When I came to the supermarket to buy groceries, everyone else was there shopping too.
"Huh? Hieta and Mana?"
"Rinne and Itsuka-kun? What are you doing here?"
After I met up with Itsuka-kun and Rinne and heard them out, it turned out they were shopping for a cooking contest.
Apparently, it was going to be held in the kitchen at the spirit mansion.
Well, that place was pretty huge.
"But why a cooking contest all of a sudden?"
"Ahh, well. According to Kotori, stuff like this counts as a dating sim event, so she said it might increase our chances of escaping this world."
"I see... I can't exactly say that's wrong."
At Itsuka-kun's explanation, Mana and I nodded in agreement.
"Hmm. But Hieta."
"Yes?"
"Why are you with Mana?"
Itsuka-kun grabbed my shoulder, and an indescribable aura started pouring off him.
This feeling was just like when I first faced Gundyr.
"Ahaha, well, you see..."
"I-I'll explain!"
Mana explained everything that had happened so far.
From being chased by that weird pervert, to me reporting him, to finding Itsuka-kun inside the maid cafe.
"W-Wha... ?"
At that, cold sweat began beading on Itsuka-kun's forehead.
His eyes were twitching too. It was the obvious behavior of someone who'd been caught off guard.
"Itsuka-kun? Why are you suddenly so flustered?"
"N-No! Yeah! Thanks for helping Mana!"
At my question, Itsuka-kun deliberately dodged the answer and took his hand off my shoulder.
Then Rinne, who had been watching from the side, looked puzzled and asked me,
"Hieta. Did you maybe catch Shido's weak spot or something?"
"Huh? There's no way something like that—"
As I searched my memory at Rinne's question, one hypothesis suddenly flashed into my mind.
Maybe what Mana and I had seen today wasn't some NPC event, but Itsuka-kun's event.
"Could it be, Itsuka-kun? Was today's event a maid cafe?"
"...!"
Apparently I hit the mark, because Itsuka-kun's body jolted at my question.
Seeing that, Mana and I both smiled.
"Rinne, want to watch this?"
"Hm? What is it?"
Mana grinned and held up her phone to Rinne.
On the screen was the play button for the video I had filmed at the maid cafe.
"It's what Hieta took earlier..."
"N-No!"
Itsuka-kun desperately tried to stop Mana, but I blocked him.
"Hieta! Let go! You can't show that!"
"Hahaha! Itsuka-kun! Give up! It'll be easier that way!"
"Play!"
"Noooo!!!!"
When Mana pressed play on the phone, a song started playing.
-Tomorrow too𝅘𝅥𝅮 let's serve𝅘𝅥𝅮 Nightmare☆𝅘𝅥𝅮 and somehow𝅘𝅥𝅮 kill our master𝅘𝅥𝅮
-M-Moeeeeeeet!!!!
In the video, the lady, no, Kurumin, was dancing and singing, and Itsuka-kun's reaction was recorded right there with it.
"Pff! Sh-Shido, mo, moe...! Pff!"
Rinne was doing her best to hold in her laughter, but she was snickering all the same.
Mana looked like she was trying to suppress her laughter too, her whole body trembling a little.
"Ah, ahh. I'm done for."
"What's done for?"
"Ah, Commander."
While Itsuka-kun was despairing over his shame being exposed, the commander walked up and looked down at him with pity.
"What's wrong with Shido?"
"Want to watch this too, Commander?"
"What is it?"
"N-No! Hieta! Please, at least not to Kotori...!"
At Itsuka-kun's words, I grinned and pressed play on the video.
Then the commander studied the video playing on my phone.
"Hee~? So Shido liked it?"
"It was an event! It wasn't my real feelings!"
After seeing the commander's reaction, Itsuka-kun hurriedly tried to explain himself.
"I know. So hurry up and buy your groceries."
With that, the commander left, saying it was pathetic.
"Itsuka-kun. Are you all right?"
I walked up to the dazed Itsuka-kun and patted his shoulder to comfort him.
"That's my line!"
"I don't know?"
*******
After finishing our shopping at the supermarket, we returned to the spirit mansion.
The people not taking part in the cooking contest were me, Itsuka-kun, Rinne, and Mayuri, four in total.
I had planned to join, but the others stopped me, saying they didn't want to eat any bizarre food. Itsuka-kun and Rinne were excluded because they were the usual cooks, and Mayuri said she wanted to rest, so she didn't participate either.
And so, everyone except us went up to their own rooms and started cooking.
"Am I the only one worried about Sachi...?"
"Hm? Why?"
Rinne, who had heard my mutter, asked with a look of complete incomprehension.
"Well, how should I put it... it's a little catastrophic...?"
It's not that the Fire Keeper couldn't cook.
It's just that her appearance was a little... no, a lot catastrophic.
I still couldn't forget the food I'd once seen that tasted perfectly normal but looked like it had crawled up from hell.
Some weird shape was writhing around in it, and I couldn't get it out of my head no matter what.
If I counted everything I'd seen in Dark Souls, it would easily make the top five.
For the record, that wriggling dish was just ordinary curry...
"Since we're just standing around, why don't we go help everyone one by one?"
Mayuri suggested we go help the others, maybe because she was getting restless and couldn't sit still.
I had nothing else to do, so I agreed, and the others did too, probably curious to see how things would turn out.
"Then I'll go help Mana and Kotori."
Itsuka-kun went to help Mana and the commander, and
"I'll go see Tohka."
Rinne went to help Tohka.
"What about you, Mayuri?"
"I guess I'll go see Sachi and Kurumi?"
"In that case, I'll go to the others."
So Mayuri went to the Fire Keeper and the lady, and I decided to head to the remaining rooms.
*******
Knock, knock, knock.
"Y-Yes? Who is it...?"
After I knocked on the door, Yoshino's voice came from inside.
"It's me, Hieta."
"A-ah! Come in!"
Once I revealed who I was, Yoshino gave me permission to enter.
With that, I opened the door and went inside, where I saw Yoshino cooking.
"Oh, what are you making?"
"W-Well... meat and potatoes simmered together..."
What Yoshino was making was nikujaga.
It's a common home-cooked dish in Japan, kind of like doenjang soup in Korea.
It was the sort of familiar, homey dish that made sense for Yoshino, and the method was simple too, so I thought it suited her.
"Is there anything I can help with?"
"T-Then... could you cut the vegetables...?"
Since Yoshino had Yoshinon on one hand, chopping vegetables and handling a knife would probably be awkward for her.
That was why she was asking me to cut them.
"Vegetables, huh. Sure, got it."
I picked up the kitchen knife that had been prepared and started cutting the vegetables.
"Hmm. So all that's left are green beans, carrots, and burdock root?"
"Y-Yes... p-please..."
"Leave it to me."
As I cut the green beans and sliced the carrots and burdock root into the right size, Yoshinon spoke up.
"Hey, hey, Hieta-kun~ How is it? Aren't you looking forward to Yoshino's homemade cooking~? Aren't you~?"
"Of course. It's Yoshino's own cooking, so how could I not be looking forward to it?"
At least from the look of it, it didn't seem as catastrophic as the Fire Keeper's, so I was looking forward to it.
"Yoshino is good at cooking too~ She'll make a great wife, you know~?"
At Yoshinon's proud little brag, I snorted a laugh and replied,
"Yeah. Yoshino would definitely make a great wife. She's cute, she can cook, and there's nothing she can't do, right?"
"Kyahaha! Right~? I knew Hieta-kun and I were on the same wavelength~!"
Yoshinon seemed to be having a great time, clapping over and over with her cloth hands.
"W-Wife..."
Yoshino seemed to say something, but I was focused on cutting the vegetables and didn't catch it well.
After I finished cutting everything, I brought the vegetables over to Yoshino.
"There. All done."
"T-Thank you... I'll do the rest..."
"Don't mention it. Then I'll go help the others too."
"O-Okay. See you later...!"
"Yes. See you in a bit."
After helping Yoshino, I left the room.
Then I headed for the room where Kaguya and Yuzuru were, but I heard a scream from somewhere else.
"Kyaaah! Sachi! What is this!"
It was Mayuri's huge scream, like she'd just seen something she absolutely should not have seen.
She must have seen the shape of the food the Fire Keeper made.
'Ahaha, so she saw it.'
I silently prayed for Mayuri's eyes and kept walking.
"Uwaaa..."
"...Itsuka-kun?"
It had to be my imagination that I saw Itsuka-kun collapsed on the floor like a corpse as I passed by.
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