The next day, Erina met up with Yuiko to spend a day downtown together before the party in the afternoon.
"Ne Erina, you haven't been downtown that many times right?" Yuiko asked, seeing that Erina's eyes were glued to the map while walking.
Her eyes still on the map, Erina replied with a cautious tone, "No, I have come downtown a lot. It's just that I get lost easily... so I am trying to memorize this map right now so I don't get lost."
Facepalming, Yuiko took the map from Erina's hands and exclaimed, "What's the point in that? You aren't going to enjoy this trip at all if you are just looking at your map! Come on just stick with me, I know my way around here, so I can make sure you aren't lost okay?"
Nodding, Erina held onto Yuiko's hand as hard as she could. Chuckling, Yuiko commented, "Even though I don't feel like you are gripping me too hard, it's okay to loosen your grip a bit..."
Flushing in embarrassment, Erina nodded without making a sound, loosening her grip just a little bit.
Walking into one of the shopping streets, Yuiko asked, "So Erina, what do you wanna do? Want to go check out that new cake shop that opened up nearby?"
Lighting up like a holiday light, Erina exclaimed with a smile, "Of course I would like to go to a new cake shop! Where is it? I didn't hear about a new cake shop opening up around here?"
Pulling Erina along the street, Yuiko admitted, "Well it isn't that new, it's been open for a month or so, but it was hidden so I didn't find out about it until Shousuke told me about it. You know, with how Shousuke seems to keep track of all the small stuff like this, even if he hates sweets."
Nodding in agreement, Erina giggled before adding, "Yeah! He hates sweets but somehow is always the one who tells us about new stores opening up! I feel like he might be a tsundere hiding how he likes sweets or something!"
Slowing down to a walk, Yuiko explained in between laughs, "So the store just down this small side street over here. I guess that's why it was hard to find though, not many people go down the side streets around this shopping area."
Arriving in front of the store, Erina was intoxicated with the amazing smell that was wafting out of the store.
"This smells so good!" Erina sighed with a blissful expression, "I hope it tastes as good as it smells~!"
Also enraptured by the smell, Yuiko chimed in, "I think this might be one of the best shops we have come across so far~"
Nodding, Erina walked up to the entrance pulling Yuiko behind her, "Come on! Let's go in and eat!"
Walking into the store, both of the girls were greeted by a relaxing sight. There were small tables spread throughout the cafe, some relaxing music playing in the background, and all the colors were nice and warm. All the different pieces of furniture together further helped to create a homey and warm atmosphere throughout the store.
Sitting down at a table, Erina and Yuiko spent some time looking at the menu before raising their hands to order.
Waving down a waiter, Erina ordered, "May I have 1 slice of strawberry cheesecake and 1 slice of strawberry shortcake, please? Oh yeah, can I have a cup of milk tea too?"
Writing the order down, the waiter turned to Yuiko and asked, "Will you be having anything today?"
Nodding, Yuiko ordered, "May I have 1 slice of blueberry pound cake and one glass of water please?"
Reading the order back to them, the waiter stated, "Your order will be with you shortly." Before turning away to tend to other customers.
Spending some time chatting, Yuiko, and Erina dug in when the orders arrived.
"Wow~! This cake is really good! It's even better than the last place we went to!" Erina exclaimed after taking a bite of her strawberry shortcake.
"Mmm, this stuff is amazing!" Yuiko agreed, eating a few more bites of her cake, "I'm going to get so fat from this... I'm so jealous of you though, Erina. You can eat as many sweets as you want and you don't get fat..."
Smiling, Erina replied, "It's great! Mama and Suzuki also get jealous of me whenever we go out! Don't worry too much about it though, you spend a lot of time practicing various martial arts so you'll be fine~"
Sipping her milk tea she continued, "Though Mama and Papa do worry about me a lot since I eat a lot of desserts."
Picking some cream off Erina's cheek, Yuiko agreed, "Of course they would worry, even I worry! Your diet is like 1/3 dessert!"
Avoiding eye contact, Erina mumbled, "Well it tastes so good... it's dessert... I just can't resist the call of the sugar, okay?"
Eating their fill at the cake shop, Erina and Yuiko paid for their orders and walked back onto the main shopping street.
"No Erina you're going the wrong direction! Come over here!" Called Yuiko after seeing Erina start walking in the opposite direction.
"Oh... sorry I didn't notice, I thought the main street was that way." Erina apologized, walking back towards Yuiko.
Laughing a bit, Yuiko asked, "Did you think that the street was that way? You can see the park right there... and it's just a really big park... It's fine though, I expected this. So hold onto my hand so we don't get separated okay?"
Grabbing onto Yuiko's hand, Erina followed Yuiko back onto the main road.
Walking down the street, Erina and Yuiko entered a clothing shop and decided to buy some clothes.
Spending a 'little' bit of time in the shop, Erina and Yuiko came out of the shop with only one bag each.
Seeing that they had both found very little in the store, Yuiko asked, "Hey Erina, do you want to go to the store further down the street? I think we'll be able to find some better clothes there."
Nodding, Erina followed Yuiko down the street towards their next destination.