Amaterasu-san and Mana-san came to my stall, and Amaterasu-san, in her unique outfit, attracted a fair amount of attention, but due to the small number of people around this area, she didnāt cause a big commotion, and came to the front of our stall.
[Hello, as we had told you before, weāre here to make a purchase.]
[Hello, Amaterasu-san, Mana-san. Do you want to have regular baby castellas or ones filled with chocolate?]
[Errr, letās see. Well then, weāll have 1ā¦ā¦ no, 2 for each kind please.]
I guess that means one for Eden-san and one for hers huh? Just as Amaterasu-san was speaking though, it looked like Mana-san glanced at Amaterasu-san for a moment, making her rephrase it thoughā¦ā¦
As I had such thoughts in mind, I prepared the bags and filled them with baby castellas. This should make it so that the both of them wouldnāt be a problem now, but I suddenly felt some sort of viscous gaze, and turning my eyes towards that directionā¦ā¦ I saw Mana-san looking at me with some kind of scary smile.
No, Mana-san herself is a lovely person, and her smile isnāt particularly strange in any way, but for some reason, turning my back towards her makes me feel like a frog being gazed at by a snakeā¦ā¦ That was supposed to be a normal smile, but her gaze strangely felt like there was something muddy within it. Am I just overthinking it?
[ā¦ā¦Haahhh, my bel- Igyiihh!?]
[Eh?]
The moment Mana-sanās eyes narrowed and she was about to speak, something hit Mana-sanās head, making her bite her own tongue.
[Oops, Iām sorry about that. My signpost accidentally slipped out of my hand. Well~~ Iām sorry, Customer-san.]
Saying this while apologizing to Mana-san is Alice butā¦ā¦ Arehh? Wasnāt our signpost just an ordinary wooden one just now? When did it change into a āgiant hammerā-like shape?
[M- Mana-san, are you alright!?]
[Y- Yes. Iām completely alrightā¦ā¦ You donāt have to worry about me.]
Lightly rubbing her head, Mana-san wryly smiled as she stood up. As one would expect from Amaterasu-sanās assistant, she must be a lot more powerful than her appearance would suggest, as even though a huge hammer hit her in the head, it didnāt look like she was hurt at all.
[ā¦ā¦Alice, what are you evenā¦ā¦]
[No, the signpost really just slipped out of my hand. It was a complete accident.]
[Right, right, that was just an accident, so you really donāt have to mind it!]
It looked as if Alice hitting her head was intentional, but putting aside if it was just Alice saying it, since Mana-san herself also said it was an accident, then I canāt say anything more.
[ā¦ā¦Is Alice and Mana-san acquainted with each other?]
[Hnn~~ Well, weāve actually met each other through our connection with Eden-san. I havenāt met Amaterasu-san though.]
[Thatās because we had different places in charge after all. Back when Iā¦ā¦ Errr, Miyama Kaito-san went to the beach, the one who delivered the ingredients being sponsored by Eden-sama was me. We became close at that time.]
[Ahh~~ I see, come to think of it, that was indeed the case.]
Alice mentioned that Eden-san prepared the ingredients we would be using for our meals at the beach, and Mana-san was the one who delivered them at that time huhā¦ā¦ I thought Eden-san would have just created them on the spot, but with her having various detailed agreements with Shiro-san, I suppose that is why she had someone deliver them instead.
[W- Well, anyhow, Iām glad you arenāt injured.]
[You were worried about me!? Haahh, you really are my cu-]
[Ahh, this thing really is slippery.]
[-!?]
[M- Mana-saaaaaan!?]
As Mana-san was about to say something, Alice swung that huge hammer she called a signpost, making a sound that clearly shouldnāt have been made by a person.
That was a pretty strong blow!? Are they sure Alice isnāt seriously trying to break her neck!?
[A- Alice, you!?]
[It canāt be helped, donāt blame me. My hand slipped.]
[No, you still claim your hand slipped? Itās quite obvious thatā¦ā¦]
[Her hand slipped! The signpost slipped off her hand from my point of view, so thereās no problem at all!!!]
[E- Eeehhhhā¦ā¦]
No matter how you look at it, it looked like she intentionally hit Mana-san on the head with that hammer, but putting aside if it was just Alice playing dumb, if Mana-san is also doing her best to support Aliceās claim, it makes me confused and unable to say anything.
W- What the heck is this strange sceneā¦ā¦ I feel like Iām gonna go crazy. W- Well, if she says sheās alright, I guess I shouldnāt say anything about this anymoreā¦ā¦
[ā¦ā¦Errr, well then, Amaterasu-san. Here are 2 bags of each kind.]
[Thank you very much. Errr, please pass them to Mana-san.]
[Yes. Mana-san, here you go.]
[Thank you very much! Do your best with your stall.]
[Y- Yes, thank you very much.]
Iām not really sure whatās going on, but I feel that thinking about this any deeper will only tire me out, so I saw off the two of them off, with Mana-san waving her hand with a satisfied look on her face, and Amaterasu-san deeply bowing with an indescribable expression on her face.
[ Afterword ]
Serious-senpai : [I see, because she created that body weak, so she can be stopped by physical damageā¦ā¦]
? ? ? : [And so, just like usual, Alice-chan holds the role of supporting others. Alice-chan really is excellent, and I think Kaito-san should reward Alice-chan.]