Always.

　Among the many stalls that adorned the festival, Amana-chan bought some cotton candy at her own request.
　The man who made it was a strict man who looked like he was a fisherman, but the cotton candy he made was in the shape of a cute handball-sized bear.
　He is more handy than he looks.

The bear's cotton candy is so cute!

　Amana stared at the bear-shaped cotton candy with her lapis lazuli eyes shining.
　It's almost too good to lose the shape of something like this, so I almost refrain from doing so, but perhaps because Kurone took a picture of it with her phone, she ate it out without showing any pretense of thinking about it too much.
　I feel like I've been lightly affected by a generation gap.

'So sweet and fluffy!'

　It makes me smile when I see Amana-chan say what a straightforward impression she has.
　I want to buy her more things to see her smile, but I don't want to buy too many things for her to carry around.
　I gingerly hold back and squeeze the strap of my purse.

It's a good idea, isn't it?
Hmm?

　As I was choosing the next stall, I found a shop that I was interested in, holding hands with Amana, who was licking cotton candy with her little tongue and trying not to get separated from me.
　The rule seems to be that it's a ring toss shop, and from the looks of the kids playing ahead of me, the rule is that you get a prize if you get caught on the target you've attached to the prize.
　At 100 yen per throw, I wondered if they were making a profit, but they seemed to be making adjustments by increasing the number of targets.

Which one would you like to have?　I'll go get it for you.
Are you sure?
"Of course. It's Amana-chan's birthday today, so I'm going to do my best, onee-chan!
'Thanks!　Um, the box over there!

　While thanking Kuro-One for taking the initiative to come forward, Amana pointed to the "mini printer camera set" that is the second prize in this ring toss shop.
　Is it the kind of item that can be offered at a fair?
　Amana-chan would have bitten it, but other kids would have gone through with it, and considering the approximate price, I think it's in the class of a hit-and-run lottery string store game console....

　And if you can hook the ring to two targets, it looks like you're okay.
　I'm more worried about the deficit than I am about whether or not I'll be able to get it.　

'Huh?　Shouldn't it be a stuffed animal or something?
I wanted to take lots of pictures so that I could tell my mom and dad that I had lots of fun!
Tenna.....

　Tenri smiles as if she is overcome with emotion at the reason for her adult face.
　I got a little jittery too.

　Amana-chan, who had come to terms with her own family, probably chose the means of capturing and preserving the memories of the people she loved, including Amari, in photographs.
　That spirit seemed to be more than enough to get through to me, and there seemed to be a strong sense of motivation in Kurone's eyes that even I rarely see in her.

''Don't mess with me!

　After deciding on the thumbs up, my sister gives the shopkeeper 100 yen and receives three rings to throw.
　To get the camera set with the mini-printer I'm aiming for, I have to hook it to two targets, so I can only remove it once.
　The black sound is so concentrated that the hustle and bustle around us is deafening, and as if caught in the act, we are also silent.

''──hoi!

　As she took aim, she swung her right arm and the ring was sucked into the first target.

'One more!'

　Before we can cheer, the next ring goes into the second target.
　Apparently, the first one got the distance.
　He was able to get the second prize more easily than I had expected.

　The people who were watching the brilliant Kuroone-sensei's skill looked at him with admiration, and the owner of the store bowed his head as if to say that he hadn't seen it coming.
　He also took a caramel as a gesture of thanks.
　When I played at the arcade, I thought she was strangely good at it too....　

Thank you, Onee-chan!
It's a small price to pay if you can make Amana-chan laugh!

　After receiving the item she wanted, Amana revealed her overflowing gratitude.
　The praise from her lovely sisterhood made Kuroone-a proud heart.

　The box in her hand was a bit bulky to carry as it was, so she borrowed the eco-bag that Amari was carrying.
　It's a good preparation for the sudden increase in luggage.......I'll do the same from now on.

'I haven't concentrated in a long time~!　Are you going to be hungry soon?
Yeah. How about Amana and Amari?
"We're all good at this!
We still have some time before we meet up with Nishiyama-san and the others, that's fine with me.

　At Kuroone-s suggestion, we decided to have dinner.
　If there were so many food stalls, we wouldn't be troubled to choose one, but we wouldn't have to worry about our hunger.

　So me and Amana-chan had yakisoba, Kurone had okonomiyaki and Amanashi had takoyaki.

　We sat down on a bench in a nearby resting area and the thick sauce was tasty and well mixed with the noodles.

'Yummy, Onii-san!
'Oh. It's good to eat on a festival day!
But I like my mom's curiosity more than yours.
'Yeah. All of Amanashi's food is delicious~

　I feel bad for the owner who made the yakisoba for me, but it's not going to be so easy to overturn since the bento alone has grabbed my stomach.
　If I get a chance, I might ask Amari to make me some yakisoba.
　

''........''
Tenri-san?
It's nothing...

　When I suddenly became curious and looked to the side, I saw that Amanashi was proceeding to eat the takoyaki at a tremendous pace for some reason.
　
　What on earth was the element of the current conversation that gave me such a look?

'What?'
Nothing?　I just knew it was going to be sooner or later and it was finally paying off~
What's that...?

　I don't know what that means.
　I can't get a grip on what the black sound is trying to say.

　Well, there was a time before when you were making an evil guess as to whether I was going to choose Amari or Mao.
　Is it related to that by any chance?

　If you look at it objectively, there is certainly no small amount of feeling that he would be the most trusted person of the opposite s*x outside of his family from Tenashi.
　But that doesn't mean it's forced or premature to immediately link that to romantic feelings....
　It's not very pleasant.

　But strangely enough, I felt it would be inappropriate to deny it, so I finished my yakisoba without delving any further into the story.