The golden sunset made Hedone Lake even more beautiful.
The white dishes on the table under the giant parasol were dyed golden, and the small bouquet Citrine brought shone even brighter under the light.
Monica held my hand and Citrine’s, sitting in front of the cake.
Our adorable Saintess’s golden eyes sparkled as they darted around.
On the white tablecloth-covered table, small bowls of various dishes were lined up.
The food lovingly prepared by the nuns looked as pretty as a painting, and in the center of the table sat a cake decorated with cream and strawberries.
The cool breeze from the lake gently swayed the edges of the parasol, and the small bells Anna had hung jingled softly.
My, Murmur’s, power had completely hidden Monica’s “First Prophecy Party,” and it had successfully begun.
“There are so many foods I’ve never seen before!”
“We could have prepared more, but Sister Anna refused.”
Citrine spoke with a hint of regret.
“If Citrine had helped, we definitely could have prepared more…”
“But we wanted to do our best! We wanted to prepare it ourselves!”
“Originally, this party should have been our responsibility!”
Monica immediately smiled brightly and nodded.
“Citrine, your feelings have reached me.”
“If Monica is happy, then that’s all that matters.”
Seeing that Paladin Irene had finally taken her seat, Monica cutely wiggled her fingers.
“Murmur, I think we can start the party now.”
I raised my right hand and spoke.
“Yes, I think so too. Sister Irene?”
Paladin Irene coughed once, covering her mouth with a clenched fist.
“Ahem… Today is a day to celebrate the treasure of the Holy Nation and the great…”
Anna quickly elbowed Irene in the side.
Irene looked at Anna with a somewhat flustered expression, then naturally turned to Monica and me.
“…I rambled on foolishly again. Today is a day to celebrate our beloved Saintess Monica’s first prophecy!”
Irene smiled and raised her glass high.
“We truly love you, Saintess Monica!”
“We really cherish you, you know!”
“We’ll definitely listen to your next prophecy, no matter what!”
“We might even ask for a prophecy ourselves!!”
The nuns raised their glasses high and cheered along with Irene.
“Saintess, no matter what future you see, we’ll be by your side so you won’t shed tears.”
Anna also smiled and spoke.
“Monica is my friend! If you need anything, just say the word.”
“Murmur will always smash any sad future.”
As we all raised our cups, Monica also smiled and raised her glass of juice.
“I’m ready to enjoy today’s party! Thank you, everyone!”
Monica took a sip of her juice after speaking.
Everyone chuckled and tilted their glasses, and the joyful party began.
“Saintess! Saintess! Try this first!”
“Idiot! Who serves corn first? Try the meatballs!”
“Start with the apple pie!”
The nuns, who had loved Monica in the wrong way until now, finally found the right way.
Last night, Monica had recalled the foods she wanted, and they were served in small bowls, eagerly offered to her.
“Wow… There are so many foods I’ve never seen before.”
“…Every time Monica says that, my stomach feels weird.”
I can understand meatballs, but saying sausages, potatoes, and corn are all new to her must be a headache.
“Murmur thinks you should try the corn first. It’s small.”
“Yay!”
The nun who brought the shiny grilled corn jumped for joy.
“I’ll try it right away.”
I stabbed the corn with a fork and handed it to Monica.
It wasn’t a big piece of corn but a small, bite-sized portion, perfect for tasting.
“Yum yum… Ah! It’s so different from the corn I’ve had before…?”
“Yeah, of course. The corn you’ve had before was just boiled corn.”
“It’s corn with butter, sugar, and a sprinkle of pepper.”
Monica, who had never tasted such simple seasonings before, quickly devoured it.
“Next, try this! How about the potato with cheese?”
“Wow… Cheese!”
“There’s also an apple pie with a crispy texture!”
The nuns eagerly offered their dishes to Monica.
“Murmur, I want to try the potato.”
Somehow, I ended up in the position of feeding Monica.
…Wasn’t that supposed to be Anna’s job?
“Here, it’s delicious like this.”
The mild potato, cheese, and crispy skin.
I balanced it perfectly on the fork and fed it to Monica.
“Mmm…! Sweet, savory, and salty… It’s really delicious!”
“…How has Monica been eating all this time?”
Anna awkwardly laughed and turned her head.
If she’s been eating salads with just water, no wonder she’s amazed by this potato.
“Next is the pie. Hoo… hoo…”
I blew on the steaming pie to cool it down before bringing it to Monica’s mouth.
“Ah… Mmm…!”
Monica closed her sparkling golden eyes, held her cheeks with both hands, and chewed.
She must be too delicious to even describe the taste.
“The apple… Mmm… I had no idea pie could taste like this!”
“The nuns will make it for you often from now on.”
Monica looked at the nuns with expectant eyes.
“Of course. We’ll visit often.”
“Ugh… We were so foolish. We thought Sister Anna was just lazy and didn’t want to work, so she said the Saintess wanted to see us often.”
“Looking back now, why did we think so crookedly…?”
Monica tightly held the despairing nuns’ hands.
“The past is like flowing water, right? From now on, let’s all have fun together with Sister Anna.”
“Saintess Monica is the best!”
“You’re truly the best, Saintess!”
“We’ll make lots of delicious food for you!”
The nuns clung to Monica, stroking her back and head.
In that situation, our Saintess smiled happily.
“But Anna, Irene? Do we eat the cake after the meal?”
“Do you want to eat the cake now? You can just eat it.”
“There’s no rule that you have to eat it after the meal. It’s not like we’re dining formally in front of cardinals and archbishops.”
Irene smiled.
“In those situations, you’d be too busy nibbling on the small, fancy dishes the nuns bring.”
“I’ve never seen Irene joke before.”
“…Ahem! I do joke, Saintess Monica.”
As Irene’s face turned red, the nuns beside her burst into laughter, nodding vigorously.
“Murmur, I want to eat the cake.”
“Okay, Murmur will feed you… but.”
I took the bread knife Irene handed me and leaned toward Monica.
Our shoulders and hips touched, but it didn’t matter.
“Let’s cut the cake together, Murmur.”
“Ah! That sounds great!”
Monica smiled brightly and took my hand.
“This cake was made with the nuns’ hard work.”
“Murmur is truly a kind hero.”
Holding the knife together, Monica slowly cut the cake.
“Let’s eat the part with lots of strawberries.”
“Great! I agree!”
Monica stared intently at the cake piled with strawberries and cream.
As I transferred it to a plate, she audibly swallowed her saliva.
“…Sister Anna? Has Monica never had a birthday party before?”
“Ah, well… …”
Anna looked terribly troubled and glanced at Irene, who also turned her head, looking guilty.
“The nuns didn’t know Monica’s birthday, so they couldn’t celebrate it.”
“Is that so? I don’t know my birthday.”
“What…? Even if you don’t know, like me, you could just pick a day… Ah.”
Citrine rubbed her face with her palm.
“Couldn’t you just decide on a ‘suitable’ day?”
“Ahem… I truly think it’s immature.”
“That’s it. Every time we tried to decide on the Saintess’s birthday, even the Vatican would have petty arguments.”
Truly precious Saintess Monica.
Casually deciding such an important figure’s ‘birthday’ is unthinkable.
But ironically, that stubbornness led to the ridiculous result of never celebrating the ‘Saintess’s’ birthday even once.
“Murmur thinks we can start celebrating from today.”
I scooped a large piece of cake with a fork and brought it to Monica’s mouth.
“The cakes you’ll eat from now on are more important than the ones you missed. Ah!”
Monica brushed her pink hair aside and accepted the cake.
“Yum yum… Mmm…!! It’s so delicious!”
Monica clapped her hands cutely, immersed in happiness.
No wonder the dream of a girl is to eat a whole cake by herself.
“Murmur will give you more.”
“Ahh-”
Monica opened her mouth like a baby bird and ate the cake.
“Ahem… It really was a pointless discussion.”
“We could have just picked a day the Saintess was recognized by the Vatican…!”
“Ugh! That cake was made in a hurry, but she’s eating it so deliciously!”
“Next time! Next time, let’s make a chocolate cake. Us!”
Aren’t you all looking at Monica too desperately?
Under everyone’s gaze, Monica quickly finished a slice of cake.
Of course, she wanted more, so I quickly served her another slice.
“Murmur! Please wait a moment.”
After gulping down the milk Anna handed her, Monica wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and spoke.
“Today, I could receive such celebration thanks to Murmur’s help.”
“Murmur doesn’t think so…”
Before I could finish, Monica cut the cake into three equal parts and brought one piece to my mouth.
It was the part with the biggest strawberry.
It was too obvious what kind of feelings Monica had as she offered this bite.
“…I’ll eat it. Ahh-”
I obediently opened my mouth to eat the cake Monica was feeding me…
“Eek!”
“…Monica?”
Monica, who had pushed half the cake into my mouth, pulled the fork back.
“Don’t play around…”
“Yah!”
Monica then rubbed the fork with cake on my cheek.
What are you doing?!
“Hehehe, I wanted to play a prank like this!”
Monica looked satisfied and fed me the cake again.
“Yum, yum… You shouldn’t play with food, or Sister Anna will get mad.”
Anna, who was watching the situation, chuckled.
Monica quickly pressed her face against my cheek and licked off the cream.
“Mo, Monica…?!”
“This way, there’s no problem~”
Citrine screamed and stood up, while Irene and Anna covered their mouths and laughed.
“Wh, what kind of skinship is that?!”
“Hmm? I just ate the cream on Murmur’s cheek.”
“That’s clearly skinship!”
“Is this what skinship is?”
“Huh? What?!”
Monica tightly hugged my waist and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
“Oh my…!”
“Eek…!”
The nuns’ delighted screams filled the sandy beach, and Citrine shook her head vigorously.
“I, I’ve raised a terrifying enemy with my own hands?!”
『Monica’s affection level has reached stage 1!』
* * *
The touching, soft, and joyful event-filled summer vacation was coming to an end.
Nicasia and Esme returned to the academy before the vacation ended as promised, and we naturally gathered in Nicasia’s room to chat.
“Nice to meet you all. I’m Monica.”
The biggest change since before the summer vacation was undoubtedly Monica.
Though she had to bring ‘Sister Anna’ due to unavoidable circumstances.
“Sa, Saintess…? Saintess?”
Esme covered her mouth with both hands, surprised as she looked at Monica.
“Di, did you become friends with the Saintess during the summer vacation?!”
“Yes, Murmur and Monica are friends.”
Esme gasped and didn’t know what to do.
“I want to be friends with Esme too!”
“It, it’s an honor.”
Esme was trembling, and Nicasia was staring at Monica with wide eyes.
“The Saintess… ho, how…? I thought she couldn’t leave the Tower of Capella…”
“Murmur solved that problem brilliantly.”
Citrine snorted and smiled.
“So, solved it? I thought it was an unsolvable problem…?”
“Murmur saved Monica wonderfully.”
“Murmur is my hero.”
Monica smiled brightly, and Nicasia nodded.
“Murmur always does amazing things… What happened?”
“Murmur and I had a wonderful time at the Celestial Tower.”
…Is it okay to call that fun?
And why is Nicasia so shocked that she put down her tea?
“I enjoyed the party Murmur threw for me. We also went swimming and watched fireworks.”
“Ah, and we also got summer clothes.”
“Citrine helped a lot!”
Nicasia looked at me with a dazed expression.
“Du, during the summer vacation, you… …”
“Murmur and I made wonderful memories!”
“I had a fun summer vacation with Murmur!”
Unlike the two who spoke with pure smiles, Nicasia suddenly stood up.
“I, I can go on a date with Murmur too!”
“Yes, Murmur thinks so too.”
“I’ll create unforgettable memories for you, so look forward to it, Murmur!”
What is it?
Nicasia was terribly frustrated over something I, Murmur, couldn’t understand.
“Murmur will look forward to it. Spending fun times with Nicasia.”
I knew exactly what kind of date Nicasia would suggest once the second semester started.
But I still smiled as if I were looking forward to it.
