Chapter 42

Mission 42 (: 42) is the forty-second chapter of the SPY x FAMILY manga, written and illustrated by Tatsuya Endo. It was released on March 8, 2021.

Summary
The chapter begins with rumors of the Pastry of Knowledge, considered one of the Seven Wonders of Eden Academy. It's said that a mysterious patissier randomly appears in the cafeteria and offers extraordinarily delicious desserts. As many of those who managed to eat this pastry have become Imperial Scholars, it's become rumored that the pastry makes one instantly smarter.

Anya Forger and Becky Blackbell play pretend with their matching sheep dolls. Becky tries to play a romantic story with a prince and a battle story with twins separated at birth but Anya doesn't understand and refuses to play along. Becky tells Anya news about how they're going to divide them into new classes by ability at the end of the term. After hearing Becky's explanation, Anya is horrified that she might be all alone so Becky encourages her to work harder. Becky adds that it's rumored to be based on not just midterms and finals, but tomorrow's quizzes too and is particularly disgusted at one of them being on Classical Language.

Next to them, Anya and Becky overhear an older male student whispers loudly to another student about the Pastries of Knowledge selling in Dining Hall 2, made by a formal royal chef visiting today. The student adds that eating one guarantees one for Imperial Scholar, to the shock of Anya and Becky, and that they're macarons this year. They quickly run off to get them before the limited supply runs out. Anya and Becky look at each other before they run off as well.

Anya thinks she could be a genius if she eats one while Becky is excited to try macarons from a former royal chef. They soon see a queue of students for the pastries but Damian Desmond, Emile Elman and Ewen Egeburg run up next to them with the same goal. The server announces that there's only one order left of the special Pierre Pommier Macaron set. The two groups try to be first to get the last set but are stunned when George Glooman has already ordered the macarons. The server announces that the special item is sold out as George cheers for his luck.

Damian and Becky rush up to George and demand he give the macarons to them. When George says it's his as he bought it with his own allowance, Damian reminds him that he never returned the stationary set, Becky is upset that she sang for him under false pretenses, and Anya is mad about the leaf. George concedes to give up four macarons out of the set of five macarons. They realize they have five people and decide to have a round of old maid to determine who gets the macarons.

Anya initially doesn't know the rules as she's never played cards before so Becky quickly explains the rules. Damian and Emile scheme to stick Anya with the joker but Anya easily figures out which of their cards is the joker with her mind-reading abilities and gets rid of all her cards. Damian and his friends are in disbelief and accuse her of cheating. Damian thinks the only other explanation is that she can read minds if she isn't cheating, shocking Anya. Anya panics and suggests they play another round. She decides she needs to make mistakes on purpose. When it's her turn, she purposefully takes the joker from Ewen's deck. Damian and his friends laugh at Anya, tempting her to hit them but Becky calms her down.

It's Damian's turn to take a card from Anya and Anya must pass the joker, but unfortunately Anya's facial expression are very easy to read. Damian easily picks out another card from her deck. Everyone else manages to get rid of cards, leaving only Anya and Damian. George comments that Damian is terrible at the game as well, while Becky cheers Anya on. Anya panics at the thought that won't get a macaron and thus fail her tests and be in a different class from Becky. As Damian is about to take a card, Anya begins to cry.

George gives everyone their share of the macaron, except Damian as he purposefully took the joker at the sight of her crying face. Anya offers to share half of her macaron with Damian. Damian blushes and rudely rejects her in embarassment, walking away. The four students eat their macarons. Anya is fired up after eating the pastry and studies excitedly all the way until the quizzes tomorrow.

When their results come back, Henry Henderson shows that Anya's quiz results are just as bad as before. The other students stare at Anya. Becky tries to cheer up the depressed Anya that she'll make it up on her finals.

At home, Loid Forger and Yor Forger look at Anya's quiz papers while Anya goes to her room to sulk. Loid notes that she would have done well on her Classical Language test if she hadn't lost so many points for spelling mistakes. As Anya cries into her penguin doll, he wonders how she did so well if they barely studied Classical Language and if she is acquainted with it due to her upbringing, but decides there's no point to wondering. Loid tells Anya that he made her favorite hamburg steak for dinner and Anya is quickly happy again. Yor also says she tried to make dessert and Bond Forger barks in horror.