“Can I help you with something?”

Seeing Debra in distress, the shopkeeper smiled gently and said, “Do you have something to say?”

“By any chance, do you remember the woman with brown hair who comes every month at the beginning of the month? She’s slightly taller and thinner than me. Short bangs, neatly combed side hair…”

“Are you talking about Ms. Ford by any chance?”

“Yes, that’s right!”

Debra, who smiled widely, opened her mouth.

“In fact, I came here on Jane’s request, but I didn’t know what flavor to buy.”

“Oh my, you’re working at the Head family with Mr. Ford! Haha, Mr. Ford likes lemon and lavender flavors the most.”

“Then, can you please pack it that way?”
“Yes. Please wait a moment.”

The owner scooped candies with a small wooden scoop into a palm-sized paper box, delicately opening a glass jar containing subtly yellow candies and another containing lavender petals. The candies, gradually filling the small box, looked so lovely.

Looking at the sparkling candies with glittering eyes, Debra thought,

‘Should I buy just one box too?’

It seemed like buying candies would make her happy for some reason.

‘Yes. Let’s just buy a small one.’

With her mind made up, Debra turned her eyes to numerous candies. Should she go for red? Or maybe purple? Strangely, despite her hunger, she ended up choosing by color rather than taste.

‘Yellow does look the prettiest after all.’

But even among yellow candies, there were quite a few.

“Wrapping is done!”

Holding the beautifully wrapped box, Debra said to the smiling owner,

“Oh, I’m sorry, but is it okay if I purchase one more box?”

“Oh my! Of course! What kind would you like?”

“I would prefer yellow, but there are so many types of yellow.”

The owner, leisurely smiling, explained the candy types.

“From the left, there’s just lemon flavor, a mix of lemon and herb, pumpkin flavor, and orange flavor. Personally, I recommend the mix of lemon and herb. It’s really fresh and cool!”

“Oh, then can you mix that one with the orange flavor?”

“Sure.”

With that, Debra put her colleague’s candy deep into her bag and tightly held her own candies with both hands as she left the store. It felt like her heart was pounding in her hands.

‘It feels like I bought jewelry.’

How should she eat such beautiful candies? Debra felt she might not easily eat them. However, if her colleagues asked for some, she would share.

‘No, it might feel a bit wasteful.’

Hmm. It seemed better to avoid being caught buying candies.

‘Is this being too greedy?’

Debra’s conscience hurt a bit.

‘But I just want to quietly watch for a week.’

That way, she could taste one by one when the time came and share them with her colleagues. Then it should be fine.

As Debra was about to put the candy box she firmly held into her bag,

“Oh!”

Someone rushed from behind and bumped into Debra, causing her to stagger and accidentally drop the candy box she was holding.

Suddenly, colorful candies jumped into the air from the flimsy paper box, then quickly succumbed to gravity and fell to the ground.

“Oops!”

Debra looked down at the broken or slightly battered candies scattered on the street in dismay.

“Tsk!”

A young voice caught Debra’s ears. In front of her, a skinny boy with a crushed hat stared at Debra with peculiar eyes.

“What a fool standing all round and causing a scene.”

The boy lightly patted Debra’s arm, which was clearly much cleaner than hers.

“…….”
Debra couldn’t say a word. It’s said that when people experience something absurd, their words fail them, and I realized it for the first time at that moment.

“Hey.”

Swallowing hard and regaining composure, Debra called out to the boy. At that moment, noise erupted from the opposite alley.

“Did this punk run away with something?”

What’s the commotion about? Debra craned her neck and looked at the direction of the noise, but there was nothing visible inside the alley, and the voices weren’t distinct.

Debra, who unnecessarily hurt her head, looked back in front of her. The boy who had been glaring at her just disappeared.

“Oh my.”

Desperately focusing her attention to the end of the street, Debra gradually saw the boy’s figure moving away.

“You’re quite fast.”

Debra absentmindedly stared at the retreating figure of the boy. Only after the boy’s figure completely vanished did Debra sadly look at the dropped candies.

“Oh no.”

Not having eaten even a single one, it was regrettable to waste them like this. Debra sighed deeply and, sitting down, picked up the candies. It was a bit disheartening.

If only she had taken one and eaten it right away. In that case, it wouldn’t have been so regrettable.