Next, Sui and Rindō exchanged contact information.
"Hey, if you come across any new ingredients, let me know!" Rindō waved enthusiastically before leaving.
"Shall we head out too?" Sui glanced at the time and turned to Erina.
The two of them, along with the members of Polaris Dormitory, exited Meeting Room A and made their way towards their respective dorms.
As they neared the Nakiri mansion, Sui spoke, "We're almost there. See you tomorrow."
Tadokoro Megumi and the others waved goodbye. "We'll head back to Polaris Dormitory now," Megumi said with a soft smile. "Goodbye, Sui-kun, Miss Erina."
Erina offered a polite nod in farewell, "Goodbye."
With that, she and Sui continued walking towards the mansion, while the others continued their journey back to Polaris.
However, halfway to the dorm, the group suddenly halted.
A strange silence filled the air.
Five seconds passed.
"Hey… did I just see Sui heading towards Nakiri's mansion with her?" Sōma broke the silence with a puzzled look.
"Yeah, it sure looked that way," Yoshino nodded.
Ten seconds later, Ryoko gasped dramatically, "No way! Are they secretly living together?!"
Yoshino's face flushed red with excitement. "That's so thrilling!"
Megumi's face went pale, her hands clenched into fists. "N-No! You've got it all wrong! Maybe Sui-kun just went to Miss Erina's house for tea!" Her voice trembled, clearly shaken by the thought.
---
Meanwhile, neither Sui nor Erina seemed to notice the misunderstanding.
After returning to the mansion, Sui passed through Erina's bedroom to reach his own room.
Once inside, he eagerly opened his fantasy ingredients catalog.
The catalog was filled with countless exotic ingredients, some even from Pokémon and One Piece—including Sea Kings and Devil Fruits.
Cold sweat formed on Sui's forehead as he scanned the overwhelming list.
Finally, he located the ingredients he had already unlocked. So far, he had unlocked three: cream matsutake mushrooms, priced at 50,000 yen per pound, almond cabbage at 50,000 yen per head, and dried dream catfish, priced at a staggering 5 million yen each.
Seeing the price tag on the dream catfish, Sui was stunned. But when he recalled that dream catfish weighed hundreds of pounds, he realized 5 million yen was actually a bargain.
He then checked the purchase restrictions for each ingredient.
"I can only buy one pound of cream matsutake mushrooms per day? And just one almond cabbage?" Sui asked aloud, somewhat frustrated.
"Yes," the system replied. "Your purchase limits will increase as your cooking level improves."
"Fair enough," Sui sighed. While the current restrictions were tight, they were enough for now.
Then, a notification popped up:
New Mission:
- Objective: Open your own restaurant and sell at least one dish priced at 20,000 yen or more.
- Reward: Miltank
- Time Limit: Three days.
Wait… a Miltank? Isn't that the cow from Pokémon? Sui blinked in confusion. These system rewards are getting weirder and weirder.
Putting that aside for the moment, Sui purchased one pound of cream matsutake mushrooms and one almond cabbage—hitting the day's purchase limit.
He had earned a total of 360,000 yen from his previous gig at Kagura Sakaya, which was more than enough to cover the cost of these ingredients. Dream catfish, however, was still out of reach.
Next, he made his way to Erina's room and handed her half of the cream matsutake mushrooms as a thank-you gift for joining his research group.
---
The next day, Sui attended classes at Tōtsuki in the morning, then returned to his original school in the afternoon.
After school, he headed straight to his own snack bar. According to the system's task, he needed to open his own restaurant and sell one dish for at least 20,000 yen. Since he already owned a snack bar, he just had to make one sale.
As he walked home, a familiar voice called out to him. "Hey, Sui! Are you opening the store again?"
Sui turned to see Luna, a classmate, childhood friend and daughter of a local izakaya owner, walking with him.
[Author's note: Izakaya means stay-drink-place. A spot to grab a drink, settle in, and get comfortable.]
"Yeah," Sui nodded.
"That's great!" Luna clenched her fist. "Even though working elsewhere can earn more money, nothing beats having your own shop. That's what my dad always says!" She grinned. "Good luck, Sui!"
Sui smiled at her enthusiasm. She was determined to take over her family's izakaya.
"By the way, Sui," Luna suddenly gave him a suspicious look. "You've been taking a lot of time off lately. What have you been up to? Do you have a girlfriend?"
Sui coughed awkwardly. "W-What? No way!"
Luna blushed and whispered, "I thought maybe you were walking around with the class rep."
As they reached an intersection, a loud voice interrupted their conversation. "Hey, isn't that Sui? Are you opening the store again?"
It was Luna's father, standing at the door of his izakaya, wearing a traditional chef's uniform.
"Hello. Uncle Laat," Sui greeted him warmly.
"I heard from Luna that you've been quite the hit at some fancy restaurant. Didn't expect you'd still want to come back and run a small shop. That's the way to do it—stay grounded and build your future!" the older man laughed heartily.
Luna stuck her tongue out playfully. "Sui, I'll head back to help at the izakaya. I'll catch up with you later!"
"Alright," Sui nodded.
After crossing the street, he arrived at his snack bar. The shop was small and a bit run-down, a remnant of the old neighborhood. His parents had once run the business, and Sui had inherited it. But with his lackluster cooking skills, the shop hadn't been doing well.
He unlocked the door, and a cloud of dust puffed out, making him cough.
"Hey, Sui-boy! Back to open up shop?" a friendly neighbor called out.