The Female Knight And Ramune

I picked up a basket just like Seram and began wandering around the shop myself.

The slightly cramped interior and the packaging of the various sweets on display brought back memories. Everything I laid eyes on felt nostalgic.

Back in elementary school, I often came here clutching a hundred-yen coin to buy candy.

Feeling nostalgic, I tossed several childhood favorites into my basket, including potato chips, string-shaped gummies, and Umee Sticks, before carrying everything to the register.

Even with all this, the total came to only about 150 yen. Traditional candy really was wonderful.

“How about some ice-cold ramune?”

Kaito offered me a drink while ringing up my purchases.

Beside the register stood a refrigerator packed with glass bottles of ramune, cola, and other beverages.

“…Doesn’t this household offer its guests anything to drink?”

“If you come upstairs, I’ll give you some barley tea. But the first floor is a shop, you know.”

After seeing those bottles of ramune that looked absolutely ice-cold, how could I possibly settle for barley tea?

“Tch. One ramune, then.”

“Thanks for your business!”

My attempt at negotiation failed, and I ended up being talked into buying a bottle of ramune from Kaito.

What a shrewd businessman.

“I’ll throw in a free ramune for you, Seram-san!”

“Hey!”

“Well, it’s Seram-san’s first time here, and she’s a customer!”

I protested the difference in our treatment, but Kaito merely laughed it off with a carefree grin.

If that was his reasoning, he could at least have given me one for free too.

Feeling somewhat dissatisfied, I made my way to the tatami seating area at the back of the shop and sat down.

Seram finished paying for her purchases and sat down beside me.

“You bought quite a lot.”

“Indeed. Everything caught my interest. To think I could buy all of this for less than three hundred yen. These sweets are remarkably inexpensive.”

Seram had voiced almost exactly the same thought I’d had earlier.

“By the way, how does one drink this ramune? There seems to be some kind of round object blocking the opening, so I cannot drink from it…”

“Ah, you just place this plastic opener on top and push down. That’ll knock the glass marble inside the bottle down.”

As I explained the process and opened my own ramune, Seram imitated my movements and successfully opened hers.

“It fell!”

“Don’t remove the opener for about five seconds, all right? Otherwise, the carbonation might make it spray everywhere.”

“Hmm? The drink might spray out? I don’t quite understand, but I suppose I’ll hold it still for a moment.”

Tilting her head in confusion, Seram waited a little while before cautiously removing the opener.

“The shape of the bottle is unusual, and its color is beautiful as well.”

Seram spoke while gazing at the ramune bottle.

The pale blue bottle was filled with a clear liquid, and tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide quietly rose from the bottom. Thanks to its time in the refrigerator, the glass itself was thoroughly chilled, with droplets of condensation clinging to its surface.

“Guess I’ll have one too.”

Apparently tempted by the sight of us opening our ramune, Kaito took a bottle from the refrigerator as well.

“All right, cheers!”

Kaito quickly opened his bottle and clinked it against ours.

It somehow felt like we were having a drinking party first thing in the morning, but I decided not to comment and simply drank my ramune.

The ice-cold liquid spread through my mouth.

The refreshing flavor of ramune rushed through my nose before the drink slipped smoothly down my throat.

For that brief moment, it almost made me forget that we were in the middle of summer.

“Cough! Cough! Gah! W-what is this!? The moment it touched my tongue, it felt as though something was biting me!?”

While Kaito and I were enjoying the refreshing sensation, the female knight from another world was coughing violently.

Ah, come to think of it, this was her first time drinking a carbonated beverage.

“Don’t worry. That’s just how this drink is. It can be surprising at first, but you’ll get used to it.”

“I-is that really how it’s supposed to be?”

“Oh, so this was your first time trying something carbonated, Seram-san? Sorry about that. I should’ve warned you.”

“No, it’s quite all right. Now that I understand what kind of drink it is, I should be able to drink it without any trouble.”

Seram, whose eyes had filled with tears, took another sip of ramune.

This time, she managed to drink it without coughing and let out a faint, satisfied sigh.

“Indeed. Once one becomes accustomed to it, this tingling sensation is rather pleasant. It complements the refreshing flavor of the ramune quite well.”

“If you really can’t handle it, don’t force yourself, all right?”

“I’m fine.”

Plenty of people couldn’t drink carbonated beverages or simply didn’t find them enjoyable. However, Seram didn’t appear to be forcing herself.

After quenching our thirst, we decided to sample some of the sweets we’d purchased.

The first thing Seram picked up was a mentaiko-flavored Umee Stick.

Despite being a complete beginner, she’d chosen one of the most iconic traditional snacks. She had good instincts.

Seram tore open the packaging with her fingers and took a bite of the Umee Stick.

A series of satisfyingly crisp crunches rang out.

“This is delicious! Is it truly acceptable to sell something this tasty for only ten yen!?”

“Hahaha! Of course it is. We have plenty of other flavors too, so feel free to buy some if you’re interested.”

Seizing the opportunity presented by Seram’s amazement, Kaito immediately recommended the other flavors.

“Are you saying all of these taste different?”

“Every single one.”

“I’ll take them all!”

“Thanks for your business!”

There was a ruthless candy salesman right here.

I wanted to tell Seram to show some restraint, but I’d only just told her she could spend her wages on whatever she wanted, so I couldn’t exactly stop her.

“Speaking of which, there are a ridiculous number of varieties.”

If I remembered correctly, there were normally fourteen varieties of Umee Stick.

However, looking at the ones Kaito had brought out, there were clearly far more than that.

“I also stock premium editions, regional exclusives, and seasonal limited editions because I like them. And between you and me, I’ve even got a few discontinued flavors.”

“Just how many do you have? Sell me some of those next time.”

Among the discontinued varieties were some of my favorites, including lobster, pizza, and grilled eel flavors. If I had the chance to eat them again, I definitely wanted to.

“Well, I suppose I could make an exception. Just this once, though, all right?”

Despite his deliberately reluctant tone, Kaito seemed rather pleased with himself, as though he’d been waiting for an opportunity to show off his collection. He really did love traditional candy.

After finishing our little private discussion, I took a string gummy from its package and began eating it.

That cheap, artificial flavor was exactly what made it so good. This was what traditional candy was all about.

“What is that long green thing?”

“It’s a sweet made by solidifying fruit juice and sugar. Imagine sweet bean jelly, but much chewier and with a fruity flavor. Want to try some?”

“Yes, please!”

Since Seram seemed eager to try it, I tore off a piece and handed it to her.

“O-oh! It has a strange flavor and a wonderfully springy texture. I cannot tell what fruit it’s supposed to taste like, but it’s quite good.”

The package said it was melon-flavored, but when I ate it, I could also detect something resembling grapes or pears. Frankly, I couldn’t even identify exactly what fruit it was supposed to taste like, but that was part of what made it feel like proper traditional candy.

“It’s Jin!”

“His famous wife is here too!”

“…She’s beautiful.”

Just as we were relaxing and enjoying our sweets, the sliding door opened and several children entered the shop.

Ignoring the candy entirely, the children swarmed toward Seram and me.

“So even you kids know about it?”

“It’s famous around here, you know? There are hardly any people who haven’t heard.”

“Everyone was talking about how the unfriendly Jin-san finally got married.”

Apparently, news of my supposed relationship with Seram had spread so widely that practically everyone knew about it.

Just how many people had Minori-san and Shigeru-san told?

“Hey, hey! How did you meet your wife?”

“Which one of you confessed first?”

“…Have you held hands yet?”

While I was wrestling with my mixed feelings, the children bombarded us with questions.

“You came here to buy candy, didn’t you? Quit bothering us and go buy some.”

“Aww, come on! Who cares about candy right now? We wanna hear how Jin met his wife!”

“Yeah, we do!”

I tried to shoo them away, but the children remained undeterred and continued firing questions at us.

My relationship with Seram was nothing more than a cover story. Naturally, there weren’t any sweet, romantic memories for me to share, and even if there had been, there was no way I’d tell these cheeky brats. If I let anything slip, they’d undoubtedly tease me about it for the rest of my life.

“Ah, you’re getting on my nerves. Here, I’ll give you some spending money, so go buy yourselves some candy.”

“Yay! A hundred yen! I can buy tons of candy with this!”

“…What should I buy?”

As a last resort, I handed out hundred-yen coins, and the children immediately lost interest in me and headed toward the shelves.

After finally getting rid of the children and taking a moment to relax, I noticed Kaito watching me with a smug grin.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking how much you’ve changed, Jin.”

“What part of me has changed?”

“Well, until recently, you had this whole ‘stay away from me’ attitude, didn’t you? You hardly ever came over to my place, and you never paid any attention to kids either, right?”

“…Is that so?”

Although Kaito said that, Seram knew absolutely nothing about my past, so she merely looked puzzled.

Ever since I’d returned to my hometown, I’d found the prospect of building and maintaining relationships with other people unbearably troublesome.

I’d barely even spent time with Kaito, despite our being childhood friends. Considering that, it was no wonder he thought I’d changed after seeing how I behaved now.

“Wonder whose influence brought about that change?”

“Who knows?”

I deliberately pretended not to understand what Kaito was implying and ignored his remark.