Chapter 516 - A Normal Girls' Gathering
"Th-thank you... f-for having me... today—I mean, thank you very much!"
"Rhadia-chan, you're too tense."
"N-no, I'm not! H-here, this isn't much, but!"
"A piece of Orichalcum ore is not 'nothing much.' And besides, why this?"
Rhadia, the leader of the clan "High Way Star," had come to Parfait's base.
Rhadia was a member of the "Scavenger" community in Earth's danger zones, a woman said to be the future leader of that community. In appearance and heart, she was a complete maiden, but her actions were wild. Part of it was due to being born in Earth's danger zones, but it was also the community's policy; she was an outlaw straight out of a post-apocalyptic story, and that influence was deeply ingrained.
She carried two long-range guns crossed over her back and had goggles perched on her head, but she also had long, feminine black hair and wore a white one-piece dress. Her equipment, speech, and appearance were all mismatched, but at heart, she was a maiden who dreamed of romance and apparently wanted to become normal someday. Naturally, her dream for the future was to become a bride.
Rhadia had met Parfait and her friends during the Cat Island event, and they had become friends who occasionally played together. Rhadia deeply respected Hayato and Esha, whom her community treated as saviors, and she paid a certain degree of respect to their daughter, Parfait. That had softened somewhat as they played together, but for some reason, she seemed incredibly tense today.
Confused by this, Parfait tilted her head and asked.
"Um, Rhadia-chan, why are you so nervous?"
"B-because... today is a, a girls' gathering, right!?"
"Huh? Well, it's only girls here, but..."
Rick and Abel were absent today; it was just Parfait, Natsu, Chris, Ginny, Wilnel, and Rhadia. It was a girls' gathering, if you wanted to call it that, but it was more just a get-together to chat with friends, nothing so formal. And she couldn't understand why that would make someone nervous.
"This is my first normal girls' gathering ever! I'm freaking out! We're gonna drink tea, eat sweets, and giggle and stuff, right!? We're not gonna gnaw on meat-on-the-bone and laugh like 'Gahaha,' right!?"
"Well, we didn't prepare any meat... but 'Gahaha?'"
"In my community and clan, the girls admire Big Sis Lee so much that a lot of them copy her actions. They think it's fashionable and cool to drink juice from a huge bottle and tear meat off the bone...!"
"Fashionable..."
Rhadia covered her face with both hands, her shoulders trembling.
Parfait searched her memories, wondering if such a trend had ever been in fashion. She quickly gave up, concluding that there was no such history.
There was no telling what might become a trend, but it was clear that Rhadia, at least, did not consider that situation to be fashionable. Parfait inferred that she must have had very high expectations for a "normal girls' gathering."
That kind of sets a high bar, Parfait thought as she gently rubbed Rhadia's back and guided her into the cafe.
The others were surprised by the situation, but after Parfait explained, they all went "Ahhh," and tried to hype Rhadia up.
"It's alright, Rhadia-san! There's a demand for the wild-type girl!"
"Ginny-chan, that's not really the point," Parfait said, correcting Ginny's strange attempt at consolation. She then placed tea and cake in front of Rhadia.
Rhadia's eyes lit up at the sight.
"Whoa! It's cake! It's sweets!"
"Is it really something to cry over...?"
It made one wonder what her usual situation was like, but for now, they decided to calm her down and all started to eat.
Rhadia, who occasionally seemed on the verge of doing something wild, carefully cut a small piece of cake with her fork and brought it to her mouth. She placed a hand on her cheek, a blissful smile spreading across her face as she savored it.
"In my clan, you get dirty looks just for eating something like this. What's so wrong with sweets!"
"Rhadia-chan, your tone, your tone."
"Oops, my bad. I mean, oh my, how unladylike of me, tee-hee."
None of them were quite sure what kind of girl Rhadia was aiming to be, but as long as she was having fun, it was fine. Parfait and the others started chatting normally.
The whole reason they had invited Rhadia to their base was to ask about a source of high-quality water, an ingredient for the shortcake to be given to Demon King Mikan. It turned out they could have just asked Mikan about the ingredients, but she wouldn't tell them. Mikan could only share what she herself knew, and apparently, she didn't know the ingredients for the perfect shortcake.
So, they were back to their original plan of searching for high-quality water. They had invited Rhadia, who seemed likely to know of such a place, to come and hang out at their base.
They often went monster hunting together, but this was the first time they had just gathered to chat. When they invited her, they'd asked if she knew of any places with good water in AFO and suggested they just hang out and talk at their base. She had given them a powerful "I'll definitely be there!" in response.
And so, they had prepared and welcomed her. Seeing Rhadia so happy made Parfait happy too. She was starting to understand what her father, Hayato, meant when he said he was happy when others enjoyed his hospitality.
Perhaps Rhadia's tension had eased, because she was now chatting happily with everyone.
"So, schools on Earth have survival training, huh?"
"Well, yeah. But we've been taught that stuff since we were kids, so it's really just a review."
"That might be the case on Earth. I'd like to try that training sometime."
"I think you'd pick it up right away, Chris. It's hands-on, after all. Still, I wish they wouldn't teach us maidens how to do a low crawl..."
"Sounds like the best kind of school to me."
"More importantly! If we're talking about school, this is the real topic! Does anyone have a boyfriend!? Is walking to school holding hands, like, an everyday thing!? I don't have one, by the way, and the guys in my community are hopeless! Not a shred of romance to be found!"
As Rhadia spoke with excitement, everyone, including Parfait, turned to look at Natsu.
"Why are you looking at me?"
"Everyone here is single, but when it comes to this kind of topic, you're the first one that comes to mind, Natsu-chan."
"As I've said many times, it's not like that—"
"What, what!? What's going on!? Oh man, this is it! This is what a girls' gathering is all about...!"
Rhadia was trembling as she looked down, sniffing. They were tears of joy, not sorrow, but it made them wonder just how intense her situation was.
"Rhadia-chan, what kind of girls' gatherings do you usually have?"
"...Mostly about how to decorate our guns and knives..."
"Decorate... as in, with decorations? On guns and knives? Wait, are you talking about the real world, not AFO?"
"...Right now, silver star-shaped beads are in fashion... Also, carving the name of your imaginary boyfriend onto the blade of a knife... I wish they'd at least use a real boyfriend's name... Who the heck is Steven...? There's no one here named that..."
"I-I think that's fine. You know, it's just a cultural difference..."
Parfait tried her best to smooth things over, but to little effect. A brief silence fell before Rhadia's head shot up.
"N-never mind that! It's Natsu's story! What is it!? Is there someone you like in your class!? Did you put a love letter in their shoe locker!? Are you getting all flustered because your seats are next to each other!? Did you give them chocolate!?"
Her zealous questioning was somehow reminiscent of Instructor Ren, who was obsessed with romance stories. Parfait had the brief, terrifying thought that if the two of them ever met, they might talk endlessly—or perhaps it would end quickly, since neither had a love story of their own.
As she was thinking this, it was surprisingly Wilnel, not Natsu, who spoke up.
"No, Natsu-san has a one-sided crush on someone who is like an older brother from her childhood. Her challenge going forward will be to see if she can overcome his perception of her as simply the daughter of a respected figure, as well as his image of her as a little sister."
"My dear friend Wilnel, the person in question is denying this, you know?"
"But only the person in question is denying it, correct?"
"Yes, but I am the person in question...? And what was that analysis just now...? Huh? I have a 'little sister' image...? Hmm? Hmm-hmm...?"
Natsu crossed her arms and began muttering to herself, seemingly struck by a thought.
"Aww, this is great! This is what youth is all about!"
"Youth... is it?"
"Girls on Earth, you know, aside from the decorating thing earlier, all they talk about is what brand of camouflage is the best, or what to prioritize when buying a scope for your gun... though Chris's eyes are sparkling over there."
Chris, who looked like she might announce she was moving to Earth at any moment, said something that sounded like humility: "I doubt I'd be able to handle it." Her face, however, was brimming with determination.
After that, Rhadia continued to expound on the meaning of youth. The most important thing, apparently, was the heart-pounding excitement, and she had yet to feel that from any of the boys on Earth. In fact, she was nothing but disillusioned by their crudeness and lack of delicacy. She vehemently warned them not to date any men from Earth.
Parfait realized that this rant wasn't going to stop anytime soon. She decided to let her vent for a while, and then, once Rhadia had calmed down, she would ask about the location of the water.