"Emmmm..."
Looking at her face full of expectation, Kaito pondered for a moment, then probed, "Then, thank you too, Kita?"
"Ehehe~ You're welcome~", The normie girl revealed a satisfied smile, like a cat who had sneakily eaten a dried sardine.
'S-So it can be like this too?'
Bocchi-chan on the side, her pupils shook.
'As long as I buy food, I can get Kaito-kun's thanks…'
'This kind of thing, I simply have no… no…'
'No way to refuse!'
Even a little socially anxious girl couldn't help but show signs of eagerness.
After a while, she clenched her teeth, her face filled with the tragic determination and under everyone's surprised gaze, she walked up to a street stall selling tri-color dango.
"P-Please… g-give, give me… o-one serving of t-t-t-tri-color dango…", Just like that, she stammered for a long time, her delicate face flushing bright red, and finally mustered the courage to stumble through her request.
The stall owner was a kind old lady with a smiling face, but due to her age, she had somewhat blurry eyesight and wasn't good at hearing either.
"Dearie, what did you say?"
Bocchi: o(╥﹏╥)o
'I finally mustered up the courage once, and you made me fail so thoroughly!'
"P-Please… please… give me… o-one, o-one serving… of tri-color dango…", At this point, she had no choice but to brace herself and repeat it again, slightly raising her voice.
The old lady leaned forward, "What did you say? Speak louder!"
"T-Tri-color dango…"
"Dearie, louder!"
Bocchi: "..."
Bocchi: o(╥﹏╥)o 'The outside world is so scary, I want to go back into mommy's belly!'
In the end, unable to bear watching any longer, Kaito stepped forward and clearly said, "Please give me one serving of tri-color dango, thank you."
"Oh oh."
This time, the old lady didn't miss a beat, and handed over one skewer of tri-color dango very neatly, smiling as she said, "Come again next time."
Kaito nodded politely at her and returned to the group with Bocchi.
The little social anxiety girl looked a bit down.
'I can't even handle such a small thing. Sure enough, I am a useless girl.'
Seeing the girl's expression that screamed "Sorry for being born human," Kaito couldn't help but rub her head and encouraged, "Actually, daring to take the initiative to speak with strangers is already great."
This wasn't just flattery.
Bocchi would stammer even when facing classmates, yet now she could take initiative to speak with a vendor. For her, it was indeed a big step forward.
"Ugh…", Bocchi was a child who was easily coaxed, revealing a slightly shy silly smile, and rubbed against his hand.
This scene made Kita very envious. The girl once again "dun dun dun" ran to another stall, bought a serving of takoyaki, then "dun dun dun" ran back, her pair of emerald green big eyes looked over with anticipation, as if they could talk.
'Me too, I wanna get patted!'
Kaito was crying and laughing inside, but still reached out and rubbed her slightly curly red hair, successfully making the girl let out a satisfied "gulu gulu" sound, even her eyes narrowed in comfort.
Seeing that even Nijika and Yumiko on the side were eager to try and seemed to also plan on buying snacks in exchange for head pats, he had to speak up and stop them, "No more buying, it's already enough."
Which made Ryou a little disappointed, thinking she could get two more snacks.
But looking at the takoyaki and tri-color dango in her arms, as well as the grilled sweetfish she hadn't finished… Hmm, one shouldn't be too greedy in life. Even if there's more, she might not be able to eat it all.
The group continued walking along the hot spring street. Underfoot were slightly uneven cobblestone roads, and the buildings on both sides were all traditional Japanese-style houses, very full of antique charm. Walking within, it felt like strolling through a prosperous town from the Edo period.
The only downside was…
'Aren't there too many bad women trying to flirt?'
This was the shared thought of the girls.
Hoori Town did not lack tourists, let alone during Golden Week, where there were even more visitors than usual.
Groups of six like theirs were relatively rare, especially with a group that included pretty girls and a radiant beautiful boy.
Naturally, they attracted a lot of attention from tourists.
People who were willing to go on trips, if nothing else, usually had outgoing personalities.
Of course, people like Bocchi were rare exceptions and not statistically significant.
Facing someone they liked, shy and timid girls might only dare steal glances from the corner of their eyes.
But bold girls dared to come up and flirt directly, in an endless stream.
"Sorry, my phone's out of battery."
After rejecting the sixteenth girl asking for his contact info, in order to reduce such occurrences, the group discussed and decided to find a place to rest.
Just by chance, there was a dessert shop named "Suori House" nearby. There weren't many customers inside, and it looked very quiet.
They entered and found a seat in the corner.
Kaito handed out the menu, "See if there's anything you want to eat?"
Suori House didn't look big, but the variety of sweets was quite complete. Besides traditional Japanese sweets, there were also foreign-origin desserts like parfaits and puddings.
After the girls finished ordering, he handed the menu to the still slightly spaced-out waitress, "Everything we checked, please bring one of each, and try to prepare them quickly."
"Y-Yes…", The soulless waitress left, and because she wasn't watching her step, almost tripped on the spot.
"Finally, some peace and quiet…"
After all, it wasn't like outside where they not only had to deal with girls trying to flirt, but also had to endure stares from all directions.
Nijika, a bit tired, lay down on the table, but quickly realized this posture was improper, and hurriedly sat up straight and added, "O-Of course, I'm not saying Kaito-kun is flirting around…"
She just felt those girls were too bold. If they only asked for contact info, it would've been fine, but some even directly slipped him room cards, with suggestive hints that the inn was right nearby.
'T-T-This… This was clearly what people usually call an invite, right?'
And under the girls' vigilant and worried gazes, Kaito rejected them all, without even a moment's hesitation.
While that made Nijika let out a sigh of relief, she also couldn't help but think in her heart, 'Kaito-kun really is a righteous gentleman!'
The ordered items came quickly. Kaito, as usual, ordered a cup of black tea, took a small sip, "More than that, let's first discuss where we'll go play next?"
Upon hearing this, the waitress who was walking away slowly suddenly perked up and suggested, "Are you guests who just arrived in Hoori? You might want to check out the Inugami Statue in the town center square. It's the town's symbolic attraction, and quite interesting~"
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