“In the end, I ended up following them…”
Kent followed Gordon and Patty, pulled along by Josette. They arrived at the school cafeteria. The cafeteria was divided into areas for regular students and areas exclusively for aristocrats and the wealthy. Naturally, Gordon headed for the area for aristocrats and the wealthy. The two of them sat at the innermost table. Kent and Josette, from a position that was difficult for the other two to see but convenient for them to see, found a spot and settled in. If there was one drawback, it was the slight distance, making it hard to catch their conversation.
“Hello, Caro? I’m sorry I can’t make it in time. I’m at the cafeteria now… Yes, that’s right. Understood. Please be careful not to be noticed.”
Josette took out her smartphone and seemed to be contacting Caro. Normally, this would be the time they’d gather behind the school building, so it was natural to inform her she couldn’t make it, but judging by their conversation, it seemed Caro was coming here.
“Um, Lady Josette, Kent. May I take your order?”
Prim came to take their orders.
“Prim, you’re working hard today too? Is your work here today as well?”
“Yes, it is. We’re really short-handed, and if I don’t work hard, the cafeteria won’t run. I thought I could get Bobby to help, but I couldn’t get in touch with him…”
Kent asked, and Prim replied with a slightly tired expression.
(Bobby definitely ran away.)
Kent was certain Bobby had run away, given his personality. However, not wanting to cause trouble between them, he decided to stay silent.
“You wanted our order, right? In that case, please prepare orders for four. Two more friends will be joining us later.”
“Understood. Please wait a moment.”
Josette quickly placed her order, and Prim headed into the kitchen.
“Well, I’m looking forward to seeing what they talk about.”
“Is it okay to hide and eavesdrop like this?”
“What are you saying, Kent? As long as we aren’t found out, it’s fine.”
Kent said worriedly, but Josette replied with complete confidence. At that moment, Josette’s chest swelled and bounced, and Kent’s eyes involuntarily drifted towards it.
“You’ve been looking at my chest many times, haven’t you? Does it bother you?”
“It would be a lie to say it doesn’t bother me…”
Josette noticed Kent’s gaze and, as if to draw his attention, spoke while emphasizing her chest, lifting it slightly. Kent found himself more fixated on that than on Patty and Gordon’s movements.
“Older brother, why are you only looking at Josette’s chest? Well, I admit, even as a woman, the size and the way it bounces is unfair…”
“Wha—!”
Rachel was now sitting next to Kent without him noticing, looking at him with a contemptuous gaze.
“That’s right! If that’s the case, then look at mine too.”
With that, Caro, who had sat down opposite Kent, said, making a gesture as if to lift her own chest.
“…”
“Please stop looking at such disappointing things, both of you. I’m sorry, it was my fault.”
Despite her best efforts to lift it, Caro’s chest had no such “extra room.” Kent and Rachel seemed to be looking at something disappointing, and Caro became dejected.
“Sorry, sorry. It was a joke. Caro, I like your chest because it’s elastic and feels good to the touch?”
“Rachel!”
Rachel and Caro, with tears welling up in her eyes, clasped hands.
“Rachel, how do you know about Caro’s chest?”
“Huh? Ah, yes… yes. I just thought it might be like that?”
When Kent asked, Rachel replied evasively, as if trying to cover something up.
“So, Lady Josette. Why are you having lunch here today?”
Caro switched gears and asked Josette.
“That’s right. Please look over there.”
Josette pointed towards Gordon and Patty’s table and said.
“You’ve wasted no time in taking action, have you, Gordon?”
“You’re amazing, Prince!”
Caro and Rachel were impressed by Gordon’s initiative as they watched him and Patty eating together.
“I see, so your intention is to secretly eavesdrop on their conversation?”
Rachel said with a vulgar smile, “nishishi.”
“I would never eavesdrop. I’m merely curious about their movements.”
“Lady Josette… in this state, it’s completely eavesdropping, isn’t it?”
Caro pointed out to Josette, who was trying her best to listen to Patty and Gordon’s conversation. Despite her subtle criticisms, Josette’s actions, as she strained to hear their talk, were endearingly like a small animal.
“You’ve waited long enough. Here are your appetizers.”
As they were having this exchange, Prim brought out the appetizers.
“Prim, having appetizers brought out repeatedly like this will be distracting. Could you please bring everything together?”
“Huh? But the etiquette…”
“We are on an important mission. Please cooperate.”
“Y-yes, understood.”
Normally, in the area for aristocrats and the wealthy within the school cafeteria, meals would be served in sequence: appetizers, soup, fish dish, palate cleanser, meat dish, dessert, drinks, and light sweets. Josette, figuring that she wouldn’t be able to overhear Patty and Gordon’s conversation if served in that order, explained this to Prim. Although it was against manners, Prim, unable to refuse Josette, accepted her request.
“There, now we can observe their movements at our leisure.”
“…”
Kent, Caro, and Rachel, unable to stop Josette’s unusual enthusiasm, decided it was best to let her have her way.
“I chose this seat thinking we wouldn’t be seen, but it’s a bit too far, and the conversation is hard to hear.”
Josette grumbled about her inability to hear the conversation as she wished.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell you what they’re saying.”
Rachel said.
“Um… I’m sorry for calling you out today. I was thinking we could have lunch together every day from now on…”
Rachel began to relay the content of their conversation.
“Rachel, can you hear their conversation?”
“No, I can’t. I’m reading their lips by their lip movements. At doujinshi sales events, it’s too noisy to talk sometimes, so we used it as a means of communication among friends.”
Despite the distance making it difficult to hear their conversation, Rachel accurately grasped its content. She had originally developed the skill for communicating at noisy doujinshi sales events in her previous life and had taught herself. She then relayed the content of Patty and Gordon’s conversation to Kent and the others.
“It’s a little disappointing.”
Josette said while chewing on the course meal laid out on the table, listening to Rachel recount the conversation. While it’s unclear what she was hoping for, to summarize Patty and Gordon’s conversation, they fundamentally agreed to meet only during lunch breaks, and Patty was allowed to continue her part-time job in the morning and after school. On weekends, which were holidays, Gordon often had official duties, and they would consult each time about meeting. It seemed they only discussed how they would date going forward, with nothing to deepen their relationship significantly.
“It’s just the starting line, and I think their relationship will develop from here. Let’s just watch them with a warm, detached gaze.”
“Rachel, ‘warm, detached gaze’…”
Rachel said, looking at the two as if they were children. Caro then interjected.
“Ah, it looks like they’ve finished their meal. Gordon is paying. That’s a plus point. When I went on a date, I had to pay for the other person’s meal too… As a result, no matter how much I worked part-time, I never had enough money.”
Rachel spoke, recalling her past dating experiences.
“Oh? Is that so? Gordon is surprisingly stingy, isn’t he?”
“You’re a bit of a small-time rich person now, so paying for a meal like this probably doesn’t hurt, but you didn’t earn much before working at Marie’s place, right?”
Hearing this, Josette said with a look of surprise. Caro, who also knew about Rachel’s past impoverished life, looked at her sympathetically.
“Well, yes. Now I can afford to treat nobles to meals without it being a significant financial burden. This is all thanks to Marie and my older brother!”
Rachel said, hugging Kent’s arm as he sat next to her. She was now earning an amount a student wouldn’t typically make, from her salary at Marie’s Bakery and a commission on a portion of what she procured and sold at the second store. Kent also received a portion of the first store’s sales in a similar way, but the second store, dealing with high-priced aristocrats, brought in more money.
“W-wait, Rachel, such behavior here is a violation of etiquette.”
“That’s right. Look, Prim is glaring at us from over there.”
Josette and Caro said enviously. As Caro said, Prim was watching them from a distance. As the person in charge of the cafeteria, she kept a close eye on any behavior that disrupted the order.
“By the way, why was the date expense yours to bear?”
“Maybe it was a game mechanic? I didn’t think much of it back then, but thinking about it now, it was unreasonable.”
When Kent asked, Rachel made a gesture of thinking but couldn’t reach a conclusion. What Rachel said was indeed true; in “Tale of school in another world,” the game’s system dictated that the protagonist bore the cost of dates. She seemed to think this system had been inherited. The conversation then turned to Rachel’s frugal lifestyle, and before they knew it, Patty and Gordon were gone, and only a short time remained of their lunch break.
“Oh dear, it’s already this late. It would be a waste of ingredients, so let’s eat quickly.”
“It’s a precious, expensive meal, after all. We can’t leave it unfinished.”
“Certainly… we don’t have much time to finish eating.”
“It’s rather unrefined, but we can’t help it.”
The four of them hastily started eating their meals. Focusing on eating quickly, all four ate rather sloppily.
“All four of you have such poor dining manners…”
Prim, watching them, put her head in her hands.
