After Shouko made way, she changed her previous look of loss and pointed to one of the fish in the sink with joy:
"Tsuna, I want the all-black one."
"No problem."
Tsuna stared at the fish she pointed at with full concentration, took one of the five thin paper nets, and handed the rest to Shouko, asking her to hold them for him.
He knew that catching goldfish not only tested hand speed and angle but also required skill. The goldfish needed to be "supported" lightly by the edge of the paper net rather than scooped directly, otherwise, the net would break quickly.
And you could feel the stall owner's black-hearted intentions by gently rubbing the thin paper with your hands.
Fortunately, in his previous life, he made a bet with his roommate about how good his goldfish-catching skills were and secretly practiced for more than half a month, so this wouldn't be too difficult for him. (This is a little joke.)
The moment the black fish stopped, Tsuna lifted the basin with his left hand above it, then quickly lifted it with the thin paper net in his right hand!
The fish jumped into the basin, and he thought it wasn't wrong to say that it had jumped.
"Wow! Tsuna is so amazing!!" Shouko hurriedly clapped her hands and praised.
But the stall owner was very disdainful. He thought the kid was just lucky and would be embarrassed later anyway.
"It's no big deal, Shouko. Keep pointing, and I'll catch another one for you." Tsuna couldn't stand Shouko's admiring eyes and chuckled to change the subject.
Fortunately, I'm not a lolicon, otherwise I'd be getting a bit carried away...
"That one, that one."
"No problem."
Then the second one was also smoothly caught by Tsuna, and soon he received constant praise from Shouko.
But the stall owner still looked a little disdainful. He thought the second catch was also due to luck and expected him to fail soon.
"Oh, the net is soaked."
After a minute or two, Tsuna looked at the thin paper net in his hand. It had been soaked in water for too long and had broken due to many rapid swings.
But it didn't matter—there were still four left anyway.
After replacing it with a brand new net with the starry-eyed Shouko beside him, he looked up and chuckled at the stall owner, who was already sweating a little:
"Boss, can you change the water basin? This one's almost full."
Shouko came to her senses after hearing his words, looked at the plastic water basin almost full of goldfish, then looked at the surrounding crowd of tourists watching and praising.
A little embarrassed, she tried to persuade him:
"Tsuna, isn't this a bit too much? And so many people are watching us."
The stall owner quickly followed Shouko's words and backed off:
"Yes, yes, kid, isn't this a bit too much?" He wiped the sweat off his forehead with a tissue.
"How can you say that, boss? Am I not attracting business for you?
Look at the crowd—doesn't this show your nets are really strong?" Tsuna ignored the stall owner's complaints and chuckled playfully.
The stall owner was choked by his words. Thinking of what he had said earlier, he couldn't help but curse in his heart:
"Thanks a lot! You still have six or seven minutes left, and four nets. At your current pace, I might have to shut the stall down early tonight!"
Seeing the stall owner's face grow darker and darker, Shouko quickly tugged on Tsuna's arm and whispered:
"Okay, Boss, please just put the goldfish in a few bags for us. We won't catch any more."
Besides, with so many goldfish, they had already gotten their money's worth. If Tsuna kept catching them, the boss might lose it.
Uncle Miyamura wasn't nearby. If a fight broke out, Tsuna would be the one in trouble. And it wasn't guaranteed that the onlookers would step in to help.
"Okay, okay. Just a few bags—no problem."
The stall owner quickly agreed when he heard what Shouko said.
Tsuna could only obediently put down the thin paper net in his hand.
"Why don't you continue, kid?"
"Yeah, yeah!"
"Isn't there still time? Auntie will pay—go on, keep scooping!"
"Where did you learn this skill, kid? You're so good!"
The tourists who had been watching the fun saw him suddenly stop and hurried to persuade him again. Their tone clearly implied that this boy should keep going to teach the stall owner a lesson.
"What's going on with the stall up ahead? Why are there so many people crowding around?"
Shizuka held Yuzuru's hand and asked curiously.
Yaeko also noticed what was happening. She squinted and observed for a moment before recognizing the stall:
"Let's go take a look. I think it's a goldfish scooping stall."
When Yuzuru heard this, she exclaimed excitedly:
"I want to play too! I want to play!"
If no one had been holding her, she might've rushed over right then.
Daisuke didn't say a word. He just held the snacks he had bought for the three of them in both hands and followed silently.
"Make way, make way! The nets at this stall are really good—give it a try!"
Tsuna held Shouko's hand and tried to squeeze out of the crowd while loudly promoting the poor stall owner's goods.
"Tsuna and Shouko?"
The sharp-eyed Daisuke was the first to spot them and called out.
"Where's my sister?"
Yuzuru looked around, her eyes scanning the crowd.
"Mom, Dad."
Tsuna, who had just come out of the crowd with Shouko, spotted them first.
Shizuka ignored her son's greeting. Her gaze fell on the bags in their other hands, puzzled:
"Are you two robbing the goldfish stall?"
Because they were each holding a nearly full bag of colorful goldfish.
"Tsuna caught all of them. Isn't he amazing?"
Before he could explain, Shouko proudly spoke up, then added,
"It only costs 500 yen!"
"What? Do you have this skill? Why didn't I see it when I took you past the goldfish stalls before—"
Shizuka stopped herself mid-sentence. She glanced at Shouko, whose proud expression nearly reached the clouds, and realized her words were unnecessary.
"Brother Tsuna is so amazing!"
Yuzuru gently broke free from Shizuka's hand, stepped forward, and took the goldfish bag from her sister's hand in awe.
Shouko thought Yuzuru didn't believe it, so she quickly explained:
"It's true! I was right next to him and saw the whole thing with my own eyes."
"But what are we going to do with all these goldfish?"
Daisuke quickly snapped out of his admiration and raised a practical question aloud.
Goldfish from these kinds of stalls usually die easily. If you poured them all into one or two basins at home, the next day, most of them would be floating giants.
Wouldn't that be quite a spectacle?
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