Chapter 8: Ryo and Kaoru and an Important Promise

“C-can I eat…!?”

Ryo still had enough sense to wait until everyone sat at the table, but that restraint apparently vanished the moment Kaoru and Shirona arrived.

With sparkling eyes, Ryo asked, and Minato prompted him with, “Please, go ahead.”

Kaoru and Shirona also smiled and said, “You can eat.”

“Thank you for the food…!”

Holding a toothpick, he stabbed one of the piles of fried chicken and brought it to his mouth.

Crunch.
Plump.
Juicy.

The light bite of the freshly fried batter and the springy meat.
When he chewed, the flavor of the meat and the richness of the fat overflowed.

It was easily among the best things Ryo had ever eaten.

The taste spilling out was practically happiness itself.

“R-Ryo’s face is… shining even more than before…!”

Kaoru covered his own face dramatically, but Minato and Shirona also looked dazzled, so maybe it really was shining.

In any case, compared to the deliciousness of the fried chicken, that was a trivial detail, so Ryo stabbed a second piece.

Next to Ryo, Kaoru also put a piece of fried chicken into his mouth.

It had already been impressive when lightly grilled, but this fried version was on another level.

Of course, Minato’s cooking skill surely played a part.

“This is on a completely different level from what I usually eat…”

Kaoru did not think all dungeon meat and ingredients were like this, but even so, he could not help being surprised.

“Hey, Ryo.”

“What?”

When Kaoru called him, Ryo turned toward him with his face still glowing.

“You’re seriously blinding.
What’s going on with that face?”

“Is it?”

He seemed completely unaware.

In any case, the glowing face was not the main issue.

Setting that aside, Kaoru asked what he really wanted to know.

“When I asked you earlier, before we came here, you said that about high-end restaurant meat—you’re interested, but not enough to go crazy over it, right?
How about now?”

“…………”

At Kaoru’s question, the glow on Ryo’s face settled slightly, and his eyes dropped to the fried chicken he was about to eat.

“You didn’t actually know what that ‘amazing meat’ was like.

So when you heard ‘amazing meat,’ you could only imagine amazing deliciousness within your own range of experience.
That’s why your interest stayed low, and you didn’t feel like forcing yourself to eat it.

But now that you’ve actually eaten ‘amazing meat,’ hasn’t your sense of values changed a little?”

“…………”

While listening to Kaoru, Ryo popped the fried chicken on his toothpick into his mouth, then turned a serious gaze toward him.
His face was still shining intensely.

“Maybe.
Right now, I’m really curious what high-end meat tastes like.”

Hearing that, Kaoru made a triumphant fist pump in his heart.

“Then all I can say is my usual proposal.
Ryo—let’s do streaming together.”

“That phrasing.”

It was apparently such an awful way to say it that his face instantly lost its glow.

Even so, he was thinking seriously, wearing a troubled expression.

As Ryo pondered, Minato asked Kaoru from the side.

“You two get surrounded by girls when you’re together at school, don’t you?”

“I won’t deny it.
It’s a hassle, so I usually ignore it.”

“Your casual dynamic aside, don’t you think your choice of words makes it worse?
Do you do it on purpose?”

Minato asked with a slightly mischievous smile, while Shirona leaned in with noticeable interest.

Perhaps something had struck a chord, but Kaoru decided not to worry about it.

As the side conversation continued, Ryo slowly lifted his head.

“Kaoru.”

“Hm?”

“I’m bad at talking, and I can’t say interesting things, you know?”

“If we adapt what you normally do in dungeon exploration for streaming, people will watch.”

“And I don’t really understand dungeon streaming.”

“I’ll teach you.
And there are people who look like they’d love to teach you too.”

Kaoru gestured with his chin.

Minato was leaning forward with sparkling eyes.

She did not say it out loud, but her face clearly said, ‘Let’s stream together!’

“Last question.
This is really important.”

“Yeah.
What is it?”

“I’ll definitely get to eat delicious chicken, right?”

“That depends on how much we earn.
Well, even without earning, there are probably ways.

Either way, there’s no such thing as absolute certainty.
But if things go well, you’ll eat it for sure.”

After saying that, Kaoru grinned.

“And I promise I’ll do everything I can to make it go well.”

“You break promises a lot, Kaoru.”

“Didn’t hear that.”

Kaoru returned a smug grin to Ryo’s exasperated look.

Ryo let out a small sigh as he looked at him.

“Still… you’ve never broken an important promise.”

Ryo held out his hand toward Kaoru.

“You’ll make streaming work and let me eat delicious chicken—
You’ll treat that as an important promise, right?
I’ll trust you.”

“Yeah.
Trust me.
It’s an important promise.
I’ll make sure you eat.”

Kaoru grasped his hand and nodded firmly.

Watching that, Minato made a cute little victory pose.

Beside her, Shirona—for some reason—had her hands pressed together as if praying for them.

Deliberately ignoring Shirona, Kaoru spoke to Ryo.

“We’ll do strategy meetings and detailed explanations another day.”

“Okay.”

And with that, this matter was settled for now.

“Alright, serious talk’s over.
You can eat.”

“Yeah!”

Ryo resumed eating fried chicken with a glowing face.

Seeing that, Minato jumped in eagerly with a suggestion.

“If you’re motivated, Ryo-kun, let’s collaborate!
A collab!”

“Collab?”

Ryo tilted his head, cheeks puffed out like a hamster stuffed with food.

“That’s a manager stop right there.”

Kaoru immediately cut her off.

“He doesn’t even really understand streaming yet.
Even if it doesn’t increase views, I want him to start by getting used to it.”

“Boo boo.”

“Don’t boo me…”

Minato puffed her cheeks and complained theatrically, and Kaoru scratched his head.

“Also, Otsuno Dia, who belongs to an agency and is fairly well-known, collaborating with a completely unknown newbie streamer is too early.

Someday, sure—but not now.
Right, Shirona?”

“Yes, I agree with Kaoru.”

“Muu… if even Shirona says so, then I guess it’s no good…

It’s just that having someone who eats monster meat without hesitation and gives honest reactions would be a huge help.”

“I understand how you feel, but…”

With Shirona also reluctant, Minato finally backed down.

“Well, even without streaming, I’d be happy if you helped with tastings sometimes.
Right, Ryo-kun?”

“Huh?
Did you say something?”

“How obsessed with fried chicken are you?”

“I was saying I’d like you to help with tastings again if there’s a chance.
Even when it’s not chicken.”

“I prefer chicken whenever possible, but if it’s delicious, I’ll come running.”

“Is that okay from your perspective, Shirona?”

“If Ryo is fine with it, then yes.”

For now, Kaoru and Shirona planned to tell Minato to call him ‘Ryo-chan,’ along with the accompanying cover story.

As for Ryo, even if he was told, he would forget it in seconds.

According to him, it was fine as long as he remembered when it mattered.

Whether that was trustworthy or not was something even Kaoru could not say.