At the shooting stall in Deep Blue City's Jellyfish Amusement Park, Jing Liuli was puffing out her cheeks, sulking as she aimed at the balloons on the stall.
Bang!
A plastic pellet from the toy gun grazed the edge of a pink balloon and landed with a clatter on the wooden board behind it, bouncing twice before rolling to the vendor's feet.
The vendor, a bearded man holding a rabbit doll he'd just given to another child as a prize, saw Liuli angrily drop the gun onto the table. Assuming she was upset about missing the target, he quickly smiled and handed her a fresh box of plastic pellets.
"Don't worry, little miss, that last shot was so close!"
"See, the bullseye is right there. Take aim before pulling the trigger, and you'll definitely hit it!"
Liuli silently took the pellets, acknowledging the vendor's kind reassurance.
However, whether it was because the plastic pellets were too soft or her strength was too great, many of the bullets she had just taken out were already deformed.
She lowered her head to load the gun, her peripheral vision secretly glancing at Tendo and Caroline sitting on a nearby long bench, whispering to each other.
Their heads were close together, murmuring about something and occasionally letting out low laughter.
This made Liuli let out a muffled grunt, her cheeks puffed out almost as much as the balloons.
She had walked so slowly just now, yet no one had followed her to console her!
Forget about that big bad Tendo, but what's wrong with Sister Caroline? Has Tendo led her astray?
She's always been the one who loved me the most.
The more Liuli thought about it, the angrier she got. She immediately raised the toy gun, squinted one eye, and began to aim.
This time, however, she didn't aim for the central bullseye but for a balloon near the edge, painted with a little devil's face.
She seemed to be secretly pretending the balloon was 'a certain big bad guy.'
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three shots were fired in quick succession, and the plastic pellets hit the little devil balloon with incredible accuracy!
With three crisp sounds of bursting, the balloon was instantly shredded.
Liuli lowered the gun, unable to stop the slight upward curve of her lips.
But when her peripheral vision caught the two still whispering, her smile immediately flattened.
"Ugh, this is infuriating!"
Liuli bit her lower lip, raised the gun again, and began a rapid-fire rat-a-tat-tat frenzy against the row of balloons.
The bullets seemed to carry her little temper; some hit the balloons, some flew past the edges, and others slammed directly into the wooden board, leaving small white marks.
On the long bench, Caroline looked at the pouting figure nearby and smiled helplessly.
"Tendo, maybe I should go and cheer up Liuli?"
"Look at her; she's practically treating those balloons like you."
Hearing this, Tendo looked up at Jing Liuli's 'murderous' silhouette and chuckled. "No rush. Liuli has been like this since childhood. The more you humor her, the more spoiled she gets. She'll come over once she's pouted enough."
Caroline thought about it, but ultimately softened.
"Never mind, I'll go comfort her. She just has a childish temperament; she's angry one moment and forgets it the next."
As she spoke, Caroline smoothed the pleats of her white skirt and started to stand up.
But just as she was halfway up, Tendo gently pulled her wrist.
The force wasn't heavy, but it was just enough to make her sit back down.
"Don't indulge her; it will spoil her."
Saying this, Tendo looked again in Jing Liuli's direction.
Jing Liuli had now run out of pellets, and had deliberately moved to a spot where she could step on Tendo's shadow, kicking it intermittently—utterly childish.
Tendo smiled and said, "Look, she dares to kick my shadow today; tomorrow she'll try to kick me. So, we absolutely cannot humor her right now!"
"..."
Looking at the equally childish Tendo, Caroline was at a loss for words.
He clearly knew the best way to solve the problem, yet he always chose the most infuriating method.
In the words of the dimensional viewers, Tendo always chose the method that generated the most bullet comments.
Although she was a little exasperated by the childish antics between Tendo and Jing Liuli, she still instinctively listened to Tendo.
Even though she was still pretending to have amnesia.
"So, when do you plan to go over?"
Tendo shook the orange soda in his hand, chuckling. "I'll go when she hits that biggest balloon. Then, I'll just snatch the prize she wins."
Caroline: "..."
She was wrong. She shouldn't have had any illusions about Tendo.
This guy's greatest pleasure is clearly just tormenting people.
Meanwhile, the dimensional viewers on the 13th Station, upon hearing Tendo's unscrupulous words, completely lost it.
'Please, for the love of everything, be a person, Tendo!'
'So, Tendo's 'no rush' means waiting for Liuli to win the prize and then going to steal it? You truly are a devil~'
'Tendo: I never complain about the environment, because I'm the one who ruined the environment.'
'Tendo, you've been stripped of your humanity!'
'Can anyone relate, the way Tendo pulled Caroline's hand just now was so natural!'
'Liuli: I'm angry! The severe kind! (Corner of eye: Why isn't he comforting me yet?)'
'The guy before is spot on! Liuli's little temper is impossible to hide!'
At the shooting stall, Jing Liuli, unaware of the malicious intent of a certain big bad guy, finally aimed at the largest prize on the stall.
She took a deep breath, clenched the gun grip, narrowed her eyes, and muttered to herself: 'I must hit it this time! If I do, even if they don't come to comfort me, I can walk away 'majestically' with the dolphin doll, making them so mad!'
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Watching Jing Liuli hit the grand prize with three consecutive shots, the shooting vendor couldn't help but applaud.
"Little miss, amazing! I clearly misjudged you just now."
Liuli proudly blew on the barrel of the toy gun, fantasizing about being a sharpshooter who never missed.
"Here you go, little miss."
Just as Jing Liuli was doing her MVP victory pose, the shooting vendor approached her with a dolphin doll.
But before Liuli could claim her trophy, someone else snatched it before her.
After a moment of shock, Jing Liuli yelled angrily.
"Tendo! I won that!"
"You won it, yes, but now I took it with my own skill."
"Aaah! Aren't you being childish?!"
"And what if I am?"
Looking at Tendo and Liuli causing a commotion again, Caroline couldn't stop shaking her head.
In a blur, Tendo darted behind her and forcefully shoved the dolphin doll into her arms.
"For Caroline, hold this for me!"
With that, Tendo instantly dashed away again.
Immediately after Tendo did this, the agitated Jing Liuli summoned her Dream Pillow and flew rapidly after Tendo.
"Tendo, I dare you to stop running!"
"Well, I dare you to stop chasing!"
The two figures circled Caroline again and again. The dolphin doll swung back and forth in Caroline's arms, the plush fabric tickling her cheek.
Finally, Caroline lost her patience.
She grabbed Tendo's arm with one hand and Liuli's collar with the other.
"Alright, stop fighting, both of you."
As she spoke, Caroline offered the dolphin doll to Liuli.
"Here, I'm giving it back to you."
Liuli snatched the doll, burying her face in the soft dolphin belly. When she looked up, she immediately glanced at Tendo with the air of a triumphant victor.
To this, Tendo couldn't help but retort, "Idiot, it was yours to begin with. What are you even bragging about?"
Jing Liuli: "..."
"Aaaah! Tendo!!!"
Watching the two restart their tussle, Caroline first shook her head helplessly, then a subtle smile crept up her lips.
They had both grown up, yet in some ways, they were exactly the same as six years ago, with no difference at all.
It was as if time had paused for them.
But this feeling doesn't seem so bad.
Thinking this, Caroline first walked to the nearby ice cream stall, bought an ice cream, then returned to the long bench to sit down and quietly read her book.
Let them fight. They would calm down on their own after a while.
Just like when they were kids.
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