The light flickering from those small boxes was incredibly harsh, accompanied by a continuous clicking sound.
Was this some kind of magic item?
Senia instinctively wanted to avoid these irritating lights and noises, but she found that more and more people around her were holding these small boxes.
She and the boy riding the iron horse were stuck in the crowd, unable to move forward or backward.
‘This girl doesn’t seem used to being photographed…?’
When he noticed the uneasy and troubled expression on the girl sitting behind him, the boy raised his hand to shoo away the crowd blocking their path while deliberately shifting his body to shield her from the camera lenses.
“Move aside, move aside! I need to get through!”
“Don’t block the way! We can’t get a shot of the beauty!”
“Damn brat…!”
The crowd’s reaction was a bit exaggerated… but Senia’s otherworldly beauty had that kind of pull.
They reluctantly made way as the iron horse advanced, all while cursing at the boy driving it.
“Sorry, sorry…”
Though he apologized, judging by the reflection in the iron horse’s rearview mirror, there wasn’t a trace of apology on his face.
Soon, they left the crowd and stepped onto a wide road where they drove alongside those iron boxes.
“Hey beauty, are you heading to some anime convention? I can take you there. I don’t have any delivery orders right now anyway.”
“B-Beauty…? Don’t you recognize me?”
The iron horse sped up. Senia felt that its speed wasn’t as fast as a galloping horse, but those iron boxes beside them were a different story… They zoomed past at a speed that left her utterly stunned.
“I’m afraid I’m ignorant… I’ve never heard of this ‘anime convention’ you mentioned.”
So amidst the flow of iron boxes and iron horses, Senia couldn’t help but nervously wrap her arms around the waist of the boy sitting in front.
“Uh, beauty…? We’ve never met before, right…? Actually, according to the handbook on flirting and hitting on girls, I should say ‘we’ve met before,’ right?”
Feeling the soft body pressing against him, the boy’s face quickly flushed red… Then he lowered his head and muttered a few things to himself.
Just then, another iron horse speeding past brushed against them from the right—
“Idiot! Don’t you watch the road when you ride?”
The man riding that iron horse turned back and cursed at them.
Both Senia and the boy were startled by this sudden incident… But the boy quickly regained his composure and shot back:
“You’re the idiot! Who taught you to overtake on the right? Tired of living, are you?”
“C-Can you slow down this horse? Or take a quieter road…”
The crude words spilling from the boy’s mouth left Senia a bit stunned.
For a moment, she felt like she had turned back into the timid princess of the past, cautiously making this request to him.
…
……
“Phew, phew… What’s wrong?”
A little while later, they sat in a small street-side eatery. Two bowls of soup noodles were placed on the small wooden table in front of them.
The boy was eating with great enthusiasm… But Senia sat blankly on the chair, having no intention of taking a bite.
“You want me to eat this?”
“Yeah. My treat. It might look a bit ordinary, but once you try it, you’ll know it’s delicious.”
A confident smile remained on the boy’s face… But both he and the noodle shop owner, who was watching the show from the side, knew well that this composure was fake.
“Boss! Boss! My luck with girls has arrived! Give me two bowls of noodles, quick!”
“What, are you daydreaming again… Oh!”
When the boy had barged into the shop all excited earlier, the noodle shop owner thought the delivery boy was still half-asleep and talking nonsense… But when he saw the dreamlike beauty following behind him, he was almost scared stiff.
“…A foreigner? Her hair and eyes…”
“I don’t think so. She’s not speaking a foreign language. You know cosplay? I think she’s a famous cosplayer… No, I’m getting off track. Just go cook the noodles! And open two bottles of soda…”
“How—How did you manage to lure her here? No, wait, you’re bringing her to my shabby noodle shop to eat?”
“Uh… But this is the best noodle shop I know, isn’t it?”
“Oh my god… Did you ever think about taking her somewhere fancier? Like a Western restaurant or something—”
“Those are expensive and not tasty. Why go?”
“…You’re hopeless, kid.”
At that moment, the owner had already foreseen the current scene.
‘W-What do I do? She doesn’t seem to want to eat it…’
The girl was looking down at the noodles in her bowl… And the boy shot the owner a pleading look conveying this exact sentiment.
‘How should I know? You’re on your own.’
After giving this look, the owner placed two opened bottles of soda in front of them.
Then he ran into the back kitchen, completely cutting off any hope of the boy getting help.
“Uh, could it be that this doesn’t suit your taste, beauty? We could always go somewhere else…”
“That’s not it.”
Just as the boy was about to cry while calculating the money in his wallet and preparing to stand up, Senia’s words interrupted him.
“I was just wondering… how to eat it without a knife and fork. Do I pick them up like you do, using those two wooden sticks in this bucket?”
As she spoke, she pulled out a pair of chopsticks from the chopstick holder on the table and tried to lift the noodles from the bowl, imitating the boy’s posture.
Her movements were as clumsy as someone using chopsticks for the first time… But she still managed to bring the noodles to her mouth.
“Mmm…”
“H-How is it?”
The boy watched her somewhat nervously, awaiting her verdict.
“It’s a strange kind of food. I’ve never eaten anything like this before.”
“Ah…”
“But it’s delicious. As expected, the Hero’s taste is truly outstanding.”
“R-Really?” The boy’s previously disappointed expression instantly brightened, but then became somewhat embarrassed.
“By the way, beauty, you’ve been calling me ‘Hero’ this whole time… It’s a bit embarrassing. I don’t think I’ve watched whatever anime you’re cosplaying from…”
“But you’ve been calling me ‘beauty’ as well… This is the first time someone has praised my appearance so directly. I also feel a little… embarrassed.”
“Then—Then can we call each other by our names?” Seizing what he thought was a good opportunity, the boy mustered all his courage and confidence to introduce himself: “My name is Ji Lian’en. Just call me Lian’en. What should I call you, beauty?”
“I am Senia.”
“Senia? Sounds like a foreign name… But your Chinese is so good. Are you mixed race? Do you have a surname? Like those really long ones I’ve seen in books and movies…”
“No. My name is Senia… Just Senia, and that’s all.”
“Then I’ll call you Senia, okay? Nice to meet you!”
The boy looked at the girl in front of him, his face full of longing—even a hint of love at first sight—as he smiled.
And Senia felt that his smile now was very pure, merely expressing joy… Completely unlike the faint sadness hidden deep in his eyes, which he had been unwilling to reveal when they first met.
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