"Sukiyaki's ready~~~"
Yuto emerged from the kitchen carrying a large pot filled almost to overflowing.
Inside were ingredients worth roughly as much as an apartment in Tokyo.
For an ordinary person, the idea of putting that much money into a single meal would have been almost impossible to imagine.
He carefully set the pot on the counter, where an electric burner had already been prepared beneath it.
The steady heat would keep the sukiyaki piping hot throughout the meal, allowing everyone to continue eating directly from the pot.
In that respect, it was essentially the same principle as hot pot.
By this point, an entire group had already gathered around the counter.
Kaguya, Hayasaka, Erina, Hisako, Tohru, and Saitama sat together in a row, all of them clearly intending to join the meal.
After all, sukiyaki was exactly the kind of dish that became more enjoyable when several people gathered around the same pot.
Kaguya occupied the middle seat, with Hayasaka beside her.
Erina and Hisako sat next to Hayasaka, while Tohru and Saitama took the seats on Kaguya's other side.
The arrangement had worked out rather well.
If Erina or Hisako had been seated directly beside Kaguya...
The two girls probably would have been so nervous that they could barely bring themselves to pick up their chopsticks.
Tohru, however, had absolutely no such problem.
"Ooh! This looks amazing!"
Saitama could not help exclaiming as he stared at the overflowing pot.
Aside from Whitebeard's banquet and the seafood special the restaurant had held some time ago, he rarely had the opportunity to eat anything remotely this extravagant.
"It smells so good!!! Ahhhhh!!! Boss, Boss, I want to eat right now!!!"
Tohru's tail wagged excitedly behind her.
Her face was filled with such overwhelming impatience that she looked ready to dive into the pot the instant no one was watching.
She had not eaten anything all night.
With such a luxurious pot of sukiyaki sitting directly in front of her, it was only natural that the dragon girl was practically beside herself with anticipation.
Yuto looked at her and helplessly tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Tohru, if Kaguya hadn't pleaded on your behalf, you wouldn't be eating any of this tonight. Make sure you thank her properly."
There was an unmistakably meaningful warning in his tone.
Originally, Yuto had no intention of allowing Tohru to join while she was still being punished.
Kaguya, however, had repeatedly asked him to let her eat with everyone else.
In the end, Yuto had relented and agreed to temporarily suspend Tohru's punishment for this one meal.
The moment she heard that, Tohru immediately pressed her palms together and turned toward Kaguya.
"THANK YOU SO MUCH, MISS KAGUYA!!!"
She bowed her head with absolute sincerity and gratitude.
At this particular moment, anyone willing to let her eat a hot meal was practically a lifesaving benefactor in Tohru's eyes.
"There's no need to thank me that much."
Kaguya covered her mouth and laughed softly.
"I brought all of these ingredients because I wanted everyone to eat together in the first place. If Tohru had to sit nearby and watch while the rest of us enjoyed the food, I would feel terrible."
Tohru slowly raised her head.
Tears were practically shimmering in her eyes!
At that moment, Kaguya seemed to radiate the holy light of a benevolent savior in the dragon girl's mind.
"Miss Kaguya... you're such a good person."
Tohru looked genuinely moved.
Yuto could only feel helpless as he watched his employee.
If only she had thought things through this carefully before getting herself punished in the first place.
"Oh, right."
Kaguya glanced toward Ainz and the others, who were still gaming at their table.
"Why don't we invite Mr. Ainz and the others too?"
"Ainz..."
Yuto paused.
Then the memory of Ainz's previous attempt to eat after becoming a skeleton surfaced in his mind.
"Hm. Calling Ainz over for something like this might actually be more of a punishment for him."
He could not help wanting to laugh.
That incident had been truly miserable.
Sometimes, a person's happiness really did come from another person's suffering.
"But if everyone else is eating together and we don't even ask them, it feels a little strange."
Saitama scratched his head.
"All right. I'll go ask him."
After considering it briefly, Yuto nodded.
Even if Ainz could not eat, Rimuru and Fafnir still could.
Perhaps those two would be interested.
Yuto stepped out from behind the counter and walked toward the three gamers.
Under the curious gazes of everyone seated around the sukiyaki pot, he reached their table and woke them one by one.
Ainz, Rimuru, and Fafnir removed their headsets and looked at him with varying degrees of confusion.
"Kaguya brought a lot of rare ingredients and asked me to make sukiyaki. Everyone else is eating together. Want to join us?"
The instant Rimuru heard the invitation, he practically bounced out of his seat.
"Yes! Is this a group dinner? It is, right? It has to be! I'm joining!!!"
Fafnir pushed his glasses higher on his nose.
His expression remained as cold and indifferent as ever.
After thinking about it for a moment, however, he gave a reluctant nod.
"Hmph. Fine. I can continue playing after we eat."
His tone remained characteristically unfriendly.
From the counter, Tohru was already glaring at him.
At this point, the hostility between those two had practically become part of the restaurant's daily routine.
Only Ainz remained silent.
For a long moment, he said absolutely nothing.
Inside his empty eye sockets, the crimson lights flickered weakly, like candles trembling in a cold wind.
"I..."
A low groan escaped from him.
The sound carried an extraordinary amount of resentment and grief.
He wanted so badly to simply say, 'I'm joining.'
But...
In his current skeletal form...
Eating had long since become impossible!
"It's fine, Ainz!"
Rimuru immediately offered him some kindhearted "comfort."
"If you can't eat, you can just sit beside us and watch!"
Ainz slowly turned toward him.
"..."
Ainz: ???
...
After a little back and forth, Ainz ultimately joined everyone at the counter anyway.
If he could not eat, then at the very least he could sit with everyone and chat.
Going back to the table and playing alone while Rimuru and Fafnir ate would not have been particularly enjoyable either.
So he might as well stay.
"Here. One egg and soy sauce for everyone."
Yuto distributed small bowls to each person seated around the counter.
Every bowl contained a whole raw egg that had not yet been beaten, while the soy sauce was placed separately beside it.
These were the traditional accompaniments for sukiyaki.
Compared with hot pot, it really was a rather unusual way to eat.
"Thanks."
After thanking Yuto, everyone immediately turned their attention toward the ingredients simmering inside the pot.
At first, they all remained reasonably restrained.
The broth bubbled gently.
Steam curled upward.
The aroma of meat, vegetables, and seasoning drifted through the air.
Then, at some unspoken moment, the atmosphere around the counter subtly changed.
A strange tension descended over the group.
It felt remarkably similar to those final few seconds before the starting pistol fired at a race.
Everyone watched the pot.
No one spoke.
And then—The imaginary gun went off.
Chopsticks flashed forward like lightning.
Before the ordinary humans among them, including Kaguya, could even properly react, several pairs of chopsticks had already plunged into the pot.
"Wow. Everyone's really fast."
Saitama sighed in admiration.
His own chopsticks were already inside the pot.
"Fafnir! I was going for that piece of meat! Put it down!"
Tohru glared fiercely across the pot.
Her chopsticks were currently pressing down on another pair, preventing them from moving.
"Hmph. I got it with my own skill. Why should I give it up?!"
Fafnir answered disdainfully.
His were the chopsticks currently trapped beneath Tohru's.
Kaguya, Hayasaka, Erina, and Hisako simply stared at them.
"..."
Yuto sighed helplessly.
"Can't you people just eat normally?"
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