Although it wasn't unusual for us to bump into Nitta-san, it was still unexpected to see her out here. I mean, this place was out at the edge of the town, you know?
Looking at her walking toward us, I could easily tell that she came here by herself, not with Amami-san or her classmates. This was unusual for her, since she wasn't the kind of person who'd go out of her way to shop alone.
"Heya~ Are you two on a shopping date? Funny that we run into each other like this~"
"That's my line… Anyway, are you here by yourself, Nina?"
"Nah, of course not. I'm here with my sister. She said she's sick of studying all the time, so she wants to go out and spend some money, so I came with her here. I don't know where the hell she ran off to, though, so I guess you can say that I'm here by myself. Now I became a loner like you, Rep~"
"I stopped being a loner a while ago… I think… Anyway, you aren't here with Amami-san? I thought that since you're here, she'll also be here…"
Whenever Umi went on a date with me, Amami-san would ask Nitta-san to go somewhere together. In fact, that was part the reason why we occasionally bumped into those two in the middle of our dates. It felt strange that they weren't together this time.
Even when considering that Yuna-san was here, Amami-san had met her before, so she wouldn't refuse to hang out with Nitta-san just because of that.
"Ah, well~ Actually, I didn't plan to go anywhere today. My sister just dragged me out of here after seeing the TV ad about the place, you know? Since it was so sudden, I felt like I shouldn't ask Yuuchin to go with me this time. Not to mention that this place is a little too far from our home. It takes more than an hour to get here by bus. There's no way it's a good idea to invite her to come here out of nowhere like that."
"When you put it that way… Yeah, I get it…"
"Mhm. Anyway, I'm hungry. And thirsty too, actually. So, Rep, can you buy me something~?"
"…Don't you have your own money?"
Now that we knew the reason why she was here by herself, it was hard for us to just leave her alone.
Even though she came here with Yuna-san, it seemed like they wouldn't care about what each other was doing in this place. But at the same time, it wasn't like Nitta-san could just leave her sister and go back home by herself.
Before she found us, it was clear from her eyes that she was deathly bored.
For her, someone who enjoyed shopping together with her friends, doing things on her own must have felt boring.
"…Umi…"
"Yeah, well, since we're all here already, why don't we have lunch together? My mom is with us though, will you be okay with that, Nina?"
"I don't mind~ Also, I'll drag my sister back home with me after we're done eating, so don't worry, I won't disturb your fun little date for long~"
"…You don't need to add that line… Seriously, you're the same as always…"
"Hehe, you'll be treating me, right?"
"Hell no, use your own money."
"Fine, fine, no need to get violent okay? It's a joke, Umi, a joke!"
And so, we went together with Nitta-san, who seemed to have returned to her usual cheerful self, to the food court, which occupied around a third of the convenience store area.
While there were a lot of fast food chains there, it seemed like each of them were manned by the convenience store's staff. Also, like I mentioned earlier, there were different kinds of food being sold there. The convenience store itself also sold some food that were made by the ingredients they sold. There were also some original dishes that you could only find here. By the time we got to the food court, people already formed a line to enter the place itself.
"Ah, here, Umi, Maki-kun. Also, hello, Nina-chan."
"It's been a while, Auntie~ Sorry I haven't been visiting for a while. I mean, I would love to, but you know, a certain person here is a little obsessed with her boyfriend, so I haven't been able to make a plan to visit~"
"W-What did you mean by that?! Y-You can visit us whenever you want! …Just… Do it once a month…"
Since Sora-san had already booked a table for us, we only needed to wait for ten minutes to be seated. Although the price of the food was a little expensive, it was worth it. The selection was varied and all of them looked tasty.
Both Umi and I had expended a lot of energy earlier due to our consecutive shoppings, so we were more than eager to eat.
The three of us left our luggages to Sora-san and went to the table where we could get our food from. It seemed like we could take as much food as we wanted.
"Let's get the main course first, Maki. Which one do you want?"
"For starters… Let's take the chorizo over there. Then, pasta, fries, you know the usual. What do you want to drink?"
"Melon soda."
"Same. I've been craving it for a while now."
"…You two are something else. Eat your veggies too, okay?"
Umi and I put whatever it was we wanted to eat into our plates. Meanwhile, Nitta-san picked a more nutritionally balanced meal.
Since the two of us just took everything we wanted to eat, our plates became full in a blink of an eye. Looking at our inability to control ourselves when it came to food, I realized once again that we really were still childish.
Compared to us, Nitta-san was noticeably more mature.
Afterwards, we brought our food and drink to our table.
The three of us weaved our way slowly through the crowded place. Just when we were about to reach our table, Nitta-san suddenly stopped.
"…Ugh."
"What's wrong, Nina? Do you want to go to the toilet? It's over there."
"No, not that! There are people who are talking to Sora-san. You'll understand when you see them…"
"What?"
For some reason, Nitta-san wore an uncomfortable look and hid behind us.
Well, I could guess the reason why she was acting so out of character like this.
Like she said, there was a group of people who were talking with Sora-san. A familiar group of people, to be exact.
"Amami-san?"
"Yuu?"
As we called out to her, a certain girl with golden hair, Amami-san, turned around to face us.
"Ah, Umi! Maki-kun! Also… You're here too, Ninacchi?"
"…Heya, Yuuchin~"
Even when considering all the advertisements the mall made, I never expected that the four of us would bump into each other here.