“So, hot pot. Guys say it’s an easy dish because all you have to do is toss the ingredients in the pot, but actually the diversity of world views that can be expressed through a single pot are practically infinite. Above all is the darkness of the style I’m going to unleash on my friends at the shop: dark hot pot. It’s this prank that basically involves sidling up to death—”
Thirty minutes isn’t enough time for me to run out of goofy stories!
...is the momentum with which I chattered on.
“—and like, who sticks chocolate-covered potato chips into fishcake? Right? But the thing is, they go together better and better the longer they simmer. My big sister sometimes works miracles like that—she’s a dark hot pot angel—”
“What are ‘chocolate-covered potato chips’?”
“Sorry, could you say ‘chocolate-covered potato chips’ in that sophisticated voice of yours one more time?”
“Chocolate, -covered, potato, chips.”
“Ahh, that’s great. That’s the best.”
I wish I were a chip.
“You really are a weird one,” he said admiringly, still with a blank expression, as he set down his already empty glass. “Whenever I listen to you, I hear unfamiliar words and sounds. They’re not foreign words, yet neither are they new words. They come very naturally to you, as if the ones you’re accustomed to are just coming out as they are.” He narrowed his hawk-like eyes. “And you’re used to glossing over them.”
Did I get ahead of myself and say too much? As I was wondering how I would evade the situation, the man causally spoke again.
“Were you summoned from another world?”
He tapped his empty glass and ordered a refill from another girl with a practiced motion.
He looked at my face, which had probably gone pale, and then shifted his gaze to outside with a tired-sounding sigh.
“...God just doesn’t know when to give up.”
I remembered that easy-going god. He seemed like a real idiot. So of course he didn’t bring just Chiba and me.
And of course he didn’t tell us how many others there were.
“You too?” I managed to choke out, thinking how handsome his silver hair was as it started to dry, falling across his forehead in clumps.
Thinking it would be great if us meeting in this world was fate.
“No. I was born in this world. I’ve just met humans from other ones before.”
I was a little disappointed. Fate, you gotta work in my favor once in a while!
No, more importantly...
“So there were others?”
“Yeah. There were. The ones I knew all died, though.”
He brought his cup to his lips as indifferently as always. The word “death” suited him so well it kinda creeped me out.
Maybe he has a close relationship with God?
“I want to know more about you.”
My time was almost up.
How could I have used up 30 minutes talking about something as boring as dark hot pot? I’m an idiot.
I wanted to get to know him better. I shouldn’t have wasted so much as a second.
“Eighty rubers. Please pay them. I’ll definitely pay you back.”
That was the most I could promise in the shop. As for the rest I just needed him to trust me.
“What happens if I pay it?” he asked, watching my face closely.
For a second, I didn’t know what I was being asked and just blanked.
Huh?
“I take you upstairs to my room...”
“So we’ll talk in your room?”
“...Uh, no?”
Are you serious? I thought, but said in a low voice, “We have sex.”
I don’t think I had ever seen an expression quite like that before. He raised his eyebrows a bit. He must have been surprised.
“So this is that kind of place?”
You didn’t know? Come on.
＊
“So you came all the way from another world...”
The man seemed completely uninterested in my room despite entering it for the first time, and just looked down at me.
“Why are you doing this sort of job?”
It’s not as if I’m satisfied either, but I would think someone from this world would understand.
“To make a living.”
Maybe he finally remembered to take some interest in a woman’s room—he scanned the drab scenery and said, “I see. Must be tough for women to get by in another world.”
That’s exactly right. As I was nodding in agreement, he put a hand on my chin.
“You’re still a child, yet you have to work in this business?”
Never mind being treated like a kid—the touch of his big, warm, craggy hand really knocked my socks off for the first time in a while.
In my head a bell was binging and bonging like I’d won the grand prize. My eyes grew moist and my face was so hot. My hips felt unsteady, and I ended up on tiptoe.
“...A JK isn’t a child...”
It’s more like being in heat. It’s when we wanna do it the most. It’s the age we want an older guy to sweep us off our feet. I’m such a high-school girl.
“What’s a ‘jay-kay’?”
My face must have been so red. He spoke dispassionately like he was looking at a baby monkey, even though I was already this worked up from just the thought that I was monopolizing his eyes at that moment.
“...It’s when we wanna do it the most...”
Well, more like get it done to us, and my pussy was so juicy wet it seemed busted, and I was beginning to worry my autonomic nervous system was screwed from working so many night shifts.
I think I’m done for. This guy’s pretty much got me. At some point, he’d stolen my heart.
He looked down at my shaking knees and observed me with no emotion.
“I’ve met a lot of other-worlders...”
Being looked at from head to toe with my clothes on was more embarrassing than undressing. His eyes aroused me more than any penis.
“...but you’re the first who ever wanted me to have sex with them.”
Let’s just do it, already.
I couldn’t wait anymore, so I got him out of his coat. Then I took off his shirt, too, and took the liberty of kissing his sturdy pecs. He had a body like a statue.