There’s an experimental illustration at the very end. It’s a maid doll.
For those who might dislike it, please be careful not to scroll too much.
When I woke up in the morning, there was a mountain of fruit on the laboratory desk.
When I asked Maito what had happened, she gave me an indescribable look.
“We thought we’d do something that can only be done in another world.”
…I know.
We’ve all been trying various things with that in mind these past few days.
“And then, I thought… In this world, food isn’t free.”
Right.
“No matter how expensive the ingredients are, to put it badly, it can be settled with your physical labor. If it can be bought with money, sewing a dress by myself mostly settles it.”
Right.
“So, I have a question for Kadomi-kun. …How often did you eat fruits in our original world?”
…Fruits?
I don’t think they were something I ate that often…
…Um…
“I don’t remember.”
“Ah, yes. You don’t pay much attention to eating, do you…”
I don’t really remember what I used to eat every day in the original world.
…What kind of things, or rather, what kind of menu, dishes… that is.
I don’t remember if fruits were included in the meals.
“…Well, um, probably not very frequently, I think. In Japan, fruits are on a path to high-quality… only expensive and delicious fruits exist. So honestly, I don’t think there’s much point in purposely buying expensive fruits.”
Is that so? …Probably, but still.
“So I thought! …Let’s eat lots of fruits while we’re in another world…”
…
“It’s not about meat, you know.”
“…Well, because, look… For meat, we don’t need your help. But with fruits, see, we can just ask the maid dolls.”
As if to prove Maito’s words, the laboratory door opened with a clatter, and the maid dolls came in, one after the other.
Each of them was carrying a piece of fruit… The larger ones were cut or rolled in, some carried by several dolls.
“Alright, alright. The fragile ones go here. …Ah, I wish they hadn’t cut the oranges… Oh, well. We’ll serve it for breakfast.”
Following Maito’s instructions, the maid dolls piled the fruits on the desk.
…It looked like a line of ants.
After watching for a while, the maid dolls went back outside.
It still looked like a line of ants.
That day, we went to play at the Deichemoore arena.
Katori said he wanted the minerals that were prizes. So I guess more Gundams will be added.
Today was a battle royale format. Since it wasn’t one-on-one, we decided to participate fully just to be safe.
…Maito stayed behind. If Maito went to the arena, she’d die…
…By the way, when we participate, we fight with handicaps. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be fair, apparently.
“So that’s why there was such a huge amount of fruits.”
Suzumoto is fighting in the center stage of the arena, chained by one foot. Strong.
“I want apple pie! Like the one at that certain hamburger chain. The kind where the inside is oozy!”
Hariu is fighting with his arms tied behind his back. Strong.
“Making pie crust is troublesome, so it won’t be ready until tomorrow at the earliest, I suppose.”
President is fighting blindfolded. Strong.
“Hmm, I mean no offense, but Maito seems a bit frugal, doesn’t she? Even coming to another world, she thinks about the price of food… Ah, Kadomi-kun, to your right, please.”
“Got it.”
Toriumi is fighting in a situation where we are back to back with our hands and feet tied together. Troublesome.
“But now that you mention it, fruits really are expensive, aren’t they? Not just fruits… woah! Ha, Hagasaki-kun, give me a break, please.”
A block of ice flew over the head of Kariya, who was shackled by the ankles.
…Hagasaki-kun had his wand taken away and his mouth tied so he couldn’t chant spells. That’s why he seems to be struggling with controlling his magic. It seems Hagasaki-kun is getting frustrated. Scary.
“Why is everyone talking while fighting, huh, ei!”
Katori is fighting with a ban on shooting… It’s my first time seeing Katori punch someone… Somehow… it’s shocking.
“Hmm, maybe because it’s boring?”
“This is part of the handicap!”
…I think our handicaps are quite severe, but even so… soon, we were the only ones left on the stage.
Katori immediately took the prize minerals with a happy look. Good for him.
“Then, I’ll go make Unit 5.”
And he disappeared.
…Huh, was there a Unit 4?… He must have made it at some point.
“So, what do we do in the meantime? It’s boring.”
“We don’t have enough people for Werewolf, do we? And Maito-san isn’t here either.”
When we got back, Maito was processing the fruits. She didn’t seem bored. The laboratory was a battlefield. It was scary.
“Maito is also quite thrifty, isn’t she? Why go to the trouble with fruits? There are plenty of other expensive foods.”
“Because we can’t gather them ourselves, she said.”
…Somehow, Hagasaki-kun seemed to dislike the idea. But when Hagasaki-kun looks displeased, he often doesn’t really mind.
“…What are expensive foods? I can only think of shark fin.”
“What about melons?… Oh, that’s a fruit…”
“Hmm, they often have first auctions for tuna, but have we eaten tuna already?”
“There’s also something called bird’s nest. I don’t know if it exists in this world.”
“Saffron is famously a very expensive spice.”
“Eh, is that delicious?”
…Now that you mention it, I can’t imagine the taste of expensive foods. I don’t even know where to find them.
“…Shall we try them?”
…Is it because I’m thrifty? No, it’s okay, this much…
“Shark fin is from a shark’s fin, right?”
“That’s right.”
That’s why we came to the sea.
…I remembered seeing creatures like sharks when we entered the sea before.
“…Are we going to swim out?”
“No, there’s a simpler way.”
I don’t like swimming, but when Hagasaki-kun looked displeased, President looked pleased. …I have a bad feeling about this.
“Sharks, they are attracted to blood.”
…
President, pulling out Hariu’s short sword nearby, slashed his wrist…!
“This should attract them.”
And then, he let the blood from his wound drip into the sea…!
“No, no, no, no, no! What are you doing!”
“Kariya―! Kariya―!”
“Ahhhhhhh nooooooo!”
…I’m going to pretend I saw nothing.
I’ve seen plenty of wounds before… but President, smiling while cutting his wrist and dripping blood… that was different.
While Kariya was healing President’s wrist, the sea started to get rough.
“It’s a shark.”
“It’s a shark.”
“It’s a shark.”
“Yay, shark fins swimming!”
Attracted by the scent of President’s blood, lots of sharks… or something like them, were coming.
“So, Hagasaki-kun, please take care of it!”
“Which one?”
“Well, for now, just deal with all of them, and we can sort them out later, right?”
“Oh, okay. ‘Ice Pillar.'”
The shark-like creatures were speared by the pillars of ice that sprouted from the sea and came out onto the surface.
Suzumoto and Hariu collected them and casually threw them onto the sandy beach.
…Um.
“Are these… sharks?”
Their fangs looked like blades, and their fins looked like blades too.
“The ones with blade-like fins can’t be eaten as shark fins.”
“Can you even eat shark meat…?”
…After Suzumoto and Hariu returned, we decided to take everything back and have Maito figure it out.
If they’re in the way, we could just have them “cleaned up.”
Since President mentioned that “the swallows that make nests edible as food live along the coast,” we kept looking along the coast and… found something.
“Those are swallows. Their pattern and tail are exactly like those of swallows. If we look, we might find their nests too. Let’s search for a cave nearby.”
“Wait a minute, something’s off. If my memory serves right, swallows don’t wear armor, nor are they giant creatures about 2 meters long.”
…What flew over us was a huge bird.
About 2 meters long. Wearing armor. Its feathers were steel-colored. Probably blade-like.
“If they’re big, it means their nests are big too. That saves us the trouble of collecting multiple nests.”
The swallows weren’t swallows, but President was still President.
It took some time to take control of the cave we found, but we managed to collect something resembling swallow nests… They were huge. I could easily fit inside one.
…Come to think of it, Maito once said, “If there were huge broad beans, I’d like to nap in their pods.”
…If we find broad beans, let’s take them back.
“Looks like it’s Chinese cuisine today.”
“Should we catch some meat to take back too?”
“What counts as expensive meat?”
“Kobe beef…?”
“Seems unlikely to find that in another world.”
“It would be scary if we did.”
“Sounds strong.”
“What would a Black Wagyu monster look like, I wonder…”
Probably, it would have huge horns, a massive body, and I think it would taste awful.
Then we caught some meat and returned.
Maito, with Katori’s help, was disassembling a shark. I think what’s rolling by the window are its fins.
“You guys are really! Seriously! Frugal, “disassemble”! Why do you catch everything, “disassemble”, and bring it back! “Disassemble”!”
The sharks, larger than Maito’s body, seemed to be a hassle to deal with after disassembling. Carrying the meat, processing the bones…
…Um, sorry.
“The scale is bigger than Maito, right?”
“So what! You guys are petite bourgeoisie too! “Disassemble”! “Disassemble”! “Disassemble”!”
“Why not just “clean” it up?”
“That’s wasteful!”
“Ha-ha, Maito-san’s frugality―”
“Pot calling the kettle black! You’re all petite bourgeoisie! Petite bourgeoisie!”
…I guess it can’t be helped.
We’re all just average high school students. Petite bourgeoisie… Yeah, that sounds about right.
The day’s meal consisted of a large shark fin stew, a giant bird’s nest soup, pork buns, braised pork, and various other dishes.
…The shark fin was kind of… jelly-like, like vermicelli… If you ask me if it’s delicious, I’m not really sure.
I’m even more unsure about the bird’s nest. What is this, exactly?
“Ordinary meat tastes better, doesn’t it?”
“No good, I can’t tell the deliciousness of expensive foods.”
“It doesn’t feel worth it to pay and eat these things.”
Everyone had similar opinions.
…Well, because we’re petite bourgeoisie.
“What shall we catch tomorrow?”
“What else is considered expensive?”
“Please choose something whose cooking method we understand…”
But I still want to try. Because, after all, we’re petite bourgeoisie.
