I apologize to Pandora-san for her concern, but to be honest, the food and drink Gluttony-san served me wasn't as awful as I thought.
No, it certainly does taste awful. That one is for sure but... if I were to rate it, it would be on a "rather low level".
At least, it wasn't enough to ruin my expression, which was trained by my mother's cooking and Kuro's failed baby castellas.
Yes, Kuro's failed baby castellas were especially on a whole different level. If Kuro's failed baby castellas were to be divided into ten levels of how awful they taste, the kaiju ham and heavy crude oil-like tea I ate this time... would be at best, at a medium level, around level 5.
There was no "burning in my mouth the moment I ate it", I wasn't "feeling like I'm losing my consciousness with every bite", I wasn't "feeling fierce nausea, as if my body refuses to accept what I'm eating", nor am I "being brought to my knees because my knees couldn't stand it anymore". It was just plain untasty.
To be honest, if it just tastes this awful, I can finish this with a smile on my face. Since "it doesn't cause any physical damage", eating this would be easy.
I mean, thinking about it again, I guess that baby castella devil's failed creations were just too devilish. At any rate, the level is really too different from that baby castella that Alice refers to as a dark matter.
As I had such thoughts in mind, I turned to Gluttony-san and spoke with a smile.
[Gluttony-san, thank you for preparing all this for me. I was supposed to have come to express my gratitude, but I'm sorry that you had to prepare all these things.]
"No! It's my greatest pleasure to know that Miyama Kaito-sama is pleased!"
Well, of course, what I gave her was a fake smile. It still doesn't change that the food tastes awful after all. I'm often told that I wear my emotions on my face, but I don't think my thoughts are showing in my fake smile.
No, after all, I'm really relieved that it's not on a seriously awful level...
Thereupon, at that moment, Pandora-san suddenly caught my attention. When Pandora-san saw me thanking Gluttony-san with a smile, she looked really astonished, and brought her hand on her chin, looking like she was thinking about something.
After a few moments, she hugged her head, looking as if she realized something, and after doing that, her eyes became cloudy, and her cheeks were blushing with ecstasy.
Hmmm, I really have a bad feeling about this... This may just be my imagination, but right now, within Pandora-san's mind...
(What!? For him to be smiling like that, c- could it be that Miyama-sama is just like Gluttony...No, wait, Miyama-sama's sense of taste should have been normal. I know that from the data we've collected so far... Hahh!? I- I see!
Miyama-sama is a person who stands much higher than me... It was a mistake to measure him with my standards in the first place! What a blunder, this is! To worry about Miyama-sama is the same as underestimating him... That was quite presumptuous of me.... I must reflect on this! And I need to have greater loyalty than ever before!!!)
——-or something like that. No, that was just my imagination... but that really was just my imagination, right? My thoughts weren't fitting to a tee, right? Things like her affection towards me getting bigger than before was just my imagination, right?
Incidentally, I'm going to digress, but Pandora-san's loyalty and affection is incomparable to Gluttony-san's fanaticism.
Basing it on the emotions I feel from my Sympathy Magic... If Gluttony-san's emotions were like a flash flood, Pandora-san's were like a large tsunami... their scales were just too different.
Anyhow, Pandora-san's emotions were so great that it's heavy, and her loyalty and affection are off the charts... so much that the word "Yandere" comes to my mind.
...Eh? Eden-san? That person is "on a whole nother level". Her level is already on the level where "the whole world will sink into the sea" or "the universe will be swallowed up by the sea", so her love couldn't be expressed on the same level as natural disasters.
Well, let's just put her aside for now and eat what was served.
"Miyama Kaito-sama! If you want, how about some seconds..."
[Ahh, thank you.]
...H- Hmmm, I may be calm with it, but awful food tastes awful, so I don't really want to have refills... but it's kinda hard to refuse.
As for why that is, it was just that Gluttony-san looked really happy... Looking quite excited after seeing someone who "understands their taste"... and it was extremely hard to say no when she looked at me with such twinkling eyes.
...It can't be helped. For the sake of a good relationship with her in the future, I'll just accept her kindness.
Well, that aside, it would still be impossible to eat up the whole kaiju due to how big it is, so I'd like it if Gluttony-san suitably stops offering me seconds soon.
...Also, I'd like it if they would change the tea. Putting aside its taste, with how goopy it is, it isn't moistening my throat at all.