It was the last month of autumn, and winter was nearly here.
Yet Itogami Island was still as scorching hot as ever, which was not particularly friendly to Avrora, who loved cooler weather.
Over the past few days of being looked after, Avrora had always kept the air conditioner on. Only today did she encounter an electric fan for the first time.
"DEOSOSOSOS..."
The stray hairs on her forehead swayed back and forth in the breeze. She sat in front of the fan with her mouth wide open, making strange noises.
Even after playing in front of the fan like that for quite a while, Avrora showed no sign of getting bored.
When Ciel came into the living room and saw her like that, she could not help laughing.
"So childish..."
When Avrora had first seen the electric fan start moving, she had thought it could blow wind because a wind spirit had been locked inside. The reason she thought so was that the metal wires over the fan looked very much like a cage.
She really was like an ancient person who had crossed over into the modern day from a thousand years ago... Though Avrora could indeed be considered an ancient person. And, on top of that, a god-slaying weapon created by an ultra-ancient civilization.
"Aren't you changing clothes yet? We're leaving soon."
"I... require thee to fasten the clasps of restraint for me."
"You still don't know how to dress yourself? Fine, I'll help you... Wait, where did I put the clothes I bought you last time?"
...
That day, the four of them had agreed to go to the amusement park together.
After learning they would be going to the amusement park, Kanon Kanase had been so excited the night before that she could not sleep. Fortunately, it had not affected her much. When she got up the next morning, she was still full of energy. Hopefully that energy would last until they got home.
Avrora was not as excited as Kanon Kanase. She had never once been to an amusement park, so she had no concept of what such a place was like. However, during her time with Kanon Kanase yesterday, some of Kanon's feelings had been passed on to her, so she was still looking forward to it.
The weather that day was beautifully sunny, but if possible, Ciel would have preferred an overcast day, with more clouds to block out this overly scorching sunlight.
This weather reminded Ciel of the first time she had gone to Disney as a child. It had been too long ago, and she could no longer remember which attractions she had tried back then. All she remembered was that it had been unbearably hot.
At noon, there had also been a parade inside the Disney park. It was the hottest time of the day, and a huge crowd squeezed along the roadside, packed together and baking under the sun. She and her family could not move a single step in the crowd, and because so many people were blocking her view, being only a child at the time, she could barely see the upper parts of the floats.
She had stayed in that environment for hours, hot and bored.
Later, when she could no longer stand it, she would squat down and let the wall of people block out part of the blazing sunlight, lest she melt like cream.
At the ticket area, Ciel saw the ticket rules written above.
Children under three were free, children from three to eleven could buy child tickets, and those over sixty could buy senior tickets.
So should she buy Avrora a child ticket, or a senior ticket?
Vampires did have a separate ticket standard, but Avrora was not wearing a Demon Registration Bracelet like the other demons on Itogami Island. Her identity was too sensitive; exposing it would be troublesome.
In the end, Ciel bought Avrora a child ticket. Avrora's mind was about the same as a child's anyway. She even needed someone else to button her clothes.
Passing through the amusement park gates, the first things Ciel saw were the restrooms and a souvenir shop... Was every amusement park arranged this way? So guests who had just arrived and guests about to leave would buy more souvenirs?
However, Ciel had never been interested in these so-called souvenirs. Once labels like "sentimental value" and "commemoration" were attached, things could be sold for a higher price. It was a merchant's usual trick.
Just like the same Buddhist prayer bead bracelet would certainly have a different value depending on whether it had been consecrated or not, even if you had no idea whether it had truly been consecrated or fake-consecrated.
However... Ciel not being interested did not mean everyone else felt the same.
"Avrora, how about this hat? I think it would look very cute on you."
Kanon Kanase picked out a women's sun hat for Avrora and had her wear it in front of the mirror.
"...Thy offering pleases me greatly."
"What do you think, Ciel-oneesama?"
The two of them looked at Ciel together, Avrora's eyes filled with both nervousness and anticipation.
Only an idiot would buy this kind of obviously overpriced product... Ciel at least had the emotional intelligence not to say something so mood-killing out loud.
"It's very cute. If you like it, let's buy it."
In truth, Ciel thought the hat itself was quite ordinary. The main thing was that Avrora herself was extremely charming. In the novel, Avrora had been described as a young beauty with "an ethereal appearance like a fairy" and "a face so beautiful it seemed to have stepped out of a Western painting, transcendent and otherworldly."
Speaking of young-looking beauties... Ciel quietly turned her head to look at Natsuki Minamiya.
"Natsuki-oneechan, do you want to buy something too?"
"Are you... treating me like a child on the same level as Kanon and Avrora?"
Natsuki Minamiya gave Ciel an emotionless sidelong glance.
"Adults have adult worries. Once you understand that money does not come easily, you can no longer spend it as freely as you did as a child. Conversely, only by developing the proper view of spending money can one become a qualified adult."
She made a very good point. However...
"If you only ever choose the correct answer on every multiple-choice question, you'll lose a lot of happiness."
When you were little, the moment you saw something you liked, you wanted to buy it and pestered your parents for it.
When you grew up, you learned to be frugal. Every time the thought of buying something appeared, you would ask yourself... Did you really have to buy this? Was this thing worth spending so much money on? Was there no substitute for it?
After enough time, even when you had money, you would go to a mall, look at the dazzling array of products, and no longer know what you wanted to buy. Every time you spent money, you only felt the sting of it and none of the joy of getting something.
Even the snack shops you used to love browsing began to feel unfamiliar. There were far more snacks and drinks inside than before, yet not a single one caught your eye anymore.
...
After leaving the souvenir shop, the group's first stop was the haunted house.
In a world where demons, monsters, and all sorts of mythical creatures existed, the various scenes inside the haunted house were much more realistic.
Many of the frightening monsters inside were not people in suits, but genuine demons hired to scare guests.
Only a Demon Sanctuary would have a haunted house like this.
The rules required guests to enter in pairs, so Natsuki Minamiya took Kanon Kanase in first, while Ciel took Avrora in afterward.
Under the frightening atmosphere, Ciel's mischievous side emerged again. She wondered whether she ought to scare Avrora a little too.
She remembered when she was young and the school had organized a spring outing to an amusement park. A group of them had also gone into a haunted house. Since she and one of her close friends were not scared at all, they reached the exit first, while their other classmates, who were more timid, were still slowly making their way toward it.
Then her friend had come up with a wicked idea. The two of them could circle around behind their classmates and scare them. She and her friend hit it off immediately.
In the dim environment, she and her friend circled behind their classmates. Her friend rushed out to frighten them. As for Ciel? She did not rush out with her. Instead, she waited a while, then used the darkness as cover to slowly crawl over.
When her friend realized, after being reminded by their classmates, that Ciel had not followed her out to scare them, Ciel suddenly grabbed her friend's ankle, making her leap straight into the air in fright in front of everyone.
Perhaps it had been revenge, but that friend later crawled under Ciel's bed one day just to wait until she came back, grab her ankle, and scare her.
Ciel had been thinking about whether to scare Avrora like that time... but she quickly gave up the impulse.
"Uwaaaaaaa!"
"Iyaaaaaaa!"
"Guaaaaaaa—hic!"
Avrora was the only one screaming the entire way. The slightest disturbance was enough to frighten her.
She had even been scared into hiccuping, so Ciel could only keep patting her back.
"Hic! It is... the gluttonous dark... hic! demon... demon beast... hic!"
"You don't have to force yourself to talk... Here, drink some water."
Ciel was speechless... Was this adorable creature in front of her really a vampire Primogenitor? As an Executor, she had killed countless ghouls, living corpses, and Dead Apostles, but this was the first time she had ever seen a vampire this embarrassing.
Still, no matter how embarrassing Avrora's usual behavior might be, her Primogenitor-class magical power was the real thing. If Ciel had truly planned to add fuel to the fire inside the haunted house, Avrora might really have lost control of her emotions and caused her magical power to run wild.
Inside the haunted house, Avrora held on to Ciel's hand the entire time and refused to let go. Ciel even suspected that she did not need to scare Avrora at all; if she simply left her side, Avrora would be frightened enough to cry.
Even Natsuki Minamiya wore a complicated expression.
"The Fourth Primogenitor, the god-slaying weapon all those big shots are desperately fighting over, was actually frightened to tears by a haunted house. If that got out, it would make a lot of jaws drop."
"Natsuki-oneechan, Avrora is about to cry," Kanon Kanase said.
"I'm not blaming her. I'm only expressing my feelings."
Natsuki Minamiya slowly sighed, using it to convey her helplessness.
...
To give Avrora time to catch her breath and rest, the four of them went to the aquarium together, and Ciel even bought Avrora ice cream.
With ice cream in hand, Avrora's mood recovered extremely quickly, soon going from completely out of sorts to in top form.
Common animals in aquariums included dolphins, walruses, sea lions, jellyfish, as well as butterflyfish, longnose butterflyfish, many-banded butterflyfish, surgeonfish, and so on. But this was the Demon Sanctuary.
Ciel and the others saw all kinds of bizarre magical beast fish inside the aquarium.
For example, there was a magical beast called a hippocampus. It had a horse's head and a scaled fish's tail, with forelegs, webbing between its claws, and fins on its back.
The reason Ciel paid particular attention to this magical beast was that, in Greek mythology, the sea god Poseidon's two-wheeled chariot was drawn by hippocampi, while in Roman mythology, it was the mount of Neptune. The hippocampus before Ciel matched the descriptions from mythology.
However, this hippocampus in the aquarium had no divinity. It was only a magical beast, not a divine beast.
"Uwaa!"
Kanon Kanase and Avrora both pressed themselves against the glass, excitedly watching large and small fish of every color swim past before their eyes, letting out cries of admiration.
Although Ciel had always felt that aquariums and zoos were fairly boring, the two of them were very happy.
There were also many other visitors inside the aquarium. Outside, they would have to endure thirty-degree heat and direct sunlight, but inside the aquarium it was cool. Indoor amusement facilities like aquariums were generally very popular and suited for resting, after all, since there was air-conditioning.
After they left the aquarium, a series of screams from above attracted Avrora's attention. She raised her head and saw a roller coaster racing past.
"Hm? Avrora, do you want to ride the roller coaster?"
Ciel walked to Avrora's side with her hands clasped behind her back, bent down, and looked at Avrora with a beaming smile.
"Roller coaster... Could it be some form of punishment?"
Avrora asked fearfully.
"Punishment? No. They're playing. They're enjoying themselves. No one is forcing them."
"But they are screaming..."
"Those are screams of excitement and happiness. Want to try it? Since we've come to an amusement park, we should at least experience the roller coaster, right?"
She casually tossed the empty ice cream cup into a trash can, and the group headed toward the roller coaster entrance.
If there was one classic amusement-park attraction, it had to be the roller coaster. It seemed every amusement park had at least one type of roller coaster, while larger amusement parks had several.
There were many people lined up at the roller coaster entrance. It seemed their thinking was the same as Ciel's: if they had not ridden the roller coaster, then it would be as if they had not come to the amusement park at all.
As they stood in line, the visitors' screams became much clearer. From far away, Avrora could see the expressions on those people's faces.
"They... are smiling?"
So those were screams of excitement?
Avrora turned her head toward the exit, where several visitors who had just gotten off the roller coaster were chatting.
"That was so intense! Want to go again?"
"I think we should go try something else first."
"What's wrong? Did you piss yourself? Want to use the restroom first?"
"Like hell I'm scared! I just think the line is too long. We might as well go try something else first and come back when there are fewer people here."
A vampire's superior hearing allowed Avrora to clearly make out their words without being drowned out by the screams that rang out from time to time.
"Avrora, it's our turn."
Kanon Kanase took Avrora's hand to keep them from being separated by ill-mannered people, and reminded her in a gentle voice.
---
T/N: im being called by spy for csgo, i will post the bonus chapters tomorrow
T/N2: I HAVE NO EXCUSE! EXCEPT THAT UHHH SPYTL! AND ASPENTL! HAS KEPT ME DISTRACTED! THOSE FIENDS! I will try to post more now...
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