Chapter of Arkdragon, Episode 2: It’s French Cuisine, Ms. Elf

When I looked out the window from inside the café, it was already well past sundown. The streets were full of people, many of whom were on the way home from work. As for me, I’d quickly changed into my casual clothes and left without doing overtime.

On the table were two steaming cups of coffee, and sitting across from me was a young girl hiding her long ears with a knit cap, as usual. She was looking around curiously, her interest piqued by the aroma of coffee and cozy furniture, like the sofas.

But what drew the most attention out of everything and everyone here was none other than she herself. Her hair, which hung down to her waist, had a white luster to it, like glimmering strands of silk. Her light purple eyes were framed with long eyelashes and drew one’s attention immediately. Those clear orbs of amethyst were sure to charm anyone who gazed into them.

She had a fairy-like quality to her, a word that described her pretty accurately. She was an elf, and her name was Mariabelle.

Everyone around her sighed dreamily, admiring her natural beauty.

“It’s strange that I’m here in Koto Ward right now,” I muttered to myself.

She tilted her head. “And just what is so funny? You seem to be staring at me and smiling more lately.”

“It usually means I’m captivated by you when I do that. I don’t seem to be alone this time, though.”

I turned around, and the other guests averted their eyes. When I turned to face Marie again, I noticed her cheeks were a light shade of pink. She tried hiding her embarrassment by bumping my leg with her new sandals under the table.

“Saying that when you look like you’re about to fall asleep isn’t flattering in the slightest, you know. Maybe that line would have been more impressive if you looked more distinguished.”

“Hey, I was born with this face. Even I gave up on looking more refined long ago.”

After telling her as such, Marie reached her hand out toward me. Her pale, slender finger pressed against my brow, and she surprised me as she squished it upward. It seemed that the soft, smooth finger pushing at my face was trying to forcefully change my facial expression.

“Hmm, you still look like you’re half asleep. Like you have a serious case of sleepy face.”

“Come on, it can’t be that bad. I’m probably tired from just having gotten off work.”

I tried using work as an excuse, but she seemed to realize that wasn’t the issue. The elf continued squishing my brow for a little longer before she seemed to give up and let it go shortly after.

“It’s no good. There’s no changing how sleepy you look. When will you realize it’s because of you that I fall asleep before we can finish the book?”

I had to say, that was one of the more unique complaints I’ve ever received. I may not have shown it, but my heart was beating pretty hard after being touched by such a cute girl.

Marie rested her chin on her hands and stared at me. “In any case, this place feels way different from that tea place we visited in Arilai. I feel so mature here for some reason.”

It seemed I made the right choice in picking the somewhat pricey café I’d mentioned in the morning.

Many of the other customers were wearing modest clothing, which apparently contributed to her good impression. Mild music was playing in the background, and the girl looked around with excitement.

“So, when is Ms. Ichijo coming?”

“Well, looks like it’s seven now. She should be here soon. Want to practice some Japanese greetings while we wait?”

“That’s okay, I’ll ask you if I need help. I can handle greetings, and I feel like I can somewhat keep up with conversations now.”

Oh, so her studies had progressed that far already. She was quite a smart girl and had already begun incorporating the Japanese she’d learned into our daily conversations.

I cleared my throat with an ahem, and her purple eyes looked right at me.

“Um... Anime, helped me, learn Japanese. It is, a very, wonderful show.”

“Oooh!” I clapped my hands as Marie showed off a proud expression. I may have just imagined it, but I thought I heard clapping from behind us, too...

Considering how quickly she learned this much, the rest should have come easily with some more practice. So long as she continued to practice and learn various patterns of conversation, her speech would’ve become more and more natural. Though, learning to speak naturally was the hardest part of all.

Now, it seemed Marie had finally decided to try the coffee. Unaccustomed to black drinks, she sniffed it a couple times before drinking from the cup slowly. Her face wordlessly scrunched up from the bitterness, so I added some of the milk and sugar that was at the table to it. It didn’t need too much sugar, but I decided to add extra milk to soften up the flavor. I mixed it with a spoon before handing it back to her, hearing her thanking me quietly as I did so.

“Oh, that’s better. I love how aromatic the food in this world is, including your cooking.”

“Now that I think about it, aren’t you sensitive to smells, Marie? I think foods with strong odors aren’t as popular in Japan, though.”

The girl tilted her head, as if to say, “Is that so?”

Black tea, for example, had been popular for a while and could be commonly found throughout the country. Any variation with a strong scent, however, tended to be disliked. This was probably due to it not going well with food, or simply because it wasn’t a common scent.

I liked them to have some personality, so I preferred teas like Darjeeling.

“Do you want to try out some of the tea here, as well?”

“Ah... So this is how I become accustomed to human indulgences. I feel like I’m going to become more and more human-like, until my ears eventually fall off.”

“In Japan, we call it acquiring a taste for something. Oh, look, they’re here.”

The people we were waiting for had arrived as we were talking. They entered the café in modest attire, then waved at us as they approached the table.

“I apologize for the wait. The train arrived late... Good evening, Kitase-san, Mariabelle-chan. Please, meet my husband.”

“I’m Toru Ichijo. Thank you for obliging my wife’s unreasonable request.”

We stood up from our chairs and bowed. Kaoruko’s husband was somewhat overweight, and had a gentle air about him, much like herself.

“Good evening, Toru, Kaoruko.”

“Good, evening. I, am Mariabelle. Nice, to meet you.”

Marie seemed to get through the introduction just fine. She did falter a bit, but that just made it all the more cute.

However, she looked up at me with a worried expression. This was probably due to the husband standing there, immobile, staring with a blank expression on his face.

“H-Hey. Did I say the wrong words just now?”

“No, you said the words right. It’s like I told you earlier. Men are creatures that can’t help but stare at you.”

I’d replied in Elven, but Kaoruko dug an elbow into her husband’s ribs as if she understood. “Toru...”

“Ah!” He came to in a fluster. “Sorry, sorry. I was just taken by surprise. Kaoruko told me already, but I didn’t expect her to be this pretty. A-Anyway, let’s move to the next spot. This is our first time getting to know our neighbors. We already have reservations.”

Toru winked as he chuckled to us. I was a little bit nervous myself, but he seemed to be nice enough.

We took a taxi to the Fukagawa area, arriving in front of a French restaurant. This area was being developed more and more in recent years, with new shops being built all over the place.

We passed through the fancy western-style doors. The restaurant was full of people who seemed to be having dinner and enjoying various conversations. There seemed to be more couples than families inside, probably due to the price, like at the café we were at earlier.

A waiter attended to us shortly after we entered, and we were lead to a table for four. They then drew a chair, and Toru gestured for Marie to sit. She seemed to think this peculiar, because she looked at me with a puzzled look in her eyes.

I whispered in her ear, “Go ahead and take a seat. You’re the special guest today, Marie.”

“O-Okay... And in such a fancy restaurant, too... I’m feeling a little nervous.”

Marie hesitated a bit, so I took her hand and gently helped her into her seat. She was like a beautiful fairy, but the waitstaff member maintained his professional composure.

The elven language sounded beautiful to the ear. The other guests at the restaurant seemed spellbound by her adorable appearance and sound of her speaking Elvish. With her in it, the western décor seemed to take on a fantastical air.

The spell seemed to be broken as our group settled into our seats, and everyone else began conversing again. Kaoruko, the woman with the black hair, sat next to Toru and touched his arm with lightly flushed cheeks.

“Isn’t this lovely? It’s as if we’re in the world of a picture book. It almost makes you forget we’re still in Japan, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely. I wouldn’t even be surprised if I were told I was dreaming right now.”

That was a bit much... Though, maybe not. I’d been with Marie for a long while, and I’d had that exact thought many times before. Of course, I didn’t think it was necessary to translate any of this to her.

If anything, I was worried about the price, considering we were in a French restaurant. Luckily, the prices on the menu seemed to be within my budget. It did help that we hadn’t been eating out much to cut down on expenses.

Maybe I was staring at the menu too long, because Toru seemed to read my thoughts. He looked at me from across the table and laughed jovially.

“Haha, don’t worry. It’s on me today.”

“What? Oh, no, I couldn’t...”

“No, please, I insist. My wife brought you out against your will, after all. It would be my pleasure.”

It wasn’t against my will by any means, but she was a bit insistent with her invitation. Looking over at her, I noticed that, despite her rather composed attire, she was fidgety as she touched the necklace resting on her collarbone.

“Just earlier, she was telling me to come straight home without doing overtime today with such a ferocious expression...”

“Oh, stop it, Toru! I just wanted to get to know our neighbors better is all. Ahem... I recommend the foie gras here, you two,” Kaoruko advised us with slightly red cheeks.

Marie was looking up at me with a curious expression, probably because foie gras was foreign to her world.

“It’s a very delicious bird. It’ll probably even get you to shout in surprise.”

“Just who do you think I am? I may do that at home, but there’s no way I would even dream of doing so out in public. Besides, this is just a bird we’re talking about.”

She pointed her nose into the air as she made her declaration, but I didn’t find her very convincing.

I kept my doubts to myself, and we both decided to order the recommended dish. The waiter then arranged forks and spoons on the table, and the girl turned to me once again with a questioning look on her face.

“We’re going to eat, aren’t we? Why is he laying out so many utensils first?”

“The number of knives and forks you need changes based on the dish. You’re supposed to use them in this order, from the outside in.”

“I don’t get it. It’s not as if anyone here is royalty, are they?”

“This food actually originated from royalty, you see. Though, I don’t really know much about French cuisine myself. I mean, we eat most things with chopsticks in this country.”

The restaurant we were dining in wasn’t overly formal. This wasn’t a bad thing, because it meant Marie could still wear her knit cap to hide her long ears. But it probably made her head warm, and I wanted to find hairbands or something that could hide them while indoors.

I looked around to take in the interior, which was arranged with a somewhat fantasy-like décor. The elf girl, too, was curiously observing our surroundings. The decorations were simple, but just enough to give a hint of luxury.

However, nailing the “just enough” aesthetic was probably the hardest thing of all. It seemed the Ichijos here had a knack for finding these types of restaurants.

Sure enough, all the food that had been brought to the table was colorful and appetizing. The elf girl’s eyes had essentially turned into one of the plates atop the table as she saw the array of hot and cold hors d’oeuvres being placed before us.

“Th-They all have such beautiful colors. They’re almost like paintings... You’re certain we can eat these, right?”

“Of course. Each dish may be small, but they’ll be bringing them out in order.”

She took a bite of the food to find it was seasoned rather lightly, and her somewhat nervous expression softened. The terrine was visually interesting with an enjoyable flavor, but the beef fillet steak with foie gras that came later would be the climax of the meal.

It was the first time I’d eaten with Marie sitting side by side, but it made me happy to see her look up at me and give me her thoughts on the food after each bite.

Now, what sort of face would she make when she had a taste of the main event? I couldn’t wait to find out.

“Oh my... It smells so... H-Here I go...”

Her fork hesitantly picked up a piece of the foie gras, and she brought it up to her colorful lips. She slowly chewed once, stopped, then made a soft squealing noise. A few more chews followed, and then she turned to me with a dreamy look in her eyes.

“Ehe, ehehe...”

Gosh, she looks sloppy. I wondered where the usual intellectual Marie had gone off to...

She finally swallowed her food with an audible gulp, then tugged on my arm and whispered in my ear, “This food is ridiculously delicious. You should be careful so you don’t make noises, too.”

I wondered why people often smiled when they ate something tasty. Though in this case, it was an elf smiling, so maybe I should have been happy to discover that humans and elves weren’t so different.

I couldn’t blame her. The dish certainly had an incredible amount of depth and flavor.

The foie gras meat was in the form of a paste, and it couldn’t even be compared with something like liver meat. It melted away as soon as it was placed upon my tongue, filling my mouth with a hint of sweetness and rich flavor.

First, my body reacted in surprise. It simply hadn’t known anything this delicious before. My mouth salivated on its own accord, urging me to continue eating.

The elf took another bite herself, then exhaled with a blissful expression. Normally, her level of surprise would’ve been enough for her to start stomping her feet around, but she managed to fight back the urge. Instead, she pressed her head against my shoulder and did a little drilling motion with it.

“It’s deliciooous! Mmm! My goodness... If you were the only one here, I can safely say I would’ve been laughing uncontrollably.”

“I would have liked to hear that. Mmph... Yeah, that is good.”

The soft foie gras dissolved in my mouth, combining with the beef to bring an even greater depth to the flavor. Juices filled my mouth as the flavor grew in complexity with each bite, making the moment I swallowed the delicious mixture nothing short of bliss. Anyone would react in delight after tasting something like that, so I certainly didn’t fault her for doing so.

“How horrifying... Japanese people really are scary. Why do they go so far in the pursuit of flavor?”

“Actually, this was originally made by people outside of Japan. Western countries had a heartier tradition of royalty than we did,” I explained to Marie. But my words didn’t reach her long ears with her head so high in the clouds.

She was breathing deeply while leaning on my shoulder, and her body felt warmer than usual. I glanced over to find that her cheeks were red, and she had a satisfied look on her face.

But it was true that Japanese people tended to be very picky when it came to food, even if it came from overseas. There were places like this to eat at throughout the city, and most of them felt as if they were worth more than their price. It was commonly said that visitors from foreign countries were particularly surprised by this.

“I don’t know if this is true, but there’s this story I heard before. Japan was considered cowardly as a country because of how much we kept to ourselves, but there was one time when we were greatly angered.”

“Oh, I do recall being told they were defeated by a bigger country in the past. I can’t imagine they would want any trouble, then... But why did they get angry?”

“It was because that country exported food into Japan that was harmful to ingest.”

The girl’s eyes widened, and then she laughed, saying that was a likely story. It was more of a joke than an anecdote, but it still made her laugh, so it was good enough for me.

“This pairs well with wine, but you look too young to order alcohol. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Oh, stop it. I’d definitely crack up if I had some wine now. So, that’s the last of these ‘French cuisine,’ isn’t it? Isn’t it?”

Marie looked at me as if she couldn’t possibly handle any more. Her eyes were watering as she leaned on me pleadingly. She seemed to be reaching her limit.

I knew I shouldn’t have, but her expression got the better of me, and I couldn’t help but whisper, “Yeah, just two more dishes.”

“Oof! Uuu... How could this be? If... If this keeps up, I won’t be able to eat anything in the other world ever again!” she cried out with a pained expression, though I found it somewhat amusing. For some reason, it made me feel as if I got to witness something special.

Suddenly, I realized the husband and wife in front of us were watching us with wide eyes. Their cheeks were slightly flushed, and they seemed to be in a daze, staring at the girl clinging to my arm with a happy grin on her face.

“You said you two were... relatives, correct? You seem so close...”

“You’re dating each other, aren’t you? Oh, don’t answer that. I work at a government facility.”

I almost blew water out of my mouth. I’d been so preoccupied with Marie that I completely let my guard down. Marie was utterly oblivious to the danger of the situation, so I tried making an excuse in a fluster.

“N-No, we’re not. She’s not used to eating delicious food like this, so she’s just overreacting a little.”

They gave me dubious looks... but, thinking about it, I hadn’t lied so far beyond the part about us being related, and we’d only ever gone as far as holding hands. Yet my heart was pounding, and I was having a hard time calming myself down.

The dessert and tea were served as I was taking a deep breath to compose myself. I did jokingly threaten Marie earlier about the remaining dishes, but these served to refresh one’s palate rather than deliver a powerful blow like the previous ones. Thankfully, it allowed the both of us to catch our breaths and relax.

It seemed Kaoruko still wanted to know Marie better, so she moved her face closer to the demure elf’s. Recovering from her outbursts earlier, Marie was now making an effort to keep calm.

I was relieved to see this new friendship begin to bloom, but I felt a bit sad about it at the same time...

“You’ve been practicing your Japanese, haven’t you? I was surprised by your amazing pronunciation when you greeted us earlier.”

“Th-Thank, you. Um... Japanese, is very hard. But, I learn from anime.”

“Anime?” Kaoruko seemed to ask with a puzzled expression.

This was too much for Marie to explain, so I decided to step in.

“Yes, she’s been learning Japanese by watching things like anime while I’m away at work. Lately, she’s been watching...” I told her the title of the show we watched the other day, and Kaoruko’s face lit up.

“Oh, solid choice! I think that’s a perfect anime to watch for first-timers.”

“She’s been saying she wants to see parts of Japan that are full of greenery, so I’m planning on taking her to Aomori, where my grandfather lives. I’d like to get her accustomed to traveling before then, so I’ve been looking for someplace we can take a day trip.”

There was quite some distance to Aomori, so I wanted to take her somewhere closer before making that trek. I’d promised just a few days ago to take her, but I wasn’t used to going on trips myself, so I didn’t know what to expect either.

There was an overload of information when it came to planning trips, making it hard to gauge which places were actually worthwhile to visit. Others who were unaccustomed to going on trips surely went through similar dilemmas.

Kaoruko smiled, then pressed the tips of her fingers together.

“A short trip, you say? That sounds wonderful!”

“What about Chichibu? It’s kept up nice scenery since the old days, and there are still things like steam locomotives and hot springs around. An acquaintance of mine runs a business there so I visit occasionally. It’s a nice and relaxing place.”

Toru offered to make a reservation for us, which took me by surprise a bit. I hadn’t expected to find a candidate for the trip destination so easily.

Before I could even answer, he began operating his phone and turned it to show us the screen. It was a picture of him blending in with nature, and Marie’s purple eyes turned into saucers at the sight.

“Oh my! What is that? There’s steam coming out of it. Does that mean it’s hot?”

“It’s a Japanese-style hot spring. I know hot springs exist in the other world, too, but these are meant more to be enjoyed at your leisure. They say they’re even good for healing wounds and other ailments.”

The springs were surrounded by trees and shrubs, with rocky areas that were perfect for lying down on. There was also a Japanese-style building with various restaurants and rest areas, which was clearly meant to be a place for rest and recreation.

“Wooow...”

Judging how Marie was peering at the pictures with fascination, she seemed to have taken a liking to the place. I asked her in Elvish if she’d like to go there, and she nodded right away. Seeing this, I decided to make the request.

“Thank you for the offer. We would love to go, if it’s all right.”

“It’s no problem at all. My days off don’t always align with Kaoruko’s, so we go out for small day trips quite often. Oh, and we have some anime DVDs, too. You’re more than welcome to come by and watch them on the weekdays.”

Right, it was illegal to lend DVDs to others. I figured he was just following the rules since he had a government job, which was something I could respect.

I translated all this for Marie, and she had a look of great interest about her.

“Marie is looking forward to it, as well. Um, what days do you normally have off as a librarian...?”

“The library is closed on Mondays, so it would be Mondays and one other weekday. Toru, working for the government, can’t go out for leisure unless he takes consecutive days off.”

Hm, that meant Marie could visit her once a week or so.

I’d been worried about leaving her alone when I had no choice but to go to work. Maybe I was worried over nothing, but I felt like I still needed some time to mentally prepare myself before letting her walk around by her lonesome.

As I thought about this, a pair of purple eyes turned toward me.

“That’s why I say you’re overprotective. What horrible thing lurks in Japan, where there are no monsters roaming around?”

“Well, humans are far scarier than monsters. But maybe you’ll be all right if you’re with Kaoruko,” I told Marie in Elvish.

But I still couldn’t help being worried. I mean, she was just so adorable. Some weirdo could set their eyes on her, and there’d been a ton of depressing news about stalkers and such as of late.

Toru seemed to sense my concerns and smiled at me.

“I understand why you’d be worried about an adorable girl like her. It’s all right, you can think about it once you get to know my wife more.”

Maybe he was happy to see his wife making a friend, too. I did get the sense that that was the case from his body language as he leaned over to speak to me. On top of that, Kaoruko had a positive demeanor about herself the entire time, as well.

After thinking about it for a bit, I slowly nodded.

By the time we’d all gotten back to the condo, it was almost nine o’clock.

Fully content from the French cuisine, Marie staggered slightly as she walked toward the bed and flopped onto it face-down. That was somewhat considered to be bad manners, but I didn’t mind it, being just the two of us.

When we said our goodbyes earlier, she had politely told the married couple, “Thank you, for the meal. It was, very delicious.” They seemed to enjoy seeing Marie’s reaction to the food and asked us to join them for dinner again sometime.

“I’ll get the bath ready, so don’t go to sleep yet. Oh, and thank you for doing the laundry and washing the dishes. You really helped out there.”

The dishes in the sink were stacked, and all the laundry had already been folded. The way these tasks were done so neatly really seemed to portray her tidy personality.

After I thanked her, she sat back up. “It’s fine, that was nothing. Besides, I tend to study better while taking care of other tasks... Ahh, this is no good, I’m going to fall asleep if I lie down here.”

Marie slowly got off the bed, then picked up a chair and brought it over to the kitchen. She looked like a strange little doll as she sat on it, but it seemed she wanted to watch me cook.

After dusting off her lap with her hands, she looked up at me. “Now, what are you making for us today? Though, I’m quite full, so I don’t know if I can eat very much else.”

“All right, how about something light, then? Some inarizushi, maybe?”

Inarizushi was something I’d made for her before. She seemed to remember that juicy, flavorful dish and excitedly nodded right away. I also had some crisp spring cabbage to go with it, which I decided to quickly heat in the microwave.

As I cooked the rice and prepared the ingredients, I talked with Marie.

“About the labyrinth... Do you happen to know anyone who might be able to tank for us?”

“Hmm... I don’t know anyone personally, but that’s definitely something we should think about.”

Ah, so she’d been concerned about the same thing.

Our party had one glaring flaw: It was only composed of attackers. A normal party tended to have a tank to protect the group, as well as a healer. Usually, some of the members would also have skills suited for exploration. That might be asking for a bit too much, but I wanted to at least have a setup that would allow me to focus on offense.

“But if a tank doesn’t have a party already, it’s probably because they have personality issues or something. We’d have to consider factors like level discrepancies, too.”

“Let’s see, you’re level 31 and I’m 71... Yeah, that might not seem very attractive from an outsider’s point of view.”

If one person’s level were too high, the rest of the members would receive significantly less experience. That was why it was more common for members of a party to be at a similar level range. Having too much disparity in level could cause members to leave for other teams.

I threw the abura-age in a pot, and as I put the lid over it, Marie peered over at me.

“Have you forgotten about your strange ability already? We couldn’t possibly keep that a secret from another party member.”

“Right...”

I had completely forgotten about that. I was so preoccupied with Marie this whole time and forgot there were issues of my own to worry about.

What would happen if I told someone that I had the ability to travel between Japan and another world? Since the Sorcerer’s Guild made it their mission to unravel the mysteries behind such abilities, they’d definitely investigate it. I may have been thinking too much into it, but they could even carry out all sorts of experiments on me. If that happened, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the dream world anymore.

“Good point. I definitely want to avoid telling people about that.”

To summarize, there were two issues we needed to resolve:

First, there was a need for me to prove my abilities. I was an unknown due to me spending most of my time traveling around alone.

Second, I needed to find a tank that could absolutely keep Marie safe.

I had some idea of how to accomplish the first, but the second was going to be quite difficult. We needed to find someone who wouldn’t mind the level difference and would absolutely keep my secret, all without expecting too much of a payment in return.

“Hmm... I thought about it all day, but all I know is that we still have so much to figure out. I’m starting to think we can just leave this up to whoever the Sorcerer’s Guild appoints to replace us until we can make preparations.”

“I’d like to say we’ll be fine, but I know you’re stubborn when it comes to being overprotective of me.”

Umm, I didn’t consider myself stubborn. She may have called me overprotective, but I thought I was pretty reasonable. I’d been pretty careful about not overstepping my bounds too.

“It’s a bit of a shame, though. I was looking forward to making many discoveries with you in the labyrinth.”

“Same goes for me. Your Spirit Sorcery is so versatile, I’m sure it would’ve opened up all sorts of strategies for us.”

While we were forced to sort of give up on the labyrinth we were looking forward to exploring, we still smiled at each other. There were plenty of other places we could enjoy, and I was sure she’d still be with me down the line.

Once our conversation settled down, I stopped the fire on the stove and let the abura-age cool off. This allowed the flavor to soak in so it was nice and juicy in the end.

I looked to my side and noticed the girl sniffing the air, likely drawn by the sweet scent.

“You seem to enjoy the smell of cooking, too.”

“Yes, I like how there’s a gentleness to the scent of inarizushi. It’s different from curry, like it’s warm and inviting.”

Huh, that’s quite an abstract and dainty way of describing it...

It was time for her to enjoy the aroma of the Japanese food to her heart’s content. I added vinegar to the rice cooker, so the scent grew even stronger. The semi-hardened cooked rice had absorbed the vinegar well, and it seemed to gleam as I moved it over to the dining table.

“Wow, it’s so white! And it smells so... sour!”

Her eyes widened at the almost overwhelming smell that hit us. The freshly cooked rice was steaming hot, and the vinegar was all the more potent as it was released in the form of vapor. I used a fan to cool it down a bit, the smell dispersing throughout the kitchen.

Ms. Elf pinched her nose desperately, and her teary-eyed look seemed to accuse me of tricking her. That wasn’t my intention, of course, and the smell had mostly calmed down once I cooled it some more.

Once I could smell the sweet scent of rice, I added sesame and seasonings to turn it into a fragrant sweet and sour aroma. This resulted in the gentle scent Marie had mentioned earlier, and her expression seemed to melt.

As I thought about how her face resembled that of a sunbathing cat, she spoke.

“Ah! I’m salivating! But I’m still so full from the French cuisine... Nnh, but it smells sooo good!”

“Isn’t it interesting how so much Japanese food is eaten after being cooled, but the smell can be very pungent while cooking?”

Marie nodded dreamily, still seemingly immersed in the aroma. The bath had been ready for some time now, but the elf seemed to be captivated by the smell, unable to move.

I then squeezed out a little bit of the juices from the abura-age and stuffed it with some vinegar rice. Thus I completed the cheap, easy, and tasty food that didn’t require many other dishes to enjoy known as inarizushi.

As I finished making one, I picked it up and brought it over to Marie’s mouth. She instinctively ate it out of my hand, ending up with one of my fingers in her mouth, and... Well, any guy’s heart would skip a beat from that. Even as a fully-grown man, there was no getting used to that.

The inside of her lips was so soft, I almost yelped in surprise. But she was seemingly unconcerned with my internal turmoil as her small lips parted from my finger.

After eating the body temperature inarizushi, Marie uttered, “Delicious,” with a blissful look on her face. Her mouth was surely full of umami with all those juices seeping out. It would be followed by the fragrant aroma of sesame, which would make its way through her nose with every bite.

“Ehehe, it’s sooo good! Ahh!”

For some reason, she began scratching at my hip like a cat. She was already full from dinner, but the seasonings seemed to have stirred her appetite as she ate the whole thing in one bite.

“Is this, Japanese food? Or, western food?”

“Oh, your Japanese is getting better. This is Japanese food, of course. It’s a type of sushi, and... Oh, I guess you haven’t tried sushi yet, huh? Handmade sushi is a dish that’s representative of Japanese cuisine as a whole. You should really try...”

“Oh, stop it! You’re going to fatten me up at this rate! I’m going to take a bath before that happens, if you don’t mind.”

She gave the inarizushi another longing look before heading toward the bathroom. Although she was trying to restrain herself, I was sure she’d be eating her fill in the dream world.

I could see it was dark outside through the window, and the indirect lighting of the downlight was illuminating my room in the condo. It was windy outside, and I could hear the rustling of the trees lining the streets.

The night felt strangely calming. I was unfamiliar with this feeling, being a peculiar guy who liked to sleep as a hobby.

In that moment, there was a familiar feeling in the air that reminded me of my childhood. Then, my hand stopped turning the pages of the picture book. Marie was breathing in a steady rhythm while using my arm as a pillow, and her innocent, sleeping face made me smile.

Two bento boxes were set beside my pillow, and I put the picture book down next to them. Something was pulling at me, and I looked down to notice Marie was clutching my shirt at the chest. This prevented me from moving, but, strangely, I didn’t mind all that much. Her little hand holding me didn’t give me a feeling of restraint, but something else entirely. Maybe it was just me, but I felt like she was telling me she wanted me to stay with her, even in sleep.

“Yeah, let’s get cozy under the blankets and go to bed.”

I was surprised by just how gentle my tone of voice was and felt a strange sense of embarrassment.

It was all so unfamiliar to me. What was this feeling I was experiencing? Just by talking to her, or gazing at her face... I felt a warmth in my chest. I tried thinking of what the source of it could be, but there was no resisting the drowsiness brought on by the warmth of Marie’s body. All I managed to do was let out a long yawn.

I hope she feels the same way as I do. I hope she isn’t getting tired of spending so much time with me in both worlds...

As for me, this was the happiest I’d ever been in my life.

When I settled into the blankets, the girl slowly put her arm around me, seemingly still asleep. Then, she rubbed her soft cheek against me. Feeling her slender, lightweight body against me, I quietly fell asleep.

The wind began howling outside, but it wasn’t quite loud enough to blow away my sleepiness. As I felt her soft breath and body’s warmth, I stopped noticing the wind entirely.

Good night, Ms. Elf. I’ll see you in the other world...

The gentle, sleep-inducing sound of two people breathing echoed throughout the room...