“The ice cream on top is going to melt.”

I lightly cut the slightly melting chocolate ice cream sitting on the waffle with a fork and brought it to Anne’s mouth.

Once the chocolate ice cream was in front of her lips, she finally let go of the straw she had been sucking on and eagerly accepted the forkful of ice cream.

Whether it was effective or not, Anne finally set down her chocolate shake and started devouring the waffle.

She heaped the slightly melted chocolate ice cream generously on a piece of waffle and stuffed it into her mouth.

As her mouth filled with sweetness, Anne wore a joyful expression, but her hands were still busy preparing the next piece.

This time, she cut a slightly larger piece of waffle, topped it with chocolate ice cream, and promptly swallowed the previous piece before immediately shoving the newly cut piece into her mouth as if all her earlier hesitance had been a lie.

Watching her incessantly cram food into her mouth made me think of a little hamster.

“Ah, wait a moment.”

While I enjoyed watching Anne’s happy expression, I stood up and leaned over the table towards her.

Due to cramming in such large pieces relative to her tiny mouth, melted chocolate ice cream had more than a little smeared around her lips.

Although Anne licked her lips clean, it seemed she couldn’t see her own face, as black chocolate smudges still remained around her mouth.

If we were in the dormitory, it might be cute to just watch the innocent Anne happily grinning with chocolate on her face, but showcasing her messy appearance in the middle of a café filled with strangers seemed a tad too shameful.

“Eh? E-El…? Mmph…!”

As I moved closer, Anne jerked back slightly, so I stretched out my hand and wiped around her lips with my thumb.

Seeing Anne still startled, I subtly showed her my chocolate-stained finger as she let out a short gasp of realization.

I brought my chocolate-stained finger to my mouth, sticking out my tongue to taste it and felt the rich sweetness.

Sucking on my finger to get every last bit of chocolate left made Anne’s face flush red like a ripe tomato as she watched.

She’s not a child, but how absurd it must be for her to show me such a messy way of eating.

Though I wondered what could be so embarrassing between us, remembering that Anne often seemed sensitive about her smaller stature compared to other friends made it understandable.

Anne’s trembling gaze eventually dropped as she looked at the waffle on her plate.

In the meantime, the chocolate ice cream continued to melt, and if she didn’t eat it quickly, her waffles would be completely soaked.

Despite her embarrassment, it seemed Anne was aware of the situation, as she stuffed the ice cream and waffle into her mouth before it completely melted.

Having already shown me a shameful sight once, it appeared she was less bothered this time, as chocolate ice cream was smeared more than before around her mouth.

Realizing the situation, Anne looked at me with wide eyes, eagerly waiting for me to help her clean up after devouring the last of her crispy waffle.

“Really a messy eater…”

It seemed she intended for me to wipe it for her.

I thought if I stood idly by, Anne’s waffle would drown in melted chocolate ice cream, so I stood up again and reached out towards her mouth.

If I had some napkins, it would be easier to clean up… but honestly, the chance to legally steal some of Anne’s chocolate ice cream was not something I could overlook, as my poor upbringing in the Assassin Guild would not allow it.

If it were between guys, there would be punches thrown immediately, but from my experiences with friends, girls tend to be surprisingly forgiving in many ways, so this should be just fine.

See? Even though I was wiping her mouth, Anne was still perfectly calm.

Though she’d been nervous the first time, the fact that she was equally compliant this time made it clear this kind of behavior is quite acceptable among girls.

“Ha!”

In fact, while I wiped around her mouth with my hand, Anne stuck out her tongue and playfully licked my finger.

“Wait, Anne! If you keep playing around, I can’t wipe properly. Stay still.”

At my words, she finally stopped licking my finger.

Naturally, some of the chocolate from my finger ended up in her mouth, but with how much chocolate was smeared around her lips, there was still plenty left on my finger.

I quickly brought my finger to my mouth to avoid losing any of that chocolate.

With Anne licking my finger, it was now smeared with both chocolate and her saliva.

However, if I acted self-conscious, it might raise her suspicion, so I maintained a calm expression as I once again brought my finger to my mouth.

Of course, as I sucked the chocolate off my finger, thinking of her saliva mixing in my mouth felt embarrassing, but there was nothing I could do.

Besides, if the chocolate on my finger tasted a bit sweeter than the last time, was I becoming a little perverted?

Once Anne’s mouth was finally cleaned, she swiftly plunged a large scoop of waffle and chocolate ice cream back into her mouth.

Then, with chocolate all smeared around her lips once again, she looked at me, waiting for me to clean her up.

Eventually, I had to wipe around her mouth countless times, and thanks to the multiple repetitions, Anne could finish her waffle before the chocolate ice cream fully melted.

“Will you even perform well in tomorrow’s tournament when you’re this messy?”

As soon as she finished eating the waffle, I remarked while watching Anne take a sip from her chocolate shake once more.

With nothing to worry about melting, she was now sipping her chocolate shake little by little, savoring every bit.

“Hehe… Of course! I’ll take down anyone who comes up against me!”

Pumping her fist and shouting like that looked adorably cute, but tomorrow her sword would no longer be cute at all.

Even I still felt a chill when her sword whizzed past my face during our sparring.

The heavy winds generated by her swinging great sword hitting me was something I could never grow accustomed to.

“I’m not overly worried, but don’t let your guard down too much. Since there will be seniors and even students from other departments participating, there might be a poor matchup.”

“Hehe! No one can stop me, specially trained me!”

Anne exuded confidence, but as Selian was still hiding her true identity, she probably wasn’t aware that her confidence stemmed from training under a Sword Master.

“Right, right. Let’s aim to both reach the finals together, though of course I’ll win.”

“Hmm?”

I had thrown in a rallying cheer only for Anne to tilt her head in confusion, making me wonder if I had said something strange.

“Reaching the finals together? Weren’t you not participating in this tournament as the Hero?”

Anne asked me, looking bewildered about what she thought was an obvious fact.

“Of course not. The winner’s award ceremony will be held by me and the Saint, so how could I participate?”

“Really? But you just said we’d reach the finals together…”

Having had a good conversation, suddenly Anne was asking something strange.

“Eh? What are you talking about? You must have misheard me.”

“But you definitely said the victory is yours to claim?”

Did I say something like that? I can’t recall. I thought I simply said encouraging words to Anne…

“Guess I must have misspoken. Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing important.”

“Hmm… that’s true, but…”

Waggling her head from side to side, Anne was lost in thought, trying her hardest to recall my words.

“Well, it seems you’ve finished your chocolate shake, so let’s get up and move on.”

In her deep thoughts, Anne had forgotten to enjoy her drink, and before she realized it, she had downed the remaining chocolate shake in one go.

Having spent more time at the café than I had expected, it was finally time to enjoy the festival.

I returned the plate of pancakes and cup I had used to the counter, and followed suit as Anne also returned her items before we made our way outside the café.

“Anne?”

However, for some reason, Anne kept stopping midway as we headed out, looking back longingly at the café.

“If you miss it so much, do you want to take something to go?”

“Oh, no! Let’s hurry up and go!”

I tried suggesting something to be considerate of her feelings, but Anne instead pushed me out the door.

Well, the café wasn’t the only one around, and if she craved something sweet while we walked, another café nearby would do just fine.

“So where should we go first?”

“Ah! Wait here for a second! I left something at the café…”

“Really? You just remembered as we walked out, huh? It’s right in front, so we could just go back together.”

“Oh, no! That’s not necessary! Just wait here and don’t move!”

At most we would be taking just a few steps back, but Anne dashed back inside, leaving me waiting outside.

I looked inside the café while waiting for her, but the sunlight reflecting off the glass made it hard to see inside.

“Well, shall we be off?”

Fortunately, it seemed she found whatever she had forgotten, as she came out with a satisfied expression and walked past me, taking the lead.

“Huh? What’s that sticking out of your pocket?”

I remarked on the long object that was peeking out of Anne’s pocket, precariously close to falling.

“Uh, uh! That, uh… No, it’s nothing! It’s nothing at all!”

Could that long object perhaps be what she had just left behind at the café?

Seemingly startled that she almost left her recently found item behind, Anne hurriedly shoved it deep into her cross-body bag.

With her being this scatterbrained, I wondered how she would manage without me looking out for her.

But with that cute exterior, this clumsy nature could be considered one of Anne’s charms, right?

With a smile at the image of her looking like a needy puppy, I followed in her footsteps.