In front of the counter at ‘Starbuckers’——

“A Grande Frappuccino with added shots of almond, vanilla, milk, caramel sauce, mocha sauce, chocolate chips and ice cream please!”

Aika placed her order with a complacency smile on her face.

“A-amazing, Aika-sama!”

“You give off an aura of reliable confidence!”

That smug look of hers can even be described by the Ojou-samas with such positive words, huh?

I kinda feel a little scared now.

“Eheheh, do I now?”

Aika laughed shyly as she puffed out her flat-as-a-board chest.

“Well, that sums up how to place an order!”

“Commoners have to chant such a complicated incantation when they order coffee……”

“It looks very hard……can we do it?”

“Ahh, relax. That was an order of expert difficulty. For beginners, you can just order a hot or cold latte.”

“This is great…they serve latte here.”

“Is there any black tea?”

“There is, but coffee is their main specialty, so I don’t recommend it. There’s also the problem of the size of the beverage……”

It was like this. After our free time, we came to a Starbuckers store.

Aika who had overcome her first obstacle, kept up her momentum and made good use of the special training to get along with others smoothly.

Picking up the freshly made drinks, we walked towards the tables.

Including me and Aika, there was also Aoi-san and Asagi-san from before in the six-people group.

“Let’s put the tables together.””

“Ah, let me do it.”

“I’ll help too.”

The Ojou-samas who were still not used to this, stumbled while putting the tables together.

“Let me help too.”

Aika also joined the fray.

Everyone happily put a few tables together.

After taking their seats, the Ojou-samas stared intently at a certain spot.

And that place was——the square hole on the cover of the paper cup.

“……What is this hole for……?”

Oh, right. They don’t even know this.

“A-Aika-sama…what is this for?”

“Is this a steam vent?”

“Eh? Um…”

Aika who was questioned panicked. I forgot to teach her about that, so she should be clueless about this.

But——

“Could it be that you drink the coffee through this hole?”

“THAT’S RIGHT!”

She said that while making a useless posture. But to be honest, no matter how you look at it, it had only one purpose, so she wasn’t making up random c.r.a.p.

“Well, could you give it to me? Let me show you.”

Aika made a face of as if she was experienced in this matter, making me——

“For your information, this hole is a great invention by the commoners to drink hot beverage without feeling the heat.”

“What!?”

“Huh? Don’t tell me you don’t know about it.”

“!? O-of course I know! This is a cover that allows you to glug down any hot beverages, right!?”

“Wow, how amazing!”

“Just like magic!”

“Don’t you guys think you admire commoners a little too much?” (Kimito)

“Then why don’t you try it, Aika?”(Kimitroll)

“Yup, I’ll drink it all in one go!!”

“Ah! You idiot——”(Kimito)

“Here I go——UWAAAAAAAA SOOOO HOTTTTTTTTTTTTT——————!!”

PAK!

Just like this, I got the rewarded with the achievement of ‘The One who was Slapped Hard’.

With that, the conversations became more lively.

“Jeez, I messed up my Cla.s.sical Literature quiz.”(Aika)

“It certainly was a difficult one.”

Since everyone was in the same cla.s.s as well as living in the school dorm, there wasn’t any lack of conversation topics.

On top of that, there were 5 girls here, thus the rowdy atmosphere was natural.

And the reason for Aika’s earlier disharmony with others was just her excessive fear.

“Kyahahaha!”

But if I leave her alone at this point, TsunPure-san will most likely show her dark side accidentally. I need to pull her out before it’s too late.

“…….Um”

The moment I opened my mouth, everyone’s gaze was focused on me.

“Are you all using mobile phones?”

“Yes, sometimes.”

She took out her phone from her bag.

“But we see each other everyday, so we seldom use it, right?”

“Right.”

Seemed like they still didn’t practice this habit. Only using it occasionally——It was only to that extent. If I use Kujou-san’s words here, then it would be an ‘ideal starting point’. (TLN: Unsure,看上去果然她們還沒有把這當做一種習慣。偶爾用用——就是這樣的距離感。按九條小姐的話說就是“理想的落腳點”。)

“If that’s the case, I take it you hardly text then?”

“Yes. We can’t let the other cla.s.ses know, so we only use them to send a few text messages to each other before going to bed.”

“What about you, Aika?”

“Huh?”

Aika, who was questioned, made an unhappy face of ‘why are you asking me?’.

Hey, don’t look at me like that.

“Of course I don’t use it.”

“Then please, let us have your number!”

“Yes! Please, let us contact each other by texting!”

“……Huh?”

——Alright.

I didn’t earn my nickname ‘Sebastian’ for nothing. Controlling the topic of a conversation is a simple task for me.

“Eh? Ah?”

After a little while of panicking, Aika seemed to have realized something as she glanced at me.

I nodded in response.

“…….Yep!”

And now, we are having an email address exchanging session.

“Uh…I’m sending the text?”

“Okay…I received it!”

A bright smile surfaced on Aika’s face.

The period of time for email address exchanging really is wonderful, isn’t it?

I like the atmosphere of people making friends with others.

With all of that done, Aika successfully exchanged email addresses with others.

Good, mission accomplished!

Incidentally, Reiko was present too, it’s just that she was in another group.

She occasionally glanced towards Aika, but never attempted to approach her.

Maybe she’s trying to avoid being a hindrance, I guess? A celebrity’s interference can really mess things up.

She’s even looking after us in this aspect. How admirable.