Immediately, I removed my silver badge, returned it, and placed the new one on my collar.
“It really suits you!” said Oltea.
“It’s appropriately radiant for someone as distinguished as Kaito!” said Frieze.
“You look so cool!” said Oltea.
“Thanks!”
The promotion was great and all, but it was hearing my friends congratulate me that was truly special. It seemed that another reward was yet to come, but for me, the smiles on their faces were the greatest prize I could hope for. The more I could make them smile, the happier I would be.
“Before we head home, should we go grab a bite to eat?” I suggested. We had eaten a plentiful breakfast but had also skipped lunch and were, resultantly, more than a little hungry. At the mention of food, all three of them excitedly raised their voices.
“Oh, yeah! I wanna eat before going home!”
“Me too! To celebrate his promotion to A rank, we should eat something Kaito likes today!”
“True! Kaito, what do you want to eat?”
“It doesn’t matter what we eat as long as I get to have it with all of you!” I said. Food enjoyed while surrounded by the joyful banter of my beloved friends—that was the most delicious food of all. With everyone by my side, I could eat anything as though it were the most incredible gourmet dish.
“But if you had to choose, what would you pick, Kaito?”
“If I had to choose, then... Well, back in the day, I used to eat a lot of natto,” I said. The three of them stared back at me, puzzled.
“Natto? What’s that? I’ve never heard of it,” Oltea said.
“It’s a fermented food made out of beans that have been left out until they go bad.”
“Beans that have been...left to go bad? And that...tastes good?”
“I think it tastes pretty good, but I hear that there are a lot of people who don’t agree with it so much.”
“Huh... Well, I’d like to try it at least once,” Oltea said.
“It’s a food that Kaito likes, so I’m sure I could come around to it!” Frieze said.
“I could make some. We just need to let some beans rot!” Oltea said. I didn’t want to rain on her parade by mentioning that her suggested method would produce only...rotten beans.
“How about I make it this time?” I said. It had been forever ago, but when I was an elementary school student, my class had been made to take a natto-making workshop in order to deepen our appreciation for our food. There had been adult chaperones, of course, but we children had nonetheless made our own natto. Cooking was still a weak point of mine, but I was sure I could at least pull off a simple recipe like that.
“Well then, while we’re at it, why don’t we have a party where we all bring food we like and then we can exchange!”
“Ooh, that sounds fun! I’ll bring wine!” said Oltea.
“Then I’ll bring some beer!” said Frieze.
“But those are just drinks... Well, it still sounds fun, so I guess it doesn’t matter,” said Tigaro, wryly smiling as though their behavior amused her.
I could hardly wait for the day, but there was still dinner to be enjoyed tonight too! And tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow, and the day after the day after tomorrow and on and on—I would be able to eat with everyone every day. Every single day, I would pass the time with these people... I was, truly, so glad to have been transmigrated into this new world!
So, eagerly awaiting my next chance to sit around the table with the friends whom I had come to love, I stepped out of the guild hall. They came too, right by my side.