Encountering Mark

Today also reached closing time safely, and Marie was calculating the sales using the register counter table. During that time, the other employees had nothing in particular to do, so they gathered around a table in the dining space and each spent time as they liked.

“So you operate this part like this… I see.”

“Rachel, you use an unusual way to input letters.”

“Oh, this? It’s called flick input. See, if you input it like this, it’s fast, right?”

“So there was this sort of input method.”

Rachel, who had returned from the second shop, was teaching Josette and Caro how to use a smartphone. Kent had only taught Caro the basic uses, such as the camera, so she listened to Rachel’s explanation of its various uses with great interest. Rachel was familiar with the device from their previous world even though the model was different, so she operated it with practiced hands.

“Kent-san, what is that thing the older girls are holding?”

“That? It’s called a smartphone, and originally, it was a tool that let you talk to people who were far away. It can be used for all sorts of other things too. But because the communication environment isn’t set up, you can’t use it to talk. Could it be that you want one too, Catherine?”

“You’ll give one to me too?”

“I don’t mind. Here you go.”

“Yay. Thank you.”

Kent operated his device, ordered a smartphone, and handed it to Catherine.

“Hey, hey, let me join too.”

“Big Brother got you a smartphone too, didn’t he? Sure. Sit here.”

With the smartphone she had received from Kent in one hand, Catherine joined Rachel and the others’ circle and was taught how to use the new toy.

“Um, I would be happy if I could receive one too…”

“Master, one for me too.”

“Yes, yes. Here you go.”

He handed smartphones to Patty and Al in the same way. Among the members here, excluding Kent, Emily was the only one without a smartphone.

“Emily, don’t you want one?”

“Me? I have this, so I do not need one.”

Saying that, Emily took out her own device, which she used to order goods, and showed it to Kent. In the same way, Kent also thought that, at present, he did not need to have a smartphone that could not make calls. Patty and Al joined in as well, and as everyone was making a lively fuss with smartphones in hand, Marie finished her calculations and returned.

“Oh my, it looks like everyone is having fun while I was away. Kent-san, is there nothing for me among the things everyone is holding?”

“That’s right. It wouldn’t be good to leave only you out, Marie-san. Here you go.”

“Thank you. I’ll take good care of it.”

Kent handed a smartphone to Marie as well. After Marie handed everyone their wages, she joined them for a short time and chatted excitedly about smartphones.

“It wouldn’t be good to stay too late, so we’ll end things here for today. Those who are going home, be careful on the way.”

When Marie announced that, they dispersed for the day. On this day, Kent ended up taking a painful hit to his expenses from the cost of purchasing smartphones, but everyone was happy, so he decided to accept it.

After returning home, Marie, Catherine, and Al began fiddling with their smartphones together, so Kent ended up having to prepare dinner, get the bath ready, and do other things.

The next morning, when Kent showed his face at the shop, Elnette spoke with a displeased expression.

“Hey, Kent. I heard you gave gifts to every woman except me yesterday…”

“Yes, yes. Then this is for you, Elnette.”

“Yay. Thank you.”

Elnette seemed to have felt as if only she had been left out, and once she received a smartphone from Kent, she became extremely cheerful. (Let us keep it a secret that she became so cheerful that her character changed a little.)

Other than that, nothing particularly unusual happened, and it became time for Kent and the others to go to school.

“Josette-san, operating your smartphone while walking is dangerous, so you should stop.”

“Is that so? If it becomes dangerous, there are guards nearby, so I will be fine.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

Josette seemed unused to the input method, and even while heading to school, she was struggling with the smartphone screen. Since it was dangerous, Rachel warned her, but Josette interpreted it in a different sense.

“Kya!”

Josette caught her foot on something and lost her balance.

“Whoa, careful.”

“Thank you, Kent-san.”

Kent immediately pulled Josette into his arms and prevented her from falling. Kent could feel Josette’s chest in his hand, and as he unconsciously enjoyed the sensation by kneading it, he sensed someone’s gaze.

“Big Brother, how long are you going to keep touching Josette-san’s chest? Pervert!”

“Kent-san, so larger ones really are better after all?”

Rachel said that in her usual tone, while Caro said that sadly with a hand on her own chest.

“If you want to touch breasts that badly… um, mine is not as large as Josette-san’s, but shall I l-lend you mine?”

““Huh?””

“I’m sorry, that was a lie.”

When Patty said that bashfully, Josette and Caro’s sharp gazes pierced her, and Patty instinctively apologized.

“Rachel is right. Operating your smartphone while walking is dangerous, so you should stop.”

“Yes… I understand.”

When Kent said that, Josette put her smartphone into her bag.

Then they arrived at the academy, and Caro and Rachel parted from them to go to their own classroom, while Kent headed to his classroom with Josette and Patty.

“From here on, I think I will cause trouble for Kent-san, so I will go alone.”

Patty declared that in front of the classroom. Because of yesterday’s matter, Patty seemed to have said it out of consideration for Kent.

“Understood. Then we will enter the classroom after allowing a little time to pass. Kent-san, let us go.”

Since there was still a little time before classes began, Josette said that to Patty. Then Patty entered the classroom, while Kent and Josette began walking in a direction different from the classroom.

“Hehehe… Now I can spend time alone with Kent-san. Nice, Patty-san.”

“Um, I can hear you, you know?”

“Ah, for me to accidentally say what I was thinking out loud.”

When Kent pointed that out, Josette made a troubled face.

“It cannot be helped now that I have been found out. Now, there is not much time, so let us do this quickly.”

“Josette-san, do what?”

“When a man and woman are alone together, there is only one thing they do, and it is this.”

Saying that, Josette made a gesture by placing her thumb between her index and middle fingers. It was what was commonly called a female grip. Kent, being an adult, knew what that meant.

“Josette-san, where did you learn that way of holding your hand?”

Kent asked the reason after Josette displayed a gesture that was hard to imagine from a duke’s daughter.

“From Rachel-san. She told me that when I wish to join bodies with a gentleman, I should do this.”

“Well, she’s not wrong, but… my image of pure Josette-san is…”

Kent was astonished at what his little sister was going around teaching ignorant young ladies. For some reason, the little sister in his mind was grinning and giving him a thumbs-up.

“You are Kent-senpai, correct?”

“Um…”

As they walked down the hallway while having that conversation, a first-year male student stood in front of Kent. He was characterized by his black hair and the fact that he was taller than Kent, and although he should not have had any direct acquaintance with Kent, he was someone Kent knew well.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Mark, and I am a first-year.”