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“Elysia! Let’s buy this too! Come on, open the basket!”

My friends and I set out to shop for an ecology survey happening on Monday.

The market street was bustling with city residents on that Saturday afternoon, and I caught sight of some kids from the academy browsing the shops just like us.

They were likely our grade’s academy students.

They must have come out for the same purpose as us.

As the name “ecology survey” suggests, it’s an outdoor class in the forest surrounding the city, so we had to bring lunch boxes for our meal in between.

It’s not mandatory, so it’s perfectly fine to eat at a decent restaurant in the city during lunch, then return to the outdoor class location.

But really, how many people would go out of their way to return to the city just to fill their stomachs on a rare class-cum-picnic day like this?

If someone bought a ready-made lunch box, they wouldn’t be going back to the city to eat out.

Of course, not many would be as diligent as us, going to the market to prepare homemade lunch boxes.

Among the female students, a few like the classmates I encountered earlier may bring homemade lunch boxes, but the boys would most likely settle for purchasing them from a restaurant.

While we were walking in the market street where residents mainly shop, Anne eagerly showed me a piece of meat she had grabbed from somewhere.

Behind Anne, a worried butcher’s wife anxiously watched, fearing she might take off with it.

“Anne, that’s already several pieces of meat! What are you doing grabbing one every time we pass the butcher shop?”

Thinking that meat is always good, I was about to take the meat from Anne when Selian swiftly intercepted it, scolding her.

Seeing that, I quickly lowered my hand again.

Fortunately, it seemed Selian did not notice my flinching hand and continued to talk to Anne about this and that.

“Anne is way too picky with her food. She only eats meat or sweets every day. You definitely need to fix that habit.”

And thus, the scolding from Selian began as she returned to her spot.

Anne, unable to escape, looked at me with rolling eyes.

…It must be a signal for help.

“For your health, you should eat not just meat but vegetables as well…”

Certainly, Anne’s pickiness was quite excessive, and as Selian said, it would be better for her health to change her habits.

However, watching Anne get scolded by Selian made me feel a bit sorry, so I kinda spoke up.

“Isn’t it okay just for today?”

“…But people really need to eat meat to gain strength. Just this once should be fine. So, can you put it in the basket, Elysia?”

Thankfully, the situation’s special nature crossed Selian’s mind, and she immediately stopped scolding Anne and placed the meat Anne brought into the basket.

…It’s not that I wanted to eat it or anything.

I just felt bad for the sulking Anne.

About 60 percent…?

Still, with a slightly higher stake in wanting to help Anne, it’s not wrong.

“Alright! Since we bought a lot of meat, let’s buy some vegetables too!”

Just as I thought the situation was settling, Yuli, who had been watching from the side, pulled my arm and said.

“Hey, Yuli? Isn’t this enough vegetables?”

As I got dragged along by Yuli, I tried to speak as casually as possible, not wanting to show resistance.

“Hmm? We’ve only bought one cabbage for vegetables so far!”

As expected, one side of the basket was stuffed with meat, while the lighter other basket held just a single cabbage.

But Yuli, vegetables are just side ingredients, so isn’t a single cabbage already a lot?

This isn’t just me thinking that because I’m a meat lover.

Three pieces of meat to one cabbage. By ratio, that’s 3:1.

Considering the main and side ingredients, I think that’s a perfectly reasonable ratio.

However, as I debated whether I could say this out loud, I was already led by Yuli to the front of a produce shop.

“Okay, add this, this, and two of those…”

Yuli picked all sorts of vegetables, from the common ones you see every day to the ones I didn’t even know the names of.

Selian also picked up one vegetable here and there that Yuli had missed.

Meanwhile, Anne and I stood back, just watching the scene unfold.

“…Hey, Anne? Can you sneakily grab just one more piece of meat?”

“I want to, but Linne is looking this way…”

– Hehe. I’d love to see both of them make a move, but I can’t ignore Yuli’s orders, but I could probably turn a blind eye for just one minute. What do you say?

Maybe prompted by my request, Linne, who was keeping an eye on us while Yuli was rummaging through vegetables, suddenly turned around to help choose vegetables with Yuli.

Linne was even grinning, casually coaxing us.

But knowing Linne’s personality, I wouldn’t just fall for that…

“Wait, really?”

“…Anne?”

Don’t be fooled, Anne! It’s a trap from Linne!

“Ha! Ah, no! I definitely wasn’t thinking of bringing more meat or anything like that!”

I called out Anne’s name lightly to stop her from falling for Linne’s bait, but she was desperately making excuses, not even distinguishing my voice.

– Tch. She’s not falling for it.

I knew from the moment I was watching Anne get scolded that Linne had a somewhat bad personality.

Since we weren’t moving, Linne seemed to give up on watching and started picking vegetables with Yuli, leaving us unable to act.

If I vanished while holding the basket, they’d notice immediately, and if Anne took a step away, Yuli would hear it right away.

So, Anne and I could only helplessly watch as both of them filled their arms with vegetables.

“Please pack it this way.”

In the end, the whole cabbage-only basket was filled with the vegetables we bought.

And amid the vibrant-colored vegetables, various bell peppers cautiously flaunted their presence.

…

“Elysia? You’re not picky about food like Anne, are you? Right?”

As I tried to take a bell pepper from the basket to put it back on the stall, Yuli’s voice caught me and stopped me.

“There’s no way that can be true, right? Isn’t that so, Elysia?”

For some reason, both were smiling brightly while looking at me.

Even Anne, who had been clinging to me moments before, had stepped away a bit, pretending not to notice.

“Ah, no! It’s just that the bell pepper looked like it was in a bad position and might burst… I was just trying to lift it up!”

“Hmmm…? Really?”

Yuli scrutinized me with a suspicious glare, sounding like a sniffer, similar to when Erin and Stella investigated me during the saintess attack incident.

“Of course! How could I ever dislike bell peppers…”

“Oh? Since you say you like bell peppers, should we buy a few more?”

I forced a smile and tried to dodge the immediate situation, but Selian’s words only sank me deeper into despair.

Caught off guard by Selian’s unexpected buy, I blinked my eyes excitedly at Anne, trying to signal her, but Anne shrugged away my gaze, ignoring it lightly.

…To repay kindness with enmity.

Anne! I won’t forget this grudge, even if I have to write it down in my diary tonight.

Don’t underestimate the grudge of an assassin, okay?

Although the grudge I half-seriously held against Anne was one thing, after buying the vegetables and wandering around for a while, it was finally starting to get dark, as the red sunset began to dim into black, signaling the end of our market exploration.

Of course, we had already bought plenty of the necessary ingredients, but exploring with friends was a fun experience, and munching on snacks from street vendors made time fly by.

“Alright then, shall we head back?”

In my hand on the way back to the dormitory was a hefty basket of meat, in Yuli’s hands a basket full of vegetables, in Anne’s hands a basket with fruit that was ambiguous for cooking but bought for dessert, and in Selian’s remaining hand, a cake wrapped up for all of us to enjoy later.

Linnea was also floating around, holding a bag of bread bought from the bakery.

Everyone was carrying something in one hand, and in addition to that, we could each return with a new memory packed deep in our hearts.

…Although none of us expected the disaster that would ensue while preparing lunches the next day.