Mini Mission: Watermelon Splitting

"You have to try to hit the watermelon..." explained Matsuda explained to his daughter while she got ready to play. Her little tongue stuck out the side of her mouth as she tried to balance the wooden club in one hand and pull the mask over her ear wings correctly with the other paw. When she had seen other kamishibas play this game on the beach, she was eager to try it as well. Matsuda had been critical at first about whether the booth owners would let a complete stranger participate, but the child had been welcomed with open arms. The booth owner had placed the melon on the floor for her and handed her the equipment. In the background, a few visitors to the café bustled about and looked over at them curiously.

Again and again, Pan's club fell from his paws and crashed to the ground. Matsuda picked him up and stopped his daughter as she tried to grab him again. He shook his head. "Put on your mask first. I'll hand you the melon afterward."

"When you have the mask on," the booth owner intervened. "Then we'll turn you so you're standing in front of the melon. No problem at all. Then you get your weapon and let's go little knight. Destroy the melon. No problem."

Whether it would really be "no problem" in the end remained to be seen. Matsuda feared black eyes and other bruises if his daughter went out with a club and blind, beating on everything she could hear. The stall owner was in a positive mood because the girl brought customers. It was always boring to watch professionals, but the girl brought a new wind. And new wind blew interested Kamishibas into his store. And interested kamishibas tended to treat themselves to at least a coffee or an ice cream afterwards. No matter how that would turn out.

Pan nodded and now fiddled with the mask with both paws. She got the rubber caught in her wing ears, but after some back and forth, the mask sat on the child's face. The now blindly searching turned her head back and forth while her paws flailed through the air. The owner laughed.

"Wait, wait. First we have to turn you." He gently grabbed the child by the shoulders and slowly turned her so that she was standing in front of the melon. The child swayed slightly, so he waited for it to catch itself. Then he nodded to Matsuda. "And now the weapon."

Matsuda nodded and carefully handed his daughter the wood, the so called weapon, which was immediately grabbed possessively as soon as it touched her paws. Matsuda screwed up his face and looked at the owner. He just smiled, then gave the start signal. Pan was allowed to start.

Quickly Matsuda and the owner took a step back. Since Matsuda knew his daughter, he added a few more steps. And that was also good. No sooner had the start signal been given than the wooden club went through the air. It hissed as Pan blindly tried to hit the melon lying on the ground without losing her balance.

There was a clack as the wood hit the floor. Just missed. Another click, but this time the wood had grazed the melon. It wobbled and Matsuda clenched his teeth in shock. If it started to roll now, his daughter would probably smash everything until she finally found it.

The owner probably thought the same thing and quickly shoved a foot at the fruit so that it stopped swaying. Out of the corner of his eye he continued to look at Pan, but she had already turned away so that she no longer posed a danger to his foot with her wood. He pulled it back and snapped.

"Wrong way, little lady."

The child's head wheeled around to get her bearings from the sound, and she was soon back in front of the melon. Its wood sliced through the air, slapping against the ground from time to time and vibrating slightly with each strike.

Just as Matsuda was about to suggest that perhaps his daughter could be tipped off, there was a nasty squishy sound, closely followed by the appreciative murmur of the crowd, and the wood smashed the fruit. Flesh splattered, and quite a bit, so Matsuda got some too. Pan hesitated when she heard the sound. She was unsure if she had to stop now, or if it continued.
So the owner intervened. "You did a great job," he praised the child, nodding encouragingly to the spectators. "That's worth a round of applause, ladies and gentlemen, isn't it?"

And so the first one began to applaud hesitantly until a second joined in. After that, the rest of the crowd started too, and you could see Pan's heart drop. So she had won, that was good.  Carefully, she slid the mask from one eye and squinted at the fruit. Then she looked at her father and grinned broadly. That was really fun, maybe they could do that more often?