It took a while, but Aoi and Hina eventually settled on outfits they were happy with, and I paid for the entire lot in one go.
The total was certainly steep—as one would expect from a boutique catering to the nobility—but it was nothing compared to the fortune I’d spent buying festival clothes for Anima and the others from Alice. I completed the transaction without much shock.
The shop needed about three days for alterations, so we were each given a claim tag to pick up the items later.
By the time we stepped back outside, my watch read three in the afternoon. Prime time for a snack.
“What do you two want to do?” I asked. “We could head back now, but since we’re already out, do you want to find a café for a bite to eat?”
“Oh, Kaito-senpai! Parfaits! I want parfaits!” Hina declared, raising her hand with a burst of energy. Come to think of it, she’d mentioned her love for them back during the White God Festival.
“Parfaits, huh... I wonder if there’s a good spot around here.” I pulled out Kuro’s Complete Food Tour Guide and began flipping through the pages. This part of the Central District was full of high-end shops, so there were plenty of cafés, but finding one specifically known for parfaits required a bit of digging.
A few pages in, one entry caught my eye.
“How about this place? It’s a bit of a walk, but apparently their fruit parfaits are famous.”
“Let’s go there!” Hina chirped.
“Ahaha. Are you okay with that too, Aoi?”
“Yes, that sounds lovely.”
I showed them the guidebook to confirm, and since they were both on board, we set off toward the café.
“Speaking of cafés,” Hina said as we walked, “people usually fall into the coffee camp or the tea camp. Which side are you on, Kaito-senpai?”
“Hmm, I wonder. I haven’t given it much thought. I drink both coffee and tea quite often, and I like them both.”
“Oh? Do you drink coffee, Kaito-san?” Aoi asked. “I feel like I usually see you with tea.”
“I do drink tea a lot, but Kuro brings coffee over almost every night.” Since she always brought baby castellas and coffee when she visited, I effectively ended up drinking coffee every day.
However, tea seemed to be the preferred choice in this world, and since I had so many opportunities to drink it in social settings, my total consumption of tea since arriving here probably outweighed coffee.
“Does Chrome-sama prefer coffee, then?”
“She drinks both, but when there are baby castellas involved, it’s almost always coffee. Actually, wait...” I reached into my Magic Box and pulled out a small bag while answering Aoi’s question. “This is an original blend produced by Kuro’s trading company.”
“It even has a baby castella logo on it,” Hina noted.
“Yeah. Apparently, she pursued a flavor that perfectly complemented baby castellas, and the result was this. The product name is literally ‘Baby Castella Blend.’”
They both looked at the coffee bag with knowing expressions. They were well aware of Kuro’s obsession, so creating a coffee blend specifically for her favorite snack seemed perfectly in character for her.
“Among my other acquaintances, Ozma and Amel are also big coffee drinkers. The Arclesia Empire is a famous coffee producer, and they’ve given me several recommended varieties.”
“I see,” Aoi said. “Given that Blue Mountain blends exist back home, the Arclesia Empire’s mountainous terrain probably makes it the ideal environment for cultivation.”
The beans I’d received from Amel were grown by the Winged Race. They were technically available to the public, but they were considered quite rare.
“What about you two?” I asked. “Coffee or tea?”
“I’m definitely a tea person,” Hina replied. “Coffee is just too bitter. I can only handle it if it’s turned into a café au lait.”
“I’m like you, Kaito-san,” Aoi added. “I like both, so I don’t really have a preference.”
Their answers were pretty much what I expected, but Hina shot Aoi a skeptical look.
“Aoi-senpai... you’re a massive sweet tooth, aren’t you?”
“Wh-What? Why would you say that?”
“Because whenever we go to a café together, you never order anything but caramel lattes.”
“Nnh... No, that isn’t because of a sweet tooth. I simply happen to like caramel lattes. I can drink black coffee perfectly fine... as long as I add three packets each of sugar and milk...”
“Isn’t that basically just a café au lait by that point?” Hina deadpanned.
This was a surprise. I’d pictured Aoi as the type to prefer her tea or coffee straight, but apparently not.
I thought her love of sweets was quite cute, but Aoi seemed determined to keep up a sophisticated front. While she didn’t outright deny liking sugar, she kept insisting to Hina that she could handle coffee. It was such a charmingly innocent display that I couldn’t help but feel a warm sense of contentment.
Serious-senpai: “When Kaito is with these two, he really gives off a protective older-brother vibe. It’s a very heartwarming, wholesome atmosphere—quite refreshing, really.”
???: “Well, acquaintances younger than him are a rare breed to begin with.”