“…≪Burning Peach Candy≫?”
Hiiro muttered while looking at the sign of a store.
“Oh, they’re selling quite the rare fruit!”
“Hello, please come closer!”
The stall owner, an energetic old man was radiating with courtesy. Muir looked at the ≪Burning Peach Candy≫ displayed at the stall with sparkling eyes.
“Old man, give us three!”
“Sure thing! Ohh, the little missy’s cute, so I’ll give you an extra big one!”
“Th- Thanks… Ehehe.”
Muir spilled a happy smile.
“Is it good?”
“Yeah, you bet~ The fruit is shaped like a burning fire and while it’s candy, it’s soft enough to masticate it. Well, you’ll understand how burning it is once you try it.”
Being told so. Hiiro ate a mouthful. He certainly could bite it off easily and its taste spread in his mouth while he chewed it. Then suddenly something popped inside his mouth.
“Mh?”
“Hehe, surprised? The prickling on the tongue is the secret of the ≪Burning Peach≫!”
This flavour was addicting for sure. It was damn sweet, yet a treat to your taste buds. This was surely popular with the kids. Muir too was holding her cheek with an entranced expression.
“Okay! Onto the next one!”
Arnold took the lead and the other two followed him.
(So this is a festival. If it got good food, it isn’t all that bad)
Hiiro never went to a festival back in Japan, so he was quite drawn to this new experience. Though it was typically for him to wish that this crowd wasn’t here.
A lot of stalls were similar to the ones in Japan, like a shooting range or drawn lots. Muir was enjoying it to the fullest, but after walking around for a while, Hiiro’s mentality finally started to reach its limit.
(Aw, this sucks. People bump into me and step on my feet… Can’t they all disappear?)
His thoughts started to wander into dangerous waters. Then he spotted a rather large stall. The sign of the stall read as following:
≪Happiness Shark Sandwich≫
Arnold, looking at the same sign, showed a surprised expression.
“N- No way… THAT Happiness Shark?”
“You know it?”
“Yeah, of course! It’s an ingredient each cook would like to prepare at least once!”
Hiiro presumed that it must be something really good from his excited attitude.
“Listen, the Happiness Shark only lives in the ≪Great Bull Sea≫. Moreover, only at its deepest part, so it rarely comes up to the surface. It’s like super rare, but it appears for a short while for laying eggs. It body has a beautiful pink colour and a jade-green horn on its head. It’s said that every single part of its body, be it the horn or fangs, can eaten!”
Arnold spoke with passion, but Hiiro basically had no interest in animals, so it went in one ear and out the other.
“So, is it good?”
“Of course! Listen, its taste is said… to top even the ‘Aqua Hound Meat’!”
“Buy it. Now.”
In an instant, Hiiro’s look changed to something close of a killing intent.
“S- Sure.. b- but.”
“What?”
“Look there.”
“Mh?”
Arnold pointed at a cylinder lottery like you often saw at shopping districts.
“They have a limited stock… so you have to win that to eat it.”
“Say… what!?”
A shiver run all over his body. Coming all the way here and not getting to eat this delicious food? Hiiro bit his lips on this torture.
“Each person has one try and it looks like several won already… Oh, the plate says they only have six portions left… The line’s pretty long too, so I guess it’s no good.”
Hiiro clenched his fist frustrated as he saw Arnold throwing in the towel.
(Wait, wait. That ‘Aqua Hound Meat’ was awesome. But I can’t eat the food in front of my eyes that’s even better? How’s that possible… No, the word giving up isn’t in my dictionary)
Hiiro raised his face with a jerk and glared at the stall.
“Let me give you my thanks, old man.”
“Huh?”
“My thanks for showing me this.”
“Gladly, but you can’t eat it…”
“No, there’s no reason to give up.”