Chapter 226: Social Gathering

While Zepaul sat collapsed on the ground, mouth opening and closing like a fish, Yato cheerfully raised a hand and returned to Velvet.

Honestly, it wasn’t just Zepaul who was shocked—everyone was. And so, a heavy silence lingered for a while.

“…Yato was amazing just now. It was reckless, but I think it got across that she really is the Night-Blade God.”

My voice finally broke the stillness, and the frozen atmosphere began moving again.

Zepaul tried to get up as well, but his legs were completely gone, and he couldn’t stand.

“…Brother. Please don’t do unnecessary things. If you had truly angered the Night-Blade God, you wouldn’t be alive right now.”

“M-My bad. I just didn’t think that was the Night-Blade God based on appearances. So you were really in contact with her, huh, Milagros…”

“That’s what I’ve been telling you over and over. And one more warning: the person Yato cherishes most is Sato here. If you’re rude to him, not only me, but Yato herself will seriously get angry.”

“…Sorry for acting all provocative. Just—understand that this was a serious decision for us. I had to judge things for myself.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I completely understand, and I knew from the start Milagros’s brother wouldn’t be a bad person.”

“…You’re a good one, Sato.”

“Well then, let’s switch gears and have dinner. I’ll prepare things quickly, so chat nicely while you wait.”

I emphasized “nicely” and headed to the kitchen.

Yato really surprised me, but her actions helped Zepaul understand. For that, I was grateful.

Now all that’s left is for me to cook something delicious and everything will work out.

I slapped my cheeks to focus and started preparing dinner.

With Norman and Jacob’s help, the dishes were completed without issue.

Tonight’s theme was fried food festival, so I made a huge spread of fried dishes.

Croquettes, minced-meat cutlets, ham katsu, fried squid, shrimp, skewered cutlets, lotus root fries, quail egg fries—plus karaage, fries, and nuggets for a full junk-food lineup.

Great as a meal, or perfect as snacks if you’re drinking golden liquor.

A lineup guaranteed to please anyone.

Even Zepaul should love it—and everyone else too.

“Sorry for the wait. I went with an all-fried-food theme today. If anyone wants alcohol, let me know.”

“It’s all brown food, everything looks the same. Is all human-world food like this?”

“There are colorful dishes too. Fried stuff just ends up brown.”

“I dunno what ‘frying’ is, but I definitely want a drink.”

Yeah, once something is breaded and fried, it all looks similar. Even I can’t tell what’s what unless it’s something obvious like shrimp.

Everyone except Yato and Joel wanted alcohol.

I served those two juice, and we began with a toast.

“Alright! Let’s start the post–cooking competition celebration and Zepaul’s welcome party! Cheers!”

“““Cheers!”””

With the toast done, everyone immediately reached for the fried food.

I grabbed a skewer katsu and a croquette and enjoyed them with golden liquor.

—Ahh.

Washing down fried food with alcohol is bliss. The fizz of the golden liquor is the perfect accent.

“—! What the hell is this drink… it’s too damn good!”

“It really is. I could drink this forever.”

It seemed to hit both Zepaul and Milagros hard—they were chugging happily.

Then Zepaul took a bite of the skewer katsu he’d picked up as a snack and froze.

“…What is this concentrated mass of flavor!? The booze is great, but this fried stuff is unbelievably good!”

“Ahahaha! Right, right!? Sato’s cooking is exceptionally delicious!”

Yato, despite not drinking, was acting drunk and dancing with a shrimp tail in hand.

Considering we were almost on the brink of a fight earlier, I was really glad we could all sit around a table and eat like this.

“…It’s delicious. Everything looks the same, but all the flavors are different. I brought my best dish today, but the gap between mine and this is embarrassing.”

“That’s not true at all. It’s just the difference in ingredients. Your cooking was delicious, Rose.”

“Yeah, and what I made was basically a copy of Sato’s recipe anyway. I was all proud about winning, but now I feel like I need to train for the second competition.”

While munching fried food, Rose and Velvet suddenly began a self-reflection meeting.

I stopped them quickly—I just wanted people to enjoy dinner.

“It’s a casual competition. No need to overthink it. Velvet, please start thinking about the prize dish for the next winner.”

“Oh, I forgot about that. Can it be anything?”

“Of course. Even something abstract is fine.”

“Even abstract is fine? That sounds fun. I’ll think about it.”

I successfully changed the subject, and the brief reflection mood disappeared.

Everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly, and it turned into a great chance to deepen our bonds for tomorrow’s costume party.