Boil Dagu Into Soup: "So what exactly is this?"
Lighthouse Richest Man: "The Group Leader knows, Brandon White knows, Invincible East also knows."
Lighthouse Richest Man: "Something native to China?"
Kasumi Shiko: "I jumped the firewall and searched in China."
Kasumi Shiko: "Who knew it would be this kind of thing..."
Boil Dagu Into Soup: "What is it?"
Kasumi Shiko: "X-drug."
Boil Dagu Into Soup: "..."
Lighthouse Richest Man: "..."
Zhang Sanfeng: "Ah, this..."
Lin Fengjiao: "The Old Celestial Master's luck..."
Ordinary Mortal Zhang Zhiwei: "This old Daoist never imagined either."
He—the dignified Old Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain, "One Person Below All" Zhang Zhiwei—how did he draw such a thing?!
If not for this first lottery item having immense commemorative value, he absolutely wouldn't have kept it until today.
Kasumi Shiko: "Cooking Master Boy drew culinary talent. Zhang Sanfeng drew Guo Xiang's donkey. Zhang Zhiwei drew X-drug."
Kasumi Shiko: "Rules within the ruleless."
Kasumi Shiko: "Some draw items related to themselves. Some might be related."
Kasumi Shiko: "Whatever! Drawing now!"
Kasumi Shiko: "Live or die—it all depends on this!"
After speaking, Kasumigaoka Utaha stopped talking and directly went to draw.
Ice Queen: "Interesting."
Ice Queen: "I'll draw once too."
White Rabbit: "I hope my luck will be better."
As time passed, the three remained silent.
Ordinary Group Leader: "Does the lottery take this long?"
Boil Dagu Into Soup: "Probably bad luck—didn't draw what they wanted."
Ordinary Group Leader: "But they could at least say something."
Kasumi Shiko: "Well... but..."
In the Saekano world, Kasumigaoka Utaha looked at what she'd drawn with indignation and embarrassment.
Stockings.
Though she liked wearing stockings—that didn't mean she wanted to draw stockings in the lottery!!!
Ordinary Group Leader: "As expected."
Ordinary Group Leader: "Those with good luck are always the minority."
Ordinary Group Leader: "So what did you draw?"
Kasumi Shiko: "An item of... clothing."
Stockings were clothing too, right? She wasn't lying.
Ordinary Group Leader: "That's not bad. Compared to what Dagu, Madara, and I drew, yours is actually decent."
Ordinary Group Leader: "@White Rabbit, what about you?"
Seeing it was clothing, Su Yunxiao didn't pay much attention. After all, the lottery range covered all group members' worlds. Drawing just one piece of clothing from so many good things—anyone would complain. After symbolic consolation, she shifted her gaze to Touka Kirishima.
Kasumigaoka Utaha, seeing she hadn't aroused others' curiosity, also breathed a sigh of relief.
She couldn't very well directly mention something like stockings.
White Rabbit: "I..."
White Rabbit: "Actually not bad, just not suitable for me."
White Rabbit: "Image.jpg"
[Item: Tomato]
[Details: Vegetable (fruit) cultivated under rich spiritual energy. Upon consumption, has certain improvement effects based on the consumer's physical constitution]
The item was good—but she was a ghoul and couldn't consume it.
Ordinary Group Leader: "This should be a product from Brandon White's and my world."
Ordinary Group Leader: "Actually, you could try it. Maybe you can eat it?"
Ordinary Group Leader: "If you can't, just spit it out."
If she could eat it, naturally that would be best—also proving that spiritually-cultivated food could be consumed by ghouls. Before Touka Kirishima completely resolved her ghoul defects, this was the only way she could consume anything besides human flesh and coffee.
If she couldn't eat it, at worst she'd spit it out. As long as she didn't forcibly make herself swallow, her stomach wouldn't rebel too severely.
White Rabbit: "Then I'll try."
Touka Kirishima looked at the tomato in her hand—its appearance far surpassing ordinary tomatoes, like a red gemstone, with that fresh fragrance. She closed her eyes and took a bite.
Silence.
Touka Kirishima's body seemed to freeze.
However, the next moment, Touka Kirishima began frantically devouring the tomato in her hand.
That tomato—large as an adult's palm—was rapidly consumed. She even licked clean the juice remaining on her hands.
Her eyes filled with enjoyment.
For the first time!
Touka Kirishima experienced a flavor besides coffee's mellow richness and human flesh for the first time.
Beyond the initial sweet-and-sour taste, there was a wondrous sensation that made even her soul tremble with pleasure.
Hard to imagine this was merely a tomato.
Additionally, the weakened strength caused by long-term consumption of "expired" human flesh was being nourished and repaired by energy called "spiritual energy."
After an unknown time, Touka Kirishima finally awakened from reminiscence. Her face was flushed.
White Rabbit: "I can eat it! I can actually eat it!"
White Rabbit: "So this is what tomatoes taste like! The sweet-and-sour sensation upon entering the mouth, juice moistening the tongue—my entire being, emotions included, couldn't help but feel joyful."
White Rabbit: "So delicious! So tomatoes are this delicious!"
Ordinary Group Leader: "She can actually eat it?"
Ordinary Group Leader: "What the hell? Ghouls clearly can't eat human food, yet can consume spiritually-cultivated tomatoes—just because of added spiritual energy?"
Lighthouse Richest Man: "Though you initially had her try with a speculative tone, your attitude after getting the answer seems increasingly strange."
Lighthouse Richest Man: "However, from current circumstances, it's possible this special energy called spiritual energy contains a special substance that only exists in human flesh and blood."
Lighthouse Richest Man: "And this substance is the reason ghouls consume human flesh."
From the memory copy, he had a speculation about why ghouls only consumed humans and couldn't eat other creatures.
Namely—human bodies possessed a substance essential for ghoul survival!
This substance existed only in humans, not in any other creatures.
Why did ghoul bodies reject all food except humans?
Human flesh and blood weren't necessarily delicious to ghouls. It was simply because only human bodies possessed that particular special substance—other creatures didn't. What they obtained was this substance, not humans themselves.
Only things containing this substance could they consume. Things without this substance were difficult to swallow.
If this speculation was true, then Touka Kirishima being able to consume spiritually-nourished tomatoes meant spiritual energy contained that substance. But besides this, there was another possibility.
Lighthouse Richest Man: "It's also possible spiritual energy doesn't contain the substance ghouls need, but rather spiritual energy can substitute for this substance to satisfy ghouls' requirements."
(End of Chapter)