Ashley and Loli Loli had made their decision, so it was about time I made mine. There were so many colors to pick from that it was kind of hard to choose, and I almost picked something at random. But we were finally at the festival, so I had to choose the right one.
After agonizing over it for a little bit, I picked out one of the sprays, dyed my shadow, and it turned that one solid color.
When Filia saw my shadow, she looked at me with surprise. “Huh? Yuri, you’re pink? That’s kind of unexpected.”
Yep, I was pink! Or peach, you could say. But there was a very good reason for this. “I made it the color of muscle. Muscles are mostly red or white.”
I’m an intellectual, so I knew what I was talking about. If you mixed red and white, you got pink.
“You say that I’m all red,” said Ashley, “but you’re all muscle.”
“Well, yeah, I’m a human being!”
Ashley blinked. “I don’t feel like that makes sense?”
Muscles were essential for humans, though. Couldn’t she see that?
“It suits you, Yuri! I think you look kinda cool!”
“Oh, thanks, Loli Loli!”
“Don’t worry, Yuri, it’s just a trick of the imagination!” she said, throwing out a fist bump.
“A trick of the what…?”
Even if she’d thrown out a fist bump like that, I wasn’t sure I should just be happy about that. Anyway, the three of us had changed the color of our shadows. The last one left was Filia. Come to think of it, Filia did tend to spend a lot of time looking for fashionable things, like with her clothes.
“Hmm. I’ve decided!” announced Filia. “I didn’t want to keep you waiting for too long.”
But today, it seemed like she’d decided rather easily. Filia sprayed her shadow vigorously, changing its color. The color she chose was a pure white.
“Ta-da!” Filia opened her arms wide, showing off her shadow.
“Oh, that really suits you! I’m totally convinced, it was a success!” said Loli Loli.
“Eh he he! Thank you, Loli Loli. I am pure and innocent, so I made it white.”
Pure and innocent? Uh, that was a heck of a thing to hear from Filia of all people.
“White! That’s just perfect for you, Big Sis, so pure and innocent!”
“Ashley. I’m sure that Filia has you ensorcelled with some kind of illusion magic,” I said, shaking my head.
Filia pouted. “How rude! I can’t use that kind of magic. And even if I could, I wouldn’t use it on anyone except you, Yuri!”
“You’d use it on me?!”
“You hear that, Yuri? See, Big Sis is pure and innocent after all!”
“No, did you actually listen to what she said? She just said she’d use it on me!”
“If it’s on you, it’s okay. Because of muscle,” she replied.
Because of muscle? What?
Ashley gave me a teasing look. “Besides, you’d be happy if she did anyway, right? You’d be all like, ‘I’ll train so I can handle illusions!’”
“Huh. You really do know me well. Good point.” Finally, Ashley was beginning to understand me!
“Yuri, you’re weird! Funny!” exclaimed Loli Loli.
“I’m not weird. I’m normal!”
“Yuri said that he thinks he’s normal. Loli Loli, what do you think?” asked Ashley.
“Hmm. Nope! Don’t think so!” Loli Loli cut me so deep, but she kept on giggling! “But he’s a good guy! I like Yuri! Ashley, do you dislike him?”
Ashley didn’t expect to have that question thrown at her. She stammered a bit, going, “H-huh? M-me?” while pointing at herself, her eyes wide in surprise. She thought for a moment. “Well…no, I don’t dislike him.”
“Then that’s good! And Filia loves Yuri, so then everyone is friends!” said Loli Loli.
“Huh? W-wait a minute,” Filia stammered, “why do you say I love Yuri?!”
“It’s obvious!”
“I-It’s obvious?!”
“Besides, if you didn’t like him, then you wouldn’t be with him, right?”
“W-well, I suppose so, but…”
“So, you like him then!”
Pressed by Loli Loli’s strong, decisive tone of voice, Filia just gave a small nod. “Yes, well…that’s true…I do like him,” she said, averting her eyes from me as if embarrassed.
I was at a bit of a loss over that reaction.
“It’s good that everyone likes you, Yuri!” said Loli Loli.
“Y-yeah.” Uh, I supposed! I just…wouldn’t think too deeply on that one. I’d just follow Loli Loli’s lead and keep it simple. It was good to be liked!
Time really does fly when you’re having fun. Night fell around us, and the moon, which had been just barely visible when the festival began, was now floating right up there in the middle of the sky. From the look of it, the closing ceremonies were about to take place. In a few minutes, all the stalls would be closed.
Considering there wasn’t much time left, the next stall we visited would be our last.
The stall we ended up choosing was a shooting gallery game. There were various prizes of various sizes lined up, mainly stuffed animals and the like. If you knocked down a prize with the toy gun, you’d win that prize. The spot where you stood was only thirty feet or so away from where the prizes were lined up. At first I thought it would be easy, but…
“I thought for sure I would get something!” wailed Ashley.
“Agh, me too!” cried Loli Loli.
Ashley and Loli Loli let out some truly agonized cries.
“I’m sorry, Ashley, Loli Loli. I wish I could’ve won something for you both, but…” Filia sighed. All three of them had failed.
The gun was many times smaller than you would think, and it really didn’t shoot as well as you’d hope. Also, the bullets were practically as light as air, so even if you were fortunate enough to actually hit one of the prizes, the crappy little gun couldn’t knock it down. I looked over at the shelf where the prizes were displayed. It seemed like Ashley wanted a hippopotamus plushie, and Loli Loli wanted some kind of figure that I couldn’t wrap my head around? It was some kind of twisted screw thingy.
“Ooh!” Ashley groaned.
“Whoa, whoa, jeez! Ashley, is it that big of a deal?”
“Yes, it is that big of a deal! Just look over there!” she replied, pointing to a deformed hippopotamus plushie. At once, I understood why Ashley was so worked up about it. What the heck—it was bright red!
“She’s waiting for me!” Ashley moaned. “Yet I can’t embrace her in my arms…”
“Huh, okay…” Her fixation on the color red had almost become some kind of delusion.
Hm. I crossed my arms and thought to myself. I didn’t want to let our day at the festival end like this!
“All right. I’ll do it. Ashley, Loli Loli. Leave it to me. I’ll get ya the things ya want.” As they say, all’s well that ends well, so I was going to make sure it ended well. I stood facing straight at the shelf with the prizes.
“Heh, ‘Leave it to me,’ says the amateur who can’t even spell shootin’,” said the man with a long, thin face who was running the stall.
“I do too know the first thing. I know the whole thing! You write it like ‘s-h-o-o-t-i-n-g.’ Like that!” Come on, he shouldn’t have even tried to make fun of me. I’m an intellectual muscle man! I traced the outline of the letters in the air with my finger. “See? I do know it.”
“That’s not what I meant! Well, whatever. If ya think ya can win something, try and get it!”
“Okay, but before I try, I have a question. Do I have to use this gun?”
The man running the stall gave me a puzzled look. “Huh? If you’re not usin’ the gun, then how’re ya gonna get a prize?”
“I’ll throw the bullet with my bare hands.”
“Ha ha ha! You’re a funny guy! All right!”
How generous! The guy had a big heart, thank goodness.
“All right, here I go!” I held the bullet in my hand and relaxed, focusing my conscious mind on my body.