Today is a special day.
The children are riding in Red’s car, heading to a distant place to have fun.
No one complains or feels tired.
In fact, joy and excitement are evident on the children’s faces, and it’s no wonder since the place we’re going to is very special.
After starting off early in the dawn and traveling for a long time, we finally enter that special place.
The children jumped up and down with excitement and cheered.
“It’s amazing, it’s amazing! So many wonderful things!”
“Look, there are so many people over there. What could that be?”
“There are many people wearing masks like Lily!”
“Fun music keeps playing!”
It’s a place that feels out of place compared to the desolate city.
Joyful music echoes loudly, and the heat of the crowd fills the air.
Instead of sadness and despair, the place is filled with laughter.
In this parched world, a rare warm and lively atmosphere dominates.
In this paradise-like venue, there are various races, people with masks, cute and silly costumes.
It was bustling with people, and whether young or old, everyone wore happy expressions.
If I were to describe this place, it’s an amusement park.
Also referred to as a fairground or theme park.
“I’m glad I found a good place. It must have been hard to find.”
Amusement parks are hard to come by in this era.
There are two reasons for this.
Money and the environment.
The cost of building and maintaining amusement parks is, of course, astronomical, and they have to be compensated by customers, but people living in the outskirts city likely don’t have much money.
In other words, the balance doesn’t add up, so facilities like amusement parks can only be seen in wealthy neighborhoods.
Moreover, the outskirts city has poor public safety, and lives can be threatened at any moment.
Naturally, people have to stay on high alert every day.
For those living on the outskirts, a moment of carelessness can lead to death, and leisure is a luxury.
So I’m genuinely surprised.
Not only has an amusement park opened in the outskirts city, but the entrance fee is so low.
According to Red’s explanation, it’s a park sponsored by a famous wealthy philanthropist for the people, and it opens irregularly once a year.
Red heard about its opening and brought the children along.
Hmm.
It’s commendable to have a philanthropic spirit.
But I’m not entirely sure.
How much money does one need to have to sponsor such an expensive facility?
Is it really pure-hearted?
There’s a vaguely suspicious smell, but since it’s a place guaranteed by Red, it should be fine.
“Hey kids, make sure to stay close to your older sister.”
“Yes!”
Looking at the pamphlet in Red’s hand, we move together.
Seeing the line for the rides made a shadow fall across Red’s face.
I understand that feeling.
The line is long.
Even if many people are seated on the ride, it will take a while before it’s our turn.
Ahaha.
I had forgotten that an amusement park is both a place of fun and a test of patience.
However, to ride the attractions, one must endure the agony of waiting.
During that wait, the children don’t whine about being tired.
There are no signs of exhaustion on the children’s faces.
While chatting about which ride they should go on next, they suddenly turn their heads at the sound of excitement from the ride they want to try, their eyes gleaming with excitement.
Seeing them with their mouths half-open makes it clear that it looks truly thrilling.
When people get off the ride with satisfied faces, the kids bounce with excitement and anticipation.
While I find waiting to be dull, it seems the waiting time is a lot of fun for the children.
Seeing them like that made me smile faintly behind my mask.
“Look over there; people are dancing!”
Renna pointed to a performance area.
Various masked individuals were dancing to the music.
They moved their hands and feet gracefully, showing off splendid moves.
The audience clapped along, enjoying the performance.
Amidst the lively atmosphere, Renna bobbed her shoulders to the rhythm.
I chuckled and watched the faces of the people.
It is completely different from outside.
In the barren city, people’s faces are gloomy. Their eyes, too, seem lifeless.
Everyone is tired of a harsh life. They’re obsessed with survival.
But everyone here seems to be happy.
The lively songs, exciting rides, and festival-like atmosphere lit up the dark hearts of those present.
Happiness overflowed, making the streets seem to shine.
As long as they are inside, they forget their horrific lives and enjoy happiness.
It’s not such a bad sight.
Seeing this makes me feel that this damned world still has some worth living.
Yes. There should be places where one can breathe like this.
“It’s our turn now!”
While I was looking around, it seemed our turn had come.
Everyone sat in their seats and buckled up.
The children’s eyes were filled with anticipation.
The signal to start rang out, and the ride began moving.
Joyful shouts erupted from the children.
When the ride stopped, the children got off with satisfied smiles.
They exchanged glances with each other.
And simultaneously shouted.
“It was fun!”
The excited children could hardly calm down.
“I want to ride it again!”
“Let’s hurry to the next one!”
The children tugged at Red’s arms, wanting to lead her to the next destination.
Seeing their enthusiastic attitude, a faint smile formed on Red’s face as she moved her feet along with the children.
This is not the end.
Now it’s time to truly enjoy the amusement park.
They ride bumper cars, skillfully twisting the steering wheels to collide with others.
While there are no teams in bumper cars, a strange air of competition was in the air.
“Don’t touch Lily!”
“You guys stay away!”
‘Excuse me…’
They boarded a boat that moved along the water and explored a dark cave.
Soft lights brightened the darkness as they ventured deeper inside.
In the seemingly endless dark, everyone was tense, and suddenly, a machine popped out, causing me to scream and hold on tightly to my body.
“Eek!”
“Ah! What is that?!”
‘Wow! I can’t breathe!’
They rode on a carousel.
The children on the rotating horses waved to Red standing still.
I waved to Red in turn, following the children.
Red greeted the excited kids with a bright smile.
“Sister, we’re over here!”
“Sister!”
‘Haha…’
As they rode the attractions, lunchtime quickly arrived.
We decided to have a meal at a restaurant inside the amusement park, and surprisingly, the prices were quite reasonable.
The problem was that the food matched the price, with portions, appearance, and most importantly, taste being just mediocre.
It was an honest establishment, to say the least.
After dining at the restaurant, Red treated the kids to snacks to quell their empty stomachs.
Since we came to such a place, we couldn’t resist trying the snacks sold here.
Cotton candy, churros, and hot dogs—rare treats to find.
Of course, they were synthetic foods, but they imitated the taste reasonably well.
While the children seemed happier eating snacks than when they were eating meals at the restaurant.
Nom nom.
While deciding which ride to try next, they spotted an arcade.
The children showed interest in the arcade. Naturally, their curiosity got the better of them, and they walked that way.
The arcade featured games you would expect to see at a festival.
From ordinary playing facilities to games where you had to pay a little to win prizes.
“Want to give it a try?”
Red encouraged the children to play some games.
They looked at each other, then nodded.
The game was simple.
There were moving target boards, and players would throw balls to hit them.
The farther the target, the more points you earned, and according to the score, you could receive prizes.
The games were divided into children’s and adult’s categories.
The children’s section had luxurious prizes, while the adult section had more ordinary prizes.
I chuckled quietly while looking at the game area.
‘Sounds like a joke.’
The adult section was completely fine.
The problem was the children’s section.
It had some device rigging the game.
In simpler terms, they had made it impossible to achieve high scores.
While the kids aimed for high scores by throwing at the far-off target boards,
Every time they did, some strange wind would blow or the movement of the target board would change slightly, causing them to miss continuously.
“Damn. What a shame.”
“I could have hit that!”
Seeing Red’s narrowed eyes, she seemed to have caught on to something.
It was a game that had never been fair from the start.
Technically, I should bring this up with the owner, but I didn’t want to spoil the fun atmosphere.
Yet, I felt it was unfair to just do nothing.
A game rigged without fairness could simply be overturned.
I came forward, even though I originally planned to just watch.
I took a ball and threw it at the distant target board.
The ball flew straight and hit the far target board.
“Huh?”
The owner’s eyes widened in surprise.
On the other hand, the children were ecstatic.
“I hit it!”
“Awesome!”
Fueled by the children’s cheers, I threw the ball again.
Of course, I hit the distant target board every time and scored the highest points.
1st place prize.
The owner reluctantly presented the prize with a forced smile.
Look at him twitching at the temples.
Heh heh.
This isn’t over yet.
I asked Red for one more favor.
I participated in the game again, and once more, I easily scored the highest points.
I received another prize.
Hmm. This feels a bit… unsatisfactory.
I kept asking Red to let me play as much as I could, and in doing so, I cleaned out the 1st place prizes.
After giving the kids a good dose of revenge,
I showed them a V-sign with my fingers.
The children erupted into cheers and gathered around me.
I could almost hear the owner crying in his heart.
Well, who told you to rig the game?
Revenge served, I won prizes, and became the children’s hero. It was a satisfying game.
They rode rides and played games.
While the children joyfully wandered around the amusement park, a commotion was erupting somewhere.
Unlike the lively music, a noise brought chaos.
A beastman was causing a scene.
He looked anxious and frightened.
The beastman shouted loudly enough for everyone to hear.
“I’ve been to this amusement park before! If you stay here, you’ll all die!!”
The beastman kept repeating that sentence.
Many people seemed very uncomfortable with his actions.
Who would enjoy hearing such things while having fun?
Unable to tolerate the beastman’s disturbance, someone stepped forward.
“What are you talking about, you crazy mutt!”
“You have to believe me!”
“If what you say is true, then how are you still alive? And why would someone who knows they’ll die come back here, huh?”
At that moment, a security robot rushed over and took the disruptive beastman away.
Even while being dragged away, the beastman kept repeating those words.
It was an incredibly unsettling statement.
