Alice and I went around the Founding Festival while exchanging trivial conversations. Having had a quick bite to eat in the first area, the next thing I wanted to do was to see some sort of event.
There’s basically no shortage of events at the Founding Festival, a time when the entire Royal Capital is bustling with activity. There are events all over the place, and they seem to be a lot of fun.
[Is it not possible to watch that Sea Dragon Parade without a ticket? I’m a little curious about it……]
[We got tickets for it, you know? Here.]
[……You sure brought it out like it’s a given huh.][The capable Transcendental Beauty Alice-chan prepared it in advance just in case.]
Rather than just being well-prepared, it’s almost like she anticipates everything perfectly. Knowing Alice, she probably calculated that I would become interested in the Sea Dragon Parade as well.
Well, I’m grateful for the ticket, but we still have some time left since the parade starts in the afternoon.
[Until it starts, let’s look around at some of the small events that are going on around here and there……]
[I guess so. There’s a lot of stuff around, you know? Eating competition, auctions…… it’s quite diverse, isn’t it?]
[Well, I guess this jumbled-up feeling is probably just like Hydra Kingdom.]
While discussing such things, I moved my gaze, thinking about what to check out next. I’m interested in that auction she mentioned, but I don’t really have anything particular in mind that I want, so I suppose watching something like a competition could be fun too.As I was thinking like that, I suddenly thought of something, so I called out to Alice.
[Come to think of it, Alice, just to confirm, but this is a date, right?]
[……I- I suppose…… W- Well, since Kaito-san and I are lovers, and we definitely arranged this outing for the two of us, it wouldn’t be entirely wrong to call it a d- date.]
[You sure are getting shaken at the mere mention of a date.]
[S- Shaken? Totally not? It ain’t no big deal to make me shaken……]
This is just a guess, but she’s probably consciously avoiding thinking about it, relegating that thought to the depths of her mind. It’s probably evident in how her eyes wander and her voice trembles.
Even though she’s all calm when she says it herself, she gets all shaken when I point it out…… How should I say this…… Alice sure is as consistently cute as always.
[Well, setting aside how you’re shaken and all that, since we’re on a date, how about we hold hands while walking……]
[Doing that in broad daylight, isn’t that too perverted?]
[……No, we’ve held hands on many dates before, haven’t we? Say, aren’t you overreacting more than usual today?]
[T- T- T- T- That totally isn’t the case, okay!? No, really, seriously! Hold hands? Yeah, I’m completely fine with that. Come on! Let’s hold hands!!!]
[O- Ou……]
Hmmm. As expected, I really feel like something’s strange. Alice has always been a shy person, often getting flustered or blushing when doing romantic lover-like things.
But this time, she’s acting really strange. Like, it’s as if she was being overly conscious of it. It doesn’t feel like she’s up to something but…… hmmm, I got too little information to tell.
Tilting my head in wonder, as I held Alice’s hand and we started walking again, I called out to her.
[……Alice, as expected, you’re being strangely nervous today. Aren’t you acting too different compared to before?]
[It’s nothing. Seriously, it’s nothing. If I say it’s nothing, then nothing it is…… Come on! Let’s put that aside and enjoy ourselves!!!]
[It really feels like something’s going on though……]
Even though I was astounded by Alice forcefully pulling my hand along, I just concluded that there was no need to press further. For the time being, I have this feeling that I will figure it out in time…… so for now, let’s just enjoy the festival and wait.
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [Fumu, I have a bad feeling about this, but I wonder what she’s thinking……]
