More than two months had passed since our memorable first meeting, yet Hiyori was still just as gloomy as before.
"Ehehehe... lately, life's been very fulfilling too," she answered, yet what she said was, "People are born to suffer, after all. I've gone through lots of hardship recently too..."
Suddenly, I felt a complicated mix of emotions and did not know what to say.
Should I feel dissatisfied with Hiyori's pessimism? Or angry at Beatrice's oppression?
Or should I instead... feel guilty over my own inaction?
"Ah, right, um."
Hiyori suddenly spoke again, her expression becoming noticeably more lively.
"Thanks to the medicine sensei gave me last time, Misaki's fever went away really quickly after she took it. As expected of something bought from a convenience store, it worked way better than expired medicine..."
"...I see."
But her words gave me no comfort whatsoever.
"A-and also..." the green-haired girl stammered while carefully looking at me, "Princess asked where those things came from. I-I originally wanted to lie and say I found them somewhere, but for some reason she was really serious about it, s-so I ended up telling Princess about sensei..."
Although I had already expected this possibility, my heart still skipped a beat.
"And then?"
"Ah, Princess also said that we absolutely must not mention anything about sensei to Madam."
Hearing that, I relaxed a little.
It seemed that the Arius Princess whom I had never met also regarded the other Squad members as companions.
"And Princess said if I ever met you again, I should pass along her thanks..."
Hiyori paused, then hurriedly explained,
"P-Princess isn't looking down on you or anything. It's just that after the leader was assigned to stay by your side, Princess's movements became even more restricted, so..."
I gave a quiet acknowledgment before asking,
"Did you tell her or Misaki anything else? For example, that Saori is currently with me?"
"Ah, sorry, I-I told Princess everything... But regarding sensei, we haven't said anything at all to Misaki, and she didn't ask either. B-but Misaki is pretty smart, so I think she might have guessed something..."
At this point, I had a rough understanding of the current state of the Arius Squad.
Just as I was about to probe for more information, a loud sneeze rang out, followed by voices and approaching footsteps.
Turning toward the entrance, I soon saw several familiar figures emerge from the crack in the wall.
The three girls who had left earlier had successfully brought Natsu back.
After being trapped in the cave for several hours, the pink-haired girl's nose was slightly red, and she looked utterly drained. But the moment she saw the scene inside the cavern, she instantly perked up, her eyes sparkling.
"Oohhh! The legendary dessert actually exists!"
"Huh...? You all came here for this too?"
Hiyori became strangely excited and even spoke up voluntarily in front of strangers.
"Ehehehe... so even refined Trinity ladies would travel all the way out to a place like this for free maple syrup icicles? I-I thought everyone here just ate Swiss rolls three meals a day..."
As I stepped forward and draped a coat from my bag over Natsu's shoulders, my brow twitched.
Why did that example sound so familiar?
Yoshimi could not help retorting,
"Hold on, where did that weird stereotype even come from?"
"Eh? I-I saw it on social media. So it's not true?"
"That's just some obsessive Swiss roll fanatic. Besides, desserts and proper meals are completely different..." Kazusa then asked curiously, "By the way, what school are you from?"
I stepped in at the perfect time to smooth things over.
"She's a student from a very small school. You probably haven't heard of it."
Airi also smiled.
"Ah, come to think of it, you're one of sensei's students, right? Nice to meet you, I'm Airi."
"Ah, h-hello..."
Hiyori's naturally timid personality returned once the excitement wore off, and she awkwardly exchanged names with the members of the After-School Sweets Club.
Then, Natsu, who had clearly been impatient this whole time, stepped forward and gazed up at the amber-colored icicles.
"Whoa...! This color, this texture, it's exactly like the magazine described!"
She turned back around, the corners of her mouth raised.
"My friends, this is romance. If you don't hold onto a spirit of exploration and dismiss every piece of information as fabricated nonsense, then you'll never experience this kind of excitement."
The blonde girl's face darkened as she deliberately looked away from Natsu's smug expression.
"Hmph. You just got lucky this time."
"Ehehehe, y-you all came because of the magazine too?"
"Yep. Hiyori-chan did too?"
Hiyori nodded happily.
"Mhm! Thanks to the brand-new magazines sensei gave me, otherwise I don't know how long it would've taken before I discovered a place hiding something this amazing!"
"...Sensei gave them to you?"
The feeling of mutual understanding that had just appeared on Natsu's face instantly vanished without a trace.
After thinking for a moment, she asked again,
"By the way, from the way Hiyori-chan described it, you've already tasted them, right? How are they? Are they good?"
"They're super delicious!" the green-haired girl answered decisively. "Sweet and sour and icy cold. I've never eaten anything this tasty before! And they're free, and there's so many of them!"
Although her description was extremely lacking, it was still enough to awaken the dessert-loving instincts of the girls.
Especially Natsu, who had been trapped in the cave for so long. Drool was already leaking from the corner of her mouth.
"Everyone, I think it's time to enjoy the fruits of our successful expedition! I haven't had anything sweet for several hours already, I'm reaching my limit."
"Ah, i-if you're in a hurry..."
Hearing that, Hiyori hesitated briefly before reluctantly grabbing her sack.
"I can share some of the ones I collected first..."
"Ooh! Friendship and bonds, this is the true romance of adventure! Then I shall gratefully accept!"
Natsu unceremoniously took an icicle, followed by the other members of the Sweets Club.
Then Hiyori looked toward me.
"Se-sensei, please have one too..."
I calmly accepted Hiyori's goodwill and followed after the girls, who had already started licking the icicles with their pink tongues as though eating popsicles, tasting it myself.
"H-how is it?" the green-haired girl asked expectantly. "It's really good, right?"
Actually, it was not.
The sweetness existed, but it was extremely faint, completely overwhelmed by the sharp sourness.
The members of the After-School Sweets Club exchanged glances, all looking somewhat disappointed.
But seeing Hiyori's expectant expression, I still answered vaguely,
"Yeah, it has a very unique taste."
"Ehehehe~ right?" She smiled with narrowed eyes. "Being able to taste something this delicious makes it totally worth it, even if my stomach hurts for a really long time every time afterward!"
"...Huh?"
The expressions of both me and the girls from the Sweets Club all froze at once.
Thanks to Hiyori's reminder, we finally realized something.
These sugar maple sap icicles were naturally formed.
Which naturally meant they had never gone through any food safety inspections at all.