The Strongest, but the Genre Is Magical Girl

“What happened earlier?”

“What did the police say?”

As soon as the classmates who didn’t hear the news returned to the bus, they came to where I was sitting and started asking questions.

I ended up explaining to each of them, repeatedly taking out and putting back the sign I had tucked into the chair.

After that, the day continued with visits to the university campus and Kinkaku-ji.

Walking here and there, the day’s sightseeing was over before I knew it.

The most memorable part of today’s schedule was definitely the magical girl incident.

No matter how much I think about it, I can’t figure out why Ms. Pink handed me her autograph.

From a negative Korean perspective, it seems like she just wanted to mess with me.

‘Well, I’ll find out more through the Minister later…’

Since we’re on a trip, I decided to set aside the negative thoughts for now and looked at the schedule to find a place for dinner.

‘Stami… Nata…ro?’

I couldn’t figure out what it was just from the name, so I placed the schedule on my lap and searched it on my smartphone with our rough pronunciation.

Stamina Taro turned out to be a meat buffet.

It was a different restaurant from the one we went to for lunch yesterday.

After sitting down with the friends I’ve been traveling with throughout Japan, we all smiled and extended our fists to the table as if we had made a pact.

“Rock-paper-scissors to decide who goes?”

I couldn’t tell if it was rigged or not.

But I’d rather get my own meat than trust these girls who don’t even know the first thing about meat.

Without even playing, I stood up and opened my mouth.

“Forget it, I’ll go get it.”

“Ugh, no fun.”

“No fun? How do you know what you’ll bring back?”

“Then I want to go this time!”

“Me too, I’m curious what’s there.”

Then, other friends stood up saying they wanted to go too.

One, two, as if playing a game of chicken, three of us stood up, leaving only one person sitting alone.

In an instant, that one person became the loser of the chicken game.

“What, am I the only one left here?”

“First come, first served, you guard the stuff~”

Leaving the friend who was left alone like a duck egg on the Nakdong River, the three of us rushed off.

Usually, in Korean buffets, there’s a side corner with various fried foods, spring rolls, kimchi rolls, and tteokbokki.

Japanese buffets also have such areas, with common side dishes like chicken and french fries.

On top of that, there’s thin pork cutlet, sushi, takoyaki, fried rice and noodles that I don’t know why they’re there, and meat and potato stew often mentioned in home cooking.

Leaving the meat to me, they said they’d fill up on what they wanted to eat and return to the table first, then disappeared.

Regardless, I leisurely headed to the meat corner.

Under the pink butcher shop lights, the meat glowed crimson.

I didn’t know what was written since it was all in Japanese, but I clicked the tongs and scooped up handfuls, filling the plate.

As long as I knew it was pork and beef, everything was fine.

‘Is this… tripe?’

Suddenly, a familiar texture of meat caught my eye.

With round chunks of fat attached and a slippery-looking skin.

At first glance, it looked like tripe, but it wasn’t round like the ones served in Korea.

Well, it’s all the same once it’s grilled, so I scooped up a handful and placed it in the corner of the plate.

While neatly stacking meat on the plate, I noticed Siyeon holding an empty plate.

Siyeon also seemed to sense a familiar presence from behind and turned around to find me.

“Ah, Mari! Did you lose rock-paper-scissors again?”

“Today, it was voluntary.”

As soon as she saw me, Siyeon asked if I had lost at rock-paper-scissors.

Feeling a bit of pride hurt in front of Siyeon, I added an explanation.

And just in case she didn’t believe me, I added the reason why I brought the meat myself.

“I’d rather get my own meat than trust them with it…”

“Hehe… why, can’t they grill it well?”

“Yeah, I’d rather put it in an air fryer.”

“Pfft.”

When she asked if they couldn’t grill the meat well, I replied that an air fryer would be better, making Siyeon burst into laughter.

While filling the empty plate with meat, Siyeon brought up a topic first.

“Oh right, did you hear about that?”

“About what?”

“Before lunch today, there was a student from our school who got taken by the police?”

‘That’s me…’

I thought she was going to tell some funny travel story, but out of nowhere, it was about me.

Before lunch, a student taken by the police.

Who else could it be but me?

If there was someone else, that would be legendary too…

I thought about revealing it was me, but I got curious about how the rumor spread in other classes and decided to listen quietly.

“What did they do?”

“I don’t know? The friends only saw the scene…”

Luckily, it seemed no strange rumors had spread, as Siyeon didn’t know the details.

It didn’t matter what other students from other classes thought, but I decided to tell her to tease her a bit.

I spoke in a monotonous voice, stating the fact.

“Uh… that was me.”

“Huh, huh?!”

With a similar tone, I answered monotonously, and Siyeon turned her head sharply towards me, startled.

Yes, this is the expression I wanted to see.

Calming down Siyeon, who was pressing for details, I promised to tell her more on KakaoTalk later and returned to the table.

Placing the plate piled high with meat down with a clatter, I naturally picked up the tongs.

I protect my own meat.

The beef and pork sizzling on the grill.

While waiting, I noticed friends filling their stomachs with other foods they had brought.

“This is delicious!”

“Guys? If you came to a meat buffet, you should eat meat…”

If you come to a buffet, you should eat your money’s worth.

Unlike me, who thinks that way, seeing friends filling up on takoyaki and yakisoba, I couldn’t help but say something.

I don’t usually interfere with what others eat, but even so, eating cheap flour dishes at an expensive meat buffet is a bit…

It’s not like you can’t eat that in Korea…

“I’ll eat when it’s all grilled-”

“Hmm, you won’t eat much?”

“I can eat it all~”

They said they’d eat when it was all grilled, that they could eat it all.

But as the bottom of the meat plate became visible, their chopstick speed noticeably slowed, and they leaned back in their chairs.

After inhaling seven takoyaki balls on the spot, I knew this would happen.

“I’m done here…”

“Hey, you said you could eat it all!”

“I’m full, if I eat more, I’ll burst…”

Leaving the friends clutching their stomachs and groaning in pain, I continued with my chopsticks.

Thanks to the friends who dropped out midway, the tripe I had saved for last became entirely mine.

It didn’t have the familiar roundness, but the slippery skin and jelly-like fat.

Sizzling on the grill, I grilled it thoroughly and popped it into my mouth.

Even though it was well-grilled, the chewy texture of the skin and the pure sweetness of the tender fat beyond it.

It was truly the best meal you could have at a meat buffet.

“I feel like I’m going to throw up…”

“Ugh, you were shoveling it in like a pig.”

“Ugh, you said it all… ugh.”

After finishing the meal, as we boarded the bus to the accommodation, the painful groans of friends who had overeaten could be heard here and there.

There’s a strange tendency to overeat at buffets.

I heard there was a student who overate at the breakfast buffet this morning and had to get off the bus to rest.

I don’t know the details since it wasn’t our class, but since we’re overseas, they probably wanted to stuff their mouths with something more.

After fastening the seatbelt, I fiddled with my smartphone and opened the chat with Siyeon, who was on another bus.

[What happened with the police?]

Siyeon’s message was the first thing I saw.

Replying quickly to the fresh message, I moved my fingers busily.

[This morning, did you know a magical girl appeared at the tourist spot?]

[Her name is Pink]

[Yeah]

[People who got her autograph are usually escorted by the police to a safe place]

[To prevent harm from obsessive fans]

[Ah]

[That’s all]

[But the teacher found out and dragged me to the bus]

[I ate eel lunchbox on the bus]

[It was delicious]

[Wow]

[We had pork cutlet and soba]

[Jealous lol]

Talking about the already passed lunch, we arrived at the accommodation.

The bags and luggage that had been cooling in the room until the sky darkened.

After immediately connecting the power bank to the charger on the wall, I lay down on the bed.

“Ugh, my legs.”

“We walked a lot today.”

Letting my legs, which had been sitting and walking all day, rest for a while, I muttered a complaint-like grumble.

Without needing a response, Seong-a from the next bed chimed in.

Is this the demeanor of a class president? So diligent.

Quite different from someone who was forced to be the vice president after getting caught in a deadly rock-paper-scissors game.

“Let’s see, where are we going tomorrow…”

“Universal Studios? I heard we’re going there.”

“Huh.”

At that time, I didn’t know.

That among the 3 nights and 4 days of the school trip, it would be the worst day ever.