I felt awkward just standing by and watching Anima learn from Alice, so I decided to lend a hand with the preparations. Looking at the items they were getting ready, lunch appeared to be a barbecue, so the prep work shouldn't be too demanding.
Alice took charge of the fire, Anima handled the initial processing of the food, and I took the ingredients Anima sliced to assemble them into various skewers.
"By the way... this meat is incredible, isn't it? I can tell just by looking at it."
"The meat is one thing, but the vegetables and seafood are also magnificent. I have never laid eyes on ingredients of this caliber before. Did Alice-dono provide all of this?"
Alice had mentioned she was the one who brought the food, but as Anima said, these were on a level I had never seen. I wasn't particularly confident in my ability to judge quality, but even I could tell at a glance that these were ultra-luxury items. They almost seemed to shimmer—though that might have just been the play of light.
I’d eaten my fair share of high-end food since coming to this world, but these felt like they were in a league of their own.
I wondered where Alice had actually sourced them. If Shiro-san had been the one to provide them, I would have just shrugged and assumed she’d conjured up something outrageous again. However, based on their conversation earlier, Shiro-san didn't seem involved.
"You’re both right; these are definitely the finest of the fine. After all, look at who produced them."
"The person who produced them?"
"Ah—well, it’s not like I need to keep it a secret. To tell you the truth, I actually got these from Eden-san."
"Wait, from Eden-san?"
"Yep. Apparently, she was 'more than happy to prepare them' since they were 'for Kaito-san.'"
"I... I see."
If Eden-san was the source, the sheer quality made sense. Still, it was a bit unusual. It was surprising that she had handed them to Alice instead of giving them to me directly.
Then again, Eden-san had spoken highly of Alice before. Outside of Shiro-san or myself, Alice was likely the person she felt most comfortable entrusting things to.
"Eden-dono... the God of Master's world. I have never spoken with her directly, so this is merely my own speculation, but I imagined her as the type to show up in person with the food rather than sending it through someone else."
I nodded along with Anima as she tilted her head in confusion. I had a similar impression. A roundabout gift like this didn't quite seem to fit Eden-san’s usual style.
"Given how Eden-san usually behaves, your misunderstanding is perfectly natural. But she’s actually more considerate than she looks. She almost never interferes when Kaito-san is spending time with his lovers."
"Now that you mention it... that is true."
"The only problem is when she starts rampaging. Otherwise, she’s relatively... well, she’s not exactly 'normal,' but she’s not entirely unreasonable either."
Thinking back on Alice’s point, it was true that Eden-san almost never appeared at an inconvenient time. Even though she visited me about six times a week, I couldn't remember a single instance where I felt her timing was truly bad.
She always seemed to show up right when I was idle or after I’d finished whatever I needed to do.
When she wasn't in the middle of a rampage, she was actually quite gentle. My impression of her was starting to shift slightly—though the impact of her usual outbursts was so strong that it tended to overwrite everything else.
"Anyway, Alice... were you and Eden-san always on such good terms?"
"Eh? Why do you ask?"
"Well, I didn't think you were enemies, but I had the impression that while she liked you, you found her annoying. It’s a little surprising to see you defending her like that."
If my memory served me, Alice had said things like "I hate that person" before, and she had been fairly blunt with her during my birthday party.
But here she was, trying to clear up a misunderstanding for Anima and me. It might have been my imagination, but Alice’s expression had seemed strangely soft while she was talking about her.
"Well, one way or another, during that incident in the God Realm... partly because she was on Kaito-san's side, she did give me advice where she could. I’ve started to reevaluate her a bit lately."
"I see... That reminds me, I never really heard the full story of what happened in the God Realm outside of the parts I was involved in. Right after that, the Main Festival started, and then I was back in my original world for a bit..."
"Oh, come to think of it, I only gave you the highlights. Since Anima-san is here too, why don’t I give you the full version since we have the time?"
"Ah... no, I... well, I did not perform any particularly grand deeds, so if you could please skip over my parts..."
"Then let’s start with the story of Anima-san coolly defeating the God of Commerce!"
"Alice-dono!?"
Machina: "...How strange. If my memory is correct, she basically scammed me into making those. Also, because of the housewarming party incident, Shallow Vernal is definitely going to misunderstand and think I did this just because I’m a doting parent, isn't she? I just know that later..."
'Since the ingredients themselves exist in this world as well, I do not intend to go so far as to reprimand you for a breach of contract. However, if you are going to do such a thing, I would appreciate it if you notified me in advance.'
Machina: "...I’m going to get a roundabout complaint like that. I just know it."
Serious-senpai: "Isn't that your own fault for your usual behavior?"
Machina: "When you put it that way, I don't really have a leg to stand on. But I wish Alice would at least clear up Shallow Vernal's misunderstanding... I finally got Shallow Vernal to promise she’d 'consider things outside the contract' last time, and I was thinking of so many ways to dote on my child... but now it’s going to be awkward to bring anything up."
Serious-senpai: "... (She probably saw this coming and made it so Kaito wouldn't get dragged into trouble, while also making it harder for you to make unreasonable demands, didn't she?)"