Together with the pair of Isis-san and Fate-san, the three of us were
able to enjoy ourselves harmoniously from start to finish without any
major troubles. My work and Fate-san's work, which had been
doubtfully completed, ended up looking reasonably good in the end,
thanks to the advice and corrections we received from Isis-san.
How should I say this… The pair of Shiro-san and Lilia-san, and the pair
of Kuro and Sieg-san had brought about a series of troubles and events,
being together with this pair, chatting peacefully throughout the day,
was very soothing for me.
Rather, Isis-san and Fate-san had a good affinity when it came to
chatting. Fate-san talks a lot, while Isis-san was more of the quiet type,
so it was very fitting when Fate-san would bring out a topic and Isis-san
would respond to her.
In some cases, their conversation would even become so lively that
there was no room for me to interject. It may be rude of me to say this,
but I'm quite surprised that this pair seemed to be the most successful
one.
If it were possible, I would have liked to stay and enjoy chatting over a
cold drink, but if I stayed any longer, I wouldn't be able to hang out with
the remaining pair… Alice and Anima before noon, so even though I was
feeling a bit reluctant, I decided to part ways with Isis-san and Fate-san.
The last remaining pair, Alice and Anima, had already climbed out of the
water, and was working on something… Heck, they're already preparing
for lunch.
I can't hear their conversation because of the distance, but as Anima
holds a knife, Alice was pointing at something and talking to her… Was
Alice teaching Anima how to cook?
Feeling that the two of them seemed to be getting to know each other
without too much trouble, I walked over to them.
[Are you two already preparing lunch?]
[Yes, I did say I would prepare our lunch this time. Well, it won't really
take much time, so I can do it later… but Anima-san asked me to teach
her how to cook, so I'm teaching her some stuff while preparing it.]
When I called out to them, Alice explained without looking away from
what she was doing. Well, since it's here we're talking about, she must
have noticed already that I was approaching. Also, the fact that she
doesn't look at me is probably, or rather, definitely because she was
embarrassed.
[Heehhh… Anima is learning how to cook huh.]
[Yes! Even though I knew how to cook some, I am still inexperienced.
Now that I stand before one of the world's most skilled, I thought of
asking her for her knowledge!]
When Anima proclaimed this with sparkling eyes, Alice looked
somewhat tired. I can understand what she feels. It must be exhausting
to be on the receiving end of someone blatantly giving off a "respect
aura" around her. Especially in Alice's case where she couldn't
carelessly fool around…
As I reflexively chuckled upon seeing such an Alice, she let out a sigh
before turning towards Anima, she spoke.
[Listen here, Anima-san. In cooking, there is one more thing that is
more important than anything else. Put aside all those pretentious stuff
like love and clever skills… What's important is "tasting"!]
[…Tasting? But that is…]
[Yes, that's right. Tasting your food is the most obvious thing in the
world. However, that is obvious only because it is most important.
Listen closely, okay? In the first place, anyone who lets someone eat
their sh*tty food without malice would either be people who doesn't
taste their food or those with strange taste buds! If you just taste it, you
would know if your cooking is a success or a failure before you even
serve it to the others.]
Stopping herself from speaking at that, Alice then turned to another
direction and shouted.
[Do you understand!? Kuro-san! It's important to taste it!!! If only you
had tasted it, you would have prevented nine out of ten of the hell that
Kaito-san must have gone through!!!]
[Eh? Me!?]
Kuro, who was a few distance away, looked surprised when she was
suddenly called out by name, but in this situation, I was more inclined
to applaud Alice. That's great, Alice. Go tell her more… Or rather, for my
future, seriously, go tell her this a little more…
As I was thinking about this, Alice turned her gaze back to Anima before
she continued.
[Well, that's why, Anima-san… She's a bad example, okay? Don't be like
that girl over there who says stuff like exploring the possibilities of
baby castellas, but produces dark matter every so often.]
[…I- I see.]
[I'd also like to ask you that. Please don't be like her.]
[If that is what Master says, I will be very mindful of this matter.]
It was an unexpected turn of events, but I'm grateful that she
mentioned it rather clearly. As expected of Alice, she's really reliable in
situations like this.
Well, Kuro was only tilting her head at us though, seemingly unable to
understand what Alice meant… I'll just hope for some improvement in
the future…