“Here, let me help you.”
A wonderful smile bloomed on her face as soon as Anima picked her up.
“Wooow! Wooow! Lots! Lotsa sops!”
“Mm-hmm. There’s quite a lot of them.”
“It’s as busy as I remembered,” Luina said with a nostalgic smile. Myuke, on the other hand, had an air of worry about her.
“We’ll totally be swept away by this crowd...”
“It’s okay. We’ll all be holding hands. Myuke, you hold Mommy’s other hand so no one gets lost.”
Anima linked his arm with Luina’s, which immediately dispelled Myuke’s fears. Holding her mommy’s hand, she stretched herself out.
“Hm? What’s over there?”
She immediately found something interesting, so the family set off toward a stall covered by a bamboo roof, cutting through the crowd. The merchant there was filling his tiny display with as many cupcake-like sweets as he could, their sweet scent enticing them as they got closer and closer.
“Nummy!”
“Yep, they look super yummy. And wow, this sweet smell! Think they’re cakes?”
“They look like cakes.”
“Heehee. These are actually aromatic candles,” Luina proudly revealed.
“Whassat?”
“They’re candles that smell nice when you light them.”
“Wow, really? There are candles like that? I had no idea!”
“No nummies?”
“They may smell delicious, but they’re really bitter.”
“H-How do you know that?”
“I mistook them for cakes and bit into one.”
“You must have been adorable as a child.” Anima had great fun imagining his beloved wife as a clumsy little girl. “Do you want to get one?”
“That’d be lovely. Which one should we buy?”
“See the one with the flowers on the glass? We should get that one!” Myuke suggested. “We can save the glass after the candle melts too!”
“That’s a great idea. The glass will remind us of our trip.”
“Right?! Do you like it, Marie?”
“Uh-huh! ’Cause look, it’s red!”
Marie also seemed to like the rose-colored candle, so they decided to buy it. After paying, Myuke hugged the paper bag to her chest, overjoyed by their purchase. They began looking around for another interesting stall, when suddenly, their attention was caught by a chime.
“Did you hear something?” Anima inquired.
“I did!” Myuke replied. “It sounded so nice and— Ah, there it is again! Are they selling bells somewhere?”
“Heehee. That must be a wind chime,” Luina chimed in with a childlike smile she’d never worn before. Just seeing Luina’s carefree expression as she was brought back to her childhood had already made visiting Barjyo worthwhile for Anima.
“Lemme see jime!”
“I’m interested too; it’s been a long time since I’ve seen one. Let’s see... We heard it coming from there, didn’t we?”
Pulling Anima along, Luina took him and the girls to a stall with clean glasswork dangling from its top. It was as if a giant jellyfish had chosen the top of the stall to take a peaceful nap.
“Huh? How come it isn’t ringing now?” Myuke asked.
“They only chime when they get blown by the wind,” Luina explained.
“Fwhhh! Fwhhh!”
Marie tried to blow the chimes as best she could. As if responding to her desperate attempts, a gentle breeze blew through the market a moment later, allowing the wind chimes to play their beautiful melody.
“Wooow! So pitty!” Marie excitedly clapped with an adorable, innocent smile.
“Why don’t we get one?” Anima proposed. There was no way he could pass up on buying one after seeing his daughter’s genuine smile.
“Yaaay! Which, which?”
“Hmm... How about this one?”
Anima bought a blue chime—one that matched Luina’s hair color.
“Both the candle and this chime were pretty pricey... If we keep buying stuff like this, we’ll be broke by the end of the day.”
Myuke was right; both the candle and the chime had been surprisingly expensive. The prices had likely gone up after the monster started occupying the bridge, as the merchants had to make sure their stalls stayed profitable while their ability to restock was threatened. Regardless of that, Anima knew he would regret being overly thrifty while on his honeymoon, so he had no plans to end his splurging.
“You don’t need to worry about money. More importantly, is there anything else you’d like to get?”
“I wanna take a proper look around first.”
They started browsing the market again. Between the novel pieces of clothing with interesting colors, the meticulously carved dolls, crazily coiling candles, tropical juices, and utensils with elaborate pictures carved into them, they didn’t get a moment’s rest. By the time they had all managed to catch their breath, the sun had moved a considerable distance to the west. If they didn’t start getting ready to fish, they would have to give up on it for the day.
“Let’s buy one last thing and go fishing,” Anima suggested.
“That’s a good idea,” Luina said. “Do you want anything else, girls?”
Luina had expected them to be disoriented by all the things they’d perused in the past couple of hours, but Myuke responded almost instantly.
“I want that!”
“And, and, I wannit too!”
She and Marie had already made up their minds and pointed at a stall selling various ornaments. What the girls wanted were the colorful embroidered bracelets they had there.
“Oh, these are wishing bracelets!” Luina pointed out as they walked up to the stall.
“Is that what they call these? I like them a lot; they’re so colorful!”
“Is this what you want, then?”
“Yep! I’ll take good care of it!”
“Heehee, you can take good care of it if you’d like, but wishing bracelets are meant to wear down until they break.”
Myuke took a step back.
“For real?”
“They say that when it falls off, your wish will come true. It has to fall off on its own, though; you can’t break it on purpose.”
“Wow, that’s incredible!” She was getting even more excited about buying one.
“All right, let’s get these.”
Anima bought four wishing bracelets, and everyone put them on their arms.
“Pease come tuuue!”
“What did you wish for, Marie?”
“I wanna gow up fast!”
“Really?” Anima asked. “You want to grow up quickly?”
“Uh-huh! ’Cause I wanna help you s’more!”
Anima wiped a single tear from the corner of his eye. He couldn’t handle Marie’s adorableness. He wanted to boast to the next person passing by how perfect his little daughter was.
“And you, Daddy? What did you wish for?”
“To be together with you guys forever and live happily ever after.”
“That’s what I wished for as well.”
“I wished for the same thing too!”
Luina and Myuke smiled at each other.
“Great! So, should we go back to our room for now?”
Their trip to the market was officially over. Difficult as it may have been, they parted ways with the bustling market of exotic wonders and made their way back to the inn to safely store their purchases. Then, they set out again.
“Where can we get fishing equipment?”
“If the store hasn’t moved, it should be right next to the lake.”
“We’re so lucky to have you with us, Luina. We’d surely have gotten lost in the city otherwise.”
“I’m happy I could be of some help. That being said, you always help me out, so...”
“Not at all. You’re the one helping me all the time. I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I am that you always cook for me.”
“It’s only natural to cook for the person you love. Not to mention that you constantly make dinner with me. It’s such a big help.”
“Don’t even mention it. I’m glad I can spend more time with the love of my life.”
“Oh you...”
While continuing their lovey-dovey chitchat, they made their way to the lake. Just as Luina had said, the fishing store was standing right on the shoreline. Her mouth curled into a warm, gentle smile as she spotted the same little shop that was etched ever so vividly into her memory.
“It’s still there...” she murmured.
“Is that the same one you visited as a child?”
“Yes. It hasn’t changed one bit. Can we rent our fishing gear there?”
“Of course. Right, girls?”
Their daughters nodded excitedly, though they probably didn’t care which store they rented the gear from and just wanted to start fishing as soon as possible. To that end, they entered the worn-down fishing store, where they found a wide variety of rods of every size, plenty of cups full of dirt and worms, countless bobbers, and more. Judging from Luina’s wonder-filled gaze, the inside must have been the same as she remembered it.