Kousuke and Miku left the mansion on the Fifth Floor and headed towards the city’s downtown on foot.
The downtown area of the Fifth Floor city is neatly divided into a business district, where the Razek Amamiya Bureau and Crown Headquarters are located, and a shopping street with many stores gathered.
This city was planned and built from its inception, so its remnants remain in the central part.
However, as you move outwards, it gradually becomes more mixed.
Of course, the city is not expanding haphazardly due to restrictions from the bureau.
From the location of their mansion, the shopping street in the center of the city was within easy walking distance, so Kousuke and his group aimed for it first.
As expected, Miku was now old enough to be embarrassed to walk holding her parents’ hands, and unlike before, she was walking slightly ahead of Kousuke.
While feeling a little lonely about this, Kousuke was still happy that Miku was inviting him along like this.
Lost in such parental sentimentality, Kousuke suddenly felt Miku come up beside him and tilt her head.
“Father, is something wrong?”
“Ah, no, nothing is wrong.”
Kousuke smiled faintly and brushed it off, but then a voice suddenly interjected, and he looked that way in surprise.
“That’s right~. Father was just feeling a little lonely.”
“Whoa, Peach!? When did you get here?”
“Fufufu. I caught up a short while ago~.”
Kousuke was surprised that Peach, who should have remained at the mansion, had caught up. Peach, however, acted as if it was no big deal.
In fact, for Peach, catching up unnoticed at this distance was probably an easy feat.
Unbeknownst to Kousuke, Peach had caught up after administering punishment at the mansion.
While Kousuke was surprised, Miku looked at Peach as if her presence was natural.
“Mother, what do you mean by lonely?”
“Ah, well… Hmm. It’s something you can’t do anything about, Miku, so you don’t need to worry about it.”
“Eh!? If you say that, I’ll be even more curious!”
Miku’s eyes widened in surprise, and Peach smiled with a fufufu.
“More importantly, aren’t you going to enjoy your walk with Father right now~?”
“Ugh… I’m curious.”
Miku looked like she had been completely tricked, but realizing she couldn’t win against Peach in this state, she slumped her shoulders in resignation.
♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦
After Peach joined them, they entered a random shop in the central shopping district and enjoyed window shopping.
There were also stores that gave them overtly suspicious glances, so they immediately left those stores and recorded their names.
They would later share this information with Towa or Mia. How they used it would be up to them.
The three of them, Kousuke, Miku, and Peach, had accepted that there was no point in getting angry about such things and continued their stroll through the city without any concern.
Going through all the shops in the central shopping district alone would take an entire day, so Kousuke and his group finished up at a suitable point and moved away from the center along the main street.
There was no carriage traffic from the outside in the Fifth Floor city, but there was movement from teleport gates.
The main street was lined with accommodations for people coming from outside, as well as restaurants and food stalls.
Kousuke thought that one way to get to know the city was to browse the food stalls lined up along the main street.
However, if Shurein were here, she would probably say he was just being gluttonous.
Putting aside those “behind-the-scenes” matters (?), Miku looked at the food stalls lining the main street with shining eyes.
For stall owners who didn’t have many customers lining up, browsing was welcome, and they would try their best to sell to anyone who showed interest.
For nameless food stalls, it was important to get people to look at their products first.
Therefore, there were hardly any stall owners who treated Kousuke and his group, who were just browsing, rudely.
Amidst this, Miku stopped in front of a certain food stall.
“Oh, a cute young lady. Are you interested in this?”
The stall owner’s eyes widened for a moment as he looked at Miku’s beautiful face, but he quickly remembered his business and said this, which was commendable.
Kousuke inwardly applauded his business acumen for a moment.
However, Kousuke was more interested in the items being sold at the stall, just like Miku.
Looking at the item hanging from the stall, Miku turned to Kousuke with a very happy expression and said,
“Father, do you remember this?”
“Yes. Of course.”
As if to match Kousuke’s reply, the item Miku pointed to made a chiming sound.
The item Miku found was a wind chime that was very nostalgic for Kousuke and his group.
Of course, by “nostalgic,” it meant that the wind chime they had bought before was still intact.
Rather, Miku, who had it bought for her by Kousuke, had continued to use it with great care, and it was still displayed on her bedroom window.
Kousuke had properly taught her that it was something to be displayed during the hot summer months, but Miku had kept it displayed without any concern whatsoever.
For Miku, who enjoyed the sound itself, temperature changes were not really relevant.
Be that as it may, Kousuke was impressed that wind chimes were being sold in this city, and he asked the stall owner,
“I never thought I’d see this here. When did it arrive?”
“You have a good eye. Do you know that this is from the Eastern Town?”
“Ah. I bought a similar one from a food stall in the Eastern Town a long time ago. She still uses it with great care.”
When Kousuke explained that, the stall owner’s eyes narrowed happily.
“Oh, is that so? That’s wonderful to hear. So, you were asking when it arrived. That would be—”
After that preamble, the stall owner began to explain the current situation regarding the wind chimes.
In fact, the stall owner’s story was quite simple.
The stall owner had only recently started selling wind chimes in this city. Seeing their gradual spread in the Eastern Town, he decided to bring them here.
According to the stall owner, if they could establish their products in the Tower Town, they could spread them to any town on the continent.
By the way, in the Eastern Town, they were no longer sold at food stalls but in smaller shops.
Kousuke couldn’t confirm if the person sourcing products from another continent was the same stall owner they knew, but Kousuke wished that he were.
While Kousuke was listening to the stall owner’s story, Miku, perhaps uninterested in the business talk, was seriously choosing a wind chime.
“Miku, are you going to buy it?”
“Yes. So please be quiet for a bit.”
Miku nodded with her usual serious expression, listening to the sound of each wind chime.
Miku was choosing without consulting Kousuke not because she expected him to buy it, but because she intended to pay with her own money.
Having defeated monsters on her own during her training in the village, Miku had a considerable amount of money for her age.
After carefully examining all the wind chimes lined up at the stall, Miku chose one. She refused Kousuke’s offer to pay and bought it with her own money.
Incidentally, Kousuke, who had fully intended to pay, decided to buy one for the House of Genesis as well.
(Title continuation) Wind chimes.
And that was that.
I thought the chapter where the first wind chime appeared was written not too long ago, but in terms of episode count, it was quite a while back.
Moreover, Miku has grown considerably! Miku will be entering the academy next year.
