Chapter 3. Atmosphere and Appetite

CHAPTER 3 Atmosphere and Appetite

One day, Alisa was standing in front of a certain ramen shop. Ominously written in red on the wooden sign were the words The Cauldron of Hell , and it was the same ramen shop she had eaten at with Masachika and Yuki a while back. She vividly recalled that the shop lived up to its name by serving only the spiciest ramen, sending her straight to hell and back, and yet for some reason, she was about to waltz into the lion’s den once more. Why? Because when she and Masachika went on a da—a…pretend practice date the other day so she could teach the clueless teenager about women, he’d told her he liked spicy food.

It’s not like I’m trying to understand what kind of food he likes, though!

She was making excuses to herself. There had to be some reason why someone would love spicy food that much, and she wanted to know why. That was all. This was nothing other than her trying to expand her culinary palate. If she managed to like not only sweets but spicy food as well, then she would be able to enjoy eating twice as much. This challenge was based on that simple thought process. And maybe it would have some side benefits, too? Like maybe she was hoping that she could enjoy eating out with her friend more? Of course, she was obviously referring to Yuki and not Masachika when she came to that conclusion.

“All right.”

After making every excuse she could think of and preparing herself for what was about to come, she opened the sliding door to the restaurant—

“ … !”

—and immediately, the spices in the air burned her eyes and the back of her nasal cavity. Even though she was somewhat prepared for this, she reflexively narrowed her eyes and winced.

“Welcome to The Cauldron of Hell!”

She blinked for a few moments at the chef’s high-spirited voice, then shifted her gaze to the hostess…where she saw a familiar face out of the corner of her eye and did a double take.

“Uh … ? Ayano?”

“ … ? Oh.”

Ayano, who was sitting at a table for two near the entrance, lifted her head from the book she was reading, and her eyes widened slightly in surprise. After seeing them greeting each other, the hostess approached and timidly asked:

“Uh… Will you two be eating together?”

“Oh, uh… Er… Yes,” Alisa responded awkwardly, thanks to her absolute lack of life experience in this regard. The embarrassment she felt was almost physically painful, but there was no way she could back down now after she claimed that they would be eating together.

“Hey, uh… Do you mind?” she asked Ayano apprehensively.

“Be my guest.”

She then took a seat across from Ayano, who tucked her book away in her bag.

“ … …”

“ … …”

And then there was silence. Two beautiful women staring at each other. Saying nothing.

Uh…

The indescribable awkward silence became too much for Alisa as she closed her half-open mouth, unable to find the right words to say. She didn’t have much experience initiating small talk, and her relationship with Ayano…was still extremely uncertain.

Are we even friends…? We’re not, are we? After all, we’ve hardly ever talked to each other, especially not like this, and we’ve only spent time together as members of the student council. To make matters worse, we’re going to be running on opposing sides during the election cycle, so while we’re working together in the student council now, we’re also enemies. Wait. But…Yuki and I are friends, so…

Alisa was having difficulty putting her relationship with Ayano into words, but how she was going to start the conversation depended on what kind of relationship they had. Of course, she was not against the idea of being friends with Ayano, but Ayano had never asked to be her friend, and she wasn’t confident enough to claim they were friends without any confirmation, either. It was a very common conundrum for people who were socially awkward or shy. She even started hoping that Ayano would be the one to initiate conversation…but she gave up the moment she looked into Ayano’s eyes. Her eyes were unclouded without a hint of embarrassment. Clearly, she wasn’t feeling awkward as she sat straight up with her hands in her lap as if to say, “Go ahead. I am ready to listen to whatever it is you have to say.”

“Hello, I brought you some water. Please let me know when you’re ready to order.”

Their bizarre staring contest paused when the waitress came back with some water. Alisa’s eyes naturally shifted away from Ayano as she picked up the menu and perused the disturbing names of the food with a bitter expression on her face. She then looked back at Ayano and asked:

“What did you get?”

It took quite a bit of courage for Alisa to ask that.

“I got—”

But right as Ayano was about to reply, the waitress returned with a bowl of ramen on a tray.

“Here you go. Spike Mountain Hell ramen. Enjoy your meal.”

Inside the dark-red soup…were countless spikelike fine strips of long onion stacked to make a small mountain. It was the second thing from the top on the menu, and one stage hotter than the Blood Pond Hell ramen, which Alisa ate last time.

“…This.”

“Oh…”

Alisa thought carefully for a few seconds after seeing the ramen the hostess brought. She was originally planning on getting Blood Pond Hell again, but after seeing Ayano’s spicier choice, she suddenly began to doubt that getting the same thing would help her progress. Plus, ordering the least spicy item on the menu would make her kind of feel like a loser. She obviously knew this wasn’t a competition, but…

“Excuse me, waitress? I’ll have the same thing,” she ordered, stopping the waitress on her way back to the kitchen. She then faced Ayano once more.

“Oh, you don’t need to wait for me. Go ahead,” she urged.

“Thank you,” replied Ayano before grabbing her chopsticks, submerging the mountain of long onion into the soup, and pulling the chopsticks back out with some ramen. She then began slurping her noodles in silence.

“ … !

“ … ?

“ … …”

After freezing for a moment, Ayano slowly slurped until the noodles were completely in her mouth. She wiped her lips with a napkin, then began to chew…and her expression didn’t change in the slightest.

I-incredible! She’s eating what looks like super-spicy ramen without even raising an eyebrow… Ayano must love spicy food, too…

Alisa’s fear was accompanied by admiration and a faint sense of urgency. She could still clearly remember how devastatingly hot the ramen she ordered last time was, and this was going to be spicier. Would she really be able to eat it?

I-I’ll be fine! They say you just have to get used to spicy food, and I had so much trouble finishing last time because I ended up adding seasoning to make it spicier!

While trying to fire herself up, she glanced at one of the table corners and noticed the seasoning the restaurant offered: soy sauce, pepper…and a suspicious-looking small earthenware jar that stood out more than the rest. On the jar was the name Demon Tears —an unbelievably spicy seasoning.

I’ll be okay as long as I don’t put any of that in my ramen… At least, I should be okay!

She said that to herself in an attempt to summon up enough courage to eat. Meanwhile, Ayano continued to chew on the noodles of the second hottest ramen in the shop as she thought:

It’s spicy… So spicy…

Ayano was mentally on the verge of tears because she couldn’t actually handle spicy foods that well, either. There was a reason she went there alone that day, and it was because she wanted to train herself to be able to eat spicy food, since the two people she adored the most loved it. Unknown to anyone around her, she had been painstakingly training at restaurants that specialized in spicy cuisine whenever she had a day off or some spare time. Thanks to that, she had built quite a tolerance for spicy food compared with when she first started training two years ago…but even then, this spicy ramen was hard to handle.

It’s hot and spicy… My mouth feels like it’s on fire…

The spiciness only got worse after the first bite, as if little bits of the spicy elements remained in her mouth, ignited by the boiling-hot noodles before exploding like dynamite. It got to the point where Ayano could no longer tell if the ramen was burning hot or if it was just really spicy.

Ngh… Too…hot…

She honestly wanted to open her mouth wide to breathe and get some ventilation going, but she was a proud maid, and that was bad manners. If she was alone, then maybe, but Alisa was sitting right in front of her. She couldn’t allow herself to show such shameful behavior in front of Yuki’s beautiful rival and schoolmate.

“ … ! Hff.”

After managing to swallow the food in her mouth while keeping a straight face, she let out a brief sigh. Of course, her instincts were telling her to guzzle as much water as she could, but she knew through experience that doing so wasn’t that effective, especially since it added pressure on the stomach, so she decided to simply bear the pain. Instead, she chose to use the long onion shavings, which were relatively safe, to escape from the heat.

There was less soup on the long onions compared with the noodles…which should give her some time to breathe and relax.

That was her hypothesis when she shoveled some long onion shavings into her mouth…and then immediately regretted it. Once she started chewing, the onions’ own unique flavor made it feel like her tongue was being pierced by spikes.

“ … ?!”

Ayano’s eyes rolled back due to how surprisingly spicy these long onion shavings were. It was clear there was something different about them. The heat was nothing like hot peppers. Instead, it felt like she was being stabbed. In basic chemical terms, it wasn’t like the spiciness of capsaicin. It was aniline that contributed to the onions’ piercingly burning sensation. If these types of spiciness were magic types, then they would be fire and wind. They were completely different magic types, exploding in her mouth and causing so much pain that she almost wanted to cry.

I-interesting… So this is the Spike Mountain part of hell…

The conflicting types of spicy flavors didn’t cancel each other out. Instead, they came after her and attacked from both sides. That was the moment she realized that this double whammy was the core of the dish. She closed her eyes, tightly squeezing her tear glands to shut off the impending waterworks while nodding a few times as if she was actually enjoying the flavor. After eventually swallowing, she slowly reached for her cup, took a big sip of water, and exhaled, feeling instant relief from having her mouth cleaned out.

“It’s really good. The exquisite savory flavors of the vegetables and ground beef stand out thanks to the spiciness of the soup.”

Incidentally, Ayano wasn’t telling a fib. She could taste the umami that went beyond the spiciness of the dish thanks to her years of hard training, so she wasn’t lying. She simply didn’t disclose the fact that she had no time to enjoy these flavors because of how spicy the ramen was. Nevertheless, Alisa was oblivious to how Ayano was feeling.

“Oh… Really? I can’t wait,” said Alisa with an awkward smile as she felt a shiver go down her spine.

H-how can she continue eating that like it’s nothing? Ayano must love spicy food…

Alisa was gradually becoming more worried as she watched Ayano quietly resume eating. She thought that maybe they could bond over a common enemy like spicy ramen, saying things like “Mmph… This is hot” and “Yeah, it is,” but this glimmer of hope she once had swiftly came crumbling down like a house made of straw in the wind. Ayano was a seasoned warrior who had no need for a comrade in arms. The only rookie soldier there was Alisa.

Ngh…

She started to regret sitting with Ayano, although it was already far too late for that. Crying now about how spicy the ramen was would only make a veteran like Ayano glare at her as if to say, “Why are you even here, then?” The best-case scenario would be Alisa’s order arriving at the table after Ayano had finished eating and left…but of course, life was never that easy.

“Sorry for the wait. Spike Mountain Hell ramen. Enjoy.”

Ayano had finished about half her ramen when Alisa’s food arrived. There was no way for Alisa to run away now, so she steeled herself for battle while grabbing her disposable chopsticks like a soldier heading into war with a rifle in hand.

“Oh, great. It’s finally here.”

Her first contact with the ramen was going to be crucial, and this first bite was going to let her know that—

“ … ?! Gfff?!”

The instant she slurped up the noodles, her throat was doused with capsaicin, and she began to violently cough. While she managed to keep the food down, albeit barely, she couldn’t stop coughing.

“ … ! Mn! Gff!”

The coughs were relentless, and having food in her mouth made it worse. Once Alisa finally managed to stop coughing, she carefully used her chopsticks to get the rest of the noodles in her mouth…where she was in unbelievable pain. Although she kept quiet, it felt as if the inside of her mouth was on fire.

Mngh…?!

It was spicy and boiling hot, and her mouth hurt. What kind of fools made this monstrosity? And how dumb did you have to be to order it?

I guess that means…I’m dumb…too…!

It was so spicy that she could hardly even think straight as she furiously began wiping her lips with a napkin. At any rate, first contact with the ramen…went poorly.

Th-there’s no way I’m going to be able to eat all this…

Overcome with utter despair, Alisa swallowed her first bite as Ayano watched.

“Are you okay? You were coughing quite a bit a second ago … ,” asked Ayano with worry.

“I-I’m fine.” Alisa reflexively retorted to feign strength. “Some of the soup went down the wrong pipe. That’s all. I guess I was a little too aggressive with my slurping.”

“Oh, I know what you mean. That happens a lot to me if I’m not careful.” Ayano nodded as if she could relate. Alisa responded to the admission with an awkward smile, then looked down at her bowl of ramen…and felt almost hopeless. The road to finishing the entire bowl of ramen was a long one and a task so daunting that the hand holding her chopsticks was frozen. Ayano, on the other hand, seemed to have a good appetite.

I—I guess I’ll try eating the long onions in between…

Alisa’s thought process led her to the same conclusion Ayano had reached. In other words, she fell for the same exact trap. A-ack! Th-that’s hot! Hot, hot, hot! Hff!

Alisa may have had a poker face, but she was struggling due to the spiciness of the onions directly attacking her tear ducts. It was sheer willpower alone that allowed her to maintain her dignified expression, but she soon realized that the more she chewed, the spicier it got. After doing the minimum amount of chewing necessary, she forced the food down with some water. But for some reason, mixing the cold water with the piercing spiciness of the onion made her mouth feel oddly refreshed.

I don’t have any other choice…!

She knew that this refreshing feeling was a sham, but even if it was all in her head, there was no way she was going to be able to finish her ramen otherwise. Once she came to this conclusion, Alisa started to blow on the hot noodles to cool them down while removing as much of the soup as she could. She ate as quickly as she could. The goal was to defeat as much of her foe as possible before her deceitful powers of invincibility wore off.

Ayano’s eyes widened slightly as she watched Alisa’s chopsticks move diligently.

H-how can she continue eating like that? Incredible… Alisa must really love spicy food.

It was a mutual misunderstanding born from two people who couldn’t be honest with each other.

I can’t let her show me up…!

Seeing the way her schoolmate ate ended up motivating Ayano, and her chopsticks began moving tirelessly, as if she was trying not to be outdone. And once Alisa saw this…

She’s shoving down all that ramen like it’s nothing… I have to work even harder!

It was a scene from hell. Since each of them believed the other wasn’t having any trouble, the idea of giving up wasn’t an option for them anymore. All they could do now was move forward through pure stubbornness and pride until they could escape this torment. And before long…