board first.
Choo-choo. Chug-chug.
With a clattering rumble, the train surged powerfully ahead. Sparkling lights shone down on us, and because we were so high up, the scenery below lay bright and clear. Pictures of Rumi were everywhere, and from underneath came children's voices and bursts of delighted laughter.
Feeling my mood climb higher and higher, I leaned way out, as if I meant to leave the train entirely. The view below was even better that way. Haru saw me and pulled me back, but I was not about to surrender over something like this.
A pleasant wind blew over us, and before it seemed as if much time had passed at all, the train had already completed a full loop of the theme park and returned to where it started. I was dying to ride again, but there were other attractions to enjoy, so I folded my disappointment away and climbed down.
Back on the ground with Bora and Haru, I wandered all over. There were rides like a carousel, and places that looked just like the spots where Rumi had fought. I dragged the two of them from one place to the next, fiercely demanding photograph after photograph. I'd slept soundly the night before, and my energy was boiling over.
That was when I found a shop selling cotton candy. Maybe from running so long, I was craving something sweet. I stared at the candy and licked my lips. Even without a single bite, I could already feel that sugary taste swirling through my mouth.
My eyes locked onto the stall, and I drifted toward that little shop like a zombie lured by blood. Painted across it was an illustration of Rumi with her brass knuckles on, caught mid-cry of Hyah!
I showed my golden ticket and spoke to the owner.
"Cotton candy, please!"
I meant to buy some for Bora and Haru too. It always tasted better shared than eaten alone. But the owner looked at my golden ticket, smiled awkwardly, and said:
"Little one, you can't use a golden ticket here. Do you happen to have any money? Or... isn't your guardian with you?"
From the way he said it, a golden ticket truly wouldn't work at this shop. Gloom settling over my face, I ran to Haru and Bora, who were walking over. Surely they had money.
"Bora! Haru! I want cotton candy!"
I pointed at the shop as I said it. Seeing the stand, Haru stroked my head and held out a single card.
"Will this do...?"
"Yeah!"
Card in hand, I dashed back to the cotton candy shop. Haru and Bora were right behind me, of course. I felt bad for having wrongly thrust the golden ticket at the owner earlier, so I decided I would buy every last bit of cotton candy he had.
"All of it, please!!"
I held the card out with a triumphant look. My plan was to purchase every cotton candy in the shop. Even after splitting some with Bora and Haru, there would still be plenty left for me—a carefully calculated strategy.
But Haru snatched the card away. Bewildered, I looked up at her. She had just demolished my grand design to eat a mountain of cotton candy.
"No. Just three, please."
Waaah!
I could only watch, eyes wide open, as dozens of cotton candies shrank into three. The owner, wearing the practiced look of someone who had seen this coming, set about making exactly three.
My plan to eat ten was canceled by a single sentence from Haru.
"Three is too few..."
I said it in a wilted voice, and Haru stroked my head.
"If you eat any more than that, Hana, your teeth will rot."
She said it as if she meant to scare me. Hearing that, I nodded—I had no choice but to show her I'd given in. Eating ten and rotting my teeth sounded like the greater misery. Having a tooth pulled was agony beyond words, and the dentist's office was a demon lord's castle I absolutely never wanted to set foot in.
"Then I'll only eat one..."
"That's our good girl, Hana~"
The shop employee showed us the cotton candy machine at work. He twirled a wooden stick round and round through the empty air, and white threads began to slowly wind themselves around it.
I watched, drooling. It was fascinating—and hearing the Little Magician Rumi soundtrack play while the machine ran only made it better.
Then the owner handed us cotton candy that looked as fluffy as clouds. The pure white candy seemed unbearably sweet just to look at.
Bora, Haru, and I each took one.
"Feels like it's been ages since I had one of these."
"It does. Once you're older, you don't come to theme parks like this very often."
Bora and Haru chatted as they ate. I gazed at my cotton candy, slowly working up to tearing into it. It was so pretty it seemed a shame to eat—but having come into my hands, being eaten was its fate.
I took a bite, eyes going wide.
"It's so sweet!"
I got drunk on the sweetness, no different from a reveler deep in their cups. Energy restored, I roamed the theme park as if it were my own house.
Haru seemed to find keeping up a bit much; at one point she even sat on a bench to rest. Bora was the only one who truly kept pace with me. By the end, I felt as if I'd ridden every single attraction in Rumi's Theme Park. I thought I'd spent the day properly forgetting everything, and simply having fun.
Before I knew it, the sun that had hung at the very top of the sky was sinking past the horizon. The park's lights burned brighter still, but whenever the sun went down a tremendous drowsiness always washed over me, so I started getting ready to go home.
From running all day, my legs were trembling. Even for an Energizer Bunny like me, dashing about from morning till night was something of a burden.
Haru stepped away to the restroom, and Bora and I sat on a bench watching the children play.
"It was fun, wasn't it?"
"Yeah! Enough that I already want to come again."
I nodded as I answered Bora. It was about time to head home. I watched the fireworks burst and brought the day to a close.
Of course, I had no idea how I actually got home. The moment I climbed into the car, I lost consciousness and sank into sleep.