Special Extra Chapter – Thank You!
A big thank you to Omarian_Bedward for the 5-star review! Your support truly means a lot and motivates me to keep going.
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Chapter 36: Seito: "You Guys Want a Bite? It's Absolute Fire!"
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6:00 AM.
Seito opened his eyes as the morning sun hit his face. The light caught his cerulean irises, making the golden hexagram within them shimmer like a piece of high-tier jewelry. He sat up and stretched, his joints popping with a satisfying rhythm.
"Best sleep of my life," he murmured.
He moved with a fluid grace that wasn't there yesterday. After sliding into his school uniform, he didn't walk to the bathroom.
Zip!
With a thought, he used Spatial Shift and materialized directly in front of the sink. After a quick wash and a tooth-brushing session, he shifted again, appearing in the center of the kitchen.
He opened the fridge, scanning the ingredients like a General inspecting his troops. "For lunch with Kanade... let's go with sliced Szechuan beef, double-cooked pork belly, and some silken Mapo tofu. Hearty, classic, and perfect for a bento."
He set to work. His culinary skills were refined by years of living alone, but with his newfound spatial precision, his knife work was surgical. The pork was sliced into paper-thin ribbons; the tofu was cubed into perfect, uniform squares.
Thirty minutes later, the intoxicating aroma of spicy oils and savory garlic filled the apartment. He packed the feast into three high-grade insulated bento boxes.
Then, his gaze fell on a portable induction stove and a bag of premium frozen meatballs and wagyu slices.
"Breakfast hotpot in the classroom... yeah, that sounds about right."
He wasn't worried about "strong flavors" or "school etiquette." He was a man who could phase through reality; why should he care about a dress code? He packed the stove, a pot, and a bag of ingredients and headed out.
Seito walked down the street for a few blocks until he found a secluded alleyway. Checking his mental map, he focused on the school's rooftop.
Zip!
He materialized on the roof of Sobu High. It was 6:50 AM. Students were just starting to trickle through the front gates. He strolled down to the third floor and entered Class D.
Only one person was there, Yukino Yukinoshita.
"You're early," she noted, looking up from her book. Her eyes traveled from his face to the massive bento boxes, and finally to... "Is that a portable stove? And a bag of frozen brisket?"
"Morning, Flatty," Seito said casually, dropping his bentos into his desk.
He walked over to a small table near the podium, pulled up a chair, and set up the stove. He plugged it into a nearby outlet, poured in some bottled water and a block of spicy soup base, and turned it to high.
Within minutes, a rich, spicy, and savory steam began to waft through the room. Yukino, who had already eaten breakfast, felt a traitorous pang of hunger in her stomach.
"My name is YUKINO-SHITA," she said, her voice like ice. "It seems your memory is as faulty as your sense of decorum. First the pillow, and now a hotpot? Do you think this school is your private lounge? Nobody eats hotpot for breakfast. It's heavy, it's pungent, and it's frankly... bizarre."
Seito didn't blink. He just watched the bubbles rise in the pot. Her tongue is as sharp as a poisoned blade. I wonder how she'd fare against Shiro's bluntness.
The door opened. Kaguya Shinomiya and Hayasaka entered. They stopped dead in their tracks, their noses twitching at the scent. A moment later, Asuna Yuuki walked in, her expression mirroring the shock of the others.
By 7:15 AM, the classroom was nearly full. Every student was staring at the corner of the room with a mixture of confusion, annoyance, and secret envy.
"What is he doing?" Maple (Kaede Honjo) whispered to Sally (Risa Shiramine). "He logged out early to... prep a breakfast buffet?"
"I don't know," Risa whispered back, swallowing hard. The scent of simmering wagyu was making her mouth water. "But honestly, it smells incredible. I feel like my breakfast toast was a waste of time."
Seito ignored them all. He prepared a small bowl of dipping sauce, lifted the lid of the pot, releasing a fresh cloud of aromatic steam and swirled a slice of beef in the broth.
He blew on it gently and took a bite.
"Ah..." he sighed, closing his eyes. "I really am a genius."
The Class: "..."
The sheer audacity of his satisfied expression made half the class want to slap him and the other half want to join him. After a few more bites, Seito realized standing up wasn't comfortable. He looked at the student closest to him, Asuna.
"Hey, Wife...ahem, Yuuki-san mind if I borrow your desk for a second? I need a surface for the sauce."
Asuna Yuuki: "..."
The Class: He's calling her 'Wife' now? This bold playboy!
Asuna's face flushed slightly. "Seito-kun, you really should put that away. Hiratsuka-sensei is going to be here any minute. You're going to get in so much trouble."
"It's fine," Seito waved a hand dismissively. "If I were afraid of Shizuka, I wouldn't have brought the spicy base. You want some? It's absolute fire."
Asuna: "..."
The Class: Does he have a death wish?
Seito looked around, seeing the collective "What the hell?" looks on their faces. He misunderstood their silence as politeness. He held up a perfectly cooked meatball.
"Seriously, none of you? It's delicious. You're missing out on the fuel of champions."
Silence.
"Fine. No hustle, no muscle," Seito muttered. He wiped his mouth, stood up, and walked out of the classroom.
The students blinked. Was he giving up?
A moment later, a roar echoed from Class E next door.
"You! You're the one who ditched me yesterday! I'm going to—"
"Relax, Iori. I brought breakfast."
"Is that... is that hotpot I smell?"
"Premium wagyu. You in?"
"Let's go!"
"Wait for me, Iori! Seito, save some for me too!"
The students of Class D watched in stunned silence as Kitahara Iori and his rowdy friends rushed into their room like a pack of hungry wolves.
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Thank you for reading.