Chapter 245: The Forgotten Nil
“Hey, you walked into this store with such confidence, didn’t you?”
Ivan’s incredulous expression made me feel a bit sheepish.
“Can’t you buy anything?”
Phonia held a cake piled high with fruits, her face reflecting disappointment.
“Sorry, I completely forgot about it, but thinking back, it makes sense…”
“When we were summoned for the first time, we didn’t have any luggage either.”
“Haha, well, even if we did, who knows if we could use it here?”
This world may look similar in many ways, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same.
“So, what are we going to do?”
Seeing Phonia looking up at me with sad eyes made me want to do something to help her. But then again, I couldn’t just pull out something I didn’t have. As I crossed my arms in thought, my gaze drifted to the register, where a customer was just finishing their payment.
“—That’ll be 398 yen.”
I noted that the currency was the same as back home. As I watched, the customer pulled out a smartphone and tapped it against the register. With a cheerful chime, the cashier thanked them and packed their items into a bag.
“…Can you really buy things with a smartphone?”
Rio’s quiet murmur reminded me of the items sitting uselessly in the Dimensional Box. Smartphones had electronic money, right? Yes, I knew that much, but… no way could it be that convenient, could it?
“Hahaha.”
I let out a dry laugh as I pulled out my smartphone.
“Eh?”
“Ah!”
Both Ivan and Phonia exclaimed in surprise, but trying it out wouldn’t cost anything. I still couldn’t unlock it, but at least the power turned on. I stared at the smartphone again.
“Let’s give it a try.”
Rio, clutching an instant cup of miso soup, urged me on. I wondered just how much she wanted that miso soup, but I was craving rice balls too. Why should we hold back? If it meant getting rice balls, it was worth a shot.
“Alright, it’s worth a try.”
“That’s the spirit!”
“Yay!”
“Um, let’s limit it to one item each, just in case it doesn’t work.”
“Eh?”
Rio pouted at my words and returned the bottle of soy sauce she had been holding in her left hand to the shelf. If we took too many items to the register and it didn’t work, we’d have to return everything to its original place. The thought of leaving the convenience store empty-handed was a bit too much to bear.
“Okay, everyone has picked something they want. Let’s check out.”
I held a tuna mayo rice ball in one hand as I approached the register. Rio had the instant miso soup, Phonia had the fruit-filled cake, and Ivan had a pack of snack char siu. Each time the barcode was scanned and the price added, Ivan peeked curiously over the counter.
“Your total comes to 728 yen.”
In silence, I pulled out my smartphone and placed it where the previous customer had tapped theirs. Now… would this really allow us to make a purchase? The odds were against us, but I couldn’t help but feel hopeful. If this worked, I could finally eat a rice ball. The possibilities would be endless! Who would end up paying for it didn’t matter right now; all that mattered was whether I could eat that rice ball in front of me.
“Please work…!”
As I voiced my prayer, the cashier looked a bit taken aback. Still, we needed them to do their job. The cashier took a deep breath, pressed the final key on the register, and—
Chime.
With that sound, all four of us turned our gazes toward the smartphone. The notification screen displayed “Payment Complete.”
“Wait, seriously?”
“No way!”
As Rio and I gasped in disbelief, the cashier packed our items into a bag and handed it to Ivan, completely unfazed by our astonishment.
“Thank you very much!”
With a monotonous tone, the cashier sent us on our way, and we headed toward the eat-in area of the convenience store.
“Look, it seems we managed to buy something after all.”
“Fruit-filled dessert!”
As Ivan spread the bag across the table, Phonia eagerly pulled out the cake.
“Yay… rice, rice!”
“Hehe, it’s been so long since I had miso soup.”
Of course, we were all overwhelmed with emotion at the sight of our homeland’s cuisine. We could ponder why the smartphone worked for shopping later. Right now, something more important was at hand.
With trembling hands, I pulled the rice ball from the bag and offered a silent prayer of gratitude to the heavens. Rio also retrieved her instant miso soup, peeling back the plastic lid to peek inside.
“…How do you open this?”
Ivan seemed puzzled about how to open his pack of snack char siu. It was just a matter of peeling off the film that served as a seal.
Suddenly, I sensed a presence and turned my gaze outside.
“Woof…”
There, with drooping ears and a tail, stood Nil, gazing at us through the glass with a sorrowful expression.