During our evening drink on the night of the Flying Board Tournament, I had promised Illness-san that we would take a trip together soon. I needed to put some serious thought into it—where we’d go, whether we’d stay overnight, and so on. It wasn't something that had to happen immediately, so I decided we could figure out the details together as we went along.
As for my more immediate plans, I had a promise to visit Shigenobu-san at his home, and then in two months, I was scheduled to attend a festival in the Arclesia Empire with Amel-san.
Setting the visit to Shigenobu-san aside for another day, I decided to take Aoi-chan and Hina-chan to Kaori-san's restaurant. I had been meaning to bring them for a while now, but the timing never seemed to work out.
Since neither Aoi-chan nor Hina-chan possessed teleportation magic tools, I had to be the one to transport them. According to Kuro, Aoi-chan actually had an affinity for space-time magic and might be able to learn teleportation eventually, but it was an incredibly advanced discipline. Apparently, it would take years of study just to get the hang of it.
Aoi-chan had been trying to read up on it herself, but she admitted it was so daunting that she had no idea how many years it would take before she could actually cast the spell.
Having so many people around me who used it as easily as breathing tended to warp my perspective, but in reality, teleportation was a truly difficult magic to master.
Regardless, when I brought the two of them to the restaurant, Kaori-san gave us a grand welcome despite it being before opening hours. She even insisted on treating the three of us to a meal.
"You two feel free to order whatever you like!"
"Thank you so much, Kaori-san," Aoi said.
"Yes, thank you! Everything looks so good... I’m just so happy to be able to eat a real set meal in this world," Hina added enthusiastically.
As Kaori-san beamed at them, the two girls chatted happily over the menu. Seeing them, Kaori-san nodded with a deeply sentimental expression.
"Yes, yes... Exactly. This is it. These are the kind of cute juniors I’ve been waiting for."
"The way you say that makes it sound like the one you met before wasn't cute at all," I interjected.
"Well, I’d have to think long and hard before I could call a junior who basically punches my stomach with all his might 'cute'..." she replied with a wry smile and an exasperated look.
I couldn't really argue with that. If I was being honest, it was my fault that Olivia-san had become a regular customer here... Even so, the fact that she didn't flatly deny that I was cute meant she was a good person at heart.
As these thoughts crossed my mind, Kaori-san spoke up as if she’d just remembered something.
"By the way, you met Shige-san, didn't you?"
"Yeah, by chance during the tournament."
"Ah, right. I’ve heard that the tournament is the only time things actually get lively out in the frontier where he lives. The Hydra Kingdom is way too far for me to visit, and I don't get many chances to go out that way, so I’ve never actually seen it myself."
She had a point. Without a teleportation tool, the Hydra Kingdom was a long journey, and using a teleportation shop was quite expensive. Furthermore, there were no teleportation shops near Shigenobu-san’s home, meaning you’d have to travel by carriage from the nearest major city.
The only reason people could make the trip for the tournament was because several of the sponsors could use teleportation magic and provided transport for the participants.
While we were talking, Aoi-chan and Hina-chan finished choosing their orders. I decided to go with the chicken tatsuta-age set meal. We continued our conversation as we ate the meals Kaori-san had expertly prepared.
"If the timing works out with Akane-san's schedule, it might be a good idea to have her take you there sometime."
"Are you close with Akane-san?" I asked.
"Yeah. She comes by to eat pretty often. She also gives me a good deal on supplies, which is a huge help."
"I see... Come to think of it, I’ve finally met every Japanese person who’s migrated to this world."
"Wait, isn't there one more?" Kaori-san asked.
The one person Kaori-san hadn't met yet was Seigi-kun. My mother and father were here too, technically, but their situation was different from the migrants, and explaining it was complicated, so I usually left them out of the count.
Of the four people who had arrived via the summoning accident and chosen to stay, Seigi-kun was the only one she hadn't met.
"Right. He’s a noble in the Kingdom of Sinfonia now. He just got married recently and seems pretty busy, so I didn't invite him today, but I’ll bring him by eventually."
"Oh, right, the boy who played the Hero. I wonder what it's really like, moving here and becoming a noble? Shige-san, Akane-san, and I never used that system, so I’ve always been a little curious."
"Well, Seigi-kun married the Second Princess, so his situation is a bit of a special case."
"...Are you really one to talk, Kaito-san?" Kaori-san deadpanned.
"Isn't Kaito-senpai basically a living collection of anomalies at this point?" Hina added.
"I see. So it's not just us—even the girls who are close to him think he's bizarre."
What was this sudden sense of being the odd one out? It felt like the three of them had suddenly reached a perfect synchronicity. Avoiding their unreadable stares, I quickly stuffed a piece of fried chicken into my mouth.
Serious-senpai: "I wonder when Seigi-san will actually show up again... Honestly, his status is so exalted now that I feel like I shouldn't even address him without a title."