Oh, man. I have no idea.
　I sat Aria down in front of the mirror and tried to judge by her expression which color was the right one.
　But...
　-- are you kidding me?　This guy's not changing his expression at all. Help me, maestro of love.

　Which one do you want?

　It's not good. We can't afford to take any more time to... Yes!　Let's ask them when they want to wear it!

　What do you need this ribbon for?
　'What?　I was thinking of wearing it to the festival?　Is it still weird?
　No, no, no, no, no.　I think it's cute. Yeah, I think it's great cute.

　God d*mn it!　Where's the usual f*cking Gakiakiaia!　Stop bawling your eyes out!　Why is he descending into maiden mode?

　'I knew it!　As God, I have to show I'm different from the rest of you!

　Yeah. I knew it was the foundation of it. No, I knew that, didn't I?　But I don't know how to respond.
　What to do. Hmmm....

　"Which one do you think Aria would prefer?

　Oh, my God!　I just blurted it out!

　'I thought they were both good, so I was going to let Kakeru decide.

　What makes you think he would put me in charge of something so important? I don't know what he meant.

　"Oh, okay. Well, I think I'll take the light blue one.

　I stopped thinking about things and said the first color I chose.

　"Light blue?

　Wow. He looks so frustrated. That's what happens when you make a choice wrong.

　'By the way, can I ask you why you chose this one?
　That's because they're the same color as your eyes.
　Is that all?

　......... What am I going to do?　I don't have this kind of experience!　All I know is what I saw in the cartoons!　Let's just say the right things. I'll say it.

　No, actually, that's not all. Most of the colors that people find beautiful with their eyes are blue. If you're going to be seen, it's better to be considered beautiful by many people, right?

　I don't know.

　"...thank you. Please buy this.

　Aria turned over and handed me the light blue one's ribbon.
　I'm sure the insensitive protagonist here would probably say "yes, yes" and miss this guy's reaction.
　But I'm not such an insensitive type.
　Aria is embarrassed right now!　I'm embarrassed to the point of being this blatantly embarrassed!
　Because my ears are red!　I'm shaking with joy!
　Phew, that's ... you win.

　All right. I'll get you some more, and I'll meet you outside the store.
　Yes?

　Oh my goodness!　I'm so embarrassed!
　I took the light blue ribbon to the counter in the store with a mysterious sense of satisfaction.
　The kind-looking lady with green hair and glasses at the counter responded with a gentle smile.

　''Is this a gift for that girl?''
　It's not much of a present, though.
　Kakeru-san, you're so kind.
　'What?　Why is my name--
　'You're famous, Kakeru.　You're just starting out and all you do is slay dragon type monsters.

　Hmm. I didn't know that. I didn't know I was that famous.
　I had just overcome a hardship, and my mood is even higher.
　But I can't show my happiness here. I can't let people think I'm such a cheap guy.

　Oh, the reward is good, so it's unavoidable. It's unavoidable.
　'You're very strong!　That will be your bill, seven hundred saris.
　Yes.
　Oh, they're just for show. I'll get a new one.
　Please.

　The sister disappeared straight to the door behind the counter and came out in less than a few seconds with a gentle smile on her face.

　'Here you go. I'll put it in the bag here!

　I accepted the carefully wrapped items from my sister and left the store.

　'Thank you Kakeru!'
　Okay, that's enough.

　I handed the bag of ribbons I bought to Aria and hugged the bag with a look of delight.
　Are you that happy?　That's 700 saris.
　Well, I hope you're happy.

　Where is Kakeru going now?
　I guess. Anyway, let's go out to eat. We haven't even had lunch yet.
　Eating out!

　Oh. You're full of energy.
　Then Aria and I finished our meals at a place in town that looked like a teishoku-ya, and then proceeded to step out as we felt like it.

*

　After we finished looking around the city to some extent, the incident happened.
　Me and Aria are walking down a less popular alleyway.

　''Kah, Kakeru. Why do you come to this place?
　These places are like hidden gems, you know?
　Is that so?
　Yeah.

　For some reason, I explain to a scared Aria why I'm walking down the alleyway.
　It's a promise that there are shops with unusual products in these places.
　Since the only shops on the front street were the usual ones, I stepped on the high probability that there was an unusual store away from the public eye.
　It's not surprising that there is a store where a guy who was a great wizard in the past is serving, or a store that is patronized by a great guy.
　It's not that I'm expecting a back alley bishojo event by any means. I never came here to find a store run by a beautiful girl.
　I'm just a little nervous about it.

　Hey, hey. Brother, isn't that the same one you saw last time?
　Hehe. There's a girl, too, buddy.

　I was called out to them.
　When I turned around, the two goons who got involved on the first day of reincarnation were standing there.
　With knives already ready in their hands, it was easy to see that they were looking at me and Aria as their prey.

　''Are you Kakeru's friend?''
　'No, how do I see you as a friend? You're obviously hostile.

　When the clunker clunked, I shifted my attention to the two goons.

　'What can I do for you?'

　Stay low.

　"Ghehee, you've changed...
　Walk away!

　Aria said as the little thug licked his tongue.

　''.........''

　I shift my gaze from the thug who turns his back and walks somewhere to Aria.

　'What is it?'
　No, it's nothing.

　Why was he afraid of the back alley?
　Then I explored the alleyway, but there wasn't a store like I thought there would be, only a few encounters with goons.
　Every time I encountered a thug, Aria would say something like "You're in the way" or "Please go somewhere else" and turn the thug away.
　Come to think of it, it was an incident that made me realize again that Aria's magic works on people.