Chapter 31: The End of the Dream

“Daddy!”

“Nina. Did you cry because Daddy wasn’t here?”

When I called out without thinking, Daddy hugged me with a smile. It was a bit embarrassing since Itsuki was next to me, and I really wanted to stop, but I felt happy and relieved from the bottom of my heart when he hugged me tightly.

It felt like I had seen him for the first time in years, and tears welled up for some reason.

“Oh, really. Did you miss Daddy that much? Itsuki is watching, you know?”

“Come on!”

I patted Daddy’s shoulder at that comment.

The sound that echoed back from the pat was a firm muscle.

I felt Daddy’s touch, which I hadn’t felt in a long time, for a while, and then I moved away from him. I thought it wouldn’t be good to be together for too long because of Itsuki.

But right after I moved a little away, Daddy wiped away my tears.

“It’s only once a week on Sundays. It would be a waste if you keep crying, right?”

He said that and smiled again.

I could only nod in response, but I couldn’t help but smile because only Daddy said such things.

“All right! Let’s go then. Let’s ride everything before Elena comes.”

“Uh, everything?”

Itsuki was surprised by Daddy’s childlike suggestion.

However, Daddy placed his hand on Itsuki’s shoulder and said.

“Yeah! Boys have to escort girls. The best way to do that is to ride everything first, right?”

“Edmond-san, you just wants to ride, don’t you?”

“Oh, Itsuki, you shouldn’t say that. Good men need secrets, you know?”

Daddy said that and put his finger to his lips, saying, “Shh.”

What he was saying and what he was doing made him look even more childlike, and Itsuki also laughed.

“Well then, let’s start with that.”

Daddy took Itsuki and my hands and headed for the roller coaster.

I involuntarily flinched.

I’ve never ridden a roller coaster before, and it looked scary, so my legs were shaking.

So I didn’t really want to ride it… I thought like that, and Daddy suddenly looked at Itsuki.

“What’s wrong, Itsuki? Don’t you want to ride the roller coaster?”

“Uh, yeah… It looks high…”

Itsuki’s words made me feel relieved because I wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to ride.

“Hmm, that’s not good. Exorcists need to engage in aerial combat for a moment when fighting monsters, you know?”

“Really?”

Itsuki readily engaged in the conversation when it came to exorcists.

Perhaps because Daddy knew that, he continued with a smile.

“I fell from the roof of a 20-story building with a monster once.”

“What happened?”

Itsuki’s question made me raise my eyebrows. I didn’t know Daddy had been in such a dangerous situation.

But Daddy, with a smile that didn’t suggest he had been in such a dangerous situation.

“I was saved by pixies.”

“…Pixies?”

However, Itsuki asked with an expression that seemed to say, “I can’t believe it.” If Itsuki hadn’t asked, I would have done the same.

“That’s right! I wonder if it was around 30 of them? I summoned them all at once, and they pulled me up.”

“And… could you fly?”

“I couldn’t fly, but I could fall slowly. That’s how I landed safely.”

“What happened to the monster?”

“The monster fell straight to the ground as it was and that was enough to exorcise it.”

Itsuki and I both made eye contact.

While listening to Daddy’s story, it made me feel like I should get used to high places, but… it somehow felt different when it came to a roller coaster.

As I was thinking about such things, Dad continued while looking at Itsuki.

“Doesn’t Itsuki use ‘Guiding Thread Silvate’? Since it turns into a thread, if you attach it to the building before falling, you can safely descend, right? Like bungee jumping.”

He casually said something like that.

Itsuki, with a face that seemed to say, “That’s definitely not true,” looked ambiguous.

As I was thinking about that, we had already arrived just below the roller coaster.

We were finally going to ride it… I thought, but there were so many people waiting in line, and Daddy, who saw that, had an indescribable expression on his face.

When Daddy was about to join the line, Itsuki pointed to a certain place.

“Hey, Edmond-san, there’s a height restriction.”

“Huh?”

When I looked at the end of Itsuki’s finger, I saw the silhouette of a person who was about the same height as me. Come to think of it, you can’t ride roller coasters if you’re not tall enough.

Daddy looked a little surprised and said.

“Maybe we won’t be able to ride…”

What did you say?

When we actually measured our height, both Itsuki and I were too short.

Seeing that, Daddy looked clearly shocked and said.

“Well, but! If there’s no height restriction, we can ride it!”

Saying that, he took us to the next attraction.

I thought that he really wanted to ride, but I held back because I thought it was wrong to say that.

Daddy had been so determined to ride everything before Mommy arrived, but after riding two or three attractions, he looked a little tired.

Then he found a nearby shop and his eyes sparkled, saying, “Let’s have tea time!” He’s a bit too free-spirited, isn’t it? I thought.

“What do you want to eat, Itsuki?”

“Ice cream!”

“I want the same thing!”

When I said that together with Itsuki, Daddy bought the largest vanilla ice cream, saying, “Don’t tell Mommy.”

While Daddy was buying ice cream for himself, I approached Itsuki and asked quietly.

“You’re okay with vanilla and not curry flavor?”

“C-Curry…? Why?”

“Because I don’t like curry bread.”

“I like curry bread, but vanilla is better for soft serve ice cream.”

“Oh, I see.”

I made a mental note of what Itsuki liked.

I thought that maybe it would be useful someday.

While thinking that, I took a bite of the ice cream.

It was cold, and the scent of milk passed through my nostrils.

It was delicious, and I unintentionally looked at Itsuki.

And Itsuki was also eating with a smile, which made me laugh as if I were infected.

“Shall we go to a place where we can sit?”

“Yeah!”

Led by Daddy, who had come back, we sat on a bench.

And we watched people walking in front of us while eating ice cream.

Delicious.

It’s delicious, and Daddy is here next to me, and Itsuki too.

Mommy will be here soon.

With that in mind, I moved my eyebrows closer together.

“What’s wrong, Nina? Did you suddenly get a headache from eating too fast?”

“No.”

When Daddy asked me, I shook my head quietly.

You know, I thought, is it really okay to be this happy?

I felt like something bad might happen when I’m this happy. It was the moment I thought that.

“Are you truly happy?”

The voice that asked was one I didn’t recognize.

I didn’t know it, but I didn’t want to hear it. It was a high-pitched voice I didn’t want to hear.

I looked in the direction where the voice came from, and there was a pig plushie standing there.

The plushie was standing and talking.

“Is your happiness here, Nina-chan?”

“M-Me? Why do you know my name?”

“I know. Because this is your world. The world you wished for.”

Saying such incomprehensible things, Daddy tapped his heel “kan” toward the plushie.

It was a magic routine only Mommy and I knew about.

The next moment, the “shadows” Daddy created grabbed the plushie and made it sink into the shadows. It was a technique called “shadow sending,” sending something to another dimension.

“Whoa! Too fast! You need to savor the encounter more, or the taste will decrease! The freshness will decrease too!”

“It’s the condition of being a good exorcist.”

Ignoring the monster’s words, Daddy shrugged.

“Exorcists don’t listen to the voices of monsters.”

“Ahaha! That’s right! I get it. I’m a bundle of cotton.”

However, as the pig plushie said that, it shattered the shadows and stood up.

“Fantastic! Even in dreams, you’re an exorcist! But, but! This is Nina-chan’s dream. If you kill me, this dream of yours that’s too happy will end, you know?”

“…”

Daddy remained silent and tapped his heel again.

The moment he tapped his heel, the pig plushie burst into flames.

“…?”

“Wha…?”

However, it wasn’t just the monster that was surprised.

Daddy was also surprised, just like the monster.

Daddy didn’t set it on fire, did he?

I thought that, and at that moment, the pig plushie screamed.

“It’s done for! It’s done for! It’s Itsuki-kun from the outside! It’s the ‘seal of exorcism’! You can use it like this! I’m a storehouse of knowledge!”

The plushie said playful things while trying to shake off the flames all over its body, but it wouldn’t go out.

“Aw man! Aw man! It’s the end! The end! The end of the dream! It’s terrible to force reality onto a child! Itsuki-kun is heartless too.”

The plushie’s body turned into black charcoal.

“But I’m different. I have a thick skin and a big heart, a gift from the generous actor of the theater troupe.”

As it turned into charcoal, the plushie looked straight at me.

“Don’t think about it, Nina-chan.”

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