Airi returned to her own room from the Washu Memorial Hall and had flung herself in bed with her head facing the window. Night had fallen, and the nightly celebration was taking place here and there. She did not feel like taking part just now. “Yosho…kun…” At that moment, her stomach grumbled to protest its emptiness.
“You get hungry even now… Argh, enough!!” She leapt up, slapping her cheeks. Being lost in thought to the tune of a rumbling stomach, no matter how starry-eyed the dilemma, was stupid from an objective standpoint.
Just then, the doorbell rang. “Who is it?” Airi absentmindedly opened the door, thinking someone had come to take her to the celebration. The person she saw standing there left her speechless. It was Kamiki Seto Jurai.
“Good evening. May I come in?” Airi was too stunned to reply. “May I come in?”
The repeated question jolted her back to her senses, and she quickly ushered Seto inside, looking up and down the hallway to see if anyone had been watching.
“It’s all right. Nobody saw me,” Seto said, reading Airi’s concerns. “Seto-sama, what would happen if someone saw? It would not be prudent.”
“Are you getting back at me? It’s fine, I’m having dinner with the directors and the chairman.” She turned the same gentle eyes towards her, but there was no trace of the pressure she had felt earlier.
“A complete turnaround…” Due to her position, she had seen people with plenty of charisma, but she had never seen someone with such extreme control. Airi knew she was called “the demon princess of Jurai,” but she realized its true meaning when she saw this difference for the first time. She also realized that Seto had been teasing her when they met at the philosophy department…
“Whatever may I do for you?” she said a little grumpily and set up a shield to prevent sound leakage.
“You wanted to talk to me, right? And I thought I could have dinner with you.” Seto showed Airi the two large baskets she was carrying.
The timing was so perfect that Airi blushed from embarrassment, thinking… no, knowing that Seto knew she had just been famished. She regained her composure and noticed that the dishes she was taking out of her baskets were those served at Narsis. “Seto-sama…aren’t these…”
“The philosopher took me there for lunch. He said it’s your favorite place to eat.”
“You went there, Seto-sama?!” She stared at Seto in surprise. This was not flattering for Narsis, but she did not think it was a place to take a visiting royal.
“It was so good, so I had them make a basket.” Seto was positively merry when it came to matters of food.
The proprietor must’ve been so shocked. Airi helped place the food on the table, and noticed several dishes she was not familiar with. “Seto-sama, it looks like there are dishes I’ve never seen at Narsis. Did you get them somewhere else?”
“I made that.” “What?!”
Seto had cooked it herself in the kitchen at Narsis. “They had distinctive and interesting spices available, so I wanted to try using them. These are based on Juraian cuisine, but the seasoning is by Narsis.”
“You cook, Seto-sama?!” “Is that so surprising?”
“It is…” She paused to think, but she had no other reply. “Ha ha ha! I like your honesty!!”
“I apologize.” Airi blushed in spite of herself but faced with Seto’s frank and unguarded laughter, burst out laughing herself. They laughed together as if all that pressure had never existed. Airi’s suspicion towards Seto melted altogether. It was all because Seto was the way she was.
Prompted by Seto, Airi took a bite of the food Seto had made, and she moaned, “It’s delicious. Wow, it’s really good.” It was a taste she was used to, since it used a sauce from Narsis, but the different Juraian style was pleasantly inserted, providing a fresh perspective.
“I’m glad you like it.”
“I’m surprised she let you in the kitchen like that. She’s very strict, and she’d never let anyone in if she hadn’t eaten their food to her satisfaction before, let alone let them touch her implements… But with these skills, it makes sense.”
“I brought ingredients I selected myself. I showed them to her, and she let me in,” Seto said as if it was no big deal.
“That’s all?”
“Yes, that was enough.” Seto smiled at an uncomprehending Airi. “Airi-dono, do you cook?”
“What? No… I like to focus on the eating half…”
“I heard you have a keen sense of taste. She said you can discern the minute day-to-day differences that only she knows. She said she’d like to teach you things, if you’re interested.”
“I’d like to learn, if I didn’t have my other job already…”
“Why don’t you try, even if it’s a little inconvenient? If you can make good food, you can survive anywhere.”
“Yes, maybe I will.”
“It must be nice… I taught my daughter the minimum, but all she wants to do is fill her stomach. Funaho-dono is too good a student, and there’s nothing more I could teach… Ayeka-chan is a curiously clumsy cook, and she seems to prefer sewing.”
“Oh…”
“If my next grandchild is a girl, I’m thinking about teaching her everything.” They ate everything on the table while they chatted idly.
“Thank you for the meal. It was delicious.”
“I’m glad you liked it. Would you like some dessert?” Seto brought out a massive cake from the basket.
“After all we ate…?” There was quite a volume of food. Even though Airi had stuffed her starving body, more than 70% of it had been eaten by Seto.