"That...maybe this isn't a good idea. Didn't you see they already put up a sign banning us?" At that moment, Tohka quietly tugged at her other self. She felt that she alone was already enough of a burden on that restaurant owner, and now there was another version of herself—this inverse self—who could probably eat even more. She thought the owner and the cooks might just jump off the roof.
"Tch, what kind of store dares refuse certain customers? What are you afraid of? We…" Hearing Tohka's words, the Inverse Tohka didn't care in the slightest. She tugged her along, ready to go in, but just then the owner happened to walk out. He stared blankly when he saw the two of them pulling at each other.
"Ah!!!" The man let out a terrified scream, then, dragging his plump body, bolted back inside. A second later, the restaurant doors slammed shut at lightning speed, completely cutting them off. The Inverse Tohka was choked off mid-sentence. She too was stunned by the man's reaction. She'd clearly seen that fat guy, all by himself, close all the massive doors and windows of the restaurant faster than she could move.
"....." They stared at each other speechlessly. Now neither the Inverse Tohka nor Tohka knew what to say. Tohka was still okay; as for Inverse Tohka, veins practically popped on her forehead.
"That bastard is unbelievable. I'm doing him the honor of eating here, and he dares treat me like this? Does he really think I won't tear this place down?" After all, the Inverse Tohka wasn't like Tohka; she didn't have such a good temper. She was already furious, and if Tohka hadn't been holding her back, she really would have stormed in.
"Crap, the other Tohka's emotional readings are spiking," Up on the vigilant battleship, almost everyone was monitoring the two of them. They saw this scene unfold and quickly reported it.
"Even if this Tohka has almost no spiritual power signature, yesterday she showed a surge even stronger than Tohka's. No matter what, we absolutely can't let her get too agitated. Contact that owner right away. Tell him we're reserving the entire restaurant. All expenses reimbursed and a large additional fee will be paid. And if he dares refuse…hmph, you know what to do," At that moment, Kyouhei Kannazuki touched his chin, analyzed the situation, and gave his orders.
"Yes, I'll contact the store and get them to reopen immediately," The operator received authorization and quickly began tapping away at the console. In no time, a message was dispatched.
"Don't stop me. Let me go teach that fat pig a lesson." Down below, the two Tohkas were still struggling. The Inverse Tohka was utterly enraged by now.
"That guy has already been eaten out of stock by me twice. His reaction is understandable—if you think about it, we basically consumed several months of his profits in one go. You can't blame him for reacting this way," Tohka tried reasoning, although she knew very well the inverse self wouldn't care about that.
"So what? If he dares to offend me, I'll just make him…" If Tohka hadn't been hugging her around the waist, she'd have stormed inside. Even now, with Tohka clinging to her, she was still thrashing about, baring her teeth.
But she didn't get to finish her sentence—because right then, something happened that made her go blank. The restaurant that the owner had sealed up suddenly reopened at high speed. That same fat owner appeared again, now with a sycophantic smile, though Tohka could still see a pained expression like he was suffering a stomachache.
"What now? What the hell is this guy doing?" Still held around the waist by Tohka, the Inverse Tohka froze in place, her brain struggling to process it.
"Ladies, this way please, this way…" Unfortunately for her, her voice wasn't exactly quiet—she was even more blunt than Tohka. When she said that, the owner's chubby face twitched violently, but he quickly forced it back into a smile. In his heart, he was cursing like mad. He'd just received a message—either serve these two ladies obediently, or get lost. As for the cost, everything would be reimbursed when they finished, plus a generous extra payment.
"Who in the world are these two little ancestors? If they're so rich, why do they keep coming to my shop to eat every time?" He muttered in his heart but didn't dare voice any complaint. He was secretly thankful he hadn't tried to use force earlier—if he had, he'd probably be in the hospital by now. Because while Tohka rarely killed, she didn't mind breaking an arm or a leg.
"Tch, looks like those guys are occasionally useful for more than just ganking me," Seeing her inverse self finally stop struggling, Tohka let go. The inverse one didn't know what was happening, but Tohka understood perfectly. Those people were clearly still monitoring her—and for once, they'd actually done something helpful instead of interfering. Of course, if this were the Marvel world, she could have handled it herself.
"Alright—since he's allowing it, let's just go in," Seeing the owner's attitude, Tohka stopped holding her back and patted her head.
"Uu…" Unexpectedly, when she got patted, Inverse Tohka showed an expression of pure bliss. Tohka even wondered if this was actually the original story's Tohka in disguise—because head pats shouldn't have such an effect. Oh well, she was too tired to think about it anymore. She just led her inside.
"Uu~ What a touching display of sisterly love…" Up on the battleship, Kyouhei Kannazuki was giving a passionate monologue as he watched. But he soon seemed to remember something and muttered to himself: "Say, when we failed to woo Tohka before, did we maybe get something wrong?"
Rubbing his chin, he glanced meaningfully at Shido Itsuka.
"Uh—well—since there's nothing else, I'll be going now," Noticing Kannazuki's look, Shido shivered uncontrollably. Without another word, he turned and bolted out of the room. After all, there really wasn't anything left for him to do, and his instincts were screaming that if he stayed, something horribly embarrassing would happen.
"Sigh, maybe I'm overthinking it," Watching Shido flee, Kannazuki just chuckled and shook his head. He decided to let the matter drop. After all, this kind of scenario was almost unheard of. Unlike Miku Izayoi, Tohka didn't have the sort of settings where simply speaking to a man tanked her favorability to the level of a cockroach. No one on the battleship had considered this angle.
"Uu, so tasty…" Down below, as soon as the two walked inside, the owner shut the restaurant again and ordered the staff to focus exclusively on them. All kinds of dishes were placed before the two Tohkas, and both were the type who never refused food—so they quickly polished everything off. Then the servers brought out more. Now that someone else was footing the bill and the service was this good, Tohka completely let herself go. As for the other one—she was even more outrageous. Although she looked and felt like a normal person, she was really just an energy body, so she had no reservations at all.
Before long, in front of all the stunned onlookers, the two of them began methodically clearing the restaurant out. The poor owner was constantly wiping cold sweat. These two sisters could really eat. Fortunately, someone else was paying—otherwise, he'd be bankrupt. He was seriously considering changing careers or moving to another city. Next time, if nobody came to pay the bill, he'd be doomed—and out of the two, one was still somewhat reasonable, but the other was obviously the type who did whatever she wanted. And even worse, she could out-eat the first.
"Ah—so satisfying…" The owner's thoughts were none of Tohka's concern. After nearly an hour of hard work, she finally felt full. But just then, she realized her other self still hadn't stopped.
"Hey—aren't you overdoing it? Still not full? Oh—never mind. I forgot—you're…never mind, eat as much as you want." She was about to scold her but remembered the inverse self didn't have a real body—everything she ate would be converted directly into energy. How much energy could she hold? Tohka didn't know—but she was sure the girl could probably eat nonstop for an entire day without issue. Since it had been so long since she'd gotten to eat, Tohka decided not to interfere.
"Ladies—I'm sorry, but we're out of ingredients." Although Tohka didn't try to stop her, the owner finally had to intervene.
"Nani? You call this all the food you had? Are you messing with me?" Hearing that, the Inverse Tohka swallowed her bite, narrowed her eyes, and growled in a commanding tone: "Then what are you standing there for? Go buy more—unless you want me to tear this place down. Are you looking down on me? Huh?"
She glared daggers at him, then casually flicked her dinner knife. The blade flew past the owner's fat head and thunked deep into the wall behind him.
"P-please forgive me, miss—I didn't mean it like that," The owner's body shivered all over. He hastily erased the look of terror from his face and put on a groveling smile. "Our chefs have already worked harder this hour than in an entire normal day. Even if we buy more ingredients, their hands are so tired they can't cook properly anymore."
"Alright, alright—let's go. Tengu City has more than one restaurant anyway. Trying a new place for a change isn't so bad, is it?" Seeing this, Tohka quickly pulled her inverse self away and apologized to the owner. Then she hustled her toward the exit. Even she felt a little sympathy for the poor man by now.
"Fine, fine—let's go somewhere else," Inverse Tohka didn't protest. Instead, she actually looked interested. After all, this meant she could taste new foods. She followed Tohka out of the shop. As for the bill, she couldn't have cared less.
"Phew—thank goodness those two little ancestors finally left," Watching the pair walk away hand in hand, the owner let out a long sigh of relief. He glanced at the payment confirmation on his phone. The money, after deducting costs, would cover several days of normal business.
"Everyone—take the rest of the day off. You've all earned it," He called to his exhausted staff in the back, then shuffled off to rest himself. He was already thinking maybe he should close the buffet altogether. If these two kept coming, they could probably eat several days' profits in a single sitting.
"Alright—just eating is boring," This time, Tohka didn't take her inverse self to another restaurant. Eating endlessly was dull, and she was an energy being—she'd never get full. Instead, she led her to an amusement park. "Come on, let's play here. Just stuffing your face all day won't accomplish anything. You know, in another world, I even owned an amusement park myself."
"Uh…alright," Hearing that, Inverse Tohka paused, then nodded without objection. She'd never been to an amusement park before. And what Tohka said wasn't wrong—if she were left to eat endlessly, she really could go all day.