"Reiko, are you all right?"
"Lady Reiko, are you feeling better?"
"Boss Reiko, want some alcohol?"
"Big Boss Reiko, wanna go play?"
The moment Hinoe, dressed in her usual kimono, and a whole crowd of youkai gathered around her with obvious concern, Reiko suddenly felt her eyes begin to sting.
That's right...
She still had so many youkai friends worrying about her.
No matter how painful the past had been, she could not remain trapped inside it forever.
There was still a long road ahead of her.
She had to keep moving forward.
"Then let's go drinking!"
Reiko suddenly raised one hand and cheered.
The gathered youkai immediately answered with a loud, enthusiastic roar.
"Reiko, you can still drink more?"
"Of course!"
Reiko turned toward Hinoe with a broad grin.
And so, one human girl and a noisy crowd of youkai made their way together toward an abandoned shrine.
Above them, the moon finally emerged from behind the clouds.
Silver moonlight poured across the road and illuminated the figures moving noisily through the night.
None of the youkai noticed the way Reiko quietly lifted her head toward the moon.
Her gaze was filled with remembrance.
And gratitude.
'Yoko... wherever you are now, take care of yourself.'
The girl spoke those words quietly within her heart.
...
After Reiko left, no new customers arrived for quite some time.
Saitama remained seated at the counter, chatting casually with Yuto.
After hearing the news about Goku earlier, he had already declared that he would wait at the restaurant until eleven every night.
Naturally, that included tonight.
There was still a little time remaining.
If Goku still failed to appear by eleven, Saitama would simply head home and return again the following evening.
Erina and Hisako were resting on the other side of the restaurant.
After spending such a long time cooking almost without interruption for Yuyuko, both girls were understandably exhausted.
Tohru had already finished cleaning most of the restaurant.
Even so, the dragon girl was currently wandering around with a rag in one hand and a bucket in the other.
Whenever she noticed any spot that looked even slightly less polished than everything around it, she immediately rushed over and scrubbed it vigorously.
It did not matter whether that particular spot was already perfectly clean.
After finally escaping from mathematics, Tohru was simply far too excited to sit still.
If she did not find something to occupy herself with, she probably would not be able to calm down at all.
And so she wandered happily around the restaurant, humming to herself while her tail swayed behind her.
As for Fafnir, Ainz, and Rimuru...
Their gaming session continued completely uninterrupted.
Back when Ainz and Rimuru had first begun visiting the restaurant, the two of them would occasionally discuss their respective worlds, comparing various situations, problems, and experiences.
Ever since they discovered gaming, however...
Yuto could not remember the last time he had seen them seriously discuss anything like that.
The atmosphere inside the restaurant was peaceful and comfortable.
Beneath the warm yellow lights, it became remarkably easy to relax without even realizing it.
Time slowly passed.
When only ten minutes remained before eleven, the restaurant door finally slid open.
Saitama immediately turned toward the entrance with visible anticipation.
Once again, however, disappointment quickly appeared on his face.
It was not the person he had been waiting for.
"Welcome."
Yuto straightened with a smile and greeted the two girls standing at the entrance.
They were Kaguya and her maid, neither of whom had visited the restaurant for several days.
Kaguya wore a black dress tonight.
Under the restaurant lights, countless tiny points of brilliance shimmered across its surface.
Looking more carefully revealed that those glittering points came from tiny black diamonds sewn directly into the fabric.
The diamonds alone were enough to make the extraordinary value of the dress obvious.
Only someone like Kaguya could wear something so expensive with such casual ease.
Hayasaka Ai, meanwhile, wore her familiar black-and-white color scheme.
Today, however, instead of her usual maid attire, she was dressed in a butler-style uniform.
The change gave her a distinctly handsome charm that felt completely different from her normal appearance.
Held securely in her hands was a large, round container.
It had been tightly sealed, making it impossible to see what lay inside.
"Good evening, Boss."
Kaguya lightly lifted the sides of her skirt and gave Yuto a flawless Western-style curtsy.
Every movement was perfectly elegant.
More striking than her posture, however, was the relaxed pride visible in the smile resting upon her lips.
She looked completely different from before.
There was none of the tension or restraint that had once seemed permanently hidden beneath her composure.
Instead, she carried herself like someone who had finally overcome a difficult obstacle that had been standing in her way for far too long.
Hayasaka bowed alongside her.
"Good evening."
Yuto nodded in greeting.
Kaguya and Hayasaka then walked over and took seats at the counter.
The large round container was placed directly on top of it.
Yuto looked at the container curiously before glancing toward Kaguya.
"What's this?"
"These are some ingredients I had people gather for me."
Kaguya covered her mouth and laughed elegantly.
"I suddenly felt like eating sukiyaki tonight, so I thought we could use them."
Hayasaka then reached toward the side of the container.
The moment she pressed a small button, a faint mechanical sound came from within.
Several wisps of cold air escaped from the top.
She grasped the handle and lifted the lid.
Inside were several cuts of exceptional meat.
Beef.
Pork.
Every piece was covered in fine white marbling that seemed almost to shimmer beneath the restaurant lights.
It was beautiful.
Even the premium ingredients Tōtsuki had previously supplied to Yuto could not compare.
Erina and Hisako immediately froze.
Erina covered her mouth and pointed toward the meat in disbelief, repeatedly muttering words such as "top quality" and "incredible" beneath her breath.
Her eyes were practically glued to the ingredients.
For a chef, encountering extraordinary ingredients was much like an ordinary man suddenly coming face-to-face with an impossibly beautiful woman.
It was extremely difficult to look away.
And Hayasaka was not finished.
The container did not have only one layer.
There was a second.
And even a third!
The second layer contained vegetables.
The third was filled with seafood.
Just like the meat above them, every single ingredient in those lower layers was of astonishing quality.
One bluefin tuna of exceptional grade could sell for enough money to purchase several apartments.
The total value of everything packed into this single container could easily be compared with one of those tuna.
If anything...
These ingredients were probably worth even more.
"You're really planning to use all of this for sukiyaki?"
Yuto could not help drawing in a breath.
Using ingredients of this quality for something as straightforward as sukiyaki...
It genuinely felt wasteful.
"I already said that's what I want."
Kaguya smiled calmly.
"So I'm not changing my mind."
Yuto could only marvel once again.
The world of the truly wealthy was terrifying.
"All right. I'll prepare it, then."
He shook his head helplessly before picking up the container and carrying it into the kitchen.
Erina and Hisako watched those precious ingredients disappear with expressions of genuine heartbreak.
Neither girl, however, dared to say anything.
Under normal circumstances, if they saw ingredients this valuable being used for sukiyaki...
They would absolutely have tried to stop it.
But today...
Kaguya wanted sukiyaki.
So... Perhaps sukiyaki was not such a terrible idea after all.
Inside the kitchen, Yuto looked down at the absurdly expensive ingredients and sighed once more.
He really did feel reluctant.
But the customer came first.
If Kaguya wanted sukiyaki, then sukiyaki it would be.
Sukiyaki was essentially a Japanese-style hot pot.
The greatest differences between it and hot pot lay in the broth and dipping sauce.
Chinese hot-pot broth often required considerable preparation, particularly when made properly from scratch.
Sukiyaki, by comparison, was much simpler and could be prepared directly at the table.
First, the pot was lightly coated with beef fat.
Then ingredients such as scallions were added and briefly sautéed until their fragrance emerged.
After that came the meat, vegetables, seasoning, and finally a small amount of water before everything was allowed to simmer together.
In that sense, the preparation was considerably simpler than traditional Chinese hot pot.
The dipping sauce was also rather unusual.
Chinese hot pot generally used either oil-based dips or mixtures built around various sauces and seasonings.
Sukiyaki, however was often dipped directly into raw egg.
Or simply eaten with sweet soy sauce.
For someone accustomed to hot pot, sukiyaki might not immediately seem especially appealing.
But people who genuinely loved sukiyaki often became completely addicted to it.
Especially here in Japan.
Yuto began preparing the dish step by step.
Erina and Hisako stood beside him throughout the entire process.
Not long after he entered the kitchen, the two girls had quietly followed him inside.
They simply could not let go of their attachment to those precious ingredients.
At the very least...
They wanted to witness their final fate with their own eyes.
The moment Yuto began laying slices of beef into the pot one after another, both girls looked as though they could barely endure the sight.
Erina pressed her lips tightly together, grief and inner conflict written clearly across her face.
It almost looked as though she were witnessing some terrible tragedy unfold before her.
"A-Are you really putting all of it in?"
Unable to restrain herself any longer, she finally asked as Yuto continued arranging the slices of beef.
"The customer comes first."
Yuto sighed softly.
"Might as well use it all."
Then he placed the final slice into the pot.
Next came the remaining ingredients.
Erina and Hisako silently covered their eyes.
Out of sight, out of mind.
If they could not stop it...
Then perhaps it was better to pretend they had never witnessed anything at all.