As the final, lingering echoes of bustling chatter faded into the cool night air, the last of the regular custors finally trickled out the front door.
With the 'Closed' sign proudly displayed in the window, Courage finally experienced the profound, untouched quietness of a late-night restaurant. It was a completely different world from the fiery, high-stakes tasting arenas she was used to as a WGO Book Master.
This was a soothing tranquility that allowed one's soul to settle down and truly enjoy the peace. Every breath she took felt imbued with the taste of serenity, heavily laced with the faint, mouth-watering residual aromas of roasted spices, sweet soy, and rich broths that had been simring throughout the day.
She sat at the polished wooden counter, tracing the rim of a warm porcelain teacup with her delicate fingers.
"Mr. Ren," Courage began, her voice soft in the quiet room. "I actually really want to know one thing. What will you do with the Shop if you go to compete later?"
Ren sat in his usual chair behind the counter, gently wiping down a spotless chef's knife with a soft cloth.
He paused his movents, thought for a mont, and then leaned back comfortably against the wooden fra of the shelving unit. "Of course, we're temporarily closing down!"
Courage tilted her head, her eyes wide with curiosity.
"I closed the restaurant for a long ti when I was competing before," Ren explained with a casual shrug. "It only opened intermittently a few tis in between the tournant brackets. To be honest, this upcoming break is a really good chance to finally decorate the interior!"
Courage leaned forward, her interest thoroughly piqued by the idea of structural changes. "Mr. Ren, your place is already very nice. Do you really still need to decorate it?"
"I should probably say renovate it, rather than just decorate," Ren corrected with a light chuckle. "This amount of ti away is more than enough for so heavy lifting."
"When I co back after the competition, the restaurant might even be completely refurbished. Who knows?"
Courage's eyes sparkled with genuine excitent. "Is that so? If you put it that way, I'm really looking forward to seeing the changes then!"
She took a small sip of her fragrant tea, hiding her growing smile behind the rim of the cup. "After all, Mr. Ren's restaurant is already so good. Whatever you do to it, it just shows that Mr. Ren's taste is absolutely excellent!"
Ren smiled warmly, setting his polished knife aside and resting his elbows on the counter. "Thanks for the complint. But Courage, there's sothing I've been aning to say."
"Hmm?"
"Since you and Decora are regulars now, and you're literally going to be living here, you really don't need to keep calling 'Mr. Ren, Mr. Ren' every single ti you speak to ," Ren said, his tone gentle and entirely informal. "It makes sound like so distant, VIP guest in my own ho. Just call Ren."
Courage was completely stunned.
For a few agonizing seconds, her brain completely short-circuited. The sudden, casual intimacy of dropping his honorific hit her like a runaway freight train. A furious, bright red flush rapidly crept up from her neck, spreading all the way to the tips of her ears.
She swallowed hard, her heart suddenly hamring against her ribs like a captive bird trying to escape. "O-Okay!" she stamred out, her voice pitching an octave higher than usual. "Then... Ren?"
The way his na rolled off her tongue felt incredibly forbidden and sweet.
"Hmm? What is it?" Ren replied smoothly, not noticing the absolute emotional warfare happening inside her head.
Courage, clearly agitated and completely overwheld by her own romantic fantasies, aggressively shook her head. She quickly turned her body away from the counter, pulling out her smartphone as a desperate shield to hide her burning face.
For soone deeply, secretly in love, the quiet of the night was often the hardest ti to endure. Sleep rely beca a frustrating obstacle, a mandatory biological function that rudely interrupted her chances of enjoying a late-night conversation with the man she adored to the fullest.
At this mont, Courage was locked in a state of absolute exhilaration.
Her whole being felt high-spirited, completely intoxicated by the simple victory of crossing a subtle social boundary. Excitent, affection, and the thrill of getting closer to him—such intense emotional experiences often made people feel entirely unmoored from reality.
Too flustered to speak, Courage deliberately ignored Decora, who was quietly lounging on a nearby sofa. Instead, she desperately tried to distract herself by looking up interesting architectural designs and building renovations on her phone screen.
She honestly had no idea why she was looking at interior design blogs. None of the pictures were registering in her brain. She just couldn't stop her mind from wandering back to the sound of his voice, so she aggressively and randomly scrolled through the web pages, her thumb moving at lightning speed.
Ren glanced over at Courage's rapidly swiping thumb, highly amused by her sudden burst of energy, before quietly picking up a thick, leather-bound book from the counter and opening it to his bookmark.
A mont later, a heavy, alluring scent of dark vanilla and brimstone wafted through the air. Lucifer slipped into the seat right beside him, completely disregarding all concepts of personal space.
She leaned her upper body heavily against his arm, her soft curves pressing invitingly against his bicep as she peered over his shoulder. Realizing it was a dense, highly philosophical literary novel, she blinked her ruby-red eyes in pure confusion.
"Why on earth are you reading this boring stuff now?" Lucifer asked curiously, her breath tickling his neck.
Ren didn't push her away. He simply adjusted his posture to better support her weight and turned the page.
"You can think of it as a balanced diet for the brain," he said gently.
"You can't always read books that are purely for mindless entertainnt. Sotis, you need sothing with a little substance."
Lucifer pursed her lips, her slender tail swishing lazily behind her.
She nodded slowly in contemplation, genuinely wondering if she should force herself to read such dense, literary garbage too. But then, a distinct mory flashed through her mind.
She rembered the literal mountains of ancient, forbidden magic tos, demonic contracts, and complex arcane spellbooks she had been forced to read back when she was still an Archangel, and later, as the absolute Queen of Hell.
She had spent millennia reading 'books with substance.'
Thinking about it from that perspective, binge-reading trashy romance novels, modern shounen comics, and playing video gas for a few hundred years was perfectly valid. That was her balanced diet! Satisfied with her own flawless logic, she snuggled closer to Ren's side and pulled out her portable gaming console.
Miles away from the cozy, dostic tranquility of the restaurant, the sprawling, elite campus of Totsuki Culinary Academy lay bathed in the cold, silver light of the autumn moon.
Inside one of the luxurious, high-rise dormitory buildings reserved exclusively for the Elite Ten Council, Kobayashi Rindou was currently experiencing a profound state of boredom.
Rindou, who had been absent from the narrative for far too many chapters, finally made her chaotic reappearance. She was currently lounging horizontally across her ssy bed, surrounded by empty bags of imported spicy potato chips and a scattering of rare gourt culinary magazines.
Wearing an oversized, slightly rumpled T-shirt that hung loosely off one shoulder, Rindou stretched her slender arms high above her head like a lazy feline. She let out a long, satisfied groan, her golden, cat-like eyes narrowing at the glowing computer screen resting on her mattress.
"So, we'll all just go out and have a massive, fun trip together then, right?" Rindou asked, flashing her signature, sharp-toothed grin at the webcam.
On the computer monitor, a live video feed displayed Sonoko Suzuki. The wealthy heiress was sitting in her own lavish, overly decorated bedroom, wearing a ridiculously expensive silk nightgown.
"Aren't you going to find Brother Ren?" Sonoko asked through the speakers, her tone laced with clear jealousy.
"Oh, co on!" Rindou laughed loudly, waving her hand dismissively at the cara.
"It's not like I won't ever see him again. Besides, after watching Ren's upcoming competition, the mandatory practical training at Totsuki starts exactly a week later!"
Rindou rolled onto her stomach, kicking her bare legs playfully in the air. "I'll literally be able to see him every single day during the training period!"
"And then, after that, there are three whole months of early graduation vacation ti. So, I might even pack my bags and move right in with him soon!"
Sonoko groaned loudly, burying her face into a massive, fluffy pillow. "Oh, I'm so incredibly envious!"
"It's not fair! I won't be able to just casually go there and live with him even after I graduate high school."
"But... but I should be able to at least work towards an engagent! A marriage! Ugh, my mom is really just too strict..."
Kobayashi Rindou leaned her chin on her hands, offering the wealthy girl a sympathetic smile. "Auntie Tomoko is just concerned about your future, Sonoko!"
"You know how elite society works. No matter what, she's never actually opposed you being with Ren."
Rindou reached out, tapping the screen right on Sonoko's forehead. "She just doesn't want you to make absolute, life-altering decisions too early when you're still young and hot-headed."
Sonoko lifted her head from the pillow, letting out a massive, dramatic sigh. "I know that, but it just feels like there's still a whole year left before I have any real freedom."
"It's so unbelievably troubleso! But Mom did say she'll personally visit Brother Ren's place when she has so free ti."
"I really, really hope my mom will finally cut so slack after she tastes his cooking."
Kobayashi Rindou smirked, a wicked, teasing glint flashing in her golden eyes. "Sonoko, you impatient little rascal."
"You're starting to get seriously restless too, aren't you? I didn't see that coming from our prim and proper heiress!"
Rindou burst into a fit of giggles. "Tell the truth, have you been hiding under your covers and reading too many of those strange, adult romance comics lately?"
Sonoko's face instantly flushed a brilliant, tomato red. She threw her hands up, frantically trying to cover her embarrassnt.
"S-Sister Rindou! You're terrible!"
"You're really suited to be close friends with soone as twisted as Kirari, but at least you're much better at hiding your sadism than she is!"
Sonoko huffed, desperately trying to regain her composure. "Alright, I'll see you in a few days. It's been a really long ti since I've seen Sister Shion, too."
"You little brat, you haven't seen in a long ti either! Where's my grand welco?" Rindou teased, sticking her tongue out.
"But we're literally eting right now through the screen, aren't we?" Sonoko countered with a triumphant giggle.
"I'll properly introduce Ran to all of you then! She's coming with ."
"But please, I'm begging you, don't tease Ran too much. Ran is very sensitive when it cos to romance."
Kobayashi Rindou sighed exasperatedly, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling. "Please. Your Sister Rindou here is no less skilled in understanding the delicate intricacies of a maiden's heart than Kirari is."
"I'll behave, I promise. Alright, you should really get so rest too."
"After all, it wasn't exactly easy for you to get ti off from your strict mother this ti, right?"
"Mm, but it's fine," Sonoko smiled softly, the tension finally leaving her shoulders.
"My mom was actually really relieved when she knew Ran was coming with as a chaperone."
"I'm going to sleep now. Goodnight, Sister Rindou."
"Goodnight, sweet dreams."
With a soft chi, the video call disconnected, leaving the screen displaying Rindou's desktop wallpaper.
Kobayashi Rindou stared fondly at the high-resolution image. It was a chaotic, smiling group photo of everyone gathered together, with Ren standing right in the center, looking completely overwheld but happy.
[Akarin's Note: "Big pig's trotters" (大猪蹄子 - Dà zhū tí zi) is a popular Chinese internet slang term used by won to jokingly or affectionately complain about n. It usually implies that a man is a playboy, dense about won's feelings, or casually breaking hearts without realizing it.]
"Honestly!" Rindou muttered to herself, a fond, affectionate smile gracing her lips. "This man is such a massive big pig's trotters! Look at all the girls he has pining after him."
Just as Rindou was about to get up from her bed, stretch her stiff muscles, and head down to the dorm's massive kitchen to whip up a spicy, late-night ran snack before settling in to watch a movie, a loud notification ping echoed from her speakers.
A new email had violently popped up in the corner of her screen.
Rindou blinked in surprise. She hadn't even noticed her inbox icon blinking earlier; she had been far too engrossed in chatting with Sonoko the entire ti to pay any attention to her background notifications.
"Eh?" Rindou murmured, crawling closer to the monitor. "Soone actually knows my highly classified, private Totsuki email address?"
"Is it Ren? Or maybe it's a super-secret restaurant tasting invitation from the WGO?"
Curiosity fully taking over, she double-clicked the notification. The email expanded, filling her screen with dense, heavily formatted text. Rindou scanned the subject line and the first few paragraphs, her golden eyes slowly widening in sheer disbelief.
"Hmm? What is this garbage? 'A necessary change of power'?" Rindou read aloud, her voice dripping with skepticism.
She scrolled down a bit further, her eyebrows furrowing so hard they nearly touched her hairline. "'We humbly request your vote in favor of the new administration'?"
Rindou scoffed loudly, slapping her hand against her mattress. "Huh?! Can soone actually say such an unbelievably idiotic idea out loud and send it in writing?!"
She continued reading, and with every passing sentence, her expression morphed from utter confusion to profound, undeniable cringe.
[Akarin's Note: The "chuunibyou" email Rindou receives is from Nakiri Azami, Erina's tyrannical father. In the original Food Wars! storyline, Azami orchestrates a coup d'état by getting the majority of the Elite Ten Council to vote in favor of ousting Senzaemon and naming himself the new Director of Totsuki.]
"Holy cow! Unbelievable!" Rindou shrieked, bursting into genuine, howling laughter.
"Listen to this absolute garbage! 'A brand new future for the decaying culinary world!'"
"What kind of strange, dystopian villain propaganda is this?!"
She physically shuddered, rubbing her arms as if trying to ward off a sudden chill. "Such a ridiculously chuunibyou thing to say!"
"What is this guy, the final boss of a low-budget fantasy ani? What grade is this person in elentary school?!"
She scrolled to the very bottom, looking at the sender's signature. Nakiri Azami.
"Ugh... I'm literally getting goosebumps just reading this unhinged manifesto," Rindou groaned, falling flat onto her back and staring at the ceiling.
She looked at the email with varying degrees of intense disdain and absolute mockery. From the grandiose aning it tried to express, to the utterly crazy, dictatorial ideas and statents it proposed, Kobayashi Rindou was truly, genuinely almost amused to tears by this unsolicited spam.
This man seriously thought he could just email the Elite Ten like a comic book supervillain and demand they overthrow the school director.
Just as Rindou aggressively cracked her knuckles, fully prepared to track down the person using the attached contact information and brutally teach him a lesson about the destructive, humiliating power of language via a scathing reply, her bedroom door slowly creaked open.
A tiny, delicate figure shuffled into the room.
It was Akanegakubo Momo. The tiny Elite Ten mber was wearing an oversized, fluffy pink pajama set that swallowed her small fra entirely. She was clutching her giant stuffed bear, Bucchi, so tightly to her chest that the plushie's face was hilariously squished.
"Hmm?" Rindou sat up, her wild red hair falling over her shoulders.
"Momo-chan, what's wrong? Why are you awake?"
Rindou aggressively patted the space next to her on the bed. "Co look at this absolute trainwreck of a ssage!"
"This person really needs so prenatal education thoughts, because his brain clearly didn't develop right."
"I was literally just about to call him to rcilessly mock him..."
Momo blinked slowly, her sleepy eyes heavy. She didn't say a word. Instead, she just silently walked up to the edge of the bed and held out her own smartphone.
"Rindou-senpai..." Momo mumbled softly, her voice muffled behind Bucchi's fluffy head. "Momo-chan ca to find you right after receiving this exact sa email..."
Kobayashi Rindou's amused expression instantly stiffened.
She took Momo's phone, comparing the screen to her own computer monitor. It was the exact sa mass-emailed supervillain manifesto.
Rindou looked up, staring at the tiny girl with deep suspicion. "Is this guy actually serious?"
"He spamd the whole Council? Momo-chan, tell honestly..."
"Momo-chan wants to refuse..." Momo replied imdiately, burying her chin into her bear.
"No, no, that's not what I an," Rindou interrupted, waving her hand frantically. "What I an is, how in the world did you manage not to laugh out loud when you read this cringe-fest?!"
Akanegakubo Momo tilted her head, genuinely thinking about the question for a mont. "Maybe... maybe it's because this guy's overwhelming deanor. The way he wrote it, as if he absolutely has everything under his control, made feel just as excited and tense as watching a really good suspense movie..."
Rindou sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Did you actually try to call him?"
"I did," Momo nodded innocently. "But his phone must be turned off or on airplane mode... it went straight to voicemail."
Rindou stared at the floor for three silent seconds. A wicked, chaotic smirk slowly began to stretch across her face, completely exposing her sharp canine tooth.
"Oh, wait a minute..." Rindou suddenly sprang up from the bed, her feline eyes glowing with pure, unadulterated mischief.
"Momo-chan! Go back to your room, change out of your pajamas right now, and co with !"
Momo blinked in surprise, hugging Bucchi tighter. "Eh!? It's so late! Where are we going?"
Rindou grabbed her signature Totsuki uniform jacket from the back of her chair, throwing it over her shoulders like a villainous cape.
"Where else?" Rindou laughed, her voice echoing down the silent dormitory hallway. "I want to see exactly how many other people are laughing at this idiot right now."
[Akarin's Note:
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