I can read your thoughts like the back of my hand. Pathetic. The battle starts well before we arrive at the battlefield, youngsters. And I’ve already decided to give up on this match and lead Myu to victory instead! That way, I’m sure Master will reward me handsomely and... He he he he! Tio thought.
I’ll be sure to keep my eyes peeled, all for the sake of gathering more information and improving the economy of my nation, of course! Liliana thought.
Only Myu was unaware of the battle raging within everyone’s minds as she excitedly ran to keep up with the others. Her innocence made everyone else’s corrupted hearts seem darker than ever by contrast. Hajime couldn’t bear to see how low his girlfriends had sunk and looked away in shame.
“You’re not going to compete with them, Remia?” he asked, noticing that Remia was hanging back with him.
“I do wish to ride the Ferris wheel with you as well, of course, but I’ll let the others have this particular reward. Besides...”
“Besides, what?” Hajime asked. Remia placed a finger over her lips and winked conspiratorially at him.
“It’s obvious who’s going to win this.”
She gave him a cute smile, her eyes twinkling with hidden wisdom.
Indeed, everything went as she’d predicted.
“I won!” Shea shouted, pumping her fists into the air.
“You damned overpowered rabbit...” Yue grumbled.
“How could this happen...?” Kaori muttered.
“To think our scheming would come back to bite us...” Shizuku said.
“I was able to defeat the devil on my shoulder! I did the proper thing as a teacher! That’s victory enough for me...” Aiko said.
“I was so, so close!” Tio wailed. All five of them had dropped to their knees and were pounding their fists against the ground. It was honestly kind of embarrassing to watch for Hajime.
Liliana was just smiling darkly though and she muttered, “He he he, fascinating. If I adjusted the difficulty, this could be transformed from mere amusement to a worldwide competition that attracts the attention of all nations... We could hold a contest once every few years to celebrate and commemorate peace. Regardless of which nation wins, as the host, our Heiligh would reap the most profit. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
She pulled a notepad out of her pocket and started furiously writing down ideas. Her expression was terrifying. Even Myu was starting to ignore her now.
“That was amazing, Shea-oneechan! I couldn’t catch up to you at all!”
“You were amazing too, Myu! You had the second-best time in the world!”
“He he he, it’s because I’ve been spending a lot of time in the training room!”
“Yeah, about that...”
When Hajime had remodeled the Nagumo house, he’d created a training room underground and Myu had been spending a lot of time there learning how to fight. Not because she needed to, of course, but because she looked up to Hajime and the others and wanted to become like them. Furthermore, she knew that there was no telling what life might throw at you, which was why she’d asked Hajime and the others to train her. Her sincerity had immediately won everyone over and they’d readily agreed.
She’d only been training for two months, but she was already stronger, faster, and smarter than most kids even twice her age, hence why she’d been the second fastest out of the escape room. In fact, she’d moved so fast that Tio hadn’t even had a chance to support her from the shadows.
“Hajime-san, Hajime-san, Hajime-san, Hajime-san, I won!” Shea shouted, making a peace sign in front of Hajime.
“You really went all out, huh?” Hajime said with an exasperated sigh. Shea really had pulled out all the stops for this attraction. She’d even used her unique ability to see into the future. It was easy to forget, since Shea was so physically strong, but her actual job was Diviner. She could see a few seconds into the future, and also see how the future would branch out based on the decisions she made. Since this was an escape room meant for kids, most of the riddles were multiple choice rather than ones where you had to fill in an answer.
The mazes weren’t all that complicated either. As a result, even a few seconds of future sight was enough to completely trivialize the entire attraction for Shea. Furthermore, she was the most athletic out of everyone. Of course, the physical fitness requirements for this attraction were low enough that regular kids wouldn’t have any trouble clearing it, but that didn’t change the fact that if you were trying to run through the shortest route in the fastest time, speed was a valuable asset, especially since it let you parkour around the maze and take shortcuts no one else could. Shea’s form had been so perfect that it even put Olympic gymnasts to shame. As a result, she’d set a record time that no one else in the world would be able to beat. And on top of that, she was a real beauty, so naturally, she’d gotten a lot of looks as she’d zipped around the room.
Indeed, people were still staring at her even now. To the kids, she was practically a superhero and their eyes were sparkling in admiration.
“I take it you predicted this, Remia?”
“I knew from the start that Shea-san would have an overwhelming advantage, yes,” Remia said with a smile. She’d known Shea would be desperate for a Ferris wheel ride with Hajime, which meant she’d go all out. In which case, there was no way anyone else could win. Thus, she’d chosen not to waste her energy on a losing battle.
“Now then, Hajime-san...” Shea said, shedding her coat. It seemed the exercise had warmed her up enough that she needed to strip off some layers. She was wearing a T-shirt that exposed much of her cleavage underneath, as well as a miniskirt and knee-high socks. She clasped her hands behind her back and looked pleadingly up at Hajime, her bunny ears and tail swinging back and forth.
“You’ll give me my reward, right?” she asked in such a cute tone that all of the nearby guys, even some of the elementary school kids, clutched their chests. The guys who had wives or girlfriends got cold looks from their partners, but that didn’t stop them. Hajime could only pray that Shea hadn’t awoken new fetishes in these guys.
“All right, all right, should we go now, then?”
“Yes, please! I’ve heard the Ferris wheel is even better at night, but it’ll be more crowded then, so let’s just go now!”
Smiling brightly, Shea wrapped her arm around Hajime’s, pressing her breasts against him. Unsurprisingly, all of the guys started blushing, but some of the girls did too.
At this rate, the whole park would be captivated by Shea. However, some of the people glanced over at Yue and the others, who were still slumped on the ground like losers, and started muttering things like, “Were they all fighting over that boy?” and “Wait, does that mean they’re all part of his harem?”
A few of the park attendants smiled threateningly at Hajime.
“Come on, get up, Yue. You too, Kaori. Let’s get going.”
“I wanted to ride the Ferris wheel with you Hajime...” Yue muttered, glaring angrily at Shea.
Myu stood imposingly in front of Yue and declared, “You lost fair and square, Yue-oneechan, Kaori-oneechan, Shizuku-oneechan, Tio-oneechan! Stop whining!”
“Yes, ma’am,” the four of them said in unison. Myu then slapped Liliana to bring her back to her senses and started walking over toward the Ferris wheel.
Somehow, Myu had become the coolest of them all.