I told Yusuke he could stay the night, but he insisted he was going to go home no matter what. Perhaps he was feeling shy now that he knew I was a girl. Or could it be that he didn’t find me attractive as a woman?
He’s just not interested in plain and gloomy women? No, I don’t think it’s that. Yusuke was just a really sincere person and was taking good care of me. He was totally different from a certain perverted king. That realization blew away every lonely feeling I had.
“See you later then. Let’s meet up in front of the dungeon,” he said. It was the same time and place as always, but there was something different about this rendezvous. I mean, we had started dating.
“I’ll make us lunch boxes again today, so you don’t need to buy anything for lunch.”
“I always feel bad, but...” Yusuke hesitated before he smiled at me, “please do make it. You make the best food in the world.”
Just hearing those words from him made me want to dive into his embrace. I really didn’t want him to go anywhere, but I smothered those feelings and saw him off.
The room felt so much bigger now that I was alone.
“I went out of my way to buy these, but I didn’t need them.” I tossed the handcuffs I would’ve used to restrain Yusuke into the trash can. The heavy leather straps hit the bottom of the can with a clang.
I-I didn’t really intend to restrain him! I’d just wanted to use them to tie us together, just to see. I’d thought that would finally let me feel secure.
But I didn’t need them anymore. We’d started going out for real now, after all!
✦ ✦ ✦
Michelle was wearing her usual silver mask when we met up in front of the dungeon. Even though she’d revealed her true self to me, it didn’t change the fact that she was a wanted criminal. She would probably need to keep up her disguise for a while longer.
“Good morning.”
She had the same low, husky voice as always. Experiencing it again, I could really sense how amazing her cognitive obstruction spells were. I doubted there was anyone who would suspect someone like this was actually a cute girl.
“Let’s get going then,” I said.
Side by side, we descended the dungeon staircase.
There was nothing different about Michelle from the usual. I only felt that she had drawn a little closer to me than she used to. We bumped shoulders a number of times as we headed down the stairs. I guessed that she wanted to hold hands as we went into the dungeon.
But, Michelle, who would do that in such a dangerous dungeon? You should leave your dominant hand open so you can grab a weapon at any time.
✦ ✦ ✦
When we got to our destination in front of the hot spring, I recited the words, “Store, open” to open up my shop.
“Oh,” I said, “the gachapon got a restock.”
My gachapon had been sold out ever since the gnomes had bought up everything. But today, it had suddenly been restocked with some new products.
Product name: Capsule Toys - Waterproof Notebooks and Mini Pencils (Six types)
Description: A mini waterproof notebook and pencil set that you can write with even in heavy rain. Also has some fire resistance.
Price: Two hundred rims
The capsules themselves were bigger than before, but they were cheaper by one hundred rims. When I bought one to try it out, the capsule produced a memo pad a little smaller than the palm of my hand and a small pencil around four centimeters long. The cover of the notebook was red, with a cool fiery crest design. There were designs for the usual four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, along with designs for light and darkness, totaling six different types in all.
Quill pens and ink were the typical writing tools in this world, and I’d never seen something like a pencil here. They had paper, but the stuff I had seen was the low-quality, coarse kind. Compared to that, this notebook looked much more robust.
I scribbled my own name to test it out and found the feel of the pencil astonishingly smooth. In my previous life, I had read an article about how Special Forces personnel carried around a waterproof memo pad, something called a tactical notebook. There might be demand for it among this world’s adventurers too.
“What is that?”
Meryl, who had come to hang out, immediately zeroed in on the new item. She was a sucker for new things.
“These are writing tools,” I said. “The stuff you write with these won’t get smudged even if you’re in the pouring rain. They’re also resistant to fire to some degree.”
“Really?” Mira asked, also showing interest.
“Yep. It’s even written in the description. If you think it’s not true, then try it out for yourself,” I said, handing my notebook over to Mira.
“Don’t mind if I do then. There!” Mira suddenly engulfed the notebook in an Aqua Ball.
“Hey now! I know I said all that but that’s kind of going a little too...” I stopped. “Oh?”
“Amazing!” Mira exclaimed. “It really doesn’t tear!”
The pages were stuck together, but they were neither torn nor smudged. You could clearly read my clumsy signature.
Mira immediately tried the gachapon and obtained a notebook with a water design on it. She wasn’t the only one who was interested in a waterproof notebook. Even Garmr tried the gachapon.
“The other guys and I are a forgetful bunch, so if we write down our routes in this, we’ll probably be able to search deeper in the dungeon.”
The notebook was likely also just right for mapping. On that morning alone, people tried my new gachapon around nine times. Michelle also gave it a go and won the darkness notebook. I would venture to say that its design was very fitting for her. Instead of going exploring, she settled down next to me and poured her all into writing something in the small notebook.
“Are you okay not going out to explore?”
“I’ll go after I finish writing this...”
“Is it a research report or something?”
“No, it’s a love poem...”
“I-I see...”
“Do you wanna read it?”
I both did and didn’t want to see it, which was a strange feeling. What was written in that notebook with the darkness design? Mysterious words of love? Michelle’s desires? I won’t be cursed if I read them, right?