Everybody was wearing their ...uniform Had they just come back from ?school
ãYuna-san, why are you here in the ?capital Did you come because of ?workã
ãNot really. What about you ?guys What are you up to?ã
Had they come here to do homework or ?something
I had always kept to myself, so I had never participated in a study session .before
Well, I hadnât needed to study to begin with, so I wasnât making .excuses It was just that I had always been able to do everything by myself without a problem and hadnât needed any .help
ãWe came to discuss our school festival .projectã
ãSchool festival ?projectã
It seemed they werenât here just to hold a study session, after .all
ã.Yes The students of the academy have to prepare a program for the school .festival Weâll all be participating, but we canât seem to decide on what to .do..ã
Shia .explained
It looked like even the schools in this world held events like school .festivals
By the time I had entered junior high school, I had already become a shut-in, so my only knowledge of school festivals was limited to what I had seen on TV or read in .manga
Maybe the festivals were similar in both ?worlds I grew a bit curious at the prospect of joining one .here
ãA school festival sounds .interestingã
ãIf you like, you can come and see .usã
ã?Reallyã
ãIn general, only those who live in the capital can come, but we are also allowed to invite acquaintances from elsewhere, so thereâs no .problemã
Well, I did want to take a look, but would it be a good idea to go to a crowded place with my Bear ?Suit
Wouldnât people mistake me for a mascot, ?then Or, at least look at me ?weird
ãAnyways, did you guys at least come up with an idea for what you want you want to ?doã
Eleanora-san, who had been listening this whole time, chimed .in
ãYes, but our ideas are all over the place, so we canât pick .one..ã
Shia said, taking a glance at her schoolmates behind her
ãAnyway, we ended up deciding to discuss it further .hereã
ãAt least you should have a lot of ideas, .then What are ?theyã
Eleanora-san asked and looked at everybody .expectantly
Marcus answered .first
ãI suggested that we hold a sword .competitionã
ãA magic competition might be nice, .tooã
Cattleya added her .idea
While sword and magic competitions sounded typical for a fantasy world, wasnât that a bit dangerous for a school ?festival
ãI want to make something we can .sellã
Timor added .in
ãAnd you, ?Shiaã
ãIâm fine with doing a competition, but as we already spar during our regular lessons, I hoped we could do something that can only be done for the school .festivalã
ãThatâs exactly why we should do a .competition Itâll stand out, and we donât have to prepare .anything .Easyã
ãTrue, but it will be almost the same as what we do in our .classesã
ãYes, but people outside of the school donât get to see it, do ?theyã
Did Marcus really want to show off that ?badly
If he wanted to stand out that much, I had a great piece of advice for him: just put on a Bear .Outfit
ãHow about we really open a stand and sell ?somethingã
ãWhat would be sell, ?thoughã
ãFood, ?maybeã
ãOther classes are already doing food carts, .thoughã
ãYes, Iâve also overheard them bragging about how they have already gathered a lot of delicious ingredients to .useã
Marcus and Cattleya pointed out the problems with Timorâs .suggestion
ãSo, Marcus and Cattleya want to hold a competition, and Timor wants a .stall What about you, ?Shia What would you ?preferã
After listening to the explanation of other threeâs suggestion, Eleanora-san asked Shia .again
ãIf I had to pick between them, then the stall, I .guessã
ãHow about you two, Cattleya and .Marcus Would you be okay with a ?stall ã
ãI want to stand out, so we shouldnât pick something too .normal..ã
ãIâm also okay with the stall idea as long as we make it .interesting I most certainly want to avoid selling the same thing as other .peopleã
Basically, Marcus was fine with a stand as long as it stood out from the rest, while Cattleya wanted to sell unique .things
In that .case.. they just needed something unique that would also stand .out
ãShia, Timor, what do you think about the competition ?ideaã
ãI donât mind, but it depends on how we gather the .contestants Usually, those who want to participate are all strong .peopleã
ãIf weâre not doing a stand, then we have no other choice but to go with a .competitionã
ãIn other words, youâre all okay with each otherâs idea to some .extentã
For some reason, Eleanora-san started to take lead of their planning even though she was an unrelated .party
Did she have an occupational ?disease Eleanora-san was the type of person to throw herself into managing all things she found interesting immediately but on the other hand refused to do all troublesome .work
ãIn that case, letâs think over the stall option .first You can compete with other people anytime, but you donât get many chances to run a stand, after .allã
ãTrue, but even though Timor suggested it, he didnât have any good ideas for what we should .sellã
ãThatâs why all of us should try to brainstorm something .togetherã
ãYes, if we keep acting like this, weâll never .decide We have to submit our program soon, so we donât have much time .leftã
Shia looked .troubled
ãShia, you should suggest something, .tooã
ãThatâs .right We donât mind doing a stand, but we need to decide what to sell if thatâs the .caseã
A school festival, .huh I had never participated in one, but I did have some similar experiences like opening stores, performing in plays, and even making .music
Still, as expected of a fantasy world, people here did do interesting projects involving swords and .magic There were most likely quite a few school festival programs that could only be found in this .world
ãYuna-san, do you have any good ideas, ?perchanceã
ã?Meã
Suddenly, they involved me into their .discussion
ãYuna-san, youâre running a shop in Crimonia, ?right Do you have something thatâs rare and will be popular if served at a school ?festivalã
ãShia, you shouldnât ask Yuna-chan for something like .that..ã
Eleanora-san scolded .Shia
Something rare that would be popular, ?huh It should also be easy to make, ?right
Making pudding was too time-consuming, and they could have issues with procuring enough eggs, so I immediately removed it from the .list
They would need a stone oven if they wanted to make pizza, so if they had to run the stand indoors, they wouldnât be able to use .one What else could I offer ?them
ãYuna-chan, you donât have to think about it that .seriously This is their .problemã
Eleanora-sanâs warning made everybody stare at the .floor
Well, this was starting to get quite interesting for me, so I decided to ponder for a bit .longer
It shouldnât be something completely .standard For example, it could even be things that were done for other festivals, like goldfish ladling, ring toss, or target .shooting If they ran a food stall, they could serve thing like yakisoba, shaved ice, candied apple, grilled squid, grilled corn, and frankfurt !sausages Oh, I had completely forgotten all about .those
Anyway, there were plenty of foods that were easy to .make If I recall, I had even made some of them some for Fina and Shuri .before Those two hadnât recognized the dishes, so maybe there werenât any regular festivals in this ?world
Well, they had grown up in poor conditions, so that could be why they had never heard about .them Fortunately, Finaâs family no longer had to worry about food ever since we had .met
ãI might have a good .idea Do you want to hear ?itã
ãYou ?do! Please tell !usã
Shia sounded very happy when I told her I might have something for .them
ãWell, I donât know if anybody here has heard about this .before Itâs very possible that all of you know already what it .isã
ãWhat is ?itã
ãThere is a type of candy made from granulated .sugar Itâs texture is like .cotton Does this country have anything ?similar ã
ãCandy thatâs like ?cotton Iâve never heard of anything like .that How about you ?guysã
Shiaâs school friends shook their heads, so we all turned to Eleanora-.san
ãIâve never heard of something like that, .eitherã
Eleanora-san didnât know what I was talking about, either, but I shouldnât completely rely on the
people .here There were two daughters of nobility, the son of a knight, and the son of an important financial .figure It was possible they never heard of it because it wasnât considered a high-class .candy I should ask someone with a normal background just in .case
Just as I was thinking of who to ask, Suririna-san came into the room with some .tea
ãSorry for .intruding Iâve brought some .teaã
ãThank you, .Suririnaã
Suririna placed the tea on the table and started to .leave
ãPlease call me if you need anything .elseã
Maids should be considered commoners, ?right
I could trust that her answer would more accurately reflect that of the common .folks
ãSuririna-san, if you donât mind, I have a question for .youã
Just as Suririna-san was about reach the door, I stopped .her
ãA question for ?me I will try my best to answer .itã
ãDo you know of a candy made from granulated sugar that has texture like ?cottonã
ãCandy that is like ?cottonã
Suririna-san tilted her head as she thought about .it
So, nobody knew of cotton candy in this world, ?then
ãIâm sorry, but Iâm not quite sure if Iâve heard of something like that .beforeã
ãThen maybe this idea will .work Suririna-san, I would like your opinion on this as well, so could you please join ?usã
ãMadam, may ?Iã
Suririna-san looked at Eleanora-.san
ãI see no problem with .itã
Having received Eleanora-sanâs permission, I took out a certain device from the Bear .Box
ãYuna-san, what is ?thisã
ãThis is called a cotton candy .machine It can make candy that looks like .cottonã
I had worked pretty hard to make this .thing
One day, I had come across a shop that sold granulated sugar and realized I could make cotton .candy I had immediately tried to make the machine, but my first try was a .disaster Only after many adjustments and hours of hard work, I had managed to make a functional cotton candy .machine
In the end, I had used it only once even though I had gone through all that trouble of making .it Anybody would get tired of eating cotton candy very quickly, after .all
It was something to be eaten once in awhile and most definitely not .everyday That was why I had left it to collect dust at the bottom of my Bear Box till .now
Following the machine, I also took out some granulated sugar I had bought at the shop and poured it into the circular mound in the middle of the .machine
ãThatâs just normal granulated sugar, ?rightã
ãYes, you can buy these at both in Crimonia and the .capitalã
I had first discovered that this sugar was sold at the capital, but later got Fina to tell me where I could get it at Crimonia as .well
Quite a few people liked to buy it to make sweets, it .seemed
ãAnd we can make this cotton candy with ?thisã
ã.Yeahã
I placed a fire magic stone into the machine and the center began to heat .up Quickly, I began to spin the sugar, and onn the side of the center circular mound, white cotton-like threads began to pop .up
ãYuna-!san Something weird is !appearingã
ãThatâs cotton .candyã
More and more threads started to gather; oops, this wasnât the time to .stare I completely forgot to prepare the wooden .sticks No, not disposable chopsticks, but proper wooden .sticks
I quickly took out a couple from the Bear Box and started to move one in a circular motion around the inside of the circular mound of the machine, causing the threads to immediately start coiling around .it
I was a bit clumsy at first but slowly got used to .it
The cotton candy grew bigger and bigger as I continued swirling the stick to coil more threads onto .it
ãYuna-san, this is .amazingã
ãWow, itâs getting .biggerã
Once the cotton candy seemed big enough, I stopped the machine from .spinning
The first cotton candy was .complete It looked just like the ones that could be bought at a food .carts The shape looked a bit off, but that couldnât really be helped as I didnât have much experience in making them .yet
ãHere, itâs .doneã
Everybody looked at me and the cotton candy in awe as I offered it to .them
ãIs anything ?wrongã
ãNo, .um.. it is just really strange, thatâs .allã
ãYuna-san, is this ?magicã
ãNo, itâs candy made of .sugarã
I said and held out the cotton candy closer to .Shia
ãIt really looks like .cottonã
ãYeah, it .doesã
Everybody continued staring at .it
ãYuna-san, how do you eat ?thisã
Oh right, noble ladies shouldnât gnaw on things, should ?they
ãYou pinch off bite-size pieces with your hand and eat .itã
ãWith your ?handã
ãOh, could it be that nobles shouldnât eat things using their ?handsã
ãNo, thereâs no such custom, .but..ã
Shia looked at the cotton candy again, then pinched some off with her fingers and ate .it
ãItâs .sweetã
ãWell, it is .sugar What did you ?expectã
I didnât use any other ingredients, so of course it tasted like .sugar
ãShia, let me try some as .wellã
Shia passed the cotton candy to Eleanora-san who pinched a bit off to try .it
ãWow, this is really .sweetã
ãShia, can you let me try some as ?wellã
ãI would also like .someã
ãMe .alsoã
Cattleya, Marcus, and Timorâs curiosity were .piqued
Shia held the cotton candy out in front of them, and they all pulled off a .piece
ãIt melts in your mouth .instantlyã
ãItâs so .weirdã
ãIt is, but itâs so .goodã
It seemed all five of them were really trying it for the first .time
ãSuririna-san, this is the candy I was talking .about Have you seen it ?beforeã
Shia passed the cotton candy to Suririna-san who also pinched off a piece and put it in her .mouth
ãNo, Iâve never heard of or tasted candy like this .beforeã
ãShouldnât this be a good thing for you to sell at the school festival, ?then Do you think it will sell ?wellã
The students looked at each other then looked back at .me
ãIt will stand out like how Marcus wants it, and itâs unusual, which is what Cattleya .wants Also, it can be sold at a stall like Timor .wants I put everyone into .considerationã
ãYuna-san, weâre very thankful for your idea, but are you sure itâs okay to let use use your recipe like ?thatã
ãYes, would it really be ?okay If we promoted it, I am certain it will sell, .but..ã
Shia and Timor were worried if it was okay for them to sell this unknown .candy
It wasnât that amazing, and it also wasnât something to be eaten .everyday It was best to only eat it during .festivals Just recalling eating cotton candy at festivals when I had been in elementary school brought a smile to my .face
ãYuna-chan, wouldnât it be better for you to serve this at your ?shopã
ãThis candy is meant for festivals, so I have no intention of selling it .thereã
ãMeant for ?festivals ?Reallyã
ãWell, if it bothers you that much, just promise me to keep the method of production a .secretã
Once I said that, Eleanora-san looked at the .students
ãCan all of you keep quiet about how itâs ?made If you canât promise us that, I wonât give you permission to make .itã
ãEleanora-?sanã
Why would a school event being ran by the students need Eleanora-sanâs ?permission Not to mention this was just cotton candy weâre talking about .here
ãI want to try this, so I promise I wonât tell .anybodyã
ãI promise as .wellã
ãIâll bring the secret to my .graveã
ã... I wonât tell anybody .eitherã
Everybody agreed to Eleanora-sanâs .demand
ãAlright .then Yuna-chan, Iâm sorry, but can you please teach them how to make ?itã
Just like that, it was decided that they would sell cotton candy for the school festival, and we immediately began .practicing
Still, why was Eleanora-san managing everything ?here
Authorâs Notes:
I apologize for the delay.
Weâve just released the information regarding the publication of Volume 3.
I appreciate all your support.
Also, the school festival arc officially begins!