The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

When we were preparing for the camping trip, the only food I bought was meat—and the vegetables needed to go with it.

Thinking back, we had all gone to the grocery store and picked out whatever we wanted. I grabbed a few greens for salads and wraps, since eating only meat gets a little greasy. Just having samgyeopsal felt lacking, so we added other cuts, some bacon, sausages, onions, and potatoes.

And some soda to drink with it all. I figured that would be more than enough.

But apparently, the others didn’t think so.

We didn’t fry rice over the charcoal grill, but once the meat was gone, a large aluminum pot was suddenly placed on top of it.

At first, I thought they were about to make ramen, but for some reason, what was bubbling inside was... bulgogi.

“Uh... I thought this would be easier to eat than something spicy...”

Alice said, looking away when she noticed my bewildered expression.

And it wasn’t just the aluminum pot either.

Next to it, for whatever reason, was an even larger and sturdier pot. Inside, it was unmistakably... galbijjim, beef short rib stew, bubbling away.

...I should’ve known the moment I saw the ribs soaking in water earlier.

For the record, they’d bought a lot of ribs. We’d already grilled and eaten quite a bit of it.

“...More types of food is always better, right?”

Charlotte said, almost defensively, when I stared at her.

I’d treated them to galbijjim once before, and I guess it had really left an impression on her.

But did these pot dishes really have to be on the grill? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to set up a gas burner on the side?

Well, it was too late now. No point arguing.

“I can still eat more, but just a bit more and I’ll be full. You guys think you can finish this?”

“Of course!”

Claire’s eyes sparkled.

“I can eat more too.”

Mia said, her face set with determination.

I mean... Claire, sure. But Mia? Where is all that food even going? Does she have a few more stomachs than I do?

At this rate, she’d wake up tomorrow a few centimeters taller from all the excess nutrients. Well, more likely she’d just get chubbier first.

As Claire cheerfully pulled out a pack of instant rice, I was at a loss for words.

*

Among us, I probably ate the least. Though I still ate more than your average girl my age, even I had my limits. Eventually, the other four girls also had to leave some food behind.

But we didn’t throw it away.

We just covered it up and set it aside to eat again later, if the mood struck.

Around sunset, Alice opened the car and pulled out something that looked like a roll of fabric.

She set up a frame in the open space and hung the roll from it. When she unfurled it, it became a pretty impressive screen.

“You prepared that too?”

“Yeah... well, I wanted to try everything I could this time.”

So this was her idea of an “aesthetic camping trip”—she really brought everything she could {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} think of.

Not that I didn’t get it. I had a bit of a fantasy about this kind of thing too.

I’d once read a blog post about someone who watched movies on a screen set up on a rooftop with their friends. I’d thought it was amazing, but I’d never owned a building, never lived in a rooftop room, and never even thought of buying a projector—so I never tried.

But now, we had a car, we had money, and most importantly, I had friends who’d actually do something like this with me.

I’d thought that kind of time was already behind me—but somehow, it had come around again.

“It’s fine. I wanted to do it, so I’ll set it up.”

“But this is a group camping trip. You’re not watching the movie alone.”

Alice tried to stop me as she was setting up the screen, but I got up and unfolded a small table she’d brought out with it.

“Like this, right?”

“Ah, yeah. Thanks. Sorry. Didn’t mean to make you help.”

...Huh?

I frowned slightly and looked up at her. Alice averted her eyes and started mumbling an explanation.

“It’s just... I was having fun at first, but then I started thinking—this is all with your money. Claire drove the car...”

“Claire insisted on driving, you know.”

“I know, but still. It feels like I’m just taking all the time.”

“Wasn’t it Claire who had the most fun running around earlier?”

I was genuinely baffled.

“And it’s not like the rest of us weren’t running around too. We all ate like crazy. No one forced us. The food was good, and we all wanted to come. If you didn’t want to come, you would’ve said something from the start.”

“Oh... I guess?”

“You’re saying weird stuff.”

Charlotte had wandered over and chimed in.

“It’s not like we came here just for Alice. We came to have fun together, not to entertain you.”

Alice’s face turned bright red.

“Why are you suddenly apologizing all by yourself?”

Claire wore the same confused expression as me.

“I didn’t mean it like that... Wait! Claire—what’s that in your hand...!?”

“Oh, sorry, your expression was just too good, I couldn’t help it.”

Claire said, holding up her mirrorless camera.

Alice reached out to cover the lens, but Claire nimbly dodged her attempts.

“It’s a video, you know? Too late to stop it now!”

“Give me that! I’m deleting the whole thing!”

“But it’s such a great shot! I could totally use this in a vlog.”

...She had a point. It was so picture-perfect and full of emotion, people might even think it was staged.

Claire ran off toward the beach, and Alice chased after her.

Off in the distance, we could hear them shouting at each other as they ran—one fleeing, one pursuing.

“Ohhh.”

Mia let out an impressed hum as she recorded the scene with her phone.

“Let’s keep setting up.”

“Agreed.”

Charlotte nodded in response to my comment.

While Alice and Claire chased each other around, we finished preparing the movie setup.

*

Alice, ever the meticulous one, had even chosen the movie ahead of time. She must have anticipated we might upload some of this later, because she’d purchased a movie through a global streaming platform’s VOD service.

It was a Japanese film.

Technically, it had come out a few years ago. In my own timeline, it had been over ten years—but since only a year or so had passed in this world since I left, it counted as a “recent” movie here.

Alice connected her smartphone to the portable projector, and we all positioned our chairs facing the screen to watch. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Everyone had their own style. Alice and Charlotte sat properly, using the chairs like actual chairs. Claire leaned back a little, half-lounging. I reclined completely, with a cushion behind my head, lifting my chin slightly to watch the screen. Mia lay on her side, wrapped in a blanket, using her fully unfolded chair like a bed.

The movie was well-suited for camping. No graphic violence or explicit scenes.

But... it was definitely a tearjerker.

Maybe she’d searched “movies to watch while camping.” The story followed a man and his cat on a journey. The man could no longer keep the cat and was traveling around looking for someone to adopt it. The film featured inner monologues narrated from the cat’s perspective, which left a strong impression.

And, like most films of this type, the twist was—

Sniff.

I heard Claire sniffle.

Mia had her blanket pulled up to her eyes, and while Alice and Charlotte weren’t openly sobbing, their eyes glistened.

“...I don’t think I could ever have a pet.”

“Yeah. I’d be devastated if it died before me.”

...The movie actually had it the other way around, but I understood the sentiment. After all, cats don’t live as long as humans.

“Oh, right. Unni, didn’t you have a pet too?”

“...Me?”

“Yeah. Back when we were fighting.”

“...”

Wait, was she talking about... that?

“...Calling a gryphon a pet takes a certain kind of boldness, but seriously, can you really say it’s a pet just because it jumped in to save me?”

“Why not? It looked like it really liked you.”

“No. No way a gryphon sees me as its owner.”

“I don’t know about that.”

Charlotte, who had been listening nearby, chimed in.

“When you disappeared, it looked so restless. It kept running around like it was searching for you. I told it you’d be okay and it seemed to calm down a little.”

That all happened in just those five minutes?

“She’s right. I’m sure it really does care about you.”

Mia added softly.

...That feeling, huh?

I honestly wanted to know what that meant.