Chapter 35: Empty Kitchen

“The hell? How did that get on the news?” Kōya wondered aloud, his voice carrying genuine confusion. Nami leaned over to get a better view of the screen.

The footage showed Kōya clearing the maze and eliminating monsters with simple, efficient cuts.

It displayed multiple camera angles… one from his perspective and even one from above and it seemed like he had known where everything would come from before it happened.

Almost like he could perceive threats in advance or something.

Nami stared at the screen, completely engrossed with what was going on.

’So this is how Kōya-kun fights in the Outer Zone…’ she thought, watching his fluid movements with analytical eyes.

The screen flickered and the scenes changed to show Mio as well as other notable students who had performed really well in the trial.

’I guess I shouldn’t be too worried about him then.’

She took Reona by the hand, and Kōya followed along as they entered the kitchen.

Unlike the rest of the house, which was immaculate and well-maintained, this place looked quite abandoned. There were shelves meant for ingredients, but most of these shelves were completely empty.

The counter was also a bit dusty, showing clear signs of disuse making Reona give Nami a pointed look.

“Nami-chan… when was the last time you used your own kitchen?” Reona asked while giving her a thorough once-over.

Nami patted her head with a nervous expression, shrinking slightly under the scrutiny.

“Welll… I think it was like two weeks ago,” Nami replied while it seemed that she had grown physically smaller under their combined gazes. “I’m a single woman and I usually order takeaway, so I don’t cook much. Or at all, really.”

Reona walked to one of the cupboards and opened it with purpose. There was only a single package of instant ramen sitting there.

“So you have shoyu instant ramen,” Reona said flatly.

She closed that cupboard and opened the one next to it yet another package of instant ramen came into her line of sight, it was a different flavor this time.

“Miso instant ramen too?”

She closed that cupboard and opened another one, only to see another set of ramen packages stacked inside.

“Tonkotsu? Nami-chan, is it only ramen that you have…?”

She opened two more cupboards with growing concern.

In one of them was an entire assortment of instant ramen varieties… there was the spicy pack, the seafood pack, curry flavor, even limited edition seasonal flavors.

It was just a whole collection of different ramen types arranged by flavor.

However, the last cupboard she opened had some actual ingredients, and by ingredients, Reona saw a half-carton of eggs, some green onions, and a few other basics scattered around.

She bit her lip and looked over at Nami with an expression that mixed disappointment and concern.

“Yes, I only have ramen. It’s the easiest food for breakfast if the drone delivery doesn’t come on time,” Nami admitted with a red face, clearly embarrassed. “But don’t worry, I’ll head to the market tomorrow and stock up properly!”

“I’ll follow you,” Reona said, giving Nami a fierce look.

She brought out one of the green onions from the cupboard, examining it critically.

It was smaller than usual, clearly not the freshest.

“It seems you’re being cheated, Nami-chan. The place is selling you low-quality produce,” she observed with a disappointed sigh. “Well anyway, Onii-chan… what kind of ramen flavor do you want? Nami-chan has everything, apparently.”

“Give me some miso and I’ll be happy,” Kōya said while leaning against the doorframe.

Reona nodded to herself with determination.

“Then I’ll make some tonkotsu for myself. What about you, Nami-chan…?” She paused, then added with a hand on her hip. “You need to change these eating habits, or else you won’t find a husband.”

Nami felt her face darken with embarrassment at the blunt assessment.

“My love life isn’t that bad…” she protested weakly, then straightened up. “And give me some tonkotsu as well! Should I help out? Isn’t it just boiling up the ramen?”

She put both hands on her waist, trying to regain some dignity. That’s why it was called instant ramen, after all… it should be simple.

“No, we’ll be making some adjustments to upgrade it properly,” Reona said firmly then she physically pushed Kōya toward the kitchen exit.

“Alright, Onii-chan, go stay in the living room or something… We’ll get this thing done right.”

Kōya was pushed out of the kitchen without resistance, and he sat down on the comfortable couch in the living room.

The Academy news segment had passed, and instead it was replaced by an announcement that the White King would be coming on live on Friday at KCNC… the city’s broadcasting channel.

’I can already see Reona being very excited about this…’ Kōya thought with mild exasperation.

Though he still wondered how he would convince her to stop praying, since it was practically giving her life force over to the White King with every prayer.

’Besides… that bastard, what does he even need that much lifespan for?’ he thought darkly. ’It’s only been forty-something years since the Fall.’

The math didn’t add up… even harvesting from billions of people, what could require that much accumulated time?

As he thought about this, his phone suddenly began buzzing repeatedly. As he lifted it, he saw that he had gotten quite a lot of notifications, which was unusual and surprisingly, none of them were from his streaming account.

They were all from the chatting app that existed in this world called InChat. He opened it and saw several numbers texting him directly.

「Kōya-kun… it’s me, Tasanaba 💕」

「Kōya-kun, are you ignoring me? 🥺」

「Amagi-kun! Did you see the news?? You were so cool! ✨」

「Kōya-kun… good night 😊💤」

The ten girls who had taken his number in class seemed to have texted him, and some had double and triple texted when he didn’t respond immediately.

However, he was not really in the mood to answer these messages right now.

’I’ve never actually had my phone ringing with so many messages before,’ he thought.

The only time he could compare was when he was still living in shared accommodations during his days of struggle back on Earth. Those times, the landlord had been quick to spam texts telling them to pay rent or get evicted.

Those were the only times he had gotten double or triple texted like this.

’All that suffering really paid off in the end…’ he thought with dark humor. A new text notification came up from an unknown number.

「inchat.app/join/A7Kx9mP2QzNvB5Rw」

’Eh?’ Kōya thought, staring at the link.

The same number sent another text immediately after.

「It’s your class rep, Tachibana Misora, and that is the link to the Class 5 group chat」

He looked at the link without clicking it yet.

He really didn’t feel like joining a class group chat and dealing with more notifications.

「It’s compulsory, Professor Saki made sure to clarify that all students must join. Also, don’t you think you should set a profile picture for your InChat? It makes the account look quite dead and suspicious」

He didn’t reply to her message.

However, he tapped on her profile picture out of curiosity, and Misora’s photo popped up full-screen.

She was wearing her Academy uniform, and the picture looked like it had been taken recently, probably in a dorm room.

There were two other girls on either side of her, and all three of them were smiling warmly at the camera.

It looked natural, like genuine friendship.

“I guess…” he muttered to himself.

He opened his camera app and switched to the front-facing camera, looking at himself in it.

He never imagined there would be a day where he would open the selfie side of his camera and not immediately hate the reflection staring back at him.

However, in the end, by the standards of this world, he was above average at least, that’s what he thought based on the world studies.

He took a simple photo with his blond hair blowing slightly in the air conditioner wind, giving him a casual, natural look then he added it to his InChat profile picture and pressed the group chat link.

It loaded for a moment, then a new chat appeared in his list.

「A.L.I. Class 5 GC」

The instant he entered, there was a flurry of messages that followed in rapid succession.

「Kōya-kun joined! 🎉」

「FINALLY」

「Welcome Amagi-kun! 😊」

「I think he just took that photo… he looks fucking hot 🔥」

「OMG his profile pic 😍」

「Kōya-kun!!! 💕💕💕」

Kōya ignored all of these thirsty reactions and scrolled past them.

A new private message popped up… Misora had texted him directly with a simple thumbs-up emoji: 「👍」

He saw it and considered for a moment.

’I guess it wouldn’t hurt to save her number,’ he thought pragmatically.

She was the class rep, after all, and even though she was the President’’s daughter… she had a lot of pride to try and make him do anything without his permission.

He saved her contact as “Tachibana Misora (Class Rep)” and put his phone down.

Just then, Reona came in carrying a small tray with two bowls of steaming ramen, the rich aroma filling the living room.

Nami was following behind her, holding her own bowl with a practically watering mouth, staring at it like treasure.

“Reona-chan really knows how to cook… even more than me,” Nami admitted with genuine admiration as she sat down on one of the couches.

She brought out her chopsticks from the tray, ready to dig in. Reona dropped the tray on the small table in front of the couches carefully.

“Alright,” she said with satisfaction.

She snagged the TV remote and changed up the channel until a show called ’WHITE GLORY’ appeared on the screen.

“They released a new series about the White King’s adventures… I’m gonna watch it!” she announced excitedly. “Now let’s pray before we eat.”

The instant she started putting her hands together for the prayer, Kōya raised up his hand to stop her.

“Stop.”

“Huh, Onii-chan… why?” she asked, confused and a bit hurt.

Kōya bit his lip, forced to come up with something convincing on the spot.

“It’s No-Prayer Month,” Kōya replied with as much confidence as he could muster. “I heard about it at the Academy today… only true fans of the White King would know about it. It’s the month where you absolutely do not pray to the White King because you shouldn’t depend on him for everything. True faith means standing on your own sometimes.”

Nami paused mid-reach for her chopsticks and looked at him with surprise.

“There was a thing like that…? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Of course, though it’s not widely publicized in the media,” Kōya said, maintaining his poker face. “It’s more of an internal thing among devoted followers.”

He looked at Reona, who had turned visibly pale at the suggestion.

“I understand… I won’t… I won’t pray,” she said slowly, clearly conflicted.

However, the next instant, her hands slammed together almost involuntarily, and she began the prayer anyway.

“May the Light of the White King—”

’It’ll take a lot more than that to break the conditioning, I guess…’ Kōya thought with resignation.

Then he looked down at his bowl of miso ramen, the steam rising invitingly.

The egg was perfectly soft-boiled, green onions sprinkled on top, and he could see Reona had added a pat of butter that was melting into the broth.

’I should just enjoy this for now.’

He picked up his chopsticks.

“Itadakimasu,” he said quietly, without the prayer.

…

“Come on, Onii-chan, join us…” Reona said from Nami’s bed, her voice carrying a wheedling tone.

Nami’s bed was big enough for the three of them to lay on comfortably since it was practically a king-size mattress with plenty of space.

Nami was already on one end wearing a light nightdress, and Reona was on the other in her pajamas.

“There’s a space in the center for you.”

“I can just go to the liv—” Kōya started.

“No way, you need your full sleep and comfort, Kōya-kun,” Nami interrupted firmly. “Come join us on the bed. The couch isn’t good for your back after that intense trial today.”

Her nightdress did little to cover the curves that the woman had which were clearly visible in the thin fabric.

Kōya sighed and closed the door behind him before approaching the bed reluctantly.

“Since you both insist,” he said as he laid down in the center space they’d left for him.

The AC system kicked in moments later, pushing cold air into the room and making the temperature drop to a comfortable sleeping level.

Reona was the first to fall asleep in the cool air, pressing against Kōya’s left side naturally like she always did at home when they were on the same bed.

Her breathing evened out quickly, exhausted from the long day. Kōya followed soon after, his own exhaustion from today catching up with him.

His breathing deepened, and he began snoring lightly.

Nami waited silently, listening carefully… only when Kōya was completely silent and clearly deep asleep did she turn in his direction.

She pressed her body against his right side with a small, tender smile on her face.

’Kōya-kun… I know you’re going to overwork yourself starting from tomorrow,’ she thought, looking at his peaceful sleeping face.

He looked so handsome in his sleep, completely relaxed without the guarded expression he usually wore.

She couldn’t help herself.

She leaned in slowly and gave him a soft peck on the cheek, her lips barely brushing his skin.

’Be safe out there.’

“You know, it really isn’t nice to molest a younger man in his sleep,” Kōya said shortly after, his voice completely awake and clear.

Her brain short-circuited and her face went completely red.

“KYAAAA!!!”

She scrambled backward so fast she nearly fell off the bed.

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