Smiling Strawberry Parfait 3
No matter how much he looked around the store, he couldn’t find any element that would restrict high school girls from visiting.
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Surely they weren’t secretly selling R18-rated items or anything like that.
He couldn’t figure out what the problem was.
“Why can’t you come to this store?”
With a white flag waving in his mind, he asked T-Chika.
She peered out from inside the plush toy’s fluff and said,
“They say it’s too mature and doesn’t suit me.”
“..Huh?”
He couldn’t grasp the meaning of what she was saying and froze.
The character, Nyanchan, was so round and fluffy, cuter and more deformed than real cats, and yet somehow considered mature?
He thought it must be some kind of joke.
However, Chika was dead serious.
“Miki-chan says this one suits me perfectly.”
She shows the keychain attached to her house key.
It was a pink, round, and deformed chick character swinging around.
Both the cat and the chick were incredibly cute from Sōma’s perspective, and there wasn’t much difference between them.
“This cat has a setting where it lives a long life and becomes a youkai Nekomata, and its age exceeds 200 years. And this chick here is set to be just born.”
“…and?”
“Miki-chan says, ‘Baby characters definitely suit Chika much better.’ Even though we’re the same age, why does she think I suit a baby character better?”
While Chika was indignantly fuming, a young girl from lower grades of elementary school who seemed to have found the merchandise she was searching for exclaimed with excitement beside her.
‘So stupid…”
Sōma felt like sighing. It was all so trivial!
He couldn’t understand why they were making a fuss over such a low-level issue.
He wished he could tell Shōhei, who was fawning over Miki and the others.
“That’s why I chose this store, which Miki-chan has been opposing all this time, as my first step towards becoming an adult!”
Chika passionately made her case, but the more he listened, the more he felt deflated, and he had to grab a nearby shelf to support himself.
Yesterday, when she talked about her determination at the café, he was moved.
It’s easy to say you’ll work hard to become the person you want to be and not settle for a comfortable but lazy environment, but it’s challenging to put it into practice.
As humans, we tend to flow towards the easier path.
That’s why Chika, who looked Sōma straight in the eye and clearly expressed her determination, made him impressed.
She seemed so cool.
However, it seems that what she is trying to do is genuinely modest.
Of course, it’s not a bad thing, and he doesn’t intend to belittle her.
In any case, it’s impressive to challenge something she has never done before.
However——
“Oh, this plushie here is adorable! But, but… it’s so expensive… Ugh, I don’t think I can welcome it into my room…”
Having been asked to watch over her, he feels like he came here with a certain level of determination and responsibility.
However, for something like this, he felt like he didn’t need to be so serious.
It might be rude to Chika, but he can’t help but feel foolish for being on his guard like this.
“Wouldn’t you like to buy something too, Sōma-san? They’re really cute!”
Chika, who had become completely enthusiastic after circling around the store, comes at him with a plushie she’s holding preciously, almost pressing it against her own face.
“No, no way it would suit me. Besides, my wallet is always tight. I can’t afford such luxury items.”
“Oh, there’s a silicone tray over there. Isn’t that suitable for making jellies or steamed cakes?”
“Really? Where is it?”
“Over here!”
Chika leads him to a corner with a row of cooking utensils.
“Oh, the bottom of this one is shaped like a cat’s face. So you can make cat-faced jellies or something. It would be popular with girls. Maybe I should buy one.”
Appearance matters for sweets too. He can’t overlook it.
“Sōma-san, Sōma-san! Over here, they have pancake plates!”
“They’re too expensive for me. I’ll stick with this silicone one. Which one should I choose?”
“How about the one with a wink?”
“The grooves on the eyes seem too narrow, it would be a hassle to clean, so I’ll pass.”
“I see, Sōma-san, you have a housewife side, huh?”
“Shut up, it’s none of your business.”
While teasing each other, he finally chose a silicone tray.
Then, Chika hands it over along with the payment.
“While we’re at it, could you buy them together?”
“Sure, I understand! I will fulfill the duty given to me by Sōma-san properly!”
“No, don’t be so exaggerated——”
He was about to say it wasn’t a big deal, but he reconsidered that it might not be an exaggeration for her.
For humans, everything is nerve-wracking when experienced for the first time.
Although he doesn’t remember it now, Sōma must have been nervous when he went on errands for the first time or when he made a cake for the first time.
…Come to think of it, when was the first time he made a cake?
His thoughts start to wander, but Chika’s tense voice brings him back.
“T-Then, I’ll go to the checkout now.”
Trembling with nervousness, she walks towards the register with the plushie and silicone tray in her arms.
“Sōma-san, stay there, okay?”
“Got it.”
“If you turn around and I can’t see you, I’ll cry, okay?”
“Just cry then.”
“I’ll really cry, you know!”
“I said I got it!”
He shoos her away and waits near the store entrance to avoid disturbing other customers.
Chika, now in line at the checkout, occasionally glances nervously towards him, but step by step, she steadily approaches the register.