After procuring enough food from the stalls, Sain and his friends made their way to the meeting place they’d agreed on in the intermediate school building’s courtyard. It was one-thirty in the afternoon, and the usual crowd that packed into the courtyard at lunch had already dissipated, leaving the area comfortably vacant. They sat down on a bench to wait for Melia, who appeared soon after.
“I’m back. Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“Ah, Maid. Did you finish up whatever your business was?”
“I did,” she said with a quick bow of her head. “It went very smoothly.”
Sain didn’t pry any further. It wasn’t that he didn’t care; he was plenty curious. But he figured she’d tell him if it was something he needed to know, and he trusted her judgment.
“All right. Now that everyone’s here,” said Alicia as she began unpacking the food they’d bought, “let’s hurry up and chow down so we can head back to the festival. Oh, by the way, Melia, we got something special for you.”
She produced a few transparent packages, inside which were strips of smoked seafood. They’d been fairly easy to find, seeing as there were plenty of drinking areas in the festival where alcohol was served, and all of them came with stalls that sold the things. Melia took one look at the thing and froze, save for her twitching cheeks. Alicia lifted an eyebrow.
“What’s the matter?”
“A-Are those...”
“Smoked seafood. You love it, right?”
“Um, I...”
“Hm? You don’t? Did Sain lie to us?”
“Uh, no, I do like it, but...”
She reluctantly took the packages with a frown before leaning toward Sain and whispering in his ear.
“Excuse me, Master Sain, but could you refrain from telling people about this? It’s... apparently, um... a little exotic for people to be into these things, so it gets sort of awkward sometimes...”
“Awkward? Come on, how long have we known each other? What’s there to be embarrassed about? There’s no need to hide it. Be proud of what you love.”
“Sure, whatever, but just keep it between us, okay? Unlike you, I’m not used to humiliating myself in public.”
“What do you mean, ‘unlike me’?! Neither am I, damn it!”
He vehemently protested her suggestion that he was some sort of freak who went around humiliating himself for fun, but she simply gave him a dismissive wave of her hand before opening up one of the packages. She brought one of the smoked strips to her lips and, her initial reluctance melting away in the face of her favorite food, began nibbling on it with the daintiest of bites.
Beside her, Marni was chewing on some fried noodles.
“...These are sort of stiff. I think they got a little too cold.”
“Really?” Alicia leaned over and held out her hand. “Here. Give me those for a second.”
With a puzzled expression, Marni handed the noodles to Alicia, who placed them on her lap.
“Okay... Hmph!”
With a small grunt of exertion, she enveloped the box of noodles with a white fire. Her friends watched with astonishment as she returned Marni’s lunch to her.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Here you go.”
Marni regarded the noodles for a second before slurping one into her mouth.
“...Mmm. Just right.”
Sain and Melia stared at Alicia in silent wonder. She gave them a smug look.
“What do you think? It’s the Alicia Special. You can’t do that with regular fire magic. It’s only possible with holy fire because I can choose how and what it burns.”
“It’s... Well, it’s pretty amazing, I’ll admit that,” said Sain, “but there’s something about seeing holy fire used as a portable food reheater that’s just... weird. Impressive, but weird.”
He doubted anyone had ever used holy fire like that before. Alicia’s holy fire was by nature a purifying power, meant for cleansing its targets of taint. If she wanted to, she could theoretically produce a fire that warmed people it touched but did not burn them.
“Can I, uh... get mine done too?”
“Sure.”
She gave Sain’s lunch the same treatment. Her genial attitude made him appreciate the profound transformation she’d undergone, and he took a moment to quietly marvel at how she’d changed from the bristling loner she’d been when they first met to the friendly, approachable individual she was now.
After finishing lunch, they made good on their plans to tour the entirety of the festival. The school grounds, which normally felt a little too spacious and vacant for their own good, were now packed so full of vendors that they were almost claustrophobic. They weaved through the roving crowds, taking care not to lose anyone to a particularly dense pack of people rushing by.
“You know, it’s pretty fun to just look around. A lot of these vendors are the kinds you don’t see often,” said Sain.
“Yeah, it’s not every day that a bunch of different businesses all set up booths in one place like this. Plus, the stores are all hoping to gain some returning customers here, so they’re all giving it a hundred and twenty percent in the service department.”
It was food and product samples galore, with many vendors offering big attention-grabbing discounts. Despite having had lunch just now, they couldn’t resist reaching for some of the free snacks on offer. As they browsed, Alicia pointed at a stall up ahead.
“Hey, look at the accessories they’re selling over there. They look like the kinds you’d be into, Sain.”
“You don’t say... Let’s see... Whoa! You’re right! Those look awesome!”
Sain’s eyes lit up and he rushed over. It was a black booth that looked like it belonged in a shady alley somewhere. On its counter lay rows of silver accessories, all of which sported gaudy, unnecessarily complicated designs. The whole place exuded an aura of eccentricity that clearly was not working to its favor; there wasn’t a single customer, and people gave it weird looks from a distance as they passed by. Sain didn’t seem bothered by its presentation at all. If anything, he seemed to enjoy the atmosphere as he perused the items on sale. Some of the accessories were covered with spiky protrusions, while others were shaped like crosses or skulls. What they lacked in subtlety, they made up for in variety. Their appeal, however, was completely lost on Alicia, who settled for second-degree pleasure by watching Sain enjoy himself.
“Good shopkeeper, may I have this one?”
“Certainly... My, I must say, you’ve got good taste.”
“You understand the brilliance on display here?”
“Of course... I see we are kindred spirits.”
Sain and the shopkeeper shared a knowing smile and shook hands.
“...Today, I learned the world is a big place, and it’s filled with all sorts of people,” muttered Alicia.
“...Agreed,” said Marni.
They spent the next little while watching the two new soulmates showing off their equally outrageous accessories to one another and trading creepy grins. None of the girls made any attempt to approach them, instead making the wise choice to wait for Sain to finish. Only after he’d gushed to his heart’s content did he return, allowing them to move on.
“They sell clothes, too?” said Melia as they approached a booth that looked like a small boutique.
Alicia followed her gaze.
“Looks like they do... Hey, they’ve got some nice clothes there. Let’s go check it out.”
They’d entered some sort of fashion area, and most of the stalls here had clothes on display. Some of them had actual storefronts set up, while others were content to use simple stalls. The former tended to have clothes of higher quality, but the latter were definitely kinder to one’s wallet.
“Hey, Melia, I was thinking... You know how you’re always wearing your maid uniform? Do you ever wear anything else?”
“Well... Sometimes, if the situation calls for it...” replied Melia, her tone hesitant.
“Sometimes, huh?” Alicia said skeptically before turning to Sain. “So, what’s the verdict? Does she?”
“Uh, well... I don’t think the situation has ever called for it, so... I guess not,” he answered with a grimace.
Alicia sighed.
“Look, Melia might be your attendant, but she’s still a girl, all right? Girls have needs , and clothing is one of them. Don’t you think you should let her have some downtime every once in a while so she can do her own thing?”
“I do let her! I let her have plenty of downtime! In fact, I keep telling her she can take time off whenever she wants! But she refuses to! And she never gets sick! I tried forcing her to take a day off once... and she just ended up hanging around me all day anyway and kept working like normal.”
Alicia opened her mouth to argue but closed it again when she realized she could easily imagine the scenario playing out. An awkward silence ensued, broken only when Melia stepped in to defend herself.