At this university, I have an undercla.s.sman called Kinos.h.i.+ta Maki.

She's one year below me and partic.i.p.ates in the same circle I do. It was the Earth Science Research a.s.sociation, in short 『ESRA』, it's other name『club for those who love rocks』.

From the glittering jewels to the freshly unearthed ore, as long as one loved rocks it was good, it was a broad gathering for fanatics. We would walk around stone shops and museums and go out drinking while lively chattering about stones. The power stone boom had an effect, but our circle was quite successful.

Because it coincided with the circle of a co-ed college in the neighborhood, there was plenty of interaction with boys and it might've been popular because people were aiming for that too. Thanks to that there were members who were more interested in the opposite s.e.x rather than rocks, but well, there were these types in any college circle, so whatever.

My undercla.s.sman Maki in the『ESRA』had a charming orange-brown color hair that was curled. Though she was a girl that wore makeup that made the best of the shape of her face, she was a member who properly had an interest in stones. And for some reason, she was attached to me.

According to her, it was because『Michiru-senpai is interesting!』.

I'm unaware if I'm doing something intriguing, but somehow my actions seem to catch her interest.

I'm not in a position where I can comment on other people's hobbies, but…… She's popular,  but this girl who hangs around me rather than the male students, to be honest, isn't she a weirdo?

As I licked my strawberry milk gelato with a smile, Maki-chan found me and approached.

「I found you, Michiru-senpai! You're eating ice cream alone again in a place like this.  Like always, you sure walk down your own path.」

「I'm just eating ice cream, it's not like I'm going off on my own. It's yummy you knowー, I love strawberry milkー」

While enjoying the harmony of the rich milk and the refres.h.i.+ng strawberry, I replied with a slack face.

「No no Senpai, girls usually go out to eat with friends, don't they? Michiru-senpai's air of freedom is really interesting. Curling up in a chair and earnestly eating your ice cream, it's like Senpai is a small wild animal, it's interesting. And the pink ice cream matches you too much, it's moe!」

Maki-chan who is laughing pleasantly, are you at an age where you find everything interesting?

「Ah, right right, Senpai, take a look at this. I thought I'd show you this, so I looked for you.」

It seems Maki-chan had business with me. While standing, she reached a hand into her bag and rummaged around.

「Oh my, it seems I've caused you some trouble then. So, are you going to show me something good? Stone? Are you talking about a stone?」

I urged her while staring intently at Maki-chan's bag.

「……Senpai, please don't be lured by a stone and get kidnapped by a bad guy one day. Michiru-senpai is baby-faced, so I'm actually pretty worried.」

Speaking like she was an adult, from the bag that seemed to be brand name, she pulled out a tawny cloth bag with a flower pattern and put it on the table. And when I peeked into the bag made out of soft materials（so the gems wouldn't get damaged）, there was a palm sized crystal inside.

「Gem! It's a gem! Hurry! Hurry and give it here!」

Scarfing down the waffle cone, I vigorously wiped my hands on my jeans and stuck out both of my hands.

「Easy girl, whoa」

In a voice that was plainly regarding me as a horse, towards me who was her great Senpai who was in the position of guiding her in our circle (it's a lie, I'm sorry), Maki-chan took the gem out of the bag and put it on top of my hands.

「When I looked around the new power stone shop, they were holding some sort of fortune telling event with gems, and I was recommended this by a mysterious person in a black veil that was there. It's was 1000 yen and I was curious, so I bought it instantly.」

「Mysterious person in a black veil! Uwah, I want to see that. So the stone dealer held a pretty interesting cosplay fortune telling event, huh. Tte…… Huh?…… This…… Isn't this a considerably good quality sto……ne……」

I stopped messing around, observing the stone in my hand and swallowing a breath.

「Eehh, wait. This can't be 1000 yen. It's of a different grade……No, maybe two grades? Or even……three……」

The crystal that cl.u.s.tered like ore had well regulated features and was the size of around half an egg, several crystals bunched together. Each crystal was immaculate, a faint blue in color.

And, other than smokey crystals or rose quartz, within the normal colorless and transparent crystals, a slightly blue one like this was unusual. Certainly there were things called blue crystals, but those were manufactured and dyed, it was a gem close to gla.s.s marble, and did not exist in nature.

The appearance was beautiful, there were no conspicuous scratches when I looked inside the crystal, it was a gem in un.o.bjectionable fine condition.

From the thoughts of I who had seen a large variety of stones, this was over 10,000 yen, it wouldn't be strange if a price above its grade was stuck onto it, it was a high-level high-quality gem.

To buy this for 1000 yen, wouldn't this surpa.s.s the scope a simple bargain buy?

I looked at Maki-chan, who didn't look too happy for some reason.

Next >>

In which I broke up some sentences and butchered some meanings and ran around like a headless chicken because I know next to nothing about power stones and such and then just gave up and flopped down dead. Ahh, I’m tired…

If anybody is wondering, they finally go to the other world in chapter 4. MMC appears in ch 7? I believe? And actual romancing… Well, let’s just say it’ll be a long journey. Un.

long vowel mark (usually only used in katakana)