---

---

"Anyway, to light a fire... no choice."
We turned back from the field. Maa-chan, clutching the sweet potatoes to her chest, toddled along after me. Wondering what on earth I was doing, I looked off somewhere into the distance, apologizing, and tried to kick down the door of the agricultural experiment station. While half-laughing and worrying about what I'd do if my life was ruined by something so trivial, a sense of resignation, that it was already over anyway, spread to the very soles of my feet. It looked like it had been repainted white many times, but the building's door was wooden. And old.
It creaked with surprising ease, and a part of the door snapped off. The center broke with a crack, splintering. I thrust my knife in there, ran the blade up, down, left, and right, widening the gap. Finally, I took off my shoe, put it on my hand, and hammered at it, bashing it again and again, until, "Hup, yah, ho!" I smashed it. If I could have done this in one hit, I might've become a Z Fighter, but unfortunately, I don't seem to have that kind of talent. The door, still locked, now had a large hole in its center. I squeezed through it and went inside, rummaging through the staff's desks. Nothing had changed about where things were kept since I peeked in long ago. Come to think of it, how was pulling out sweet potatoes and roasting them part of a class anyway? "Elementary schoolers are a mystery," I muttered, then found the matches meant for making roasted sweet potatoes with brats like us, and went outside. I stepped on the splinters of the broken door, crushing them further. Ahh, I'm tired, I thought, wiping the sweat from my face with my arm.
"Found the matches, Maa-chan."
When I showed them to her on my palm, Maa-chan narrowed her eyes. She didn't look happy; if anything, she seemed suspicious. What's wrong? I tilted my head, and as if sensing my question, Maa-chan shook her head, "Nuh-uh." I didn't really get it, but it seemed better to think about it later.
Having added trespassing and property damage to theft, they probably wouldn't just laugh and forgive me.
Now then, next, I need to gather things to burn. This part should be somewhat easier.
"It'd be bad if the kindergarteners saw us, so let's avoid the kindergarten side, then."
I left the agricultural experiment station, pulling Maa-chan's hand. While I was at it, I put away my knife. It's not something to keep showing off. "..." I checked, just in case, if the blade was chipped.
"Ugh." It was totally messed up. Because I'd used it with brute force, the tip was chipped, and the blade was bent. It was practically something I just picked up, after all. It was an old-looking knife to begin with, so I can't complain.
"A kitchen knife from home might cut better, huh."
Muttering, I put the knife away. Just then, carried on the tailwind from behind, I heard a faint mumble. I turned around. It was Maa-chan. Staring at the place where I'd hidden the knife, she muttered again.
"Kitchen knife."
"Huh?"
"I need to have a kitchen knife."
"What are you talking about?"
"I need to have a kitchen knife too. So I can protect Mii-kun."
She gave me a sticky, creepy smile. Chilling. "It's okay," I said, shaking my head to reassure her. Maa-chan is certainly reliable, but I really wish she'd use a kitchen knife somewhere else. I earnestly pray.

"Pretend you didn't hear that!"
I sang to brush it off and headed for a stranger's house nearby.
Anything that burns will do, right? I snapped off branches from the trees hanging over some stranger's fence and gathered them haphazardly. I accidentally knocked off a few persimmons too, but I didn't pick them up.
If only I were a little taller, I wouldn't have to stand on my tiptoes, I grumbled with a click of my tongue.
Luckily, no Kaminari-san or anyone yelled at me, and I finished gathering. All that's left is to light this, burn it, and heat the sweet potatoes. The problem of where to make the bonfire still remains, though.
"Looking for a place to roast sweet potatoes?"
"Yeah."
"I know a good place."
Saying that, Maa-chan pulled my hand. Wow, she's so confident. With a strange sense of admiration, I let her lead the way. But what would be the perfect place for a bonfire?
The place Maa-chan headed for wasn't nearby. I think we walked quite a bit. We passed by an old farmer lady casually driving a tractor with no license plate on the road, and old guys with towels wrapped around their heads doing carpentry work, as we continued down the road. The sight of me carrying branches and Maa-chan clutching sweet potatoes under her arm seemed to attract attention. I pulled my hood down to hide my face.
We also walked along a national highway with fields on either side, offering a good view but nothing else. It was an unfamiliar area, so I couldn't offer any opinions and just matched Maa-chan's pace. If I wasn't holding Maa-chan's hand, she seemed to sway from side to side, her footing unsteady. Since I'm always holding Maa-chan's hand, there's no problem, though.
After walking around as if in a spiral, the place we arrived at was an abandoned factory. A place filled with the colors of decay and a sticky stench would indeed be inconspicuous for a bonfire. There were no houses nearby, after all.
"Mii-kun, light the fire," she pestered, her tone becoming slightly more childish. "Alright, alright," I replied, first piling the branches in the center of the factory. I took out a match, lit it, and "Dropped it," tossing it in.
A small flame trickled down into the gathering of sharp branches that looked like a bird's nest. At first, there was only a burnt smell, and smoke didn't rise immediately. Meanwhile, I wondered how to place the sweet potatoes to roast them. "Back then, we used to wrap them in aluminum foil or something and roast them... right?"
"I don't know. Mii-kun always did it for me."
"...Right, that's how it was."
Well, if they're roasted to some extent, they should be edible. I randomly stuck the sweet potatoes onto branches. The plan was for them to be a certain distance from the center of the fire. Gradually, smoke began to drift, and orange flames crackled. I crouched beside it, peering in.
How many years has it been since I last looked at the color of fire up close? It's rare.
I haven't gone to gawk at fires recently, and no one close to me has burned to death. Fire is...
"Haha, this makes me like an animal."
An animal that doesn't fear fire. For example, a tamed monkey. A monkey fed by humans rejoices at the roasted sweet potatoes people make. Maa-chan crouched down next to me. I casually stroked her head as if to pull her closer, and she closed her eyes, perhaps because it tickled. We sat shoulder to shoulder, not even going to school, roasting sweet potatoes.

"The sweet potatoes back then were sweet and delicious, weren't they?"
"Yeah."
"How about this time, though? I'm roasting them pretty carelessly."
"............Hmm."
I implicitly added, "Don't get mad even if they taste bad." Maa-chan slowly shook her head.
"Because I'm with Mii-kun, it's okay."
So the trick to making roasted sweet potatoes is me being here? I see, so this is the rumored Maa-chan theory. I won't mention where it's rumored, but it's incredibly reliable. I can't help but be swayed enough to whistle.
"There's something irresistible about her quiet pronouncements."
The fire blazed. The crackling sound of branches joined in, and sparks occasionally danced up, blown by the wind. The fire moved from branch to branch, burning together. The pleasant crackling, like a death rattle to the ears, strongly reminded me of winter. Combined with its bird's-nest-like appearance, it looked as if it were hiding an egg of flame deep inside.
"Nostalgic, isn't it?"
"It is, isn't it?"
Faintly, softly. Maa-chan's profile as she gazed at the flames, though not smiling, was innocent.
As I stared intently, I felt like I was being drawn in, about to be dragged back into the past myself. Can I call this a kind of femme fatale too?
"...Doesn't suit her." Alone, I shuddered uncannily. But what's strange is strange. Even I can feel that much.
I want to live as a resident of a dream. That feeling is real.
But for this moment with Maa-chan to be a "dream" is a bit troubling.
Thinking about it that way, reality isn't all bad. If it's just like today, running away from everything that surrounds us, just looking down at a bonfire. If you just pluck out the good parts of reality and arrange them elegantly on a plate, it's delicious. The problem is that eventually, you have to taste the bad parts that remain.
This time, I'll have to take on all of Maa-chan's share, won't I?
"It's fine."
Rolling the sweet potatoes with the tip of a leftover branch, I casually vowed such things. You betcha!
After ten-odd minutes, wondering if they were roasted, I poked a branch into a sweet potato. It pierced through the skin and into the flesh, so I figured it was good and picked it up. When I touched it, it was so hot my fingers reflexively pulled away.
"It's roasted. But wait a bit, okay? It's hot."
Maa-chan reached out and grabbed the sweet potato. Hey, hey, I thought, my eyes widening. But Maa-chan, without a change in expression, dug her nails into the potato skin. Come to think of it, my mother was also fine with touching hot things, I recalled. I feel like she used to say that a housewife's hands have thick skin.
The potato skin was a little, or rather, quite burnt. The fire might have been closer than I thought. I hooked the other sweet potato with a branch and retrieved it. Using the branch as if performing surgery, I peeled the skin off the too-small-to-be-a-meal sweet potato. This was surprisingly fun. Methodically dismantling it.
Will I eventually dismantle "Yatsu" like this? No, there's no need to do such a thing. However, perhaps a moment might come when I desire that. How will I deal with "Yatsu"? Even I hadn't fully grasped it.

I roughly peeled it and took a bite.
"Mm, it's tasteless."
There was no sweetness at all; it tasted like "The Grain." It was like eating a crushed, elongated, and shaped lump of beans. Sweet potatoes before breed improvement must have tasted like this. Man, honestly, it's bad.
I tried gnawing at it with my front teeth like a beaver, *gafu-gafu*. Of course, it was pointless, and the taste didn't change. But if the taste isn't great, I might as well try eating it differently, or it'll be boring, right?
For having dug up sweet potatoes without permission and even broken down a door, this is a bland ending, I thought of a joke. But if I told Maa-chan this kind of joke, she'd probably just say "Yeah," so I decided to keep it to myself. Glancing sideways at Maa-chan, she was still peeling her sweet potato.
Apparently, she wouldn't be satisfied unless she removed all of it cleanly. She has a meticulous side, huh.

As I was being rudely impressed, Maa-chan opened her mouth. Not to eat, but for the purpose of talking.
"I'm looking forward to this afternoon."
"? Why? ...Ah," Could it be, I wondered, asking cautiously, "Is there somewhere else you still want to go?"
When I asked, "Yeah," Maa-chan nodded without hesitation. Meticulously peeling the sweet potato skin, and while pulling off a strip with a *piron*, she casually laid out the next plan. Her cheeks slightly flushed—
"From the afternoon, we're going to play a lot at the park."
"...That's a promise too, right?"
As if to say "Of course," Maa-chan nodded. Then she bit into the tip of the sweet potato.
Just how many promises have I made with Maa-chan, I wonder? Wahaha.
Later, and by later I mean very soon after, what I would feel was the "Fateful Day" was, in fact, today.
And so the story continues into the afternoon of that fateful day.

Ha ha
Ha ha ha
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha AAAAAA Ha ha ha ha Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha ha ha ha Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu
Ha ha ha AAAAAAAAA Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Ha Ha
Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu
Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu
Tsu
Tsu
Tsu
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Ha ha
Ha
Ha ha
Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu
Tsu tsu
Tsu tsu tsu tsu tsu tsu
Ha ha Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu
Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Ha ha Ha Ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu
Tsu tsu Tsu tsu Tsu Ha
Tsu tsu Tsu tsu Tsu tsu Tsu
Tsu tsu Tsu
Tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu
Tsu
Tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu
Tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Ha Tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu tsu tsu tsu Ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
"In the Light"
Tsu
Tsu Tsu Tsu
Ha ha
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Tsu tsu tsu tsu tsu tsu tsu
Tsu tsu Tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu tsu
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Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu
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Tsu tsu Tsu tsu Tsu tsu Ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Tsu tsu Tsu tsu Tsu tsu
Ha ha
Ha ha Ha ha
Tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Ha ha
Tsu tsu Tsu
Tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu
Tsu tsu Tsu Tsu tsu tsu tsu tsu tsu tsu Ha ha Ha ha Ha ha Ha ha Ha ha Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu
Tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu
Tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Ha Ha Ha ha ha ha Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu
Ha
Tsu tsu Tsu tsu Tsu tsu Tsu tsu Tsu Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha Tsu Tsu Ha ha ha Ha
Tsu
Ha Ha ha ha Ha Ha Ha Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu
Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu tsu tsu tsu
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Tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu
Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu
Tsu tsu Tsu tsu Tsu tsu Tsu
Ha ha ha ha
Tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu Tsu tsu tsu

Ha ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha ha
Ha
Tsu Ha Tsu Ha Tsu Ha Tsu Ha Tsu Ha
Ha Tsu Ha
Ha
Ha!

Chapter 8 "please give me wing - Copper, Though"
Umm, what's this... Lemoni? L-tas? Ah, lemon and lettuce, right.
Her handwriting is too quirky, I can't even read a shopping memo properly! I'm too incompetent! While waiting at a traffic light, under the rain and the shadow of my plastic umbrella, I looked down at the memo and let out a cold breath. It scattered. Rainwater soaked into my beach sandals, completely out of season, and my bare feet. These days, my job has finally become running errands for my mother. How're you all doing? Don't go swiping the change, dammit.
But don't underestimate mere errands.
Just like that girl in a tracksuit I passed earlier was saying loudly, the town is apparently dangerous.
Apparently, in places I don't know, people I don't know are getting killed left and right.
......That kid who showed up covered in blood seems to be involved too, and my feelings are complicated.
But despite such worries, there's a non-zero chance that kid is off flirting with Misono.
Next time we meet, it's full strip.
I'm sure I'll meet that kid again.
So until then, I'll do my best, as me. With the errands.
Twirling my plastic umbrella, unlike Akane, I pulled out my phone with an unrefined gesture.
Heeey, Nacchan. Actually, I might be getting married.

Some people misunderstand this, but being an adult doesn't just mean saying realistic things. Someone once said that being an adult often means having to make dream-like things a reality. I think it was in the afterword of a novel. Everyone's struggling, huh, I thought at the time.
"I want to do a little shopping," Maa-chan suggested on the way, so we stopped by a home improvement center. The spacious parking lot was empty, a waste of land where kids could probably play baseball and soccer at the same time. Well, maybe not many people use places like this on a weekday afternoon. I, for one, have no connection to them, even on holidays.
Outside the store, planks of various lengths, soil, and plants were being sold. Are the green cloths draped over each shelf creating an eye-friendly feel, perhaps? It's a home center with a predominantly green exterior, and that much is clear it's adding to it.
"What are you buying?" Even if you say "home center," I don't actually know what kind of things they sell. I only have a vague image of it being a go-to place for fathers who like DIY projects.
To that me, Maa-chan stated her desired item in one word:
"Kitchen knife."
My head tilted to the right with a *kokin*. We passed through the automatic doors. Once inside, a unique, subtle sweet smell wafted through the air. It resembled the scent of detergent. No, maybe perfume. Either way, it wasn't unpleasant.
"A kitchen knife, is it?" I replied to Maa-chan after taking a few steps. I also considered replying, "They sell kitchen knives at a home center? As expected of a *home* center, huh," but since there wasn't much difference, I went with the shorter one.
Maa-chan nodded silently. Inside, wide aisles stretched on, and with no people to obstruct the view, I could see all the way to the back. Some mysterious cheerful music was playing, far more unpleasant than the sound of the bonfire. Ah, by the way, I did clean up after the fire properly. It was a struggle, though, since there was no water nearby. I only realized that when it was time to clean up and panicked. Maa-chan hates cleaning up and wouldn't do a thing.

That Maa-chan said, "Over there," and pulled my hand, guiding me to the kitchen knife section. Thinking about it calmly, a place that sells bladed tools is pretty scary. Some crazy person might put on a good-natured face, pick one up, and start slashing people with that knife. It's a dangerous world, so you have to be that careful.
"Not here." But very fortunately, there was no one in the sales area. In fact, I could only see store clerks. Maa-chan, as if she were used to coming here, toddled straight over and picked up a stainless steel kitchen knife from the display, priced at 1980 yen including tax. The warning "Please do not use for dangerous purposes" was seemingly there and yet not. If someone said, "It's common sense, isn't it?" that would be the end of it, but relying too easily on common sense is dangerous. Especially when it's overturned from its very foundations.
"Ah, right. Do you have money?" Contrary to the blandness of the line, I clapped my palm as if to say, "Oh man, I forgot!" Ugh, Maa-chan is staring intently up at me. Isn't this the "buy it for me, buy it for me" beam, exclusive to girls?
However, the reality that the item she's pestering for is a kitchen knife halves its effect.
"First of all, why do you want a kitchen knife? There's one at the apartment, right?"
"It's so I can protect Mii-kun." She held up the still-packaged knife as if showing off a clay craft she'd made in kindergarten. Protect me. I'm pretty sure she said something like that earlier too. "Protect me from what?"
Don't tell me, from "Yatsu"? If so, I'd be happy, but that's the other way around, you know. I'm the one protecting Maa-chan, or rather... well, it's true I'm protecting her because he's trying to take her. I carelessly let her get taken once, but she came back surprisingly easily, so that part was a bit anticlimactic, or, how should I put it.
But maybe something this cute and pop (it was written in some movie review) suits our atmosphere better? We probably can't become too serious. Because we're both idiots.
"From lots, and lots of different thems." Maa-chan's words were abstract, and I couldn't grasp the identity of these hypothetical enemies. In Maa-chan's eyes, what appears as an enemy, and who is an ally? ...No need to even think about it: Mii-kun is an ally, and everyone else is an enemy.
In other words, the Earth is the enemy, society is evil, humanity must perish. Can she take them on with a single kitchen knife, I wonder.
While I was lost in thought, Maa-chan, clutching the knife, started walking towards the register. If we bought a kitchen knife together, would we look like a couple starting a new life in a new home? I wondered, following her with such sleep-talk-like imaginings. Well, high school girls these days have a strong sense of crisis, so maybe it's okay for them to carry around a kitchen knife. I do wonder if it's really okay, but I couldn't think of any words to persuade her otherwise.
I paid two thousand-yen bills to a clerk who clearly lacked motivation and bought the knife. The clerk showed no sign of questioning our purchase or looking at us suspiciously. They just went about their work dispassionately, seeming to have no interest in the customers whatsoever. When I stuffed the two ten-yen coins from the change into some random donation box, I was met with a listless "Thank ya!"
"Thank yaaa," I imitated, and left the store.

"Now then... next was the park, right?"
Nodding, Maa-chan suddenly started tearing open the knife's packaging and taking out the contents.
No, no, I actually panicked. Don't go brandishing a knife where people are coming and going. I grabbed Maa-chan's hand, gently chided her with a "No-no," and made her put it in her bag. She's not some hero from an old RPG.
"You should only equip dangerous things like that when an enemy appears, okay?"
I persuaded her while taking her hair in my hand and combing through it with my fingers. Maa-chan, with an unconvinced expression, glared at my fingertips touching her hair. Her lips were pursed in a pout. But forcefully, with enough strength to almost cut her hand on the blade, she put the knife away in her bag, then started walking, swinging her arms as if in desperation. A park, a park, huh. Where is it?
"Do you have a favorite park, Princess?"
I asked for her opinion jokingly. Maa-chan immediately replied, "The place where I used to play with Mii-kun."
"Hmm, it'll take time to get there from here. You'll have less time to play, is that okay?"
I asked, subtly trying to cover up the fact that I wasn't quite sure of the way. Maa-chan seemed to be mulling over my words, her eyes darting left and right for a while. After cutting through the home center's parking lot and out onto the main street, I leaned my back against the wall of an unfamiliar building and waited for Maa-chan's words.
Which flow of people coming and going would we join? It all depended on Maa-chan's choice.
"Then, a nearby park is fine."
The conclusion Maa-chan reached was quantity over quality.
"Roger. In that case, uh, it's to the left, I think." Relying on a vague memory, I steered us to the left. Holding Maa-chan's hand, the two of us walked through the town. In our unchanging way of being, I found both reassurance and a sense of stagnation. As Maa-chan walked with her head slightly down, I thought about what lay deep inside her bag, swaying with her movements.
Since when did a kitchen knife start to suit her hands, I wonder. Her values had certainly changed, becoming distorted while remaining childish. It wasn't that something large had become warped and twisted. Her small heart had been crushed and forcibly hardened. That's why it can't be fixed.
I'm similar, so we're a good match, huh? My cheek twitched slightly at the thought, though.
The afternoon of the fateful day.
Mii-kun, I—or more accurately, to play with memories—I'm taking Maa-chan to the park.
Whichever park we head to, I'm sure a lonely atmosphere will be drifting there. That's precisely why Maa-chan hopes for a "world just for us" to be born.
Just as I'd expected, the park was deserted. Desolate, even, but that didn't matter. It's not like there would be many children here on a weekday afternoon, but for us, it was convenient.
The ground was hard earth, and with stones and weeds left untended, the feel underfoot wasn't uniform. A token vending machine was covered in cobwebs, and the benches, perhaps unpainted for years, had peeling paint, exposing the bare wood. The park we'd randomly arrived at was a place with no memories for either me or Maa-chan. Although a road ran nearby, the sound of passing cars was sparse.

Maa-chan, tossing her bag beside the bench, pointed at the horizontal bar with an expression so deadpan her cheeks didn't even twitch, and said, "First, that." Play on the horizontal bar? What are we going to do? I also took off my shoes, prepared just my knife, just in case, and replied, "Got it!" Touching a horizontal bar... just how many years has it been?
Maa-chan gripped the horizontal bar, rusted all the way to its blue support posts. "Mii-kun, spin," she requested. "Um, you mean a reverse pull-up?" She nodded "yes."
Sure, but can I even do it? Back in elementary school, kids who couldn't do a reverse pull-up were forced to do special training after school. Thinking about it now, once I learned how to do a reverse pull-up, I never once had a chance to use that skill in my daily life. It's about as useless as a deciliter. With that thought in mind, I kicked off the ground and spun. My body lifted easily enough, but the space between the bar and the ground was so narrow I had no leeway, my arms almost forced to fold midway.
My body was no longer suited to the park's specifications. I felt no particular emotion, but I sniffled. Then, as I rotated my body around the bar and was about to lower both feet to the ground, I saw Maa-chan.
She was staring intently at me, straight on. Somehow, it made it hard to put my feet down. I froze in that head-down position. The bar dug into my lower abdomen, my lips felt hot as if blood had rushed to them, and my bangs swayed in the wind and gravity.
"Good reverse pull-up," she praised coolly.
"Thank you," I replied, twisting my body diagonally. Careful not to kick Maa-chan, I landed on the ground. Maa-chan's hand made a "1" as she held up her index finger.
"Do it again."
"Okay."
*Swoosh*. Maa-chan was still standing in the same spot. Again, I arched my legs and landed on the ground.
"Again."
"...Yessir."
I started to get a bad feeling. *Swoosh, swoosh*. I did two rotations for good measure.
I should clearly state that after this, Maa-chan's "again" came a convenient total of about thirty-seven times. I performed so many rotations I thought my brain might flip upside down, was tormented by hallucinations of the ground and sky swapping places, grew sick of the smell of rust from the bar clinging to my palms, and dripped plenty of sweat onto the ground countless times.
Without any consideration for me, exhausted by the rotational exercise, Maa-chan next pointed at "that"—a spherical thing you could sit inside. It's a piece of playground equipment you play with by spinning it from the outside, but I don't know its official name. Maa-chan naturally sat inside, and my role was to spin it with all my might, yelling, "Uuuuuuurrrrryyyyyyyaaaaaah!" Horizontal rotation this time, huh? I'm not practicing the Golden Spin, you know.
It's indeed good exercise, but just holding and spinning it isn't fun at all. When I stopped my feet and grabbed a part of the sphere, I was dragged along as if caught by the rotation, and felt danger before any talk of fun. If I got caught in it, I felt like I'd be ground up.
Besides, Maa-chan, currently in the midst of a grand *glooow-glooow* rotation inside, also had a sullen face, so I couldn't tell if she was having fun. Still, I kept spinning. Even when my own eyes started to spin, I continued rotating out of inertia.