As per usual, I met with the others in front of the school gates after our respective club activities. Today it's only Chiaka, Yuriko, and me. Yuuto and Yua are missing from our usual group, so they can prepare for the Sports Exchange event. Yua told as that she will join the basketball competition and Yuuto joined the baseball competition.

Hm? Somehow that's weird. Why are some of those group competitions and some are individual competitions? Would they even have enough participants for the groups?

Whatever, not my problem. Yuriko joined the tracking team. Unlike with the team competitions, she wouldn't gain anything from a few days of extra training, so she chose to come and hang out with us instead.

"So, what are we doing today? Want to go to the mall?"

"Hmm, no. How about we go to your house, Hiro?"

"YES!"

Yuriko quickly agrees with Chiaka's suggestion.

"My house?"

"Isn't it about time you invited us? Next time I'll invite you too. Fufufu. Isn't that great? You'll finally enter a girl's room."

"H-Hiro entering my room? I'll have to redesign it!"

What the-- No, Yuriko, I understand if you said you'd make sure it's spotless, but redesigning it? Aren't you overdoing it slightly?

"That's fine by me. Let's go shop for some cooking ingredients first, I don't have enough for three people left at home."

"Yeah! Let's go! Hiro's cooking is the best!"

"Getting free food was your goal from the beginning, wasn't it?"

"Yes!"

Sigh Just what...

"Chiaka, won't Yua be mad at us?"

"I don't care! She should've known that we'll take this opportunity. She was simply outplayed by my great genius."

"B-but Yua is always super terrifying when she gets angry!"

"I don't care!"

"Don't worry about Yua, Yuriko. If she gets angry at you, I'll talk with her."

"Mm, thank you, Hiro."

"Huh? And, what about me?"

"What do you mean? You said you were fine, right?"

"No, yes, but still... Uughh."

""Hahaha""

Laughing like that, we made our way to the market.

* * *

"We came all the way here, but what do you guys even want to eat?"

"Braised pork belly!"

"Chiaka, I hope you know that braising takes more than a few hours..."

"Then let's barbecue!"

""...""

We shouldn't have entered a shop yet. Even the cashier is blushing in second-hand embarrassment while looking at us.

"Um, how about we make something like tonkatsu?"

"Tonkatsu should be fine. Let's get everything we need."

"If it's tonkatsu we'll need pork!"

"I'd prefer chicken, though..."

"We can just use both. Pork, chicken, tonkatsu sauce, cabbage, panko, some extra frying oil, eggs, flour, and sesame seeds. Am I missing anything?"

"No, you got it all. How dependable my hubby is!"

Chiaka hugs my right arm while I try to pick the items. Flat.

Yuriko also follows suit with my left arm right after. Nice and soft.

"M-me too!"

I'm happy, but I can't shop like this!

"Please don't be like that in public..."

After a bit of struggle, we finally pick everything we need up.

"That'll be 26,970 Yen! Are you paying with a card?"

The cashier is a young girl, probably a year younger than us? She is still blushing.

"Yes."

"Mm."

"Ah, one moment, please."

The girl takes the receipt and writes something down before handing it to me.

"Ah-?!"

Before I can take it Chiaka quickly grabs it putting it away.

"HMPF!"

Too bad, I already saw her phone number. It's memorized forever.

"L-let's hurry. We have everything we need. I want to see Hiro's room already."

"Yeah..."

* * *

"Ugh! That stupid father of mine!"

"Princess, please try to understand him..."

"I'm trying! But his actions make no sense! It already took me so much effort to convince him to send an envoy to apologize to Hermit-sama. But then he still excludes me from the squad?!"

"The Black Devil Forest is not a danger zone for nothing, please accept his majesties decision."

"But that's exactly why! I'm the only one that knows the way!"

"That doesn't change the fact that reaching the goal is impossible. In truth, his majesty also wanted to send an envoy. But this is no different from a suicide mission. The envoy and his guards already wrote their wills!"

"It's not that bad! I barely saw any monsters, even when I was deep inside of the forest! Also, it was his fault in the first place. He didn't have to attack him out of nowhere!"

"That's different! I'm sure Hermit-sama did something to ensure your safety back then! It's practically impossible to reach him unless he comes to visit us on his own. And the situation in the throne room wasn't that great at that time. His majesty couldn't have known better."

"But we already told him about Hermit-sama!"

"That... It doesn't matter. It was a simple mistake. Actually, Hermit-sama also behaved weirdly, as if he wanted his majesty to attack him. Why else would we suddenly appear behind you while we were being attacked by assassins?"

"Aargh!! I'll show you all!"

"No... Where are you running off to again, princess? Sigh... What do you mean you'll show us?"

...