At the main entrance of Tracen Academy.
A brand-new red carpet stretched from the school gate to the main road.
On both sides hung huge welcome banners, hurriedly prepared overnight by the Student Council, written in both Japanese and English.
[A warm welcome to the American exchange student, Miss Taiki Shuttle, for her visit and guidance!].
It was an extremely formal and solemn scene, permeated with an atmosphere of international friendly exchange.
However, Kaito, standing in the front row and forced to put on a show, felt at least six resentful glares pierced into his back, glares strong enough to melt steel.
Behind him were all the members of the "harem council," led by the "Speaker," Symboli Rudolf, who had just concluded their "internal trial"
They were forced to wear their most dignified uniforms, forced professional smiles, and stood there to welcome the next "world-class rival"
Symboli Rudolf and TM Opera O could barely maintain the polite smiles typical of high society.
Meanwhile, Gold City showed an expression of agitation that said: "I am very annoyed, don't mess with me"
Agnes Tachyon was visibly analyzing the aerodynamic data of the approaching vehicle.
Rice Shower and Manhattan Cafe, feeling nervous, hid slightly behind the crowd, uncomfortable with the magnitude of the event.
The entire welcoming group was enveloped in an atmosphere of extremely strange and artificial "harmony," which seemed ready to explode at any moment.
"They are here!"
Following a slight cry from the chairwoman's secretary, the incredibly luxurious black limousine finally stopped at the end of the red carpet.
Everyone straightened their backs unconsciously, ready to receive a world champion with a powerful aura and an elegant bearing.
However, the car door did not open immediately.
First, a huge crumpled burger wrapper flew out the window with a whistle... Immediately after, the expensive door was violently pushed from the inside with a thud!
A golden whirlwind shot out of the car!
The newcomer wore a white T-shirt printed with "I Burger" and youthful denim shorts.
Her mouth was still full and her cheeks puffed out like a hamster preparing for winter.
She was Taiki Shuttle.
Seeing the formal and serious welcome before her, she first froze, and then forcefully and vigorously swallowed all the food in her mouth!
She immediately raised her hands and shouted to the world in exuberant Japanese with a strong accent, soaked in California sunshine:
"HELLO! JAPAN! I can feel your excitement! YES!"
This excessive entrance, which ignored all "international diplomatic etiquette," provoked an immediate reaction.
The perfect and professional smiles of the "Traditional Etiquette Faction," led by TM Opera O and Symboli Rudolf, could not help but tremble slightly.
Meanwhile, Gold City let out a blatant and disdainful "Tch" through her nose.
"Redneck"
The chairwoman stepped forward smiling to shake her hand and exchange greetings.
But Taiki Shuttle's gaze had already quickly passed over the chairwoman's petite figure, scanning the crowd frantically like a high-precision radar locking onto its final target.
Finally, her eyes fixed precisely on the handsome and helpless man standing right in the center of the crowd: Kaito!
Her eyes lit up instantly!
She immediately lunged forward, closing the distance with Kaito in a single stride!
She examined him thoroughly, checking him from top to bottom, from front to back.
Then, pointing her finger at Kaito, she confirmed loudly with the chairwoman behind her, in an excited tone as if she had discovered a new continent:
"Madam Chairwoman! Is it him? Is he the legendary 'Hand of God' who can make a Uma super strong?"
She completely ignored the imposing and terrifying members of the "Umas feroces" club standing next to Kaito, whose faces were already darkening.
In her opinion, only Kaito existed, her final "target," whom she had traveled across the ocean to find.
She even leaned in closer and sniffed hard.
It was as if she were smelling a freshly baked delicacy, an unparalleled exquisiteness.
After receiving an affirmative response from the chairwoman, she performed an action that left everyone present completely petrified.
Suddenly, she grabbed Kaito's hands, raised them high and held them in front of her, meticulously "inspecting" them as if they were a precious treasure.
Then, she raised her head, looked at Kaito with an incredibly sincere, infinitely expectant look, like that of a puppy, and uttered a classic and shocking sentence.
"This is amazing!"
"You have to do it! Let me taste... no, let me experience... the exquisite gastronomy you personally prepared, the one that, they say, makes people run incredibly fast!"
The moment the two came into close contact!
Kaito's cursed and uncontrollable [Aroma Corporal Fatal] inevitably enveloped the "guest" from the United States with an intensity similar to a tsunami!
The smile of excitement on Taiki Shuttle's face froze instantly.
She took a deep, hard breath.
Her expression was not that of someone smelling perfume.
Instead, she looked like a top-tier sommelier tasting a bottle of an exquisite '82 Lafite, a discontinued edition.
Stars began to pop out of her eyes uncontrollably, going bling-bling.
Her healthy, tanned cheeks quickly flushed with a captivating and visible crimson color.
"Grrr... gu... ru..."
A huge and untimely rumble, sounding as if it came from an abyss, roared from her stomach!
She clutched her stomach, and her expression instantly changed from excitement to extreme and unbearable "agony"
Beads of cold sweat broke out on her forehead.
She looked at Kaito and said with a voice on the verge of tears:
"Hand... Hand of God... You smell so fragrant... so very fragrant..."
"...I... am so hungry..."
"I'm so hungry I'm going to die ahhh—!"
Surprise!
Kaito's [Aroma Corporal Fatal] had absolutely no aphrodisiac effect on this American girl with a unique constitution!
Instead, it produced the strange effect of a "super-ghrelin," which almost made her die of hunger just by smelling it!
Her gaze toward Kaito had completely changed: from seeing a "legendary master chef" she went to seeing... a walking giant roasted turkey, covered in secret sauce and radiating a fatal aroma!
"I'm going to... eat you..."
Taiki Shuttle was about to lose her temper at that very moment, opening her mouth and preparing to "take a bite" out of Kaito's arm.
The harem group reacted instantly!
Gold City and Air Groove, one on the left and one on the right, held her arms tightly, like two guardian deities.
TM Opera O and Symboli Rudolf immediately protected Kaito, their "communal property," behind them!
The scene turned into chaos!
In the midst of this confusion, Kaito suddenly remembered something!
He pulled a slightly warm and generous portion of a Tracen Special double beef burger from his pocket (which Gold City had forced on him as a "loving breakfast" that morning!).
He held the burger up like a sacred relic in front of the rampaging Taiki Shuttle, who was about to break free, and shouted loudly.
"Calm down! Eat this first!"
The instant she saw the burger, the light of "hope" was rekindled in Taiki Shuttle's almost irrational blue eyes.
She snatched the burger from Kaito's hand.
With her cherry-sized mouth, she completely devoured the huge burger —which would take a normal girl at least two sittings to finish— in three bites and two gulps!
Then, she let out a long sigh of satisfaction, stroked her imposing chest, and adopted an expression of supreme bliss, as if she had returned from hell.
She looked at Kaito.
Her gaze had completely changed.
It had gone from curiosity to longing, and now it had become "starry eyes," mixed with adoration, gratitude, and absolute trust.
She ran toward Kaito again.
But this time she showed no aggressiveness.
She took Kaito's hand and spoke with an incredibly sincere tone, almost like an oath.
"Hand of God... you are not just my idol!"
"You are also my... savior!"
"I've already decided!"
"From today on! I, Taiki Shuttle, am your most loyal fan and your number one exclusive diner"
"Until you completely conquer me with your cooking, I will stick to you like a shadow until I have tasted every delicacy you prepare!"
With that, she behaved like a large, energetic Golden Retriever who had finally found her owner.
She clung to Kaito's side and there was no way to pull her away.
Observing this blonde girl, who had met Kaito less than ten minutes ago and had openly declared herself his "personal accessory," the Japanese Umas present —all of them reserved, subtle, and accustomed to Japanese-style ambiguous flirting.
For the first time they felt deeply how truly terrifying the "American fastball attack" was: a totally irrational attack from a foreign culture!
Their gazes toward Taiki Shuttle were now loaded with the meaning of "united against a stranger, sharing a common hatred"
For the first time, the always serene faces of Symboli Rudolf and TM Opera O showed an expression that could be described as "problematic"
And Agnes Tachyon was frantically recording new data.
[Report: A new specimen of Taiki Shuttle shows extremely strong "goal orientation" and "physical dependence," being completely immune to standard social barriers and mental pressure]
[Her behavior pattern cannot be predicted by existing models]
[Designated danger level... S+!]
The final scene froze here.
Taiki Shuttle was happily pestering a completely miserable Kaito, enthusiastically asking him what the dinner menu was in the cafeteria.
At the same time, she cast a defiant and blatant sideways glance, full of the arrogance of a winner at the "veterans" whose faces were turning green.
Kaito was completely entangled and unable to break free, so he could only look at his "harem council" with pleading eyes.
However, Symboli Rudolf looked back at him with a dark and unhelpful smile that seemed to say: "This is a romantic problem you've brought on yourself; you're responsible for fixing it"
A completely new and unique battlefield, centered on the "cafeteria," the "kitchen," and the "right to feed Kaito," permeated with the aroma of food and intense envy, was about to officially draw its chaotic curtain.