After photos at the bridge, we kept circulating Eiga-no-Sato. As we were grabbing shots at the photo spots, Reona stopped and pointed.
“Hey — shuriken dojo.”
“They have that? Eiga-no-Sato’s commitment.”
“I want to try.”
Looked fun, all three of us signed up. Popular attraction; line involved.
“Is this harder than it looks, or is it just me?”
“It’s harder than it looks for me too, don’t worry.”
“Yeah, no one is hitting anything.”
Even with the pre-throw briefing from staff, almost no one was landing shuriken on the targets.
While Reona and I commented, Riona was silently watching the others throw. Studying form, presumably.
In any competition Riona wins decisively, and her secret is preparation, unlike Reona and me.
Our turn came. Staff handed us five shuriken each and ran the briefing. Hit one target out of five and you get a prize.
“Shuriken are surprisingly heavy.”
“Yeah, iron — even at this size, weighty.”
“Force-modulation will be the key variable.”
We threw our first shots. None of us hit.
“Nope, not going where I aimed.”
“Mine drifted hard.”
While Reona and I were commiserating, Riona threw her second shot — dead center of the target. The kunoichi costume made the moment visually peak.
“Riona, amazing.”
“You really are something else.”
“Got the force-feel on the first shot.”
Riona’s face was cool as ever, but I could tell — by now — that she was pleased.
Reona and I were not going to quit. We threw rounds two and three; missed both. Of course.
Picking up technique on a single throw is genius-tier. Honestly, Riona’s only flaw is occasional clumsiness — otherwise she’d be a complete superhuman.
“Riona, got a tip?”
“Pretend the prize for hitting is Ryouya and you’ll hit.”
“That is not a tip.”
I tossed back the protest reflexively. Prize = Ryouya was an unhinged framing.
“Hmm — maybe if I aim with Ryouya-kun as the prize, I actually will hit. Going to try it.”
“Nee-chan can do it.”
“If you actually hit, I will be shocked.”
While Riona and I watched, Reona threw her fourth shot. Off-center but on the target.
“Yes — hit!”
“As I predicted.”
“That is — what.”
She’d actually landed it. Final tally: Riona 4, Reona 2, me 1. Prize: an Eiga-no-Sato logo fan (uniform across hit counts).
“Right, target was hit — Ryouya-kun is now me and Riona’s property, yes?”
“You are stating that as fact, which it is not. Why?”
“Earlier, Ryouya-kun is the prize for hitting the target was the premise, right?”
“That was Riona’s improvised line.”
I had already been on the edge of “the twins’ property” with the pair rings, but I did not say that.
“Attractions are fun.”
“Yeah, there are more here, let’s hit those too. Excluding the haunted house.”
“Ghosts are unscientific and not real, I’ll be fine.”
“Coming from Riona, who was crying-tier scared at the last haunted house — zero credibility.”
“For the record, the one here is supposedly among the scariest in Japan. My friend went in casually and cried.”
After Reona’s clarification, Riona — who had been posturing — went quiet. After the Okayama Milano Park haunted house, she did not stand a chance against this one. I could already see Riona freezing up midway.
———
Print-version: I’ll have more info to share around the new year.
I’ll wrap the web version at roughly two volumes’ content, but I have ideas for volume three onward and hope to release them.
I’d love to clear 1,000 stars before print drops — appreciate the support.