Squinting my eyes, I tried to block the morning glare of the sun shining
through the curtains. I was about to wonder why there were mornings
and nights in this tower, but I was surrounded with cheat-like beings, so
they should be able to handle something like this.
It was heaven… No, should I say it was hell instead? I don't know…
However, what I do know for sure is that I've welcomed the first day of
the Six Kings Festival without sleeping a wink…
Well, to be honest, I thought that after the three of us went to bed, I
would be able to get some freedom after they turned over while
sleeping but… that was quite naive of me.
Kuro cutely slept on top of my body without turning over at all, while
Isis-san didn't turn over as well. Alice would turn over from time to
time, but she was adamantly not letting go of my hand.
As a result, I was forced to fight a long and painful battle against my
own reasoning, and in the end, I couldn't sleep a wink.
However… I repeat, however! Morning had finally come… and I could
finally be free from this heavenly hell.
As I was thinking about this, Kuro was the first one to wake up.
[…Umyuu.]
[G- Good morning, Ku——- Hahh!?]
As Kuro slightly opened her eyes along with a cute moan, I negligently
"forgot about the past" and reflexively called out to her.
Thereupon, Kuro turned her half-opened, groggy eyes towards me and
smiled.
[Ahh~~ It's Kaito-kun~~]
There, I recalled that when Kuro wakes up… This is bad! I- I need to
esca—– I can't!?
Memories of the past came flooding back to my mind and I tried to
escape as quickly as I could, but my arms were captured by Isis-san and
Alice, and there's no way for me to escape.
Then, in front of the panicking me, Kuro's hand reached straight
towards my face and firmly fixated themselves on both of my cheeks.
[Kaito-kun~~ Shyuukk~~ Chyuuu~~]
[Hnnn!?]
With a coquettish voice, without any hesitation, she pressed her lips
against mine. Before I could even taste her soft, sweet lips, Kuro's
tongue, covered in saliva, mercilessly pried open my lips and invaded
my mouth.
[Chyuuu… Nhaa… nnhnn… chyuppaa, chyuuu…]
[ ~ ~ ! ? ! ? ]
Her tongue, which moves in all directions as if she was coating my
whole mouth with her saliva, soon found my tongue and entwined
around it, making the sound of water resound.
This kiss, which was so intense that it almost knocked me unconscious,
continued for several minutes… Just as I was about to pass out, Kuro's
mouth separated from mine.
Kuro stared at me with a dazed expression on her face, but after a
while, light reappeared in her eyes.
[…Hmm? Arehh? Kaito-kun, good morning~~]
[…G- Good… morning…]
I can't do this anymore, I'm losing consciousness… The kiss just now
was even more amazing than before.
Waking up heavily fatigued from an all-nighter because of the halfawake Kuro, I secretly ate one of the Fruits of the World Tree before
breakfast.
It took away my fatigue, but it didn't help me with my sleepiness or my
mental fatigue. The Six Kings Festival has just started, and I was already
feeling anxious.
Even though it was still quite early, we had to have an early breakfast
since the organizers of this festival, Kuro and the others, seemed to
have some preparations they need to make.
The breakfast Ein-san prepared for us… was quite a surprise. It was a
pure Japanese style breakfast, consisting of Miso soup, rice and pickled
daikon radish, dashimaki egg rolls, and grilled fish… This was
perfection.
[…Wait, I'm fine with the Japanese style breakfast, but what about Kuro
and the others?]
Rice isn't really popular in this world, and many of the people I knew,
like Lilia-san and the others, would say "Eating rice for breakfast is
kinda…" when I asked. So, I asked Kuro and the others if they were fine
with it.
[Unnn? This is just our "usual" breakfast, you know?]
[Eh? Really?]
[Unnn, we have Neun living back home after all~~ So, breakfast has
always been rice.]
[Ahh, I see…]
Kuro seemed to be used to eating Japanese food, probably due to the
influence of Neun-san, who is a big fan of Japanese food. She even
looked quite familiar with the chopsticks when she ate with them.
[…I don't… usually eat… so I don't really care either way.]
It seemed that Isis-san rarely ate, so she doesn't seem to be particular
about bread or rice.
[I'm…]
[I'm not asking you.]
[Eh? Wait!?]
I wasn't really worried about Alice from the beginning. After all, she
eats just about anything and everything, and she also ate a lot of rice
back at the yakiniku restaurant…
As soon as I thought that I had already dealt with Alice, she grinned at
me for some reason.
[Fufufu, the one who should be acting like that right now is me, you
know… After all, soon enough, Kaito-san will praise me, saying "As
expected of Alice!".]
[What kind of idiocy are you on about now…]
[Well, for the time being, how about you look at this…]
[Wha!? What the… C- Could that be…]
[Yes! This is "Alice-chan's Special Seaweed Tsukudani"!]
(T/N: Tsukudani is a small piece of seafood, meat or seaweed that has
been simmered in soy sauce and mirin, used as a flavorful
accompaniment to plain rice.)
T- This is impossible… She's bringing out my personal top 1 rice
accompaniment, Seaweed Tsukudani!? A- Alice… W- What an amazing
person you are.
Astonished at the tsukudani that was offered to me, I held out my
chopsticks and tried it… the perilla-flavor of the seaweed was
refreshing and spread in my mouth, and its taste was further enhanced
when eaten along with rice.
[…U- Ugghhh… A- As expected of Alice…]
[Fufufu, I knew it!]
Frustrating as it may be, this was a complete defeat for me. Moreover,
this is really tasty.
Although I was feeling vexed because I had said what Alice had
declared, I was more than impressed by this tsukudani.
[Even so, this tsukudani is really good. Hey, Ali… ce?]
With excitement budding in my heart, I looked back at Alice… only to
see her holding a sheet of paper to her chest with a big smile on her
face.
On the paper, it said "Alice-chan's Special Seaweed Tsukudani:
Assortment of 5 kinds… 1 Gold Coin. Seaweed Set… 5 Silver Coins."
Ah, sh*t… this is just a "trap"!? By daring to offer the first bite for free,
she would make people realize how delicious her food is and induce
them to loosen their purse strings. What an efficient strategy it was.
[…Give me 4 of each.]
[Thank you for the purchase~~]
It was a complete defeat, but I wanted Aoi-chan and Hina-chan to taste
it too, so I decided to buy it upright.
Good gracious, she's really getting better and better at business… She's
only focusing on me though…
[Hey, Shalltear. Let me buy one of those too.]
[Ehh? Yes, I don't mind.]
[Thanks~~]
As I was paying Alice and putting the set away in the magic box, Kuro
stopped eating and asked Alice to sell one to her.
[…Hey, Kuro. I'm going to ask just in case, but what are you going to use
it for?]
[Eh? Of course, for my new baby castella…]
Now then, what should I do? Seaweed-filled baby castella… I wonder
what it would taste like? I don't know. I can't even start to imagine how
it would taste.
However, I don't think it would go well with the sweet dough, so I do
hope she would stop with that plan of hers.
[Ahh, it's alright! I'll make sure that Kaito-kun "gets to taste it first"!]
[…I- I see…]
I'm just imagining things, aren't I? What she just said was purely out of
courtesy, right? It kinda sounded like she was asking me to be her lab
rat… It's just my imagination, right!?
Dear Mom, Dad——- As I was feeling extremely tired before the Six
Kings Festival even started, we had a delicious breakfast. Even so, I
really enjoyed the seaweed tsukudani made by Alice but… Kuro, how
should I say this———– You can't just turn anything to baby castellas,
you know?