Grocery Section

“Well, all that’s left is to buy groceries and household supplies.”

“Yep.”

After finishing lunch, we decided to take care of our remaining errands.

“Let’s take the elevator down.”

“Good idea.”

The floor selling household supplies and groceries was on the first floor. Taking the escalators all the way down would be a bit of a hassle.

Agreeing with Kaho’s suggestion, we headed toward the nearest elevator.

Then Seram, who was walking behind me, gently tugged at my sleeve and whispered a question.

“Jin-dono, what exactly is an ‘elevator’…?”

“Ah, it’s basically a lifting machine that moves people and luggage between floors inside a box. It makes traveling between floors even easier than an escalator.”

“There’s a machine that makes moving between floors even easier than an escalator!?”

“That’s right.”

When I broke it down into simpler terms, Seram looked utterly astonished.

“Even after inventing such a convenient machine as the escalator, the people of this world went on to create something even more convenient…! The people of this world truly have an insatiable desire for laziness…”

Now that she mentioned it, perhaps she had a point.

Hearing Seram’s observations really made me appreciate the conveniences I normally took for granted.

We arrived at the elevator lobby.

I pressed the down button, but all the elevators appeared to be on lower floors, so we had to wait.

During that brief wait, Kaho seemed to be browsing social media on her smartphone.

She was smiling to herself as she looked at the screen, apparently exchanging messages with someone.

Watching someone use a smartphone from an outside perspective was surprisingly silly. Not that I could talk, since I used mine all the time.

As we stood around waiting, a cheerful ding sounded, announcing the elevator’s arrival.

“…The doors opened on their own.”

“Quit standing there staring and get in.”

I gently pushed the bewildered Seram into the elevator, stepped inside myself, and pressed the button for the first floor.

However, Kaho, the third member of our group, hadn’t gotten in. Apparently, she was too absorbed in her smartphone to notice.

“Hey, Kaho. We’re heading down.”

“Ah, sorry! Coming!”

When I called out to her, Kaho seemed to realize what was happening. She slipped her smartphone into her pocket and approached the elevator. However, Seram, who had grown bored standing beside me, pressed the close-door button.

“Ah.”

As a result, the elevator doors closed mercilessly.

Kaho, who had been hurrying toward us with an apologetic smile, found herself shut out.

“I-I’m sorry! There were so many buttons, and I got curious and pressed one without thinking! W-what should I do, Jin-dono!?”

While Seram panicked, the elevator began descending with the two of us inside.

It was her first elevator ride, but she seemed too shocked about leaving Kaho behind to appreciate the experience.

I felt a little bad for Seram, who was genuinely distressed, but her reaction was rather amusing.

“It’s too late for her now.”

“Why!?”

“You’re only allowed to use an elevator once a day.”

“Surely that’s a lie!”

“Think about it. It’s a machine that can transport people between floors almost instantly. Did you really think you could use something that convenient over and over without paying some kind of price?”

“I-I suppose you have a point. While I was panicking, we’ve already reached the first floor…”

Naturally, I was lying through my teeth, but for some reason, Seram accepted my explanation and began trembling.

Her reaction was so entertaining that I decided to keep feeding her nonsense for a little longer.

“Then what will become of Kaho-dono!?”

Seram desperately demanded an answer, so I deliberately paused before responding, putting on a mournful expression.

“…She’ll probably never be able to leave that floor again. We’ve lost a good person.”

“Hey! Could you stop declaring me dead without my permission?”

Just as I was enjoying teasing Seram, Kaho appeared.

Apparently, she’d taken another elevator down.

What a shame. I’d wanted to tease Seram a little longer.

“Seriously, I was so surprised when the doors closed right in front of me. And being shut out like that was super embarrassing!”

“Kaho-dono! Thank goodness you’re safe!”

“Huh? Why? I just got shut out of an elevator.”

When Kaho tilted her head in confusion, Seram recounted everything I’d just told her.

Kaho immediately burst into laughter, unable to contain herself.

“Ahahaha! Obviously, he was lying! You can ride an elevator as many times as you want in a day. And even if you couldn’t, there are still escalators and stairs!”

Thanks to Kaho’s explanation and perfectly reasonable alternatives, Seram finally realized she’d been tricked.

Her stunned expression gradually transformed into an indignant pout.

“Jin-dono is a terrible liar.”

“Sorry. Your reactions were just too funny.”

I tried to appease her, but Seram apparently wasn’t happy about being teased and remained silent for a while.

However, her sulking vanished the moment we reached the grocery section.

The shelves were packed with all kinds of groceries and household necessities, including vegetables, fruits, fresh meat and fish, frozen foods, beverages, inexpensive snacks, toilet paper, and kitchen supplies.

Since it was located inside a shopping mall, the place was on a completely different scale from our neighborhood supermarket.

“A-are all the markets in your country this enormous, Jin-dono…?”

At the sight of the grocery section, Seram seemed more overwhelmed than surprised.

“Not at all. There’s a supermarket in our neighborhood too, but it’s much smaller.”

“I-I see. That’s a relief.”

After I clarified things, Seram let out a relieved sigh.

If stores of this size existed everywhere, practically every small and medium-sized supermarket would go bankrupt.

Upon entering the section, Kaho and I each grabbed a shopping basket and placed it on a cart.

“Oh! This little wagon is incredibly convenient!”

“Want to push it?”

“May I!?”

“Sure, but don’t go bumping into anyone.”

Seram’s eyes had sparkled so brightly when she saw the shopping cart that I offered to let her push it. She eagerly accepted, and the sight of her happily pushing the cart reminded me of a child playing with a miniature shopping cart. It was rather endearing.

“Well, I’ll go buy the things we need at home.”

“All right. We’ll meet up again later.”

When it came to grocery shopping, it made more sense for us to handle our own purchases.

Shopping together would only waste time.

And so, we temporarily parted ways with Kaho.

“Oh, and I was asked to buy some toilet paper and tissues, so help me carry them later, okay?”

“Again…?”

“Do people ask you to do that often?”

“Well, we live in a sparsely populated rural area, so most of the residents are elderly.”

Whenever we traveled to a larger town with a shopping mall, our elderly neighbors sometimes asked us to pick up things for them. It was one of those typical features of rural life.

It was only natural that they would prefer to ask energetic young people to help them buy heavy items.

They could have their groceries delivered directly to their homes by using online supermarkets, but many of them weren’t particularly comfortable with technology.

“I see. When an elderly person asks for help, one cannot simply refuse.”

“True enough. Besides, they’ve taught me plenty about farming in return.”

“Was that the case for you as well, Jin-dono?”

“Yeah. They helped me a lot when I was just starting out.”

I’d made one mistake after another back then, and there had been times when I’d found their advice irritating. Looking back, though, I realized how much they’d been looking out for me. I rarely said it aloud, but I was extremely grateful to them.

“I see. Then that gives you even more reason not to refuse.”

“That said, don’t go agreeing to every little request, all right? Those old folks will seriously work you to the bone if you let them.”

I could easily imagine the elderly neighbors taking advantage of Seram’s strong sense of justice by asking her to do all sorts of things, while Seram readily agreed to every request without a second thought.

“Helping elderly people in need is a knight’s—no, a young person’s natural duty.”

“If you start neglecting your work because of that, I’ll cut your wages and meals, got it?”

“…I’ll make sure to accept only those requests that won’t interfere with my work or daily life.”

When I gave her that somewhat serious warning, Seram nodded, although her expression stiffened.

Surely she wouldn’t agree to every request now that I’d made myself clear.

“Ah! Aren’t these your long eggplants, Jin-dono!?”

Seram picked up something displayed in one corner of the vegetable section.

It was a bag of long eggplants bearing a sticker that read “Mita Farm,” serving as a guarantee of their quality.

“Yeah. I supply vegetables to this supermarket too.”

“How wonderful! To think your vegetables are being sold in such a large market, Jin-dono!”

“Well, it’s partly because my farm is nearby.”

“Even so, there must be many other farmers around. Yet the fact that your long eggplants are being sold here means the person responsible for purchasing produce must have judged them to be excellent ingredients. I believe that’s something you should be proud of.”

“R-right. Thanks.”

I’d partly been downplaying my achievement out of embarrassment, but Seram had responded with sincere, straightforward praise.

Somehow, I felt like I was no match for this girl’s honesty in more ways than one.

“Hehehe. These must be the long eggplants I put stickers on and packed into bags myself. Very well, I’ll buy them!”

“Hey, there’s no need to buy them from a store when we’ve got mountains of them growing in the fields, is there?”

“I’m buying them because I want to. You may deduct the cost from my wages.”

Despite my objection, Seram showed no sign of backing down and promptly placed the bag of long eggplants into our basket.

Perhaps she was simply that happy to see the long eggplants she’d helped prepare being sold in a store.

I could understand how she felt, since I’d done something similar the first time I’d seen my own vegetables displayed for sale. I decided to respect her feelings.

“Are there any other vegetables you’ve grown here, Jin-dono?”

“There should be some cucumbers on display, and I’m planning to ship tomatoes next.”

“Oh! Then let’s go look at the cucumbers too!”

And so, after finishing our shopping while browsing the vegetables I’d grown, we reunited with Kaho, loaded up a large quantity of household supplies, and headed home.