CH 66

Now… our family vacation had ended, so we went back to our house. There wasn’t much summer break left; the endgame was near. I had finished all my academy homework, so I wasn’t worrying about that. Touka Academy’s first-grade homework was different from how I’d imagined it, though…

I’d never actually done it, but I imagined it’d be something like making a picture diary. It wasn’t actually like that. We solved practice problems, wrote in kanji booklets, and wrote book reports… I had done the same in my past life.

Touka Academy only gave out homework like that, and there was no unusual homework like what would appear in manga or anime. That was a strange feeling; like I’d dodged a bullet or felt relieved.

Anyway, I was having my last event of the summer break today. That was buying things with Azami-chan. Of course, there were still a few days left in summer break, so this didn’t mean that this was the last thing I was doing in summer break itself. In the last few days, I was heading to cram school and the dojo everyday to train; you couldn’t really call those things events.

“Lady Sakuya, if you run away again, I will inform your mother.”

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“Oh, yes…”

As we were waiting for Azami-chan at the meeting spot, Momiji forcefully reminded me of that. My mom didn’t know anything and seemed to like Azami-chan, so she let me shop, but it seemed that Momiji was still mad about me escaping last time. It really sounded like she wasn’t joking.

I wasn’t going to run away each and every time I went out. If I were to escape again, it’d probably be some time in the future.

Zsw’al rzyddkdt vs lpnyrl ytykd?, usw xktbv cl vbkdjkdt. R eked’v jdso vbyv qsa pwal, usw jdso? Gv vbl hlau zlypv, R nswzed’v elnzyal vbyv R “oswze” sa “oswzed’v” lpnyrl. Rv oyp vbyv jkde sq vbkdt.

“Nyeu Fyjwuy? Ps usw alyzzu wdelapvyde?”

“Zlp. R wdelapvyde.”

Ysxkfk zssjle yv xl pwprknkswpzu, ps R pvayktbvldle wr yde alrzkle. R eked’v yhlav xu tygl yde pvyale ekalnvzu yv bla. R oswzed’v cl ynvkdt pwprknkswp. Gv vblpl vkxlp, kv oyp clpv vs cl srld.

“*pktb*… R okzz cl oyvnbkdt usw nzsplzu vseyu.”

“Zlp, R wdelapvyde.”

R oypd’v rzyddkdt vs lpnyrl vseyu, ps vbyv eked’v vaswczl xl. Fbl oswze rascyczu ynnsxrydu xl vs vbl vskzlv, cwv pbl oswzed’v qszzso xl kdvs vbl ynvwyz pvyzz. Fbl oswze rascyczu yzzso xl vbyv xwnb. Rq R eke vbyv xwzvkrzl vkxlp, vbld Ysxkfk oswze zsspld wr. Rq R olal vs lpnyrl, R’e es kv yqvla vbyv.

“Nyeu Fyjwuy? Ps usw alyzzu, vawzu, wdelapvyde?”

“Yes! I understand!”

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Let’s not think about weird things. Both Momiji and my mom could somewhat read my thoughts and respond to them. I should probably think somewhere where neither of them were there.

As I thought about those things while waiting…

“Big sister Sakuya! I am sorry for keeping you waiting!”

Azami-chan ran. It must’ve been hard for the attendants accompanying her from behind.. Since Azami-chan wasn’t acting calmly and instead running like this, just keeping up with her would be pretty troubling.

“Greetings, Azami-chan. You do not need to run. I arrived before we were supposed to meet, so do not worry.”

She wasn’t as punctual as Satsuki-chan and I, but she always arrived on time. She wasn’t even late at school.

I kept the habit from my past life of arriving thirty minutes early when meeting someone. Satsuki-chan also arrived even earlier than I did at school. Kaya-san, who waited for me two hours before we were supposed to meet, was truly terrifying, but… Azami-chan arrived much later than them, but, as expected, arrived on time like a young lady.

“Then, Azami-chan, have you already decided where you wish to buy items today?”

She had told me to meet her here, but she didn’t tell me what she was planning today. Right after Kaya-san, I didn’t know my schedule today, but Azami-san definitely wasn’t as over-the-top as Kaya-san. Kaya-san was a little scary. 

And I knew that we were going to buy things today. It was different than with Kaya-san, where I didn’t know what we were doing. I just thought that there weren’t any shops that the Kujou or Tokudaiji families would go to around here…

“Yes! I think that we should go over there!”

“…over there?”

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The place that Azami-chan was pointing to was an arcade shopping district.

No no… No way… Young ladies of the Kujou and Tokudaiji families would not go to arcades shopping district. In the first place, we would not be allowed to head to such a shopping district.

If we weren’t going there… then there was definitely… a branded store around the corner of this shopping district… Maybe she was saying we should go there.

“In that roof-like area, there appears to be an arcade shopping district! Let us go play there today!”

“What!?”

We were actually going to that shopping district!? Such a stupid… in the first place, her attendants wouldn’t actually let her go there, right? As I thought that, I looked over at Azami-chan’s attendants…

“…”

They stayed silent, closed their eyes, and shook their heads. It looked like Azami-chan was being serious.

No, I was fine with it, you know? I had gone to places like that in my past life. I had a tolerance to and was used to normal arcade shopping districts. But could Azami-chan step into that hustle and bustle?

“Then, let us go! Big sister Sakuya!”

“Oh! Wait!”

Azami-chan ignored me, took my hand, and we started walking to the shopping district. Was she serious? I looked at Momiji, but she didn’t say anything. Could I even go to this shopping district? Well, I couldn’t do anything about it, so Azami-chan started dragging me to the shopping district. 

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“Woah! What is that?”

“Oh~… is that perhaps the mascot of this shopping district?”

A strange stuffed animal was standing in front of the entrance to the shopping district. It was a character I had never seen, so I thought it was probably a local character that was this shopping district’s mascot.

“There is a strange smell.”

“That is the smell of croquettes from the meat shop..”

The moment we entered, the smell of croquettes frying wafted through the air. I had eaten things like that in my past life, but Azami-chan probably hadn’t. Maybe she had eaten croquettes, but those were special croquettes made by a first-class chef. She had probably never eaten the meat shop or everyday croquettes that supermarkets sold before.

“Big sister Sakuya! Let us try them!”

“Huh?… *sigh*, then, I would like one for each of us.”

“Yes! Then, cute little ladies, one is 50 yen.”

“We are paying together.”

Saying that, I handed over 100 yen and croquettes wrapped in paper were given to us.

“…big sister Sakuya, you seem somewhat used to this?”

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“Huh!? I-I am not, though?”

Azami-chan, who accepted the croquette, said something like that. I was flustered.

“Additionally, why do you have a one-hundred yen coin?”

“No~… Um… I just occasionally have one…”

Right. In normal families like ours, we wouldn’t be holding cash when we went to buy things. Our attendants would be paying, generally by using a card. I thought something might happen, so I secretly brought around some cash. I normally didn’t walk around carrying it. Of course, I wasn’t planning to escape.

“…”

Uwah… Momiji was also staring at me… She was looking at me like “She definitely seems used to it”, which was…

“Oh, Azami-chan, since we have already ordered these, let us eat them while they are hot!”

“Huh? We do not have a table, a fork, or a knife. How and where are we supposed to eat this?”

“What? Something like this… roll up this paper… and bite into it.”

Two rectangular pieces of paper were stacked on top of each other, with the bottom corners closed together and the top corners open. A croquette was placed between them, and the paper was rolled down to reveal just the top of the croquette, which you bit into.

“*nom nom*… It is still warm, yes… But it is quite delicious.”

“…”

Huh? Why were Azami-chan, Momiji, and even Azami-chan’s attendants staring intently at me?

“For you to eat in such a way, big sister Sakuya…”

Oh… should I not have done that? I was planning to eat it like I had in my past life, so I just acted normally. Normally, I would be careful and maintain the bare minimum etiquette, but I was careless and the habits from my past life came up here.

“Lady Sakuya? Have you perhaps come to this place countless times and done such things?”

“Uh~… no~… well~… We have always been together when I have gone on an outing, correct, Momiji? I would have not been able to do such things…”

It was a little tough, maybe? No matter how you looked at it, I was too used to this…

“That may be true, however…”

Oh? Momiji started to worry. We had actually always been together when I went out. The only time we weren’t together was that escape incident. Apart from that, Momiji herself was there to ensure my innocence.

“Oh! More importantly, Azami-chan! You should eat before it is cold; it is more delicious that way!”

“Y-Yes!”

I said that to distract her, and Azami-chan also followed my lead and started eating the croquette.

“Mm! Hot! But delicious!”

“Is it not? Then, let us eat it before it gets cold.”

I only said that to distract her, but that had gone unexpectedly well. Azami-chan’s attendants were still staring at me, but the other two appeared to have been distracted, so that was good.

～～～～～～～

Then, Azami-chan and I walked inside the arcade district. I felt like we were being watched, but I didn’t mind it. However, since two well-dressed young ladies were walking around accompanied by attendants, we should be cautious of kidnapping or purse snatching. It was one thing if it was pickpocketing or purse snatching, but it was a bigger problem if it was something like kidnapping.

“Uwah… what is that noisy shop?”

“That is a pachinko shop… children cannot enter, so let us go somewhere else…”

“What is that case containing many stuffed animals?”

“That is a crane game. This is an arcade.”

Azami-chan looked at everything. She asked tons of questions as she darted here and there at all the rare sights.

“Lady Sakuya, why are you so knowledgeable about such things?”

“Uh…”

Momiji was questioning me pretty harshly today…did this have roots in the hopeless swimmer incident at the villa?

“How do you operate this?”

“Huh? A crane game? You firstly put in money and manipulate this button. You must operate it so that it captures one of the goods inside. You will receive the good when it falls here. Would you like to try it?”

I took out some small change again and put it inside the crane game, so Azami-chan could actually try it.

“Oh~! It has not captured it.”

Well, that was true. Crane games were designed so that the arm wouldn’t work until a set amount of money was put into the game. If countless people put in money before you, there was a possibility that you’d exceed the certain amount of money on your turn and get it in one shot. But there was also the possibility that it’d take thousands or ten thousands of yen until you reached the set amount.

It was better to just buy what you wanted instead of trying to get it at a crane game, but crane games weren’t about the items inside or about the profit and loss compared to buying it. The fun was in seeing if you could get the item. That meant it was addictive. There were underhanded money collecting machines built with that reasoning in mind, which you had to be careful of.

“O-One more time!”

“Oh~… Azami-chan… These machines are designed so that you become invested in them, not so that you can obtain the item…”

I gently warned Azami-chan. The Kujou and Tokudaiji families could probably put in enough coins until we could get the item. But it’d be scary if we thoughtlessly did that and got addicted. Azami-chan might also fall into the hole of crane games and bankrupt her family, all because I told her about them… Well, that probably wouldn’t happen, but I didn’t want her to get that addicted.

“Hmm… but my remembrance item with big sister Sakuya… Oh! Right! Then, please try, big sister Sakuya! If it does not work, I will give up.”

Oh? That was pretty reasonable. As expected of a young lady, right? It looked like she wouldn’t get easily addicted to this game.

“Then I shall try one more time. We will stop afterwards.”

I wasn’t particularly good at them, but I had played crane games in my past life. Whether it went well was another thing; I had a goal, or rather, a theory. If I aimed for that… there it was!

“Oh… oh… woah! You did it! Big sister Sakuya! It has been lifted up!”

“It appears that it has gone well.”

It was hanging on the string attached to the tag. There was a 50-50 chance that the crane would capture it, but it looked like it went well. Speaking of, oh?

“Ah! Another one is sticking to it! Yay!”

“There really is. There are two on the crane arm.”

The stuffed toy hanging on its string was entwined with another one. It looked like we got two in one go. We got the stuffed toys that fell with a clang.

“Big sister Sakuya! This! Let us each take one; it can become our memory of today!”

“Huh? Yes… understood…”

These very cheap, small stuffed animals… I was planning to give both to Azami-chan, but we now each got one. It was the kind of thing you could buy for a couple hundred yen, but… well, this wasn’t that bad.

After that, we wandered around the shopping district until we were satisfied, and returned before evening.