The moment Syr opened the basket, a delicious aroma spread through the room.
"Huh?"
Syr stared at the food inside the basket and froze for a moment.
"What's wrong?"
Bell asked softly.
The dishes in the basket looked delicious, smelled wonderful, and were beautifully arranged. It was hard to imagine they had come from Syr's own hands.
"I think I brought the wrong one..."
Syr replied gloomily.
Chloe flicked her tail and cut in.
"I grabbed the wrong one, nya! The food Syr made was definitely eaten by Anya and the others as their staff meal, nya!"
"Hmm..."
Syr shot Chloe an annoyed look, then quickly composed herself.
"Well, if that's the case, then there's nothing we can do..."
"That's right, nya... It's the thought that matters most, nya..."
Chloe's tail kept swishing, and cold sweat had already formed on her forehead.
Bell smiled softly. He had already guessed what had happened.
This catgirl had definitely swapped out Syr's cooking for her own.
Silently offering his condolences to Anya and the others, Bell said, "I'm really happy Syr came to see me. Let's all eat together."
"Mm..."
Syr nodded with a smile.
"Bell, I want you to feed me too."
Airmid said.
"What's that? Airmid-san is way too sneaky!"
"Syr... do you want that too? Of course you do."
Bell indulged his girlfriend's spoiled request.
"Yay. Wait, Chloe, don't rub Bell with your tail while we're not looking!"
"It can't be helped, nya. I definitely wasn't doing it on purpose, nya~"
Amid the laughter and teasing, the food was quickly wiped out.
"Thank you for the meal, young man, nya."
"Ch—lo—e! Hmph, I'll settle this with you after we get back."
The two had only just left when another elf girl walked in.
"..."
Airmid let out a quiet sigh and silently left the room, giving Bell space to be alone with the others.
"Ryuu-san, why didn't you come with Syr and the others?"
Bell asked.
"Um... I had something to take care of, so I ended up coming at a different time..."
Ryuu sounded unusually awkward.
Bell could tell at a glance that Ryuu had deliberately avoided Syr and hadn't wanted to come visit him with her.
This dignified elf girl really was terrible at lying.
Bell did not expose her and simply replied gently, "Thank you for the gift. Is this a bracelet?"
"Yes. Yesterday, Cranel-san gave me an emerald, and he even thoughtfully had someone deliver an Elixir to treat the injury on my hand, so I had to express my gratitude."
Remembering the boy's thoughtfulness, Ryuu honestly voiced her thanks.
"Ryuu-san's injury happened because of my instructions. This is only what I should do."
Bell answered frankly.
"That's not true. We only survived because of Cranel-san!"
Ryuu stepped forward emotionally, then immediately lowered her head, her fair skin turning red.
"I'm sorry... I wanted to give you something more valuable, but I didn't have anything worthy enough, so..."
"Ryuu-san, I really like it."
Bell held the bracelet up between them. It was hard to tell whether he was looking at the handwoven red bracelet, or at the elf girl whose face was burning red.
"T-that's good, then... I'll be going now!"
The word like brushed past Ryuu's pointed ears, leaving a wave of scorching heat behind.
She could not bear it any longer and turned to leave.
Was Bell talking about her, or the bracelet?
Why was she even thinking about something like that?
Mm... Syr...
That excess suspicion tugged at her heart.
Ryuu burst into motion at full speed, dodged the two people approaching from the front, and fled in a fluster.
"Bell, we came to see you..."
Ais blinked, paying no attention to the elf girl running off.
"D-don't get the wrong idea. I only came with Ais-san because I was worried you might do something weird!"
Lefiya followed behind the blonde girl.
Before Bell could even greet them, Ais held out the bag in her hand.
"Ais-san, this is...?"
Bell asked softly as he looked at Ais, who still had food crumbs on her lips.
"The last fried potato ball... for you..."
Ais licked her lips.
"Thank you..."
Bell smiled as he accepted the still slightly warm paper bag.
"This isn't a thank you gift... I just happened to bring it along..."
"Wait, Ais-san, you can't say that!"
Lefiya hurriedly tried to stop the blunt blonde girl.
"Didn't Riveria-sama and the others come?"
Bell helped change the subject for Lefiya.
"You wanted Riveria-sama to come visit you?! You perpetually in-heat rabbit! If you hadn't just gotten injured, I definitely wouldn't let you off!"
Lefiya's face turned bright red.
She placed a basket of fruit on the bedside cabinet and said to the blonde girl, "Ais-san, let's go. I'll buy you fried potato balls!"
As the two turned to leave, Bell called after them.
"Lefiya-san, the money in this basket..."
Lefiya hurried off as if she had not heard a thing.
"..."
Bell picked up the apple in the basket. Underneath it was a considerable amount of money.
After that, more girls continued coming to visit one after another.
Lili, Mikoto, and the others brought homemade baked sweets.
The heart-shaped pastries were made by Lili. The better-tasting cookies had been carefully baked by Mikoto.
When Daphne pointed that out, Mikoto's face turned bright red and she ran out of the room.
"It feels like a lot of girls have already been here..."
By the time Eina came in, fruit baskets of all sizes were piled up around the room.
Before her, Alicia from the Loki Familia had just been there.
Only then did Eina realize that this boy had encountered countless girls, and she was merely the least noticeable one among them.
She lowered her head in insecurity, then suddenly noticed a letter tucked beneath one of the baskets.
"Bell, what's this...?"
Eina pulled out the envelope in confusion.
"I don't know. Maybe someone deliberately left it behind."
From Bell's angle, he could not see the letter.
He took the envelope from Eina's hand. There was no name written on the outside, and there was no decoration at all. It looked extremely plain.
"Could it be a love letter someone gave you?!"
Eina looked at the boy nervously.
"..."
Bell opened the envelope, glanced inside once, and frowned.
"W-what's wrong?"
Eina thought her premonition had come true and panicked for a moment.
"Probably just someone's prank."
Bell smiled helplessly and put away the letter in his hand.
The paper was covered in tightly packed words.
[Scum, scum, scum, scum, scum...]
[Scum!!!]
The letter looked as though tears had soaked into it, and some parts were blurred beyond recognition.
Bell did not tell Eina what was written there. Instead, he quietly wondered who could have left behind such a letter.
Just then, Hestia came running in.
Without noticing the strange atmosphere in the room, she said:
"Bell... Hephaestus wants to see you."