Chapter 106: Lucifer's Sleep Talk
The morning sun filtered through the wooden slats of the blinds, casting a warm, striped pattern across the polished floor of the Dimensional Restaurant. The air was filled with the faint, lingering scent of coffee and the fresh crispness of the new day.
Standing behind the counter, Ren looked at the three high school girls sitting in a row on the bar stools.
Nanami Minami, the energetic girl with a side ponytail; Hinami Aoi, the picture of a perfect, popular student; and Yoshikawa Yuki, the girl with the oversized sweater and an aura of perpetual relaxation.
They were currently staring at the ceiling, their brows furrowed in deep thought.
This question—"What would you like to eat?"—made the three fall into contemplation. Anyone suddenly asked what they wanted to eat, unless they had already planned it out meticulously the night before, would not be able to answer immediately. The paralysis of choice was a powerful thing, especially in a restaurant that claimed it could make anything.
This struggle was true not just for humans, but even for the little Queen of Hell, Lucifer, who often couldn't come up with an answer right away and would resort to pouting until Ren decided for her.
The silence stretched, filled only by the hum of the refrigerator and the soft jazz playing in the background.
However, this question didn't linger for too long, primarily because Nanami Minami's stomach gave a traitorous, audible growl. She blushed, laughed it off with her characteristic brightness, and slapped her hands on the counter.
"Shopkeeper Ren!" she chirped. "Do you have any recommended dishes? No fried rice, please~. I had that last night at the convenience store!"
Ren smiled, wiping a glass with a white cloth. He thought for a moment, analyzing the nutritional needs of a growing high school girl who had skipped dinner.
"So," Ren began, leaning forward slightly. "Do you want to eat plain rice with separate dishes (Teishoku style), or the dishes served directly on top of the rice (Donburi style)?"
Minami tilted her head, her ponytail swaying. "What's the difference? Besides the plating?"
"The first option is to cook the dishes separately," Ren explained patiently. "The flavors are distinct. You eat a bite of meat, a bite of rice, a sip of soup. It's a balanced experience. The second option is where the rice and dishes are steamed or cooked together, or the sauce is poured over the rice, allowing the grains to soak up the flavor. It's richer, heavier, and more comforting."
Nanami Minami thought carefully for a while, her finger tapping against her chin. Then she asked the most practical question for a student with places to be.
"Which one is faster?"
Ren chuckled. "The first one, of course. Stir-frying a dish takes minutes. The second one, especially if it involves steaming rice with ingredients (Takikomi Gohan), takes some time to infuse properly."
"Then the first one it is!" Minami decided instantly. "I'm starving!"
"Alright." Ren nodded. He turned his gaze to the other two. "Aoi-san, Yuki-san, have you decided what you want to eat?"
Hinami Aoi sat with perfect posture, her expression thoughtful. She wasn't just thinking about taste; she was likely calculating calories, nutritional value, and flavor profiles.
"I'd like something with cheese," Aoi said, her eyes gleaming with a specific craving. "Lots of cheese. As for the main course, I don't need a heavy meat dish. If possible, Shopkeeper Ren, could you recommend something vegetarian but rich for me?"
Ren nodded, making a mental note. "Cheese and vegetables. Got it."
Yoshikawa Yuki slammed her hand on the counter, grinning. "As expected of Aoi! Eating cheese first thing in the morning! You have an iron stomach! Shopkeeper, I want Ramen! A big bowl! With extra chashu!"
Ren smiled and nodded. "Alright~. One stir-fry set, one cheesy vegetable gratin, and one heavy ramen. Please wait a moment. Would you like anything to drink while I prep? Minami, do you want to try that strange way of drinking I mentioned before?"
Nanami Minami's eyes lit up immediately. "Oh! The one with the texture? Yes! I want to try it!"
Hinami Aoi asked curiously, raising an eyebrow. "Strange way of drinking? What strange way of drinking?"
"It's a mix!" Minami explained enthusiastically to her friends, gesturing wildly. "Ren-san puts things inside the juice that you have to chew! It sounds weird but he says it's good for the skin!"
After Nanami Minami explained, both Yoshikawa Yuki and Hinami Aoi's eyes lit up with curiosity. Girls in this age group were generally weak to phrases like "good for the skin" or "limited edition."
"I want one too!" Yuki raised her hand.
"Me too," Aoi nodded.
Ren nodded and said softly, "Please wait a moment. Oh, and Minami, can you and Ms. Hinami eat spicy food?"
"No problem!" x2
"Excellent."
After Ren left the counter and disappeared behind the noren curtains into the kitchen, the three girls relaxed.
Yoshikawa Yuki and Hinami Aoi began to look around at the environment more closely. The shop was deceptively spacious. The morning light hit the dust motes dancing in the air, giving the place a magical, timeless quality.
After a long while, Hinami Aoi chuckled, running a hand over the smooth wood of the counter. "This place is really nice. It has a very... calming atmosphere. But I never expected Hori-san to come here."
Yuki also nodded, a look of surprise on her face. "Yeah, yeah! Hori actually comes here! She's usually so busy we can't even make plans with her after school. She always rushes home to take care of her brother. How did she end up finding a hidden shop like this?"
Nanami Minami leaned in, whispering conspiratorially. "It's because her house had a power outage that day! Can you believe it? The whole block went dark. She didn't want to cook in the dark, so she remembered my recommendation and brought her little brother here. Yesterday, when we were on student council duty, she talked a lot about this shop with me. Hori really likes this shop. She even said the owner is very distinct."
"Distinct, huh?" Aoi glanced at the kitchen. "He certainly is handsome."
The two nodded in agreement.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Just then, they heard a series of rhythmic, heavy footsteps coming from the wooden staircase that led to the second floor.
The three girls looked up towards the back of the shop.
They saw a girl with long white hair running down the stairs. She was wearing a set of cute, fluffy pajamas that looked slightly too big for her, and her hair was a bit messy from sleep. But what caught their attention was her energy—she bounded down the steps with the agility of an animal.
Since she didn't see Ren behind the counter, she stopped running and walked down the last few stairs properly, trying to look dignified.
"Hmm… it's that girl from before!" Minami whispered, recognizing her.
"It's you!" Yuki pointed. "I remember your name was... Cerberus... or something?"
The white-haired girl nodded vigorously, her ponytail bouncing. "Yes, yes, yes! I am Cerberus! Eh? Where is Master… Ren?"
Yoshikawa Yuki pointed to the kitchen curtain, from which the sound of chopping vegetables could be heard.
"He's cooking."
"Oh! Thank you!"
After Cerberus said thank you, she didn't walk; she dashed in. She moved so fast she was a blur of white hair and flannel.
Before Hinami Aoi and the others could react to the girl barging into a professional kitchen, they heard a gentle, familiar voice from inside.
"Why did you come in? It's oily in here."
"Master, Master, Master! Good morning!" Cerberus's voice was muffled, likely because she was hugging Ren.
"Good morning. Did you wash your face?"
"Yes! I licked... I mean, I washed it with water!"
"Good. Are you going to Totsuki today? Rindou said she was picking you up."
"Mhm! Erina and the others want you to go too, but I said you were busy!"
"Alright. But remember not to cause any trouble at the school. Rindou... that girl probably doesn't have classes today, or she's skipping them again, so you can go find her first. Aren't you two very close~?"
"We are best friends! We are the Meat Alliance!"
"Alright, alright~. Go out first. I still need to prepare dishes for the guests. Are you having breakfast at the shop before you go?"
As soon as the voice fell, the curtain parted.
Cerberus ran out, her face beaming with happiness. She shouted back towards the kitchen, "Yes! Master… Ren, you decide! I'm going to wake up Lucifer! She's still sleeping like a log!"
After speaking, she scurried upstairs again, taking the steps two at a time.
Her energetic demeanor startled Hinami Aoi and the other two girls. They stared at the empty staircase, blinking.
Hinami Aoi covered her mouth and chuckled softly, a glint of curiosity in her eyes. "Is that girl... Shopkeeper Ren's girlfriend? They seem very close. She called him 'Master' for a second there."
"I don't know," Minami shrugged, though she looked a bit thoughtful. "But if she is, I wouldn't be surprised. Shopkeeper Ren seems to be very popular with women. Hori told me that many girls seem to like Shopkeeper Ren~. Even that scary-looking foreign lady with the silver hair lives here."
"Minami, you…" Yuki poked her arm. "You sound a little jealous!"
"Yuki! I didn't! I just appreciate beauty!"
The three girls downstairs were chatting and laughing, speculating about the handsome chef's love life. Meanwhile, upstairs, the atmosphere in Lucifer's room was a completely different scene.
The room was dark, the heavy curtains drawn tight against the morning sun.
Lucifer, the Queen of Hell, was buried under a mountain of high-thread-count duvets. Only a tuft of silver hair was visible.
Suddenly, the bed dipped.
"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"
Lucifer groaned, opening one crimson eye.
She saw three identical white-haired girls—three Cerberuses—sitting on her bed, bouncing in unison.
Lucifer stared at them with a bewildered expression, her brain still foggy with sleep.
What the hell?
She was sleeping soundly, dreaming of conquering a giant crepe tower, but then she was woken up by being pressed down by multiple bodies. And what woke her up was actually a Hellhound that had split into her tripartite form.
Lucifer always felt that something was off with the scene, for some reason. It felt less like a wake-up call and more like a raid.
Lucifer rubbed her stomach, sat up groggily, and said sleepily, her voice hoarse, "Cerberus? Why did you come? And why are all three of you out? Did Ren summon you for battle?"
The Cerberus in the middle stopped bouncing. She leaned in close, her red eyes wide.
"Because, Lucifer, you kept talking in your sleep! I didn't wake you up the first time, so all three of us came together to perform an exorcism!"
Lucifer was taken aback. The sleepiness vanished instantly.
Exorcism?!
Was she really sleeping that soundly? But none of that was the key. The key was something else.
She talked in her sleep?
She, the dignified CEO of Hell, talked in her sleep? Did she have that habit? Did she reveal state secrets? The location of the treasury?
Lucifer asked doubtfully, pulling the blanket up to her chin defensively. "I... talked in my sleep? What did I say?"
Cerberus thought for a moment, tapping her chin with three fingers simultaneously.
"It was intermittent. I couldn't hear everything clearly. But I definitely heard something about Ren... 'stinky man'... 'why are you so dense'... and so on…"
Lucifer's face flushed a brilliant scarlet.
"Stinky man?! Did I really say that?!"
"Mhm! And you were giggling! Like this: 'Hehehe'!"
Lucifer buried her head in the quilt, screaming internally. Kill me. Just kill me now.
Cerberus wasn't done. She tilted her heads. "But Lucifer... why did you say 'Master'? You said, 'Master, please...' Please what?"
The air in the room froze.
Lucifer's body went rigid.
She immediately shrank back into the quilt until she was a shapeless lump. Her voice came out muffled and high-pitched.
"It's nothing! I was... practicing lines for a play! You go down first! I need to get ready! Get out!"
Cerberus scratched her heads in unison. "A play? Okay! Breakfast is ready!"
The three Cerberuses looked at each other, shrugged, and then merged back into one person with a soft poof of smoke.
Cerberus shivered, feeling the chill of the room, then ran out the door. "Ren made meat!"
Lucifer, alone in the room, grabbed a pillow and slammed it over her face. She kicked her legs twice angrily against the mattress.
She grumbled in a muffled voice, her face burning hot, "Stinky man! Just thinking about it makes me angry! Why am I dreaming about him?! And 'Master'?! I have no dignity left!"
However, the quilt quickly became quiet.
Lucifer didn't stay there in shame for long. She was a Queen. Queens recovered.
Soon, she suppressed her emotions, threw off the covers, and walked towards the bathroom with determination.
For her, she had deliberately sent Cerberus away today to go to Totsuki. Why?
She wanted to properly experiment with what she learned online! She had found a recipe for "The Perfect Pancake" and she needed the kitchen to herself (and Ren) to master it without the dog distracting her.
(Lucifer: Damn humans! How dare they trick me with their culinary arts! I will conquer flour!)
At this moment, miles away at the prestigious Totsuki Culinary Academy.
In the high-end dormitory reserved for the Elite Ten.
Kobayashi Rindou and Akanegakubo Momo were standing in the hallway of Erina Nakiri's private wing.
For some reason, it seemed like the Elite Ten members had become addicted to staying at Erina's place recently. It was becoming a clubhouse.
Alice Nakiri, Erina's cousin, had run over again last night to sleep, claiming that her own bed was "uncomfortable" due to a failed molecular gastronomy experiment involving dry ice.
When she said that, Erina almost had her blood pressure rise to dangerous levels.
If you can't sleep in a different bed, then move your bed! Or buy a new one! You're rich! Why do you bring luggage when you come?!
But, being Erina, she had let her stay.
Now, the door to the guest room opened.
Kobayashi Rindou looked at Alice, who was wearing cute panda pajamas and brushing her teeth in the hallway. Rindou was stunned for a moment.
She asked Erina, who was standing nearby looking exhausted, "Eh? Why is Alice here? Did she get kicked out of her lab?"
Alice pulled the toothbrush out of her mouth and grinned, foam dripping slightly. "Because I can't sleep in a different bed. Erina's feng shui is better."
"What a refined reason~," Rindou laughed.
"I think so too~. Sister Rindou, why are you here so early? Did you come to steal Erina's breakfast?"
Erina, looking at Alice who completely treated her dorm as her own home, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She massaged her temples.
"We're going to pick up Cerberus," Erina explained, her voice tight. "We promised to show her the campus today. You stay in the dorm, Alice. Don't blow anything up."
Alice's eyes lit up. She spat out the toothpaste foam and rinsed her mouth in record time.
"Cerberus-chan?! The doggy girl?! I want to go too! I want to examine her ears! Are they real?!"
"You…" Erina glared at her. "Forget it! Then hurry up! We leave in five minutes!"
"Oh! Wait for me!" Alice dashed back into the room to change, crashing into a wall in her haste.
Rindou watched the chaos and chuckled. "Ah, youth. Well, let's go get the puppy. I wonder what Ren made her for breakfast?"
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