Mebius World Online – Mari’s VRMMO Diary, Embarking on a Laid-back Adventure as a Novice - Chapter 113
Ugh my head hurt……
113. Mari-nee and the summer night sky (final part)
Having recovered from his agitation, Masato, despite a wry smile, carried me on his back with both hands and stood up.
Though I was often carried princess-style, this was the first time I had been given a piggyback ride like this.
Masato’s back was warm and broad.
Since when did he grow so big…?
As I pressed my cheek against his back, I could hear his strong heartbeat.
Listening to the steady rhythm of his heart in the present moment made my past pains seem to fade away… Right, the past can never catch up with the present.
Being trapped by the past happens because our current selves keep pulling it forward.
For some, that past might be filled with regret, for others, glory.
In my case… it’s hatred, I suppose.
But if I stand firm in the present, the past remains just that—past.
I don’t know if I can actually do it, but at least I have Masato and Maki by my side.
Even if I can’t do it alone, with the two of them, and with my family’s support, I feel like I can overcome it… I had come to feel that way.
Sitting on Masato’s lap on the bench, as I leaned on him with a peaceful heart, Maki came over carrying an armful of food.
“I couldn’t decide, so I bought a bit of everything! Eat whatever you like, Onee-chan!”
A variety of festival foods, common at fair stalls, were lined up on the bench.
Yakisoba, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, imagawayaki, yakitori, grilled corn, chocolate bananas… Hmm, a bit too much for me right now?
But seeing Maki eagerly waiting to see what I’d choose made me hesitant to decline.
As I pondered, my eyes landed on something at the edge.
It was a candy apple, a treat I often got at local festivals as a child.
A candy apple is a small apple on a stick, covered in a bright red candy coating.
It’s not particularly delicious, but there’s something about it that makes me want to eat it whenever I see one.
Maybe it’s the special feeling of only being able to have it during festivals, combined with the fun atmosphere of the event.
Licking the candy apple Maki handed me, I bit into it as the candy layer thinned, and the tartness of the apple filled my mouth, countering the sweetness of the candy.
“Hmm… sour.”
“That’s what you get after all that candy. You need to bite it with the candy still on it.”
Masato chuckled while eating his yakisoba.
“I can’t take that big a bite in one go.”
“Then how about masa-nii taking a bite first and then giving it to Onee-chan?”
“Pffft.”
Masato spit out his yakisoba at Maki’s suggestion.
I appreciated him quickly turning his head to avoid spraying me, but the direction he turned to was…
“Ma-sa-ni~?”
With half-chewed yakisoba splattered on her face, Maki glared, her fists trembling.
“Hey, that was your—”
“No excuses!”
Unable to move because I was sitting on him, Masato was subjected to Maki’s one-sided assault.
But honestly, watching Maki hit him looked more like playful roughhousing than a serious attack.
Seeing their usual antics and feeling included in the moment made me so happy that I found myself laughing out loud.
As we spent time like this, night fell without us noticing, and soon the fireworks started.
Because we were far from the fireworks display site, the fireworks didn’t look very big, but watching them from this vantage point felt refreshing. The sound carried over to us, adding to the sense of immersion.
I was enjoying it well enough, but after about thirty minutes, the size of the fireworks noticeably increased, and they began to bloom into large flowers.
Even from our distant vantage point, the fireworks were impressively large, and for those closer, it must have felt like the fireworks were covering the night sky.
Given how spectacular these fireworks were, it seemed strange that they weren’t more widely talked about.
The news we had watched in the car had been local, not national.
As I pondered this while enjoying the fireworks, an especially large firework was launched.
This firework not only spread out in a circular pattern but also formed the shape of two intertwined snakes, reminiscent of a caduceus.
Yeah, that was undoubtedly the logo of the Caduceus Corporation.
“…”
Not just me, but Masato and Maki as well were speechless.
I had thought I’d seen the extent of Caduceus Corporation’s influence in this garden, but clearly, I had underestimated it.
Later, Maki somehow found out and told me how much Caduceus Corporation likely spent on the fireworks that night.
I wish I hadn’t asked…