Chapter 17: Sweet

“It’s easy if you solve it like this, Senior.”

“Wow… I knew Sora was good at studying, but I didn’t think it was to this extent. At least until middle school, you were just an honor student…”

Around a month has passed since the Nagisa assassination(?) incident. It’s the weekend, and midterms in May at Kivotos are approaching. I was studying at a cafe with some Justice Task Force members and Ichika.

Ichika contacted me, thinking that I, as a high scorer on the entrance exam, could be of some help.

“I heard there are a few formulas and knowledge in the second-year curriculum that are convenient to use during the entrance exam, so I studied them.”

“Sora, you feel like a huge elite…”

Shizuyama Mashiro, a classmate from the Justice Task Force. We met when we were eating lunch together with other Justice Task Force members, and we’ve become close since then.

She seems a bit obsessed with justice, but that’s why she tries to be exemplary herself. She’s definitely not a bad kid. Sometimes, her skirt is a bit… much….

“Haha… I don’t have many things I’m particularly good at.”

“Wow… I told you this last time, but that’s a humble brag…”

Ichika says I’m humble bragging again. Why!

“Come to think of it, Sora, you said you have Tea Party duties, isn’t it difficult to maintain high grades?”

“Um… Actually, when I have time, I try to finish everything as much as possible, and recently I’ve been using the method of lightly reviewing to maintain my memory.”

“…What’s your identity? Sora?”

“Yes…?”

Mashiro thought there might be a secret to maintaining my grades, so she asked me, and what I heard as soon as I answered was…what’s my identity… In the first place, the best way to study is the orthodox way.

Since I’ve already finished it once with the orthodox method, I just compressed and compressed it and studied only the subjects I was lacking in again.

“Um…but there’s no other special method…”

“Sora… From now on, it’s forbidden to say you’re ordinary in front of me…”

“Why!”

“Ahaha~ You’ve completely blended in~ I wish you were a junior in the Justice Task Force?”

A senior who was with the Gourmet Research Society subtly appealed to the Justice Task Force, but I’ve already joined the Tea Party. In the first place, I don’t want to join the Justice Task Force… I don’t like using my body.

While we were continuing our studies with a bit of chitchat…

“Your order is ready.”

Melina, the cafe on the outskirts of Trinity that I’ve been to before. I’ve used it frequently, and Ichika often uses it with the surrounding Justice Task Force,

so naturally, when I or various Justice Task Force members meet each other, we use this Cafe Melina, she says.

Anyway, Cafe Melina’s cake is placed on the table. In the past, I would have ordered a dessert with a slight sour taste, but this time, no, recently, I’ve been ordering mainly sweet things.

“Well… We ran from the morning, so let’s replenish our sugar?”

“I agree.”

I wonder when it started. Recently, I’ve become quite, no, extremely fond of sweet things. I didn’t particularly prefer sweet things, even when combining my current life and past life.

In my past life, I ate a lot of sweets to replenish my energy while studying, but I didn’t like them. In my current life, I didn’t like them either, so why…

“Sora, did your taste change?”

“Yeah, I like sweets these days…”

As expected of Ichika. She’s been with me since middle school, so she caught on quickly.

“Hmm… The Tea Party, was it? Sora?”

“Yeah, Mashiro… I wonder if it’s because I often have tea time with the other seniors from the Tea Party…?”

“Certainly, it’s actually quite common to start liking something because you eat it a lot, but do you know you have to be careful about that?”

“Yes? Senior? What do you mean by being careful…”

“You’ll gain weight.”

….Wait, I feel like I’ve gained a little weight recently…

“W…Wait…Senior?! That’s taboo!”

“Hahaha! Did I hit the mark?”

“Aaaagh!!!”

So we were chatting lightly. It was a bit noisy, but Cafe Melina is a quiet place, and the manager didn’t particularly restrain us because we were making money by continuing to rotate the menu.

That’s because if you’re going to a cafe to study for exams, it’s beneficial to use a cafe in the central district of Trinity, so it’s likely to be quiet.

“It feels like we gathered to study, but we ended up playing around like always….”

So when I came to my senses, quite a bit of time had passed, so that day ended up being a day to relieve the stress of accumulated studies.

I didn’t have to put much effort into studying, so it wasn’t a particular problem.

So that day, the ratio of chatting and chitchat ended up being larger than studying.

“Well then, I’ll get up too. Sora, aren’t you going yet?”

“I’ll stay a little longer. You don’t have to pay.”

As the sky gets darker, the Justice Task Force members get up one by one and go back first.

The last ones left are me and Ichika. Among them, Ichika got up when the red part of the sky was almost invisible.

“I’ll pay, okay?”

“The manager already has my card.”

No way. I’ll pay this time too.

“I can’t win… Then don’t go back too late.”

“Well…then shall I start?”

The sky is dark and the lights on the streets outside start to turn on. Cafe Melina was a cafe on a slightly high floor on the 3rd floor, so I could look down on at least the nearby streets, if not far away.

I recently started drawing. I don’t particularly draw people or manga-like pictures, but rather streets or landscapes. There was no particular reason for starting to draw.

Recently, I’ve been making friends, enjoying going around with others, and gradually increasing the time I spend with others, but despite that, there must be a time when I’m alone.

The time when I’m alone without anything special to do, the time when I’m spacing out. I wonder when it started? My hand was moving unconsciously on a blank notebook. Yeah, that’s how my new hobby started.

It’s not particularly good drawing or the birth of a genius. My new hobby started only about 3 weeks ago. It’s just a level where you can say I drew it. Cafe Melina, the scenery of the nearby streets, is drawn on the notebook.

It’s engraved. The only two talents I benefited from in drawing are spatial awareness and memory. I’m sitting in Cafe Melina, but I was drawing the scenery where Cafe Melina can be seen.

I’m still not good at drawing, but yeah… Maybe I can show it off to others a little?

Line drawing. I don’t particularly carry coloring tools, so I draw with simple shading and lines with a pencil.

At first, even my spatial awareness couldn’t cover it, so it was drawn flat, but now it’s a decent drawing with a bit of three-dimensionality….

“Oh, you’re quite skilled~”

“…?!”

Was I too focused on drawing? I didn’t notice someone approaching from behind. A pink-haired student, shorter than me, probably a child in the same grade as me, was staring at me, no, at my drawing.

“Natsu! To a stranger, right now!… Sorry… Our kid is a bit eccentric…”

“This is also a fateful encoun…”

“You like fateful encounters!”

Cafe Melina is basically a 24-hour cafe. So it’s not particularly strange for people to come in now, but…at this late hour?

It’s not my place to say that I was drawing until it was past 9 o’clock, having spent two hours drawing, but coming to a cafe at this late hour doesn’t seem like a very good option…

Anyway, a student with cat ears that I’ve seen somewhere was dragging the student who approached me to the counter…

There was a black-haired, gentle-looking student and a short, blonde student waiting at the counter, so I guess it’s a group of four friends who go around together. I might be a little jealous.

…I had a good idea. The drawing I was working on was almost finished, with only the finishing touches left. Normally, I would have finished this and gone home myself, but…

I have something new to draw. Let’s draw a little more and then go back.

Today, as usual, we gathered together on the weekend to find a delicious dessert shop, and after wandering around for a long time, we arrived at a cafe on the outskirts of Trinity, which was the last stop and which Airi had found.

It was common for Natsu to rush at a customer who was already sitting there, so I would have stopped her quickly as usual,

but as soon as I entered the cafe, the smell of coffee, the smell of vanilla, and the smell of various other ingredients used in desserts tickled my nose, so I was thinking that this shop is a jackpot,

and I missed Natsu and caused trouble to someone else.

Fortunately, the previous customer seemed a bit flustered but didn’t seem to particularly care, so we sat down at a table for four, ordered each dessert we wanted, and were talking about how this is delicious!

This could have been a bit stronger!

“…Kazusa…do you know that person over there…?”

“Huh…? No, I’m seeing them for the first time today.”

Yoshimi, who was sitting next to me, subtly pointed to the previous customer without being seen and asked in a small voice.

I also hid my gaze and subtly moved my gaze to the previous customer… That previous customer kept glancing at us.

Considering the direction of the seats, it’s somewhat unnatural, so it’s not strange for Yoshimi to have doubts.

“Is she worried about Natsu…”

I was thinking about whether she was worried about Natsu’s sudden interference and rush, or whether something was bothering her…

“I’ll go.”

“Huh…? Wait, Yoshim…”

It happened. Yoshimi suddenly got up and started walking towards her.

“If you have something to say, say it straight, okay?”

Ah…this might turn into a fight…

I guess I was caught staring like this. I guess I was caught glancing at them while drawing them. I should apologize for this.

“Ah…um…I’m sorry. Did I make you too uncomfortable?”

“Ah…? Y…yeah! What’s the reason!”

Huh? I guess she didn’t expect me to apologize so directly. Still, she asked about the reason, so even though it’s a bit embarrassing, it’s my fault, so it’s best to just tell her everything.

“Um…um…that’s…actually…”

“Wait!!! Yoshimi! You’re too hasty!!”

The black-haired student who dragged away that pink-haired child approached, exuding presence.

“You have to say this directly!”

“There’s an order! If you say it like that from the beginning, it’ll be misunderstood!!”

“Ahaha…it’s okay. This is my fault, right? Well…the reason I made you uncomfortable…”

If I leave it like this, an argument will start, so I intervene and mediate. While doing so, I reveal the information that the child in front of me, called Yoshimi, demanded, drawing her attention.

“I actually started drawing as a hobby recently, and the four of you looked close, so I lost my gaze. I’m sorry.”

“Ah…that’s….”

“It’s okay. It’s my fault for making you uncomfortable. As compensation, would it be okay if I paid for everything you ordered?”

“Uh…huh? Really? Is that okay?!”

“Fufu…An encounter with an extraordinary big spender is always…”

“You stop!”

“Instead, could you let me continue drawing? Actually, it’s almost finished…”

“We’d be more than happy with that!”

So the negotiation ended, and somehow I was naturally joined by the group of four. That night was quite long.