The king and Lord Ernest had thought I might open up more easily to a man, and Prince Lyle had agreed to come too, so all the older male royals who could leave on short notice had come over. But when I didn’t respond even after they called to me through the door, they resorted to a bright idea of Namitaro’s that’d been inspired by Japanese mythology—Operation Lure Tenma out of His Cave.
That meant they had set up a barbecue right outside my room.
Once Prince Zane had realized this plan was about to get dangerously out of hand, he’d run off to get Queen Maria.
The rest of the women had been told to kill time in town, based on His Majesty’s bold claim that “This’ll go smoother without the ladies around.”
“Seriously, everyone. Just because he wouldn’t come out doesn’t mean you have to try to lure him out with food. Anyway, Tenma. Why didn’t you react to them at all?” the queen asked.
The answer was simple: I had fallen asleep and hadn’t noticed. Even though they said they’d been shouting pretty loud, I’d been up so late I’d fallen into a deep sleep, and on top of that, I’d been wearing earplugs too.
When I explained all that, Queen Maria laughed. “Well, no wonder you didn’t hear them, then.”
The others groaned about all their efforts going to waste.
“I’m starving. Might as well use this stuff and whip up some breakfast,” I said.
“Could you make some for me too? And Zane as well, please.”
I had been just muttering out loud to myself while looking at the grilled fish, but Queen Maria said she hadn’t eaten either, so we decided to cook together. Meanwhile, Gramps and the others were still stuck sitting formally, shooting me desperate looks to beg for help, but I ignored them while we took the grilled fish and meat for ourselves. While I was at it, I also grabbed the rest of the barbecue gear and ingredients.
“Oh, Master Tenma. Done with your little shut-in phase, are we?” Cruyff was preparing tea when I got to the dining room and started teasing me. I wanted to clap back at him, but since I couldn’t come up with anything good, I just ignored him. He took one look at the food I was carrying and headed straight into the kitchen.
“What are we making today?” he asked.
I told Cruyff I was going to make an SAR-style breakfast. He started prepping rice, but since that would take time, I pulled a slightly cooled batch out of my bag that I’d cooked earlier.
Now that we had rice, the rest came together fast. The meal consisted of miso soup, pickled veggies, the grilled fish I’d confiscated from Gramps and company, simmered root vegetables, and natto. I gave the meat to Rocket and the others as a peace offering for making them worry about me. I let them eat in my room too.
Queen Maria and Prince Zane said they rarely got to eat Southern-style meals, but aside from the natto, they seemed to enjoy it. That made sense because natto was hit or miss, even in the SAR—it wasn’t strange that they didn’t like it.
But then, there was Cruyff.
Despite claiming he’d never eaten natto before, he stirred it over a hundred times like a pro, corrected my own mixing technique, and polished off a bowl of natto rice with perfect chopstick control.
Yeah, there’s no way this is his first natto rodeo.
Queen Maria and Prince Zane struggled with the chopsticks and ended up eating with forks.
“Queen Maria, do you think we might be able to come join you now?” Just as we were finishing up our meal, Gramps finally broke the silence. His face looked half numb from sitting too long.
“Oh? Why would Master Merlin be asking me for permission? Don’t tell me you got dragged into this mess and were stuck sitting on your knees this whole time?” Queen Maria said with feigned innocence.
Gramps immediately latched on to that excuse and scrambled to sit next to me. “Y-Yes, that’s exactly it! Alex and the others forced me into it!”
The three men left behind glared at him like he’d stabbed them in the back, but Gramps ignored them and begged for breakfast.
“Tenma, we’re hungry too. Please talk to Queen Ma— Tenma, help! Hurry!”
Cruyff had started prepping Gramps’s food—the smell must’ve broken the king’s willpower. He turned to me for help, practically groveling to have me mediate.
I thought it was pretty pathetic, considering she was his wife, but then again, this was the queen we were talking about, so I figured it wasn’t totally unreasonable.
I looked over to Queen Maria...
“Your Majesty, please give it up,” I began, but the moment our eyes met, she gave me this sly little smile and shut me down instantly.
Yeah, I’m not going to win this one.
“Queen Maria, if they don’t eat something, they won’t have the energy to work this afternoon,” Cruyff said, swooping in to the rescue.
That finally got the queen to reconsider. “Fine,” she said, “but only because I can’t have them skipping out on work.”
And so she allowed them to eat, except for...
“My apologies, Your Majesty, Lord Ernest, Prince Lyle. This is all we have left.”
Cruyff set down a bowl of natto for them—the very stuff Maria and Zane hadn’t been able to stomach.
The three of them started asking for miso soup or anything else, but Queen Maria backed Cruyff by making a comment about not wasting food. The three had no other choice but to plug their noses and down the fermented beans.
Prince Lyle, though, either got used to the smell or his senses just gave up, because not only did he finish it, but he went back for seconds and stuffed himself full.
And that was how Operation: Lure Tenma Out of His Cave came to an end.
Except...not quite.
“Tenmaaaaa! I’m sorry! I messed up! Let me iiiiiiin!!!”
We’d completely forgotten about Namitaro, who was still hanging outside the window. And that was where he remained until the girls got back.