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In the end, the examination grounds were closed off for the day and the remaining exams were to be done at a later time. The ‘Meteor Shower’ I casted was assumed to be the result of the magic power overload, so all the examinees were sent home for safety reasons.

Incidentally, when we came back to finish our exams, the two of us got the Class A assessment in all our exams. Sola wasn’t there with us this time, but from a letter she sent us, it looks like she also got a Class A assessment on her life attribute exam. With this, ‌the three of us will attend the same classes.

Since we’ve finished everything needed to be done before the academy entrance ceremony and we’ll be heading to the academy tomorrow at last, we have the entire day off. With that said, there’s only one thing to do, and that’s to have a date with Urania!¹

◆◇◆◇◆

For this time, we met up outside. I also gave Hans and Est the day off, so it’s really just the two of us. I headed out much earlier and I’m waiting for Urania in our meeting place. This feeling of excitement you get while waiting for the other person is one of the fun parts of a date.

I’m at a fountain plaza at the center of the capital. It’s a place where you can see the castle from a distance and seems to be the standard rendezvous spot for dating in the royal capital. There are a lot of street stalls all around the area, so we could probably spend the entire day here just playing around.

Today I went with a boyish look. My hair is combed back into a low ponytail, and I’m wearing a white blouse with navy trousers. It’s still cold outside, so I’m wearing a half coat over my blouse.

After a few minutes of waiting, Urania arrived. Urania’s wearing a lovely cherry blossom one piece with a belt around the waist. The one piece’s color is probably chosen by Est, matching it with my hair. I’m really happy about it.

「Urania…… you, um, look cute…」
「Nn, Lily…… you look… cool too… 」

The both of us started blushing red. Rather, being told “Cool” with upturned eyes while her head is facing the ground, I can only think that Urania wants to kill me with cuteness.

「Fufu!」
「Hahaha!」

With our reactions being so different from the usual, the two of us suddenly laughed.

「Let’s go!」
「Nn!」

I led Urania by the hand. We’ve toured the high-class stores at Gateskeep, so I’m thinking of going around the many stalls here at the royal capital. I had a quick look around while I was waiting and there seem to be a lot of interesting stalls here.

To start, I led Urania to the shooting game stall. Unlike the ones in my past that have toy guns that shoot corks, this stall uses a toy bow and an arrow without an arrowhead. The prizes range from accessories to snacks. Their eye-catcher is a relatively expensive accessory.

「Mister! We’ll have a try each!」
「Sure thing! Since you girls are cute, I’ll give you two an extra arrow as a freebie!」

The price is a silver coin per game with three arrows per try. Since we got a free arrow each this time, it’s four arrows for a silver coin. I’m sporting a boyish look right now but cute, huh…… It’s a bit conflicting, a part of me that wants to deny it while another already accepted it as a compliment. Well, Urania is ‌cute, so I guess there’s no need to go out of the way to deny this.

「Go!」
「Ha!」

On the first shot, I hit the pedestal of the most expensive accessory, but it only shifted slightly back to the right. Urania perfectly hit the upper part of a snack and got the prize.

「Mm~…… Ha!」
「Nn~…… Ha!」

On the second shot, while I still aimed for the same accessory, this time it only shifted to the left. Urania hit another snack and got the prize once again.

「Why!? What about this then!」
「Lily, you’re too tense. Ha!」

On the third shot, I once again aimed at the accessory, this time aiming too high, resulting in a complete miss. Urania got another snack again.

「Lily, like this. Ha!」

On Urania’s fourth shot, the arrow flew straight to an accessory different from the one I was aiming for and landed a clean hit.

「You’re pretty good there. You too, keep at it.」
「Kh! This time!」

Just when I was about to shoot impulsively, Urania pulled my sleeve.

「Urania?」
「Lily, take a deep breath.」
「…… Foo…… Haaa」

As Urania instructed, I took a few deep breaths. Right, it seems like I got too heated right now. I wanted to show off my cool side to Urania, but it is just the complete opposite of that, isn’t it? Still, I’ll at least get this last one for sure.

I drew my bowstring and carefully aimed at my target. Luckily, I hit both sides of the pedestal earlier, so it’s facing directly in front.

I let go of the arrow and it landed a clean hit on the top part of the pedestal, successfully making the accessory fall.

「I did it!」
「Nice!」
「Ah, you got it, eh?」

The guy gave the accessory while saying so in a frustrated tone. It’s a green glass earring. I then asked Urania to come near and put it on her ears.

「Yup, as I thought. It really fits you.」
「This is for me?」
「What other reason do you think I chose this?」
「I see, thank you!」

Well, Urania usually prefers snacks over accessories, so I can’t blame her for not realizing that. In exchange, Urania suddenly put the red earrings she got on me.

「Nn, you look great in red too.」
「Ah, thanks.」
「Fufu, you’re welcome.」

How can I say this, Urania’s so cool it hurts…… I planned on being her escort this time, but isn’t our position already reversed now!? If I only had more talent with a bow! Still, come to think of it, Urania is a scout in the first place, so she can use long-range and throwing weapons in general. She only uses knives these days, but she told me ‌she used to utilize traps and had a crossbow during her solo days, so she might be familiar with bows as well.

The fact that I only realized that just now makes me want to plant my head to the ground, but it’s still the start of our date. Let’s forget about this and go look around the other stalls!

◆◇◆◇◆

「Haa……」
「Lily, cheer up.」
「Urania……」
「Nn, everybody has something they’re not good at.」

The result of our stall tour was a complete defeat. With the ring toss, Urania missed none and made a new record for the stall, while I only got five out of ten. With balloon fishing², I only got three while Urania got 16 in her first go, I don’t even know how she’s doing that.

In the Owr scooping stall, with owr being a golden fish, Uraina scooped out 20 of them with only one scoop. My record, only 4. Incidentally, while this game is like goldfish scooping, the owr scooped out is cooked on the spot. The scoop isn’t made of paper as well, it’s made of monaka.³

Urania completely defeated me in all the physical based stall games. The only one that I won at was with candy cutting.⁴ Well, the stall owner praised me and said that he’s never seen such a perfect cut in the thirty years he’s worked, I’m not happy about that at all!

「Nn, Lily. I want to try that.」
「Hm? Ah, candied apple. Okay, it’s eating time from here on! 」

My plan of showing off my cool side in this stall tour ended in complete failure. Still, Urania seems to enjoy herself, and as long as she’s happy, I’m happy. Candied apple, grilled skewers, fried noodles⁵; we went around and ate other different things. While there was, unfortunately, no cotton candy around, there were masks being sold.

「Lily! Look!」
「Mn? What is i-…… Ah, that’s!!」

The stall Urania saw was that of the royal purveyor confectionery shop I once visited to meet Arytte. A chocolate shop.

「Excuse me! Two of everything, please!!」
「Certainly!」

Encountering this shop, is there any reason that I shouldn’t buy their snacks? Yeah, no, there isn’t. With that said, we bought two of everything they’re selling for now. At the shop back at Mihaqari, they only sold pure chocolate, but since they want to sell cheaper here at the stall, ‌they sold rusk, cookies, and fruits coated with chocolate instead.

Each of them would fit well with chocolate, making it hard to choose what to start with. While I thought about that, Urania once again pulled on my sleeve.

「A~ah.」
「…… Eh?」
「Since I can’t choose, choose for me. A~ah.」
「O-oh. A~ah. 」

While I momentarily froze up from Urania’s sudden action, I somehow fed Urania a chocolate-coated strawberry. I see, while it’s also nice to decide on what to eat, being surprised by what you’re eating might be good too. As I thought that, Urania took the bag with the snacks.

「Your turn, A~ah.」
「A-a~ah.」

And this time, it’s my turn to be fed. The inside is an apple……? Being moderately sour, it’s surprisingly fitting and delicious. It was my turn on feeding Urania again, and then it was her turn. In the past, I always wondered why those stupidly soppy couples are having so much fun doing this, but now that I’ve experienced it myself, it is pretty fun. We already figured each other’s preferences and both of us are choosing what to feed to each other based on that. This ‌makes me unbelievably happy.

Flirting is pretty nice, huh?⁶

1. Lyly: Was extremely tempted to leave it as “There’s only one thing to do, Urania!”
2. Lyly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVJHv6XskOI
3. Lyly: A wafer cake thing. Likely this:
   http://www.kk-awajiya.net/fs/jhccake/379
4. Lyly: ASMR
   Silva: That video is strangely addicting.
5. Lyly: Yakisoba: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%84%BC%E3%81%8D%E3%81%9D%E3%81%B0
6. Lyly: Lol
   Lilith: Lyly, say a~ah
   Lyly: Ah… *runs