Chapter 393 - You Can't Just Turn Anything to Baby Castella, You Know?

Squinting my eyes, I tried to block the morning glare of the sun shining through the curtains. I was about to wonder why there were mornings and nights in this tower, but I was surrounded with cheat-like beings, so they should be able to handle something like this.

It was heaven... No, should I say it was hell instead? I don't know... However, what I do know for sure is that I've welcomed the first day of the Six Kings Festival without sleeping a wink...

Well, to be honest, I thought that after the three of us went to bed, I would be able to get some freedom after they turned over while sleeping but... that was quite naive of me.

Kuro cutely slept on top of my body without turning over at all, while Isis-san didn't turn over as well. Alice would turn over from time to time, but she was adamantly not letting go of my hand.

As a result, I was forced to fight a long and painful battle against my own reasoning, and in the end, I couldn't sleep a wink.

However... I repeat, however! Morning had finally come... and I could finally be free from this heavenly hell.

As I was thinking about this, Kuro was the first one to wake up.

[...Umyuu.]

[G- Good morning, Ku——- Hahh!?]

As Kuro slightly opened her eyes along with a cute moan, I negligently "forgot about the past" and reflexively called out to her.

Thereupon, Kuro turned her half-opened, groggy eyes towards me and smiled.

[Ahh~~ It's Kaito-kun~~]

There, I recalled that when Kuro wakes up... This is bad! I- I need to esca—– I can't!?

Memories of the past came flooding back to my mind and I tried to escape as quickly as I could, but my arms were captured by Isis-san and Alice, and there's no way for me to escape.

Then, in front of the panicking me, Kuro's hand reached straight towards my face and firmly fixated themselves on both of my cheeks.

[Kaito-kun~~ Shyuukk~~ Chyuuu~~]

[Hnnn!?]

With a coquettish voice, without any hesitation, she pressed her lips against mine. Before I could even taste her soft, sweet lips, Kuro's tongue, covered in saliva, mercilessly pried open my lips and invaded my mouth.

[Chyuuu... Nhaa... nnhnn... chyuppaa, chyuuu...]

[ ~ ~!?!? ]

Her tongue, which moves in all directions as if she was coating my whole mouth with her saliva, soon found my tongue and entwined around it, making the sound of water resound.

This kiss, which was so intense that it almost knocked me unconscious, continued for several minutes... Just as I was about to pass out, Kuro's mouth separated from mine.

Kuro stared at me with a dazed expression on her face, but after a while, light reappeared in her eyes.

[...Hmm? Arehh? Kaito-kun, good morning~~]

[...G- Good... morning...]

I can't do this anymore, I'm losing consciousness... The kiss just now was even more amazing than before.

Waking up heavily fatigued from an all-nighter because of the half-awake Kuro, I secretly ate one of the Fruits of the World Tree before breakfast.

It took away my fatigue, but it didn't help me with my sleepiness or my mental fatigue. The Six Kings Festival has just started, and I was already feeling anxious.

Even though it was still quite early, we had to have an early breakfast since the organizers of this festival, Kuro and the others, seemed to have some preparations they need to make.

The breakfast Ein-san prepared for us... was quite a surprise. It was a pure Japanese style breakfast, consisting of Miso soup, rice and pickled daikon radish, dashimaki egg rolls, and grilled fish... This was perfection.

[...Wait, I'm fine with the Japanese style breakfast, but what about Kuro and the others?]

Rice isn't really popular in this world, and many of the people I knew, like Lilia-san and the others, would say "Eating rice for breakfast is kinda….." when I asked. So, I asked Kuro and the others if they were fine with it.

[Unnn? This is just our "usual" breakfast, you know?]

[Eh? Really?]

[Unnn, we have Neun living back home after all~~ So, breakfast has always been rice.]

[Ahh, I see...]

Kuro seemed to be used to eating Japanese food, probably due to the influence of Neun-san, who is a big fan of Japanese food. She even looked quite familiar with the chopsticks when she ate with them.

[...I don't... usually eat... so I don't really care either way.]

It seemed that Isis-san rarely ate, so she doesn't seem to be particular about bread or rice.

[I'm...]

[I'm not asking you.]

[Eh? Wait!?]

I wasn't really worried about Alice from the beginning. After all, she eats just about anything and everything, and she also ate a lot of rice back at the yakiniku restaurant...

As soon as I thought that I had already dealt with Alice, she grinned at me for some reason.

[Fufufu, the one who should be acting like that right now is me, you know... After all, soon enough, Kaito-san will praise me, saying "As expected of Alice!".]

[What kind of idiocy are you on about now...]

[Well, for the time being, how about you look at this...]

[Wha!? What the... C- Could that be...]

[Yes! This is "Alice-chan's Special Seaweed Tsukudani"!]

(T/N: Tsukudani is a small piece of seafood, meat or seaweed that has been simmered in soy sauce and mirin, used as a flavorful accompaniment to plain rice.)

T- This is impossible... She's bringing out my personal top 1 rice accompaniment, Seaweed Tsukudani!? A- Alice... W- What an amazing person you are.

Astonished at the tsukudani that was offered to me, I held out my chopsticks and tried it... the perilla-flavor of the seaweed was refreshing and spread in my mouth, and its taste was further enhanced when eaten along with rice.

[...U- Ugghhh... A- As expected of Alice...]

[Fufufu, I knew it!]

Frustrating as it may be, this was a complete defeat for me. Moreover, this is really tasty.

Although I was feeling vexed because I had said what Alice had declared, I was more than impressed by this tsukudani.

[Even so, this tsukudani is really good. Hey, Ali... ce?]

With excitement budding in my heart, I looked back at Alice... only to see her holding a sheet of paper to her chest with a big smile on her face.

On the paper, it said "Alice-chan's Special Seaweed Tsukudani: Assortment of 5 kinds... 1 Gold Coin. Seaweed Set... 5 Silver Coins."

Ah, sh*t... this is just a "trap"!? By daring to offer the first bite for free, she would make people realize how delicious her food is and induce them to loosen their purse strings. What an efficient strategy it was.

[...Give me 4 of each.]

[Thank you for the purchase~~]

It was a complete defeat, but I wanted Aoi-chan and Hina-chan to taste it too, so I decided to buy it upright.

Good gracious, she's really getting better and better at business... She's only focusing on me though...

[Hey, Shalltear. Let me buy one of those too.]

[Ehh? Yes, I don't mind.]

[Thanks~~]

As I was paying Alice and putting the set away in the magic box, Kuro stopped eating and asked Alice to sell one to her.

[...Hey, Kuro. I'm going to ask just in case, but what are you going to use it for?]

[Eh? Of course, for my new baby castella...]

Now then, what should I do? Seaweed-filled baby castella... I wonder what it would taste like? I don't know. I can't even start to imagine how it would taste.

However, I don't think it would go well with the sweet dough, so I do hope she would stop with that plan of hers.

[Ahh, it's alright! I'll make sure that Kaito-kun "gets to taste it first"!]

[...I- I see...]

I'm just imagining things, aren't I? What she just said was purely out of courtesy, right? It kinda sounded like she was asking me to be her lab rat... It's just my imagination, right!?

Dear Mom, Dad————- As I was feeling extremely tired before the Six Kings Festival even started, we had a delicious breakfast. Even so, I really enjoyed the seaweed tsukudani made by Alice but... Kuro, how should I say this———– You can't just turn anything to baby castellas, you know?