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 is said that a mysterious pâtissier 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 has 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 does not understand and refuses to play along. Becky tells Anya news about how they are 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 the grouping is 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.

Anya and Becky overhear an older male student whispering 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 are 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 is 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 gives the macarons to them. When George says they are his as he bought them with his allowance, the kids remind him what he owes them. 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 is unaware of the rules as she has 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 is not cheating, shocking Anya. Anya panics and suggests they play another round. She decides she needs to make mistakes on purpose. On Anya's 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.

Damian's turn to take a card from Anya has arrived, and her facial expressions are very easy to read. Damian easily picks out another card from her deck. Everyone else gets rid of the cards, leaving only Anya and Damian. George comments that Damian is also terrible at the game, while Becky cheers on Anya. Anya panics at the thought of not getting a macaron, thus failing her tests and being 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, after purposefully taking 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 embarrassment, walking away. The four students eat their macarons. Anya becomes fired up after eating the pastry and studies excitedly until the quizzes the next day.

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 in disbelief. Becky tries to cheer up the depressed Anya so that she will 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 had not 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 he says there is no point in wondering. Loid tells Anya that he made her favorite hamburg steak for dinner, and Anya is quickly happy again. Yor adds that she tried to make dessert, and Bond Forger barks in horror.