Oh, thank goodness. I was getting all nervous for nothing. See? The grim reaper’s already leaving—
…When it suddenly came sprinting back!
Huh? Ah—
The instant she let her guard down, a fierce volcano erupted beneath the sweetness while the racing reaper’s blade swung straight for her neck!
“……!!”
Alisa was about to lose consciousness from a single blow in the blink of an eye—
Hmph!
But she managed to fight through the pain, albeit just barely. She was in front of the boy she had a crush on and his father, after all. Then again, perhaps that wasn’t a good thing.
Ow! Ow, ow, ow! Owww! Too…spicy…!!
That was all her brain could process. They were signals, relentlessly flooding her head. Surviving the initial shock didn’t make what followed any easier, either. Like the status effect of a deadly poison, the damage continued to build steadily each second that passed.
O-oh, gosh! I need rice!
Unable to bear the excruciating pain, Alisa instinctively extended her spoon toward the white rice…before abruptly stopping dead in her tracks.
Are you stupid?! You’re seriously going to waste such a precious resource this early in the war?! Stop worrying! The spiciness…will eventually…go away! Fight it!
She had come to understand, to some extent, how to approach extremely spicy food after having gone through several stages of hell since that day. Rather than fleeing straight to the rice, she focused all her tongue’s nerves on detecting the flavors of the ingredients. That way, she could at least taste the umami of the meat and the sweetness of the vegetables and rice beneath the extreme spice.
But they were so far away! Because the layers of lava were thick and acted as walls protecting the beef, vegetables, and rice from her!
“…! Mn!”
She managed to swallow what was in her mouth, but even the lingering heat left her tongue burning and in pain. Unable to take it any longer, she reached for the cocoa and took a sip, but it didn’t extinguish the fire at all…so she continued to drink in an attempt to overwhelm it with sheer volume, and only then did the spiciness become somewhat tolerable. That was also when she had realized her cup was now empty as well.
You dummy! I’m such a stupid idiot! I can’t believe I drank my most precious liquid resource in one gulp! How am I going to get through this now?!
But no matter how much she berated herself, it wouldn’t change a thing. There was no use crying over spilled milk…or cocoa, after all. All she had left for protection was the rice…which seemed like it wasn’t going to help much compared to how much curry was left.
Th-this is bad…
Volume-wise it was roughly half a serving, but if just one spoonful inflicted this much agony, then the road ahead looked impossibly bleak. She could only picture herself collapsing midway through, her soul seized by the grim reaper she sensed lurking just behind her, waiting with growing impatience for her inevitable fall.
“Hey, uh… Do you not like the curry?” asked a worried voice from the seat across from her.
“…!”
Alisa quickly lifted her head, which had unconsciously dropped, and noticed Kyoutarou’s concerned eyes gazing at her from behind his glasses.
“I tried to recreate a curry that’s quite famous for being spicy even in the UK…but maybe I made it a little too spicy? Anyway, don’t force yourself to eat it if it’s too hot…”
There was no way Alisa could simply take him up on his offer and place her spoon down now.
“No, I’m fine. This is delicious,” she responded with a confident smile.
After all, Kyoutarou might already have had the wrong impression of her—believing she was some kind of shameless hussy who would boldly show up at a boy’s house uninvited first thing in the morning. Therefore, she couldn’t afford to appear as some ill-mannered girl who would waste food after only taking a single bite, especially not in front of someone who might one day become her father-in-law. So—
What is wrong with me?! Get out of here! Scram!
Alisa stubbornly maintained her smile, chasing away the mini-Alyas that would show up from the depths of her heart at any opportunity they could. In reality, Kyoutarou didn’t think poorly of Alisa at all. He had heard about her from both Masachika and Yuki for some time, and he learned from Masachika that she was the one who had given him the courage to visit the Suou household the day before yesterday.
Therefore, he simply figured that she had stopped by because she was concerned for Masachika. In fact, Kyoutarou found her to be an even better person than the stories made her out to be. He was, however, completely oblivious to the feelings Alisa harbored toward Masachika, but that was because his palate wasn’t the only unrefined thing.
“Really? Because you don’t have to force yourself to eat it.”
“Thank you, but I’m fine. Really.”
Alisa scooped up some curry and took another bite, as if she felt that she had to prove herself. As expected, the sweetness came first…followed by the fierce blaze and devastating lava ravaging her mouth! The grim reaper’s combo was landing clean!
H-how can they eat this with a straight face?!
She somehow maintained her poker face while she glanced at Kyoutarou across from her and Masachika beside her.
“I think the flavors are even more intense after leaving it to settle overnight. Wouldn’t you agree, Masachika?”
“Huh? Yeah… Probably.”
“Come on, are you still half asleep? Did you not get much sleep last night?”
“Hmm? Yeah…”
Th-they’re eating it like it’s no big deal…
Kyoutarou was eating while properly savoring the flavor, and Masachika was silently cramming it in his mouth with a somewhat vacant expression. Alisa shuddered. There was something definitely off about these two.
And how is Masachika still half asleep?! How is something this spicy not waking him up?! Are his taste buds broken?!
Alisa couldn’t help but glare at her partner as if he were some kind of pervert, because this went beyond simply liking spicy food. She then shook her head, looked down at her plate, and began to devise a strategy.
Relying on my rice is only going to take me so far…and my first impression of the curry was that it was sweet…
Which meant that she had no choice but to use that fact to power through. Baffled by how she had made it this far, the only way to survive now was to outrun the grim reaper—who was still behind her with its scythe brushing against her neck. This wasn’t a marathon anymore. It was time to sprint!
Let’s do this!!
Internally rallying her courage, Alisa drove her spoon into the curry and then stuffed it into her mouth. Before the first impression of sweetness could fade, she took another bite, then another, her tastebuds gradually surrendering to the assault as the sweetness faded. Unable to stop now, she continued to power through with pure momentum, for the goal was just ahead! However…
You’ve got to be kidding me…
The grim reaper had called for reinforcements; together, they counted to three from each side of Alisa and simultaneously swung their scythes.
I can’t… I can’t do this anymore…
Even as she felt her consciousness being slowly reaped away, Alisa defiantly forced the final bite into her mouth. But even after having somehow conquered the entire plate, what slipped from Alisa’s lips weren’t words of triumph or gratitude for the meal…
“<I’m going to die…>”
But a soul-draining lament in Russian.