In the shop owner's opinion, Makoto and Raiden Ei should be a couple.
Even if they weren't lovers, their relationship should be more than friendship, but not quite love.
This bouquet of flowers might just bring the two of them closer.
Makoto looked at the flowers in his hand, then up at Ei.
He had thought Raiden Ei would not be interested in flowers.
But to his surprise, Ei's attention was completely focused on the bouquet.
Indeed, women are, after all, creatures who appreciate romance.
This held true even for Raiden Ei.
However, the next second,
Makoto saw Raiden Ei stroking her chin, saying with confusion, "Flowers cannot stay fresh permanently; they should Decay very quickly."
"If flowers clearly cannot achieve eternity, why do humans like to express emotions in this way?"
Makoto:???
Seeing Raiden Ei staring intently at the flowers, he had thought Ei liked them.
After all that, Ei was actually pondering why people liked giving flowers.
So, there really are shut-in girls in this world who don't like romance.
In response, Makoto said, "Ei, you don't have to overcomplicate the problem."
"People like to give flowers to express emotions simply because girls like romance. That alone is enough."
Ei looked up at Makoto and asked, "What is romance?"
She had been confined to the Plane of Euthymia for far too long.
For Ei, romance was an incomprehensible word.
If Yae Miko were here, she would probably answer, "Only I can tease you; no one else can. That is romance."
However, Makoto naturally couldn't answer that way.
He pondered for a moment, then patiently explained, "Romance is a state, roughly speaking, the small details and warmth between lovers."
Seeing that Ei still didn't understand, Makoto continued, "Let's take giving flowers as an example."
"Although flowers will Decay quickly after blooming, they are exceptionally beautiful when they are in full bloom."
"And the reason people give flowers to those they like is..."
"It roughly means that although the time a flower blooms is short, I want to witness this most beautiful moment with you."
As his words fell, Raiden Ei nodded, half-understanding.
"Makoto likes me and wants to witness the most beautiful moment of the flowers with me, is that what it means?"
"Eh?"
Honestly, Makoto was very surprised; he hadn't expected Ei to understand it that way.
That's some corporate-level understanding!
Immediately after, Raiden Ei spoke to herself.
"Although I still can't quite understand human emotions, I am willing to witness the most beautiful time of the flowers with Makoto."
As she spoke, Raiden Ei took the flowers from Makoto's hand.
It was at this moment that Makoto heard the system's voice in his mind.
"Ding! Detected that Raiden Ei's friendship has increased from 0 to 1."
"Congratulations, Host, you have received one intertwined fate."
The shut-in girl's friendship increased.
Watching Ei accept the flowers, the Little Ones beside her were well-behaved and neither cried nor made a fuss.
Because Makoto also often bought them flowers, they didn't feel unbalanced.
Compared to flowers, what interested them more was the Theater Mechanicus.
Especially Ningguang and Little Ayaka,
The two Little Ones usually liked playing chess, so their minds were already on the game.
Fortunately, Inazuma was currently holding a festival, and all the text content had already been translated,
so Ningguang could easily understand the game's rules and quickly got the hang of it.
Raiden Ei and Makoto also followed closely.
Looking at the rules on the chessboard, Raiden Ei was somewhat confused: "Why don't the monsters destroy the mechanisms along the way, but foolishly walk past them?"
"If it were a real battlefield, they should destroy weapons that affect the course of the battle immediately."
Regarding Ei's confusion, Makoto patiently explained that it was just a tower defense game.
That's just how the game's mechanics work.
Compared to Ningguang and Little Ayaka, who were very interested in playing chess,
the other several Little Ones were not as keen on it.
Xiao Qiqi didn't understand, only feeling it looked very impressive.
Beidou and Shenhe felt that simulating battles with chess was boring, far less simple and direct than having a good fight.
As for Sara, she had never been exposed to chess since she was young and also couldn't understand the game's mechanics.
This was surprisingly consistent with Raiden Ei.
Watching the chess game, Sara felt a bit bored. Her gaze drifted to other directions.
Immediately after, her attention was drawn to a certain area.
Looking closely, it was a group of people standing in front of a railing, drawing bows and shooting arrows.
There must be an archery event taking place there,
and if one got first place, they could even win a reward.
Immediately after, Sara tugged on Makoto's sleeve, looked up, and seriously said, "Brother Makoto, can I go participate in the competition?"
Not only Sara, but Beidou, Shenhe, Keqing, and even Qiqi, were all attracted to the archery event.
They didn't understand chess, but they wanted to try archery.
...
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