kscans

Chapter 204 - Sleepover

After going to the shopping mall to buy clothes for Arc and some souvenirs, we had dinner at a restaurant inside the mall and then went home.

Once we got back, Arc sat on the living room floor, laying out the groceries we had bought and sending them one by one to his father in Frontier.

"Hmm, His Majesty isn't reacting well to the sweets."

Arc had just sent a Baumkuchen to Frontier, but apparently, it hadn't satisfied the King's palate.

"What about Mia?" I asked from my seat on the sofa. Next to me, Kaede-chan was fiddling with her smartphone.

"Mia loves it. I think it's delicious too."

So predictable.

"Send the King those black snacks over there."

I pointed to a bag of super spicy snacks I had mischievously made him buy.

"This? It has a scary face on it. It's not poison, is it?"

In a way, it is poison.

"Those are spicy snacks. Not sweet at all. A drinker like the King will probably love them. But don't let Mia eat any."

"Huh, they have things like that... I'm curious."

Arc seemed interested.

"It won't kill you, so give it a try. You might surprisingly like it."

"Alright! I'll try it."

Not to be picky, but we just had dinner. He sure can eat. Is this the power of youth?

"Hmm, it looks like a normal snack, just a little red."

"Try it."

"Okay... Hmm? It's not spicy at all, is it? It's just plain delicious."

Arc popped one into his mouth, but it didn't seem spicy to him.

"Is that so? Then eat up."

"Munch, munch... It's good, but with these kinds of snacks, you can't sto..."

Arc, who had been tossing the snacks into his mouth one after another, suddenly stopped and fell silent.

"Arc, there's juice in the fridge, go drink that."

"Gah! Cough! So spicy!"

With a very un-royal display of indecency, Arc dashed to the kitchen.

"Ah, that was hilarious."

"That's so mean."

Kaede-chan chided me, but when I put that snack in our shopping basket at the supermarket, she was laughing too.

"Ugh, that was awful."

Arc returned, teary-eyed, with a bottle of orange juice in hand.

"I told you it was spicy. That kind of thing hits you later."

"It's too spicy. Is this really food? It's not for pest control or something, is it?"

"That spiciness becomes addictive. Try sending it to the King. I bet he'll complain that it's too spicy, but the next time you see him, he'll ask you to buy more."

"Really? Okay, I'll send it."

As Arc said that, the bag of snacks on the floor vanished.

"That teleportation magic of yours is so convenient. Give me some."

"I told you, you can't have it because you're not royalty."

So this is class disparity...

"It must be nice to be royalty."

"I think your Alchemy is better, though."

"If I hadn't heard that story, I'd be able to agree wholeheartedly."

I don't want to destroy the world.

"I think you'll be fine since you're so small-minded... Ah, Mia is dead."

Arc was spouting his usual insults when his face fell and he shook his head. It seemed Mia had eaten one of the super spicy snacks.

"I told you not to let Mia eat it. Send her some juice."

"His Majesty is asking for beer, too."

"It's in the fridge, you can send it."

"Thanks."

Arc slowly stood up and pattered off toward the kitchen.

"As expected of the Natural Delinquent Princess. In no hurry at all."

Even with Mia suffering, she had a smile on her face. Given Arc's personality, there was probably no malice behind it.

"I see what you meant, Senpai. She's always smiling and cute, but she throws out sharp remarks so often. She definitely has a unique skill."

At the restaurant earlier, when Arc was about to order a second steak, Kaede-chan warned him that he'd get fat. Arc retorted that he'd be fine because he was young. Kaede-chan, who had been trying to choose a dessert, froze.

"Eleanor-san's disciples are nothing but trouble."

Black Nanapon and the Natural Delinquent Princess.

"Well, in a way, it makes sense since they're the witch's disciples."

It's a terrible master-disciple relationship, even if I do say so myself.

"What, what? What are you talking about?"

Arc returned.

"It's nothing. More importantly, you need to clean this up."

Our living room was being invaded by snacks and drinks.

"Hmm, there's no end to it. Maybe I'll just leave the rest to Mia and His Majesty..."

"Do that. You're eating too much. If you take your youth for granted, you'll regret it in ten years. Don't come crying to me if your beloved what's-her-name starts to hate you."

"It's Lydia."

Lydia-chan, right. First time hearing that name.

"Right, her."

"More importantly, what happened to Yoshino? It's already late."

The time was already almost nine o'clock.

"She contacted me a little while ago. She said it's going to take a while longer, so she asked to stay here for the night."

It seems their discussions are quite intense. It's probably my fault. Sorry about that.

"Here? Isn't it cramped?"

Ugh, I want to punch him.

"Kaede-chan, shall we move to a mansion?"

"No way. The cleaning would be a huge pain."

Kaede-chan is the one who does the cleaning. I don't do anything.

"Arc, give me Mia."

That girl seems capable.

"Absolutely not! If I left her with you, she'd turn into a good-for-nothing in a month!"

"She'll be fine. She's been with you for years and she's still like that."

Mia is a good kid, really. To serve a Natural Delinquent like this one.

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

It means what it means.

"I think you're both as bad as each other, but where is Arc-chan going to sleep? In my room, like Nanaka-chan?"

When Nanapon stayed over, Kaede-chan slept in my room and Nanapon slept in Kaede-chan's. I was on the sofa, but it was surprisingly comfortable.

"No, he can sleep in my room."

"Ew, in Hajime's bed?" Arc made a disgusted face.

"Why is that?" Kaede-chan asked, wanting to know my reasoning.

"Because I don't know if this one's true nature is male or female. I can't let someone like that sleep in your bed, Kaede-chan."

"So mean! I don't want to hear that from you! You're the one whose gender is ambiguous!"

"Then it's fine, right? We're comrades. Or do you want to sleep here?"

I patted the sofa where I was sitting.

"There?"

Arc came over to us and started stroking and patting the sofa.

"Hey, both of you, move."

Arc tried to shoo me and Kaede-chan off the sofa. We obediently stood up, and Arc lay down on it.

"Hmm. Not bad."

Seriously...

"Are you really going to sleep there? You're a princess, you know."

Isn't this bad?

"Honestly, it's more comfortable than the bed in my room. Maybe I should buy one and take it back?"

"I think a bed is more comfortable."

"I'll sleep in one at Yoshino's place."

I don't know what Yoshino-san's place is like, but she probably only has one bed, right?

"Um, if you can use teleportation magic, why don't you just go back to your own room to sleep?"

Kaede-chan came up with a brilliant idea.

"Kaede, you don't get it. I've come all the way to another world, so I want to enjoy it to the fullest. So, I'm sleeping here. Oh, but I'll need a pillow and a blanket. It'll be tough without those."

"Well, I guess we have those, but..."

Is he really going to sleep here...

"Thanks. Oh, I want to take a bath. I want to try that potion soap Hajime, or rather, Eleanor, was talking about."

Ah, I did tell him about that.

"Kaede-chan, sorry, but could you get it ready?"

"Of course. Will she know how to use it?"

"I used the bath over there, and it was almost the same, so I think she'll figure it out quickly if you show her."

"Then I'll go show her."

"Please. I'm finally going to call Claire. My call history is insane."

Calls from Claire had been coming in at a rate of about one every few minutes. I had been ignoring them, but I should probably contact her by the end of the day.

"Okay. Arc-chan, this way."

"Got it. Hajime, no peeking."

Why would I?

"I have no interest in your hairless, scrawny body."

"God! Please kill this damn witch!"

We've already seen each other's, so we're even!

"You two are unique."

Kaede-chan looked back and forth between Arc and me, looking exasperated.