At that moment, Tsuna could clearly feel his heart rate soaring.
"Tsuna, Tsuna, look at that! There are apple candies for sale. Let's go line up too!" Shouko cleverly changed the subject and pointed excitedly at a stall selling candied haws in the distance.
Tsuna could only swallow the words that had just reached his lips. He smiled, shook his head, and replied fondly, "Then let's go. Let's line up together."
"Tsuna, don't you want one?" When it was their turn, Shouko noticed he only asked the stall owner for one and asked in confusion.
Tsuna shook his head. After Shouko paid the money, he explained, "I don't really like apples. You can eat it."
Please! There are so many delicious foods at this fireworks festival—why would you choose apples among all the delicacies? Even if they're coated in syrup, it doesn't change that they're still apples.
In my opinion, apples are a very boring fruit, completely lacking in fruit tension.
They're not bad, but I don't like them. You could call them the steamed bun of the fruit world, the boiled water of beverages. To put it bluntly, they're the most basic fruit. Tasteless to eat, but too much of a waste to throw away.
Shouko felt as though she had caught a flash of disgust in his eyes, but she thought she must have been mistaken. Finally, she simply nodded and replied, "Okay."
But to be honest, she vaguely remembered something similar. Every time Aunt Miyamura bought apples, Tsuna would peel and slice them, then put them on a plate for her, saying that eating more apples was good for the body.
He then turned around and picked up an orange to peel.
"Let's go see if there are any interesting stalls."
"Yeah!"
——————
The two walked over to a stall surrounded by some tourists. As they got closer, they realized it was a ring-toss game stall.
The stall owner had arranged some exquisite handmade items and small dolls on multi-layered shelves, while larger dolls could be exchanged for a different item if hit. Once the substitute was set, the doll could be won.
The stall owner immediately noticed the pair of kids in yukatas. When they walked up to him, he quickly called out:
"500 yen per round, 10 rings per round, no time limit. Want to give it a try?"
Their yukatas were clearly expensive, and the pair—one boy, one girl—fit a familiar pattern. With his years of experience running stalls, the owner knew what to expect: the boy would try to impress the girl, act like a hotshot, fail on the first throw, then get fired up and spend a ton of money.
"Why is your stall 200 yen more expensive than the others? Other stalls also give 10 rings." Shouko questioned him without hesitation.
The stall owner pointed disdainfully at a one-meter-tall panda doll behind him. "That's why mine costs 200 yen more."
Before he could finish, Shouko excitedly grabbed Tsuna's arm. "Tsuna, Tsuna! I want that one!"
That was exactly the reaction the stall owner was hoping for. He suppressed a smirk and chuckled, "Hehe… Little miss, that's not something you can get just because you want it. That's the grand prize at this stall.
All the other tourists here are trying to win it too."
Tsuna asked Shouko to calm down first, then looked up at the stall owner. "Give me ten rings. I'll give it a try."
Shouko pulled out a 500 yen coin from her purse and handed it over. The stall owner was slightly surprised that the girl paid instead of the boy, but he quickly recovered. Either way, money was money.
Goods in one hand, cash in the other. As soon as other tourists noticed someone starting to play, they began murmuring among themselves.
Most of them were hanging around just for fun, knowing they probably couldn't win the grand prize. With the fireworks not yet started, they decided to enjoy the show.
"Little boy, you need to stand outside that line," the stall owner said after handing over the ten plastic rings, pointing to a red line painted on the ground.
"Yeah." Tsuna pulled Shouko back to stand behind the red line.
He held a green plastic ring in his right hand, eyes fixed on the prize item on the top shelf.
He threw it gently.
"What a pity, it was almost there." The stall owner looked at the ring that just grazed the edge and couldn't help but chuckle.
The next three or four rings also hit the edge and bounced off.
"Hehe… This kid's even worse than the last one. That one almost got it."
"Yeah, but it's still fun to watch."
"Tsk tsk, that's 500 yen down the drain."
A few nearby tourists couldn't help whispering as they watched his throws, feeling secondhand embarrassment.
The stall owner decided the time was right and advised kindly, "How about this—you give me back the remaining rings, and I'll refund you 100 yen?"
He knew from experience that this kind of offer, paired with some sarcastic remarks from the crowd, usually sparked a kid's competitive streak. The last one had ended up spending 3,000 yen.
"Shouko, buy me another 20 rings," Tsuna said, ignoring the mockery, and spoke gently to the girl beside him.
Shouko didn't try to stop him. She simply did as he said and bought another 20 rings from the stall owner, encouraging him, "Okay, Tsuna, keep going!"
"Dad, where are you? Come over here,"
Tsuna said into his watch, using the break while Shouko was buying the rings to call his father and share their location.
The tourists and the stall owner overheard him, too. After handing the rings to Shouko, the stall owner snorted, "Little boy, even if your parents come, the money's not coming back."
A few tourists who were planning to leave decided to stay now that things were getting interesting.
Soon, Daisuke arrived with a group of people, including Miu and Chika.
Shizuka squeezed through the crowd, confirmed that Tsuna and Shouko were unharmed, and asked in confusion, "What happened?"
"Yeah?" Yaeko echoed from behind.
"Dad, didn't I tell you on the phone that it wasn't a big deal? Why did you rush over?"
"How can you say that? Of course, we were worried you were being bullied! What if you were just pretending to be okay on the phone?" Shizuka squatted down and pinched her son's cheeks in mild frustration.
Tsuna hurriedly apologized and reassured them before explaining why he had called.
Then he added,
"The main reason is that I'm worried the stall owner might try something later, and Shouko and I wouldn't be able to carry everything ourselves."
Before the stall owner or the watching tourists could mock him, Shizuka rolled her eyes at her son and cut in:
"You haven't even won anything yet, and you're already bragging. Aren't you afraid you'll embarrass yourself later?
And it's just a one-meter-tall doll. If you told us earlier, we could have gotten you any style you wanted."
After she finished, she gave him a light poke on the forehead.