Congratulate the girls.

Amongst the chaos of the festivities, you're able to move forwards to speak with both Niki and Eva, and as you do, a few of the other girls appear as well--Yin, Luna, and Laira, the latter of which is holding a waffle cone with two large, dripping scoops of vanilla ice cream. She parts the bangs from her eyes and coos out a quiet noise of absolute delight as her tongue glides to the top of the treat, and after must lick her lips to narrowly avoid making a complete mess of herself. It may not be summer-time hot, but it is already starting to melt. You wonder how such a thing would be made in this world, though only for a moment. This is a land of magic and all sorts of strange things after all.

"Great job out there, Niki," you say with a hand on the girl's shoulder.

She brings a hand back through her short, messy hair with a smile that's difficult to hide. "Well you know, I had to represent us properly, right?" As if embarrassed by the flattery, she looks to Eva and gives her a firm pat on the back. "Your match was pretty wild though, huh?"

Eva twiddles her thumbs. "Can we not talk about that?"

"But you did so well!"

With colour in her face, she moves about uncomfortably--shifting her hips left and right. "I did my best."

"This is like nothing I've ever seen before!" exclaims Yin as she quickly wraps her arms around one of your own in a warm embrace. There's an excited bound in her movements. "Have you been to this sort of thing before, Master?"

"Not exactly," you reply.

Luna turns with a chuckle to Laira who has indeed ended up with a mess, right on the tip of her nose. She lifts up a finger and gently swipes the dripping ice cream from her face, and slides it across her tongue with a, "Mmm".

I turn, Laira lights up with embarrassment. "S-Sorry," she mutters. After clearing her throat, she smiles bright. "Hiya, Kyle. Have you tried this thing they have here? I've never heard of it before. It's called like..."

"Ice cream?" you ask.

"Yeah! So you have had it before?"

You stare at the cone from a moment--melting vanilla rolling down her fingers.

Before you can reply, Eva speaks up. "Is this another thing you had back home?"

"That's right."

"Ooh. I'm so jealous. You must have had so many treats I've never even heard of. Let me try it, Laira!" she says, scurrying over.

"Hey! Be careful--" The poor smithy tries to combat the hungry bunny but to no avail.

Eva leans down and drags her tongue up to the tip, wiggling her rear in excitement at the delicious sweet taste. "Yum!"

Though Niki grabs the rabbit's shoulder. "What about me? I wanna try."

"You can just buy some yourself, you know."

"Hypocrite!"

With perfect timing, the situation is saved by the charismatic voice of the elven bard once again projecting through the microphone-like item in her hand. The audience hangs on her words, and they begin to move. After you perk up your ears and listen, you understand why.

"... the racing track. That is right, gather around. Not to race, but to witness the amazing obstacle course set up through the middle! If you desire to see a competition that you have yet again never seen before, then look no further, because this is sure to excite and surprise. The third round of our main event will begin shortly, so please come and watch if you wish, and if you are a competitor, please return to me!"

"I guess that's our cue," Eva says.

"Good luck, all of you," Luna says with a warm smile and a bow of her head. "Give us a good show."

Peony, who hasn't strayed far for obvious reasons, wanders over as well. While Yin may have looked both excited and surprised already, the forest-born woman of leaves has never seen anything remotely like this before. She grabs your other arm with a vibrant smile and giggles with glee. "I still can't believe this, m'lord. So many people, so many things. My heart is racing like never before."

"Isn't it something special?" Yin asks.

She nods. "Such a good husband, taking me on a date I'll never forget."

And by the look on the faces of random people around us, it's something they'll never forget either. I've seen humans, elves, dwarves, and all that, but Yin and Cid are so far the only ones I've seen with red skin and horns, and I haven't seen a single other like Peony.

"People stare at me as much as I stare at them!" Peony giggles again. "I guess not every dryad is so lucky, huh?"

"You are an anomaly. Also naked."

"I don't need clothes, silly!" she exclaims, releasing your arm as she cups her hands around her breasts. "Do they not know?"

"I imagine it isn't their first thought."

Vivi, not far away, waves in your direction. "Are you all coming or what?" she asks. "Or do I need to come over there and zap your butts?"

"Not my butt!" Yin cries as her grasp around you tightens.

"She's just teasing," you mutter. "Come on. Let's all get going before we miss something."