Peace

In the Far East region, Sakura stood in her casual clothes next to the nameplate of her house, waiting for her younger sister, Ling, to come down from upstairs. Sakura glanced at her phone; it was already past one o'clock. She shook her head helplessly and yelled towards the second floor, "Ling, aren't you ready yet?"

A lively young girl's voice drifted down from the second-floor window, "Almost! Sister, just wait a moment longer!" Half a minute later, the sound of hurried footsteps came from the stairs, but she accidentally slipped on them. With a dull thud, she tumbled down the stairs, her face hitting the ground.

"Sigh..." Sakura rubbed her forehead and walked over to Ling, helping her up.

"I've been telling you since you were little that you need to watch where you're walking." They sat by the table. Sakura first wiped Ling's face with a damp towel, then gently dabbed her forehead with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol.

"Ouch... that hurts..." Ling cried out in pain, but Sakura couldn't tell where the child was actually hurting. Ever since she was little, this child had fallen countless times due to her lively personality; these minor injuries were actually insignificant to her.

"Sigh, you. I just haven't educated you properly," Sakura sighed again, her warm breath brushing against Ling's earlobe as she put down the cotton swab.

"Hehe..." Ling giggled mischievously.

"I wanted to clean the house properly when I got back. It seems you're worried about your sister, using your face to mop the stairs for me first, right? When we get back tonight, you'll help me clean the room." Sakura rubbed Ling's cheek; it felt very soft. Ling, not to be outdone, pinched her sister's long pink ear in return.

"Ah!" Sakura blushed slightly. "You've gotten bold, Ling. Daring to tease your sister?" She tapped Ling's little head firmly.

"It's just that your long ears are too cute, Sister," Ling complained, rubbing her head.

"Let's go, we should head out. If we don't leave now, it'll be too late to go anywhere you want." Sakura stood up from the stool. Ling also stood up and they walked towards the door.

"So, have you thought about where you want to go?" Sakura stroked Ling's head, her doting smile dazzling in the sunlight.

It was now late spring; it wasn't cold, and it was a fine day. The sky was clear, and the sun shone brightly, perfect for going out. Ling touched her chin, thinking carefully, "How about... we go to the amusement park!"

"The amusement park? Didn't we just go a few days ago? And it's already past one o'clock; it'll be quite crowded if we go there now." Even during wartime, amusement parks were usually crowded on clear days. Now, in this period of interim peace, the amusement park was probably teeming with people.

"Then where do you want to go..." Ling looked a bit dejected. "You're leaving tomorrow, Sister. Let's go one more time."

"No!" Sakura rubbed her forehead, saying helplessly.

Sakura's house was in the suburbs, not many people nearby, but transportation was convenient.

Half an hour later.

They took the subway to the vicinity of the amusement park. Arriving at the main entrance, they saw a yellow, long-balloon-shaped figure swaying in the wind like a roly-poly. Sakura pointed to a long line of people ahead, "See? I told you it would be crowded. We'll probably have to wait half an hour, and we'll be standing the whole time."

Ling said slyly, "We're already here, and you can't escape now. Look, it's such a waste of time to go anywhere else."

"You little sly fox."

Another half hour passed.

"Please enjoy this hard-earned moment of peace to your fullest in this park." The staff member welcomed the two with a commercial smile.

"We're finally inside~" Ling stretched. Then, she linked arms with her sister and pointed to a giant, constantly spinning hammer-like ride ahead, excitedly saying, "Sister, let's go on that pendulum ride first! We haven't ridden it before."

"Okay, let's go."

Sakura and Ling boarded the pendulum ride and sat at the very back. A female staff member beside them fastened their safety belts. Three minutes later, the pendulum ride slowly began to turn.

"Sister, are you ready? Don't scream too loudly later," Ling giggled.

"Don't worry, your sister can handle this much," she pinched Ling's little nose.

The pendulum ride spun faster and faster, the entire view flipping up and down. Some timid people had already started screaming. At this moment, Ling also spoke less. The usually lively girl had unexpectedly become quiet.

Seeing Ling's quiet demeanor, Sakura smiled silently, but Ling noticed the smile.

"Mmm..." Ling let out a sound of dissatisfaction, looking at her sister with a pouting expression. But in Sakura's eyes, the expression was incredibly cute.

The pendulum ride spun faster and faster, reaching its maximum speed. Ling's face turned completely red, while Sakura's expression remained unchanged. For a Fusion Warrior, perhaps only spinning as fast as an astronaut training centrifuge would make her feel anything unusual.

Ling couldn't take it anymore. She yelled in exasperation, "I can't hold it in anymore!" and started screaming like everyone else. Sakura couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Two minutes later, Sakura and Ling got off the pendulum ride. Sakura was still laughing uncontrollably, while Ling's face was still flushed red, "Stop laughing..."

"This is the first time I've seen you like this."

Sakura took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. But somehow, she recalled Ling's flushed face and couldn't help but laugh again.

"Grrr..." Ling gnashed her teeth, looking annoyed.

The sky was dyed a fiery red by the sunset. There were still 3 hours until the designated curfew. It was peacetime, and the curfew had been shortened by 2 hours, meaning it would start at 9 o'clock.

"We have to go back in a little while. Is there anything else you want to do?" Sakura ruffled Ling's soft hair.

"There's nothing fun left now. We've done everything else last time." Ling's energy seemed inexhaustible; she had played for several hours without much rest. But Sakura knew that as soon as they got home, this child would probably fall asleep on the sofa.

"Then let's go back."

"Okay..." Ling reluctantly agreed. In reality, what she was reluctant about wasn't playing at the amusement park, but the happiness of being with her sister.

As they walked towards the exit, Ling suddenly spotted something. Her eyes lit up, and she pointed to a facility ahead, "Sister, let's play with that one last time!"

"Eh?" Sakura was forcefully pulled by her sister to a shooting gallery game where you hit flying discs.

Sakura thought to herself, "That's strange, I don't remember this place being here last time." She then walked towards the flying disc area.

The boss, wearing a red baseball cap, rubbed his hands together with a poker face. "Two ladies, want to shoot some flying discs?" The boss could tell from Sakura's lively ears that she was someone important. At first, he thought they were just decorations, but he didn't expect them to actually move. So, the usually enthusiastic boss didn't invite them to try their skills, but they saw him.

"Hit 5 or more out of 10 shots for a prize," Ling read out the rules posted on the wall.

However, Sakura was a person of experience. Such games either had flying discs that were too fast to hit, or the air gun's accuracy was deliberately set very low from the start. Fortunately, it wasn't a light gun shooting game; whether the laser hit the flying disc accurately depended entirely on whether the boss wanted you to hit it.

Sakura nodded. She didn't care about these small prizes and handed the money to the boss. The boss picked up the air gun, loaded the ammunition, and then they were ready to start.

"Are you ready, ladies? I'll count to ten, then that cannon-like thing will shoot out flying discs, and you can shoot them," the boss shouted from a distance, holding a joystick. Although this air gun couldn't pierce human skin, it would still hurt if it hit someone.

Sakura picked up the air gun, her entire body adopting an extremely standard shooting stance. The owner, seeing this soldier-like posture, immediately knew he was dealing with a tough customer this time.

"Sister, go for it!" Ling cheered from behind her.

The owner muttered, "Looks like I'm going to bleed a lot this time." He then pulled down the joystick, and the barrel began to continuously shoot out discs. There were 12 discs in total, and the air gun only had 10 bullets.

With a "ding," the gun fired, and a disc fell to the ground. "Ding," another disc was shot down. In total, 10 shots were fired, and all 10 hit their mark.

"Sister is amazing!" Ling's eyes were full of admiration.

"I'm actually quite accurate," Sakura said, putting down the air gun and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Alright, Ling, it's your turn to try next."

"Okay~"

"Ahhh! Why can't I hit it?!" Out of 10 shots, she only hit one, and that was by accident. Ling had been aiming for the previous disc, but unexpectedly hit the next one.

"Hey, owner! Did you tamper with this gun?" Ling yelled angrily at the owner, her pink ponytail swaying in the air, showing the girl's agitated mood.

The owner, with a heartbroken expression, lowered his head and pointed a finger at Sakura. In reality, Ling was truly mistaken about the owner. The gun hadn't been tampered with; it was just that her suspicion was misplaced. The owner had only changed the speed of the discs.

"Ah... Ehehe..." Ling thought about her sister hitting all 10 shots and sheepishly scratched her head. It seemed it was really her own fault.

"Miss, here is your prize, please take it." The owner's eyes were welling up with tears as he held out a pocket watch that looked quite valuable and handed it to Sakura.

The owner had set up tiered rewards: 5 hits out of 10 for a small gift, 6 hits for something more expensive, and so on. Hitting all 10 shots was truly unprecedented. The owner had only put out the particularly expensive pocket watch to attract rich and foolish people, never expecting anyone to actually win it.

"Thank you." Sakura accepted the pocket watch and put it in her bag. Seeing Ling so angry, she wanted to teach her how to shoot, but seeing the owner's tearful state, she felt too embarrassed to ask for another round.

After the two girls walked out the door, the owner's expression suddenly changed, like a dramatic mask change. He sneered, "Hmph, this pocket watch worth a few thousand yuan, I'll earn it back in a week."

"Hehe, Sister, you knew all along that such a big photo wouldn't fit in a pocket watch, right?"

Sakura gently flicked Ling's nose: "Clever little thing."

By the time they returned home, it was just past 7 o'clock. Ling kicked off her shoes and collapsed onto the sofa. She pressed the power button on the TV remote and just lay there watching.

The sound of some TV drama and the sizzling of cooking gradually made Ling's thoughts drift further and further away...

Eventually, she fell asleep without realizing it.

Ling was woken by a fragrant aroma. The dishes on the table were steaming hot. Sakura had just taken off her apron and sat down at the table when her sister woke up. Ling rubbed her sleepy eyes, stretched, and sat up from the sofa.

"Sister... what time is it now?" she asked, still half-asleep.

"It's past 8 o'clock. Since you're awake, come and eat quickly. Remember to wash your hands."

"Oh, okay~" She walked to the table and sat down next to Sakura.

Chew, chew...

"Ah... Sister's cooking is still the best," Ling said, gently patting her slightly full stomach after eating.

Sakura chuckled softly, then gathered the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

"Are you full? If you are, come help Sister clean the house," Sakura said, picking up the broom by the door.

Ling said reluctantly, "Aiya... Sister, I'm so tired. Let me rest a bit longer."

"It's only 8:30. Clean up, then take a bath, and then go to bed."

Sakura urged as she swept, "Besides, tomorrow is still a holiday, you can sleep until you're full before getting up."

Ling suddenly fell silent for a moment, then said with renewed energy, "Okay, I'll come right away!"

Sakura seemed to see through Ling's worries: "Silly girl, it's not like I'm not coming back."

Ling's spirit suddenly deflated again, and she murmured, "But I waited so long for you to come back."

Sakura affectionately stroked Ling's head: "Don't worry, I will definitely come back."

It was now almost 10 o'clock. Ling and Sakura were sleeping in the same bed. They had originally slept separately, but Ling insisted on sleeping with her, and Sakura reluctantly agreed.

The next day

The sun hadn't risen yet, and it was still pitch black outside, but Sakura was already awake. She wanted to leave before Ling woke up because she didn't want to face the sad farewell scene. She was afraid that if her resolve softened, she wouldn't be able to leave.

"Around 5 o'clock." Sakura glanced at the clock on the wall. The ticking sound stood out exceptionally in the quietness.

Then she put on her shoes and, using her powerful body control, didn't make a sound as she quietly opened the bedroom door.

However, Ling's voice reached her ears: "Sister, you must come back, we promised."

Sakura turned around, sat on the edge of the bed, and gently stroked Ling's head, saying, "Yes, I will."

She held Ling's hand and said, "We promised, the next time I come back, we'll go to that plaza where the cherry blossoms are in full bloom."

"Mm." Ling rested her head on her sister's chest, Sakura's hand on her back. Ling was not an unreasonable child; she knew why her sister had to leave. It wasn't just her duty, but also to protect her.

Sakura stood up and said, "Goodbye, Ling. Be good and wait for me to come back."