Yuto hadn't expected Saitama to be the first custor of the night.
Saitama ca almost every day, sure, but being the very first one in was rare. Genos was with him again, still carrying that sa cold, quiet air around him.
But Saitama felt different.
Tonight, there was sothing unusually serious about him.
At least, that was the feeling Yuto got.
Saitama still wore the sa blank, easygoing smile as always, but the atmosphere around him wasn't quite the sa as before.
Yuto imdiately thought of his promised fight with Goku.
'So that's why?'
"Udon again tonight?" Yuto asked with a smile.
Saitama nodded quietly. His finances only stretched as far as udon!
"There's seafood on special tonight," Yuto offered. "Want to try it?"
The kitchen was fully prepped, with an entire bluefin tuna in pieces back there.
If he didn't recomnd it, he'd feel like he was doing all those ingredients a disservice.
Saitama hesitated. "Seafood sounds expensive. I'd better not."
He knew perfectly well what his wallet could and couldn't handle, and with Ainz gone, there was no chance of borrowing money either.
"It's fine," Yuto said. "The first serving is free."
If he priced the bluefin based on what it was actually worth, then half his regulars would never get to taste it.
He would rather let everyone try it at least once.
Yes, the bluefin was precious, but not more precious than the people who ca to his restaurant.
Sharing good food and a little happiness with friends—that was what really mattered.
Besides, the restaurant had been open long enough that an occasional custor appreciation event wasn't such a bad idea.
The mont he heard that, Saitama visibly brightened.
His grin split open like a cracked egg. "Then I'll have a serving."
"Got it."
After taking Saitama's order, Yuto looked to Genos as well.
But Genos had no intention of eating tonight, he had sothing else on his mind entirely, and until that matter was settled, food ant nothing to him.
Since that was the case, Yuto didn't press him.
But just as he turned away, Saitama spoke again. "Kamisaka... he's not here yet?"
His tone was different from usual, beneath the calm facade, there was a hidden note of excitent.
"Not yet," Yuto answered softly.
Saitama let out a small breath.
He said nothing more after that, but his hand tightened slightly into a fist, and there was sothing unmistakable in his eyes: Expectation.
Seeing that, Yuto couldn't help thinking about it.
He had never seen Saitama like this before
. He knew exactly who Saitama ant by he, and he'd never imagined Goku could stir Saitama up this much. Now he found himself looking forward to their match too.
As he passed by Utaha and Asuna, Yuto asked what they wanted to eat.
Even though both girls had arrived early, neither had eaten anything yet, since the kitchen had been busy preparing all the seafood.
Utaha wanted the seafood badly—she had even looked up bluefin tuna on her phone and was intensely curious about it.
But... eating rich fish at night was dangerous.
Other people might not notice, but she knew very well that her waist had picked up a little extra softness lately!
Her figure still looked great to everyone else, but that didn't matter; she herself couldn't accept it.
Lately, she had been trying to lose weight, not very successfully.
"Hmm... maybe I can split a sashimi plate with Utaha?" Asuna said after lightly tapping her cheek in thought.
"I don't think I could finish a whole one by myself."
The suggestion lit sothing in Utaha's eyes at once.
If they split it between the two of them, that would take away a lot of the guilt she was feeling.
"What do you think, Utaha?" Asuna asked with a smile.
Utaha smiled back just as sweetly. "Sounds perfect. I've been trying to diet lately anyway, so a light dinner is better."
Though Utaha had still harbored a few mixed feelings toward Asuna before, that suggestion softened her a bit.
"Alright," Yuto said, heading back into the kitchen.
...
Inside, Erina had already gone still and composed herself again.
She understood what her position was here: assistant chef.
Of course she wanted to stand above Yuto, but she knew perfectly well that her skill still wasn't enough for that.
The challenge she had thrown at him earlier had co from that self-awareness. If you wanted to climb a mountain, then first you had to walk toward it.
From the first ti she tasted Yuto's food, and with every encounter after that, Erina had been changing without even realizing it.
For an ordinary person, the shift wouldn't have been so dramatic.
But Erina had the God Tongue; she was more sensitive to the power of food than most people could ever understand.
Before she t Yuto, she had been the queen of that palate—proud, cold, and disdainful of everything beneath her.
Then she t him.
And her God Tongue lost!!
The queen beca the captured one.
Her pride had begun to fold inward, and her heart had changed with it.
"I'll make one sashimi plate. Nakiri will make the other. Hisako, you handle the udon."
Now that business hours had officially begun, Yuto was in charge of the kitchen.
His tone was still calm, but there was no room for negotiation in it.
It wasn't loud or harsh, but there was a quiet authority in the way he spoke that made disagreent feel impossible.
Neither Erina nor Hisako objected. Once both had acknowledged him, the three got to work.
There was no denying it—having Erina and Hisako in the kitchen made things move much faster.
As Yuto watched them out of the corner of his eye, he had to admit that they were both leagues ahead of where Asuna had been.
Their movents were crisp, efficient, and orderly.
Even compared to Yuto himself, they were not lacking.
No wonder they were Totsuki's elite. There was a certain beauty in the way they moved as well.
Appreciating beauty was only natural!
After quietly admiring them for a second, Yuto turned his full attention back to the fish in front of him.
He switched to a finer blade. Hooking a finger around the handle, he flicked his wrist lightly, and a slice of otoro ca away from the bluefin in one clean motion.
Then, with a turn of the knife and a light snap of his hand, the red, richly marbled piece landed neatly on the chilled serving plate he had already prepared.
The movent was so clean and effortless that it felt almost like watching a swordsman.
He kept going. A few slices of chutoro. A few slices of akami.
The three classic cuts were all there. Then he added a little bit of brain top, cheek, and fin at. Those three were among the rarest parts of the tuna.
Because he wanted more custors to be able to enjoy them, each serving could only have a little.
Once the tuna was done, Yuto picked up the red sea bream and began slicing that too.
Sea bream was another expensive fish; if not for the bluefin, it would have been the most luxurious item on the nu tonight.
He placed three thin slices on the chilled plate.
Then ca a little shad.
A little pomfret. A small dish of soy sauce. A neat dab of green wasabi.
And just like that, a Kamisaka-style sashimi plate was complete.
Bluefin tuna, sea bream, shad, pomfret... Even in high-end luxury hotels, that kind of lineup would have been rare.
Erina was only a few seconds slower than him. Once she finished, the first thing she did was glance toward Yuto.
When she saw that he had been waiting for her, sothing shifted in her eyes.
In speed, she had lost again!
"Finished?" he asked.
Erina nodded.
"Good. Take it out, then."
Yuto picked up his sashimi plate and carried it out first, placing it between Asuna and Utaha. Erina brought hers to Saitama.
After setting it down, she moved over to Asuna and Utaha's side and stole a glance at the sashimi Yuto had plated.
Sashimi was all about ingredients.
If the ingredients were the sa, then what remained was knife work.
And after looking carefully, Erina couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
Her slices were already excellent.
But compared to Yuto's, they still ca up short.
It was only a tiny difference, the kind of thing no ordinary person would ever notice. The size and thickness were nearly identical.
And yet Yuto's arrangent, his cuts, the natural flow of the fish on the plate—all of it looked just a little more effortless.
A little more complete. It was hard to explain, but she could see it.
With that, in the very first dish of the night, she had already fallen behind by one step.
The thought of her own challenge from earlier ca back to her at once.
Things had gone badly right from the start, and the young girl couldn't help knitting her brows a little.
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