“Um… Kyoumi?”
If it were only Tohka, he could use momentary mistake as an excuse and slowly correct her later.
But hauling out the spare marbles from under the table and demanding to redeem them all—this was already far beyond what a raffle should be, right?
“…A ticket can only be used for one draw…”
“Hm? Look, red is the grand prize, right? Tohka shook out so many. If I only pulled a gold one, wouldn’t that be too embarrassing?”
She meaningfully glanced at the staff member who had just lightning-fast colored the first-prize gold ball image red with marker.
“Besides, it never said one draw limits how many items you get.”
In terms of red balls, temporarily making them grand prize did help win, but for the girl, it removed one of the fun parts of raffling.
Rather than that, she’d prefer not to draw at all and just take the whole prize pile.
“But this…”
“Ehh~ You’re totally favoring Tohka~”
“…It’s just that this is too outrageous…”
Tohka could still be understood, but given Kyoumi’s displayed rationality and involvement with human society’s common sense, this was clearly deliberate sabotage.
There’s a difference between someone who lacks common sense and someone who knowingly breaks it.
“Yes, yes, anyway, I can touch whatever I want.”
Waving her hand, the girl had no intention of arguing with Shidou.
Kyoumi symbolically turned the raffle drum.
Though it creaked, it hadn’t been damaged too much.
A white ball rolled out.
Since the girl had been watching the prize board the whole time, and her rose-pink pupils were literally glowing.
No one had the chance to run up and alter it.
After all, these were officers who had visually studied spirits in the airship’s operations room; they had some idea of the danger when the girl’s pupils lit up red.
Not everyone had rich combat experience or confidence to modify the board’s patterns and text under laser fire.
“Phew… white, fourth prize, one bag of rice.” Declaring thus, the girl still acted as if it were natural.
“Please deliver the rice to the Itsuka residence.”
Not drawing gold didn’t hurt her; besides, from a normal perspective, winning a regular prize already counted as very lucky.
“After all, the Itsuka house is running low on rice, right?”
“…?”
The rice at home was indeed low, but it should still last a while before needing to buy more.
What surprised Shidou Itsuka was that Kyoumi could casually point this out.
Was it a guess?
Or did spirits have some special precognition?
“Eh… can only take one?”
Surprised by this, Tohka looked down at the pile of red marbles in her hands, glancing left and right.
“Ah… yes, Tohka. One raffle ticket can only draw once and get one prize… normally.”
Pulled by the girl’s puzzled voice, realizing this was a good chance to correct her, Shidou Itsuka explained while suppressing his inner confusion.
“Hm… I see…”
Though a bit disappointed, Tohka didn’t press Shidou further and continued examining the marbles in her hands.
Her conflicted look made the boy curious.
“Aren’t they all the same size?”
“Raffle marbles are all the same size!”
“The colors are the same too!”
“That’s true!”
“Haa, so they’re the same grand prize as Shidou’s?”
“Prob… probably?”
Unsure if the staff would change prizes on the fly, the boy’s gaze drifted to the prize board.
Shidou Itsuka spotted Kyoumi’s figure.
…More precisely, he saw Kyoumi with hands behind her back, wearing a pleasant smile, pupils emitting dangerous light, standing in front of the staff holding a marker.
Does she hate this… hate temporarily changing prizes to force a win?
Or does she simply dislike these little tricks?
He didn’t know.
But the boy did know there was a bespectacled man in staff uniform, sweating profusely, sprinting from the street corner.
A closer look revealed it was Dimension Transcender Nakatsugawa, another command room officer.
Panting, he adjusted his breathing while holding two tickets.
The same as what Shidou had won—couple tickets to Fantasy Island.
“Yes, correct! Congratulations to this young lady for also winning the grand prize!”
With a phew, made it expression, Kawagoe gave Shidou a thumbs-up meaning no problem, took the tickets from Nakatsugawa, and handed them to Tohka.
“Hm?”
Tohka raised a confused brow and looked back at the boy.
“Shidou, these seem a bit warmer than yours?”
“Warmer?”
Instinctively pressing the couple tickets in Tohka’s hand with his fingertip, they did feel slightly hot.
…These were just printed, weren’t they?!
He couldn’t help but admire the timely response and support speed.
Shidou Itsuka thanked Kawagoe with slight apology.
“Then next is Kotori…”
Following the boy’s words, the girl stepped toward the booth with a can’t be helped expression and turned the creaking raffle drum twice.
Though they were couple tickets, they were 1+1 separate rather than a joint ticket. But luckily, with four people, one each—no need to fuss.
Red was enough; let the grand prize go—
Though expecting his sister to win first prize was as unrealistic as anything, in Shidou Itsuka’s line of sight, Kyoumi still stood by the prize board, having already confiscated several markers.
Could Ratatoskr really handle this—
Clack—
The sound of the marble dropping drew everyone’s attention.
A pure blue appeared before them.
That was the color of second prize. Kotori Itsuka was also a child favored by luck.
“Congratulations, you won—” Kawagoe reacted superhumanly fast, loudly shaking the bell.
The surrounding officers all sighed in relief, and even Kotori showed a somewhat pleased expression.
It seemed there was no cheating this time.
BOOM—
If Tohka’s vigorous spinning and scattering marbles were shotgun momentum, this strike was crossbow-like pressure.
That blue was smashed away like a meteor strike.
The prize outlet cracked slightly, a gold marble embedded in it.
Gold was the winning color, but it had already been colored over by the quick-thinking staff earlier.
As expected, no reward remained on the board.
“Kyoumi, you—?!”
Though she didn’t care much about prizes, being sabotaged like this, Kotori Itsuka angrily looked at the culprit.
In front of the board, having just thrown the marble, the purple-haired girl showed no remorse and even slowly stepped back two paces, clapping.
“You…”
Kotori Itsuka couldn’t continue.
On the board revealed beside the girl was a drawn oval gold ball and crooked handwriting:
【Second Prize: One coupon where Shidou will promise anything you ask】
“I what?”
“N-nothing…”
—Kyoumi Mini Easter Egg
The crooked writing imitates Tohka’s earlier blackboard handwriting. She has thoughts of wanting Tohka to feel closer to her, and…
If a white ball hadn’t come out, she would have swapped it for one.
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