Chapter 6: Dia and a Misunderstanding and Kagawara Minato
When Ryo and Kaoru arrived at the nearest station Dia had specified, Dia and her manager-cum-assistant, Shirona, were waiting just outside the ticket gates.
“There you are!
Um, so the tall one over there is—”
“—Nice to meet you.
My name is Mogamo Kaoru.
Ryo here tends to let anything he’s not interested in go straight in one ear and out the other, so I thought it’d be better if someone like me came along.”
Before Ryo could lazily introduce him, Kaoru cut in and introduced himself.
He then bowed first to Otsuno Dia, and after that made eye contact with Shirona, the manager and dungeon assistant.
From Kaoru’s perspective, he would rather get along with Shirona than Dia.
If he wanted experience and points as a streamer, Dia was the one to befriend.
But if he wanted experience and points as backstage support, it would be better to earn Shirona’s favor.
Of course, he did not show any of that, nor did he intend to tell Ryo.
“How should we address the two of you?”
When Kaoru asked, both Dia and Shirona looked relieved.
“So that’s why you stopped Ryo.”
“Expecting that kind of thing from him is pointless, so the trick to getting along is to explain things properly beforehand and then guide him with on-the-spot ad-libbing.”
“…Are you making fun of me, Kaoru?”
“I’m just saying you should take a bit more interest in the real world.”
Kaoru gave a wry smile at Ryo, who puffed his cheeks with half-lidded eyes.
From that exchange, Dia and Shirona seemed to grasp the nature of Ryo and Kaoru’s relationship, and they laughed as well.
“Let me properly introduce myself.
My real name is Kagawara Minato.
Please use that in private.
You can just call me Minato.”
“Nice to meet you, Minato.
I’m Totsuka Ryo.”
As they shook hands, Minato’s expression shifted slightly.
Noticing the meaning behind it, Kaoru answered with a light, wry smile.
“There might be misunderstandings about that, and there could be issues with viewers, so that’s why I came along.”
“I did think your hands were thicker and bigger than I expected, but… really?”
“You two, what are you talking about?”
“The usual misunderstanding.”
At Kaoru’s reply, Ryo went, “Ah…” in a weary tone, looking off into the distance as he pointed at himself.
“Apparently my gender is ‘Ryo.’”
“Is that even a gender…?”
“People say all kinds of things, so I started answering that way.”
“All kinds?”
“You know that internet meme about ‘a girl this cute’?”
With Kaoru’s clarification, Minato and Shirona seemed to understand.
“I’ve been hearing it forever, but lately people just fully treat my gender as ‘Ryo.’”
“If people are satisfied with ‘Ryo,’ it feels like less of a hassle…
But at the same time, I feel like I’m gradually losing track of what my real gender even is…”
The very person who had been teased by that meme pouted unhappily.
Because his profile looked exactly like a sulky beautiful girl, Minato and Shirona could only give wry smiles.
“Everyone, let’s move on soon.
If we’re going to talk at length, we can do that at the destination.”
No one objected, and they got into Shirona’s car parked nearby and headed for the promised location.
“Sorry for making you come all this way.”
Ryo and Kaoru were brought to a room in a fairly large apartment building.
On the front door was a sign reading, Rental Kitchen Studio Makigame.
Minato opened the door, put her shoes into the shoe cabinet, and went inside.
The interior was quite spacious as well.
True to its name, it seemed to be equipped with a well-appointed kitchen.
“It’s a rental studio, but this is the only place around here with a large enough kitchen that allows monster cooking.”
“There are studios where monster cooking is allowed or not?”
At Kaoru’s question, Shirona answered.
“Some places are lenient with monsters that are officially declared harmless, but when it comes to eating unknown monsters like Otsuno Dia does, many studios are hesitant.”
Kaoru nodded in understanding.
Then, with a slightly sardonic expression, he said,
“So far, we haven’t heard of any monster-derived pandemics.”
“You prefaced that with ‘so far,’ which means you understand, don’t you?”
In other words, studio operators likely feared unknown toxins or pathogens monsters might carry spreading from their place.
Kaoru did not intend to criticize that.
He understood the studio’s standpoint.
They did not want to risk losing the trust and reputation they had built by renting to potentially risky clients.
“Sorry for putting it that way.”
“Yes, indeed.”
Watching Shirona sigh, Minato tilted her head.
“Do you and Kaoru not get along?”
“Really?
If anything, it feels like we’re enjoying how quickly we respond to each other.”
Ryo, who had been staring at Kaoru with half-lidded eyes, answered.
“Now that you mention it, maybe.”
“Well, Kaoru likes girls, so that kind of conversation is his specialty.”
“Don’t put it like that, Ryo!
Look, Minato and Shirona are getting a bit put off!”
Be that as it may—
“For most monster meat, we do bloodletting and detox on site, so we usually don’t do full dismantling in the studio.”
Kagawara Minato’s monster cooking began.
“This is a camera-free, on-the-spot cooking session.
First, I’ll cut this up!”
Putting on an apron in the kitchen, Minato brought out a large chunk of chicken meat.
“Oh!”
Ryo’s excitement spiked at the sight.
“What kind of meat is that?”
“Hint.
Mount Takao Dungeon.”
“Could it be… Cockatrice?”
“Correct!”
A chicken-type monster with a snake for a tail.
Its beak and snake fangs contain petrification venom.
Modern medicine cannot cure it, requiring dungeon-acquired medicine instead.
That said, once the venom is removed, it is not particularly strong.
Someone with a bit of skill could defeat it without injury.
“The venom’s been removed, and the venom sacs have been excised, so don’t worry.”
Saying that, Minato quickly cut the cockatrice thigh into bite-sized pieces and grilled about four of them.
“…It’s not… fried…!?”
Minato laughed at Ryo, who was in utter shock.
“Ahahaha.
I know you love fried food.
This is just the appetizer.”
“Calling steak an appetizer is pretty luxurious too.”
What came out was bite-sized cockatrice thigh steak.
It was simply seasoned with salt and pepper.
“Please, everyone.”
They picked up the toothpick-skewered pieces of cockatrice steak.
It felt just like supermarket samples, but—
“Thank you for the food.”
“Thank you for the food.”
Ryo and Kaoru said so and put the cockatrice steak into their mouths.
The instant it touched his tongue, Ryo’s face lit up with pure happiness.