Side Story 5: Stall Food with Lily and the Others

— Alde’s perspective —

“Is this… food…?”

Having headed out to the summer festival, we decided to get some food in our stomachs first.

Bringing along the princess Tisli and the great noble Lily to eat stall food would normally be a colossal problem, but we’re traveling incognito now, and more than anything it looked fun, so—eh, why not.

At first Lily balked at letting Tisli eat stall food, but Tisli herself said, “An inspection means nothing if I don’t sample the local fare,” so Lily grudgingly backed down.

Besides, Tisli’s gotten pretty used to common food over this journey. She’s still got some resistance to eating while walking, though, so we made it a dinner of stall food bought and brought back to the festival’s rest area.

But Lily, who seemed to know nothing of common food, went wide-eyed at the sight of some round-shaped food.

Tisli, who’d apparently researched even this much, explained to Lily. Somewhat smugly.

“Lily, this is a food called takoyaki.”

“Takoyaki…? Eh? Tako—as in, the octopus from the sea…?!”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“You eat that grotesque sea creature?!”

“It may look it, but it’s surprisingly good—nice and chewy.”

“H-have you eaten it, dear Sister?!”

“Yes, it was served to me in a country I visited on official business.”

“I-I see… but this takoyaki looks awfully soft…?”

“That round bit is a flour-based batter. The octopus is inside it.”

“I-is that so… if you’ve eaten it, dear Sister, then I can hardly refuse…”

“There’s no need to force yourself for a reason like that.”

“No, I’ll eat it!”

And Lily, gingerly, popped a takoyaki into her mouth.

“Hot?!”

Fresh, piping-hot takoyaki has a surprisingly scorching center. So Lily, eyes rolling, spent a while going “hah-hah, hah-hah.”

To that Lily, Yuinas then said,

“So, Lily, how’s the classic flour-based street food?”

“W-well…”

Lily thought a moment before offering her verdict.

“If it’s a question of tasty or not, it’s tasty, but… how to put it… it’s strong.”

“You mean the sauce is strong?”

“Yes… but the octopus has no off-taste. As you said, dear Sister, it’s about enjoying the texture over the flavor. On the whole, a rough-and-ready sort of taste.”

Come to think of it, I feel like Tisli gave a similar verdict on common food before.

When you’re used to court cuisine and the like, this kind of food probably reads as rough-and-ready, with strong seasoning. Though that’s exactly what’s good about it.

After that we picked at yakisoba and butter potatoes, then moved on to enjoying the sweets.

Our throats were dry, so Naavin and I went and bought kakigori (shaved ice) for everyone, and for some reason Yuinas grinned.

“All right, Lily, kakigori speed-eating contest.”

“Speed-eating? What’s that?”

“It means eating this kakigori fast.”

“Huh? What’s the point of that? It’s unseemly to begin with.”

“It’s the proper manner for eating kakigori!”

“Hm, is that so… well, follow the customs of the land you enter, as they say.”

And so the thoroughly duped Lily started gobbling down her kakigori hurriedly… and immediately winced.

“Ow! My head hurts?! Don’t tell me—poison?!”

“Heheh, gotcha~! As if it’d be poison. Bolt down something cold all at once and of course you get a headache.”

“Y-Yuinas! You tricked me again?!”

I mean, these two really are weirdly close, huh? Yuinas making a friend is a happy thing for me as her brother, but it’s like my troublesome little sister made a troublesome friend…

As I was thinking that, Tisli’s voice suddenly leapt into my head, and I nearly cried out.

Alde. There’s something I want to ask—

Whoa?! Wh-what, the magic… don’t scare me.

Never mind that, there’s something I want to ask.

For some reason Tisli was looking at me resentfully, so I frowned.

Something you want to ask?

Why is Yuinas so open with Lily?!

I mean, asking me…?

With that personality, Yuinas didn’t seem to have friends at school either. She always came straight home when school let out, and back then I worried quite a bit that it was because she was a loner.

Yuinas had a hot temper and few friends, it seemed… but Lily’s pretty hot-tempered too, so maybe being two of a kind, they hit it off?

Then if I make myself hot-tempered too, I can get close with Yuinas?!

No, you’re plenty hot-tempered alrea—ah.

C-crap… this Mind-speech magic delivers whatever you think to the other person, so what I’d accidentally thought just went straight through?!

Sure enough, Tisli’s eyes turned to inverted triangles…

Alde. It seems you and I will need to have a looong talk later, won’t we?

N-no, look, I just meant you could get close with Yuinas if you were two of a kind…

If we were alike, there’d be no explaining how close Yuinas and I aren’t, would there?!

Uh, hmm… so the hot temper’s got nothing to do with it?

I now understand perfectly well that you comprehend neither your own blood sister nor me in the slightest!

Even so… there’s a lot that’s mysterious about how Yuinas acts…

From where I stand it’s perfectly simple and far too easy to read!

F-for real?

As we went back and forth, Mia said, looking puzzled,

“Alde, what’s wrong? You’ve been staring at Miss Tisli this whole time…”

“Huh? Ah, no, no… I’m not staring?”

“No? But from where I’m sitting—”

“No, no! I was just observing our surroundings? Ah, look, they’re doing the Bon dance over there, so my eyes just naturally drifted that way! Tisli just happened to be in that line of sight?!”

“Hmm… if you say so…”

At my desperate excuse, Mia’s eyes went somehow dangerous…

and the Tisli seated beside her had eyes gone ultra-dangerous too.

Haa…

Will any peace ever come to me during this trip…?

Actually, somehow I’d seen this coming, which is exactly why I was reluctant to invite Mia…

So all I could do was sigh, but Naavin, who’d done the inviting, was in great spirits.

“Man… this might be the best time of my whole life…”

Maybe because he’d already knocked back a drink, this being a night festival, Naavin came out with that out of nowhere.

So I frowned and said to him,

“Where’s this coming from? You were sulking up till yesterday.”

“Nah, I’ve had a change of heart.”

“Huh? Meaning?”

“I mean, just think about it. Right now, this very moment, I’m surrounded by these gorgeous beauties?!”

I could only marvel at Naavin’s strange declaration.

“Uh, they’re not surrounding you.”

“But sitting at the same table is the same thing! Look! At the envious stares from all the guys around us!!”

“H-hey…! Keep it down…”

Naavin said it so ostentatiously that the nearby men’s gazes turned sharp.

“Ahh… these looks of envy are irresistible…!”

“Haa… when push comes to shove, I’m using you as a decoy and bolting.”

“Save me?! Your one redeeming trait is your muscle!”

“You’re the one picking fights, so there’s no reason for me to save you.”

“That’s too cruel! And you call yourself my best friend?!”

But no one seemed about to actually start a fight, so I decided to let it be.

And of course, I’d noticed the stares too. Just like Naavin said, our table alone was vivid on some otherworldly level, so everything from men plainly staring to guys eaten up with envy was aimed our way.

On top of that, today everyone was in exotic yukata, which gave a freshness like they were dressed up, in a sense—no way that wouldn’t draw eyes. Even I, used to the sight, nearly spaced out if I wasn’t careful.

But this is nothing new. Drawing attention had been an everyday affair from the moment I started moving around with Tisli, and there’s no end to it if you try to head off every stare.

Still, now that Naavin had made a scene, lingering here wasn’t a good idea either. Looked like we’d worked through the food, too.

“All right then, let’s get moving.”

(To be continued—)

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