“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.