Chapter 6: Kobayashi Rindo Orders Takeout! Decides to Share with Erina!
After Hakurei Reimu left the restaurant with Ibuki Suika, Kafka also departed subsequently.
Seeing her disappear at the entrance, Shameimaru Aya, who knew the restaurant's characteristics, ran over to the counter.
"Hey, hey, Luke-san, did that lady just leave? After I finished chatting with Kobayashi, I was thinking of talking to her about other 'other worlds'!"
"Kafka-san will come again next time, no need to worry about that. You'll definitely have a chance to see her."
"Mmm... okay then, I should have come earlier."
Shameimaru Aya said, then took out money from her pocket.
"Thanks for the hospitality today, I need to go find new news!"
"Isn't it still very early? Leaving already?"
"Luke-san, you didn't forget what Reimu mentioned just now, right? There's an event in the 'Human Village' recently, something about celebrating the harvest. I plan to go interview the people there."
"Since it's like that, take this with you. If you see Keine-sensei, give it to her."
Luke then took out a box of pastries from the counter below.
Inside were soft, sticky dango and snow-white rice cakes.
"Kamishirasawa Keine... I feel like I don't get along well with her. Every time we meet, I get lectured."
"Who else but you creates fake news every day? Some of it is also very strange and easily causes misunderstandings among children, that's why Keine-sensei lectures you."
"Anyway, I'll give it to her, Boss can rest assured!"
After Shameimaru Aya finished speaking, she raised her right hand in a salute, then took the pastry box and disappeared from the restaurant.
After seeing off this decisive reporter, Kobayashi Rindo, having finished eating, helped Luke clear the tableware from the table, bringing it to the counter.
"Boss, I brought these over for you."
"There's no need for customers to do that."
"It's okay, Boss Luke is my lifesaver! I was dizzy from hunger back then. If I hadn't run into this restaurant, maybe I would have just fainted dead away."
Kobayashi Rindo said cheerfully.
Luke responded with a smile, then placed all the tableware into the sink.
Just as he was about to start cleaning, Kobayashi Rindo looked around the restaurant, then asked,
"Now that I've eaten and drunk my fill, I have more time to think. What kind of place is this, exactly? That Miss Shameimaru just told me this world is called 'Gensokyo', where youkai and humans exist. It's just like a manga."
"There really are youkai, for example, the little girl with two horns on her head you saw earlier."
"That was...?"
"The Oni, Ibuki Suika. One of my restaurant's regulars, a fellow who loves to drink."
Hearing the explanation, Kobayashi Rindo nodded thoughtfully.
Immediately after, she took out her phone.
"No signal..."
"'Gensokyo' doesn't have the 'signal base stations' of modern society. However... I know a kappa who's been tinkering with these things recently, and keeps pestering me to go buy things from 'Kourindou's shop owner'."
"Maybe like in a novel, technology can be brought into this world?"
"I don't think technology is very useful in this world."
The battles of youkai cannot be solved with games, but with 'Spell Cards'.
Simply put, 'Spell Cards' are skills under special rules, a law established between humans, youkai, and various other races during struggles, to prevent them from using more power than necessary.
Ordinary guns are hard to make use of in 'Gensokyo'.
"Although there are still many things I want to ask, I don't have much time...!"
"Class?"
"That's right. Luke-san, do you have takeout here? I want the desserts from here."
"Sure."
Luke nodded, planning to fulfill Kobayashi Rindo's order first.
After Kobayashi Rindo got the pastries, she sniffed the aroma quite contentedly, planning to savor them slowly after returning to Tohtsuki Academy.
"Thank you for the trouble, Luke-san. I'll come again."
"Mm, welcome back anytime."
"Goodbye!"
Kobayashi Rindo, saying farewell, carried the pastries and walked towards the restaurant door.
Halfway there, she suddenly stopped, turned around, and looked at Luke.
"But... how do I return here after this?"
"As long as you wish it, I think you will see the correct path."
"That feels quite philosophical..."
Kobayashi Rindo smiled, her right hand resting on the restaurant doorknob.
The situation that followed was just as Luke had described; the world behind the door changed.
It was no longer the lush green forest seen through the restaurant window, but a street formed by a concrete jungle.
"I really came back..."
Kobayashi Rindo looked at her right hand; she was still carrying that portion of pastries.
Clearly, it wasn't a dream...
For some reason, her heart started beating faster.
This extraordinary experience filled Kobayashi Rindo with anticipation for the time to come.
Just as she was returning to Tohtsuki Academy with a joyful mood, she was immediately stopped by a teacher.
The other party glared, staring at Rindo.
"Kobayashi Rindo! You're late today! Go wait for me in the student council office!"
"Isn't it the teacher's office?"
"That place is under renovation today!"
"I understand."
Kobayashi Rindo didn't struggle either, heading straight for the student council office she had been to a few times.
Tohtsuki Academy as a whole was built along a mountain, covering a large area with varying elevations.
Kobayashi Rindo, who took fifteen minutes to reach her destination, pushed open the door and found someone sitting inside.
It's clearly class time right now, why is there still someone here?
The puzzled Kobayashi Rindo looked over.
Sunlight slanted in from outside the window, falling upon the girl's hair, which also shimmered with a golden hue.
"Nakiri Erina..."
Kobayashi Rindo recognized the other person's identity.
Nakiri Erina, the granddaughter of Tohtsuki Academy's director, the "Demon Lord of Food," Nakiri Senzaemon.
She also possessed extraordinary sense of taste known as the 'God's Tongue', where a single comment could influence the future of a restaurant.
Undoubtedly, Nakiri Erina is a genius in the culinary world.
However, Kobayashi Rindo didn't particularly care.
"Excuse me."
"You are... third year's... Kobayashi-senpai?"
"That's right~ But I didn't expect to run into Nakiri here. Were you late too?"
"No, I just came over to help handle some documents, I don't need to attend class."
As expected of the director's granddaughter.
Thinking this, Kobayashi Rindo sat down on the side.
Bored, she opened the box of pastries Luke had made for her.
A fragrance immediately wafted out.
"Ooh..."
Just as expected, they looked incredibly delicious.
Kobayashi Rindo eagerly picked up a pastry and put it in her mouth.
Rich flavors instantly bloomed on her taste buds, making her body jolt.
And while she was enjoying it, Kobayashi Rindo noticed a gaze directed from the side.
Nakiri Erina was staring curiously at the box full of pastries.
Seeing this scene, Kobayashi Rindo picked up one of them.
"Want one?"
Faced with Kobayashi Rindo's offer to share, Nakiri Erina fell into a dilemma.
Because right now, Erina was incredibly curious about the pastry in her senpai's hand!
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