The day after my grueling training session with the Hellfire Refinement at Evangeline's villa, I found myself in a place that wasn't the girls' dorm, nor Eva's house, nor even within the bounds of Mahora Academy. For some reason, I was in Harajuku.
"Eheh... sorry, Axel-kun. I know we kind of dragged you here against your will."
"Oh, stop it, Madoka. He's on a shopping date with three beautiful older girls! As a red-blooded boy, he should be welcoming this with open arms."
"Well, as long as I'm having fun, I'm good!"
The voices belonged to—in order—Kugimiya, Kakizaki, and Shiina.
Yes, the usual cheerleader trio. I had planned to spend the day catching up on sleep to recover from yesterday's exhaustion—I'd managed to force a draw in close-quarters combat, but I was far more spent than my opponent. After my housemates Ayaka, Chizuru, and Natsumi had headed out, I was ready to sink into the blissful depths of slumber. Or rather, I tried to.
Instead, these three barged in and, before I knew what was happening, they had me dressed—I had to fight tooth and nail to prevent them from dressing me themselves—and hauled me out of the dorm. A few train transfers later, we were standing in the middle of Harajuku.
Apparently, they wanted me to tag along for their school trip shopping...
"Look, I don't mind helping out," I sighed. "But I wish you'd at least explained things before kidnapping me."
"Sorry, sorry! Oh, I know. How about we hit up karaoke later to make it up to you?"
"Hey! We're here to shop for the trip, not just to goof off!"
"Alright! I'm gonna sing my heart out!"
"Me too!"
Shiina and Kakizaki were already hyper, leaving Kugimiya to play the straight man. Since she's the only one with a lick of common sense in that trio, being the "brake" for the group looked like an exhausting full-time job.
As I was pitying her, a loud, distinct growl echoed through the air. The source of the sound...
Kugimiya and the others immediately fixed their gazes on my stomach.
"Wow, Axel-kun. That was a pretty impressive sound."
Well, it's your fault, I thought. You lot barged into my room and practically abducted me before I could eat. I'm pretty sure Chizuru left my breakfast in the fridge, too.
"Ah, sorry about that. Tell you what—I'll buy you a crepe as a late breakfast," Kakizaki offered.
Kakizaki and crepes. Hearing those two words together invariably reminded me of that infamous "Bitter Melon Crepe."
"Wait... why a crepe for breakfast?" I asked skeptically.
I'd heard that in some countries people eat chocolate for breakfast, so maybe it wasn't that weird, but this was still Japan.
"What, you didn't know, Axel-kun?" Shiina said with a boastful grin. "There are 'snack' crepes too, filled with stuff like ham and cheese!"
A savory crepe? I'd heard of galettes made with buckwheat flour, but I assumed this was something different. While I was processing the idea, Kakizaki grabbed my hand and pulled me toward a crepe stand.
"Come on, Axel-kun, just try it. Um, can we get one ham, egg, and cheese crepe for the boy? And I'll take the Bitter Melon Crepe!"
"Oh, the Bitter Melon, eh? It's pretty sharp—you sure you're up for it?" the vendor asked.
"Me too! One Bitter Melon Crepe, please!" Shiina added.
"Right then. Two Bitter Melons and one 'Egg-Etcetera' coming up!"
Is 'Egg-Etcetera' really how you treat a customer's order? I wondered. But since Kakizaki and the others didn't seem to mind, I let it slide.
A few minutes later, since they had basically snatched me away before I could eat, the girls treated me to my crepe. Kakizaki and Shiina were tackling the Bitter Melon ones, while Kugimiya had gone for something called the "Berry Special." It looked like she was the only one who had actually put any thought into getting something delicious.
"Gah! It really is bitter!" Kakizaki shrieked after her first bite.
So it was as bad as it sounded. I couldn't help but remember that she was the one who had tried to recommend it to me before.
"Axel-kun, can I have a bite of yours to wash the taste out? I'll give you a bite of mine in exchange. Look, it's an 'indirect kiss' with a beautiful girl! Lucky you, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. Here."
I wasn't innocent enough to turn red over something like an indirect kiss, so I simply handed my half-eaten crepe over to her. My own crepe was actually quite good—standard fast food, but hard to mess up.
"Ahn... Mmm, this is actually really tasty! But isn't the portion a bit huge?"
"Misa! Act like a lady!" Kugimiya scolded.
"Oh? Is Madoka jealous?"
"I am not! I just think you're being unrefined!"
"Really? This is normal. You and I do this all the time, Madoka."
At that, Kugimiya's cheeks flushed slightly as she protested. "That's different! We're both girls! Axel-kun is a boy!"
"Oho? So you do see Axel-kun as a man, then?"
"Wait, no, that's not—!"
Bantering like that, we wandered through various shops while finishing our crepes. We spent the next few hours in a noisy but pleasant whirlwind: Kugimiya picking out clothes for the trip's free-time days, Shiina impulse-buying accessories from street vendors, and Kakizaki trying to model a see-through negligee until Kugimiya shut her down.
As for my own supplies, I'd already bought most of my travel gear during a previous trip with Chizuru, and my Spatial Inventory was packed with enough sundries to survive a small apocalypse. My role was relegated to being the designated judge for which outfits looked better on them.
Just as we were winding down and thinking about lunch, a familiar voice called out.
"Wait... Axel-kun?"
It was a voice I'd been hearing every single day back at Mahora.
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