Chapter 236: Devil Fruit in the Eyes of a Chuunibyou…
After scolding Takanashi Rikka and making her settle down, Takanashi Toka looked at Kaede and Eriri and said, "Hello, we meet again."
She looked down at their shopping cart and saw many ingredients inside.
She looked at the ingredients, then at the two students.
They… should be a couple, but the things they bought… Takanashi Toka wasn't a gossipy person, but she found it hard not to be curious about the items these two students had purchased.
So she asked, "Um… are you here to buy ingredients?"
"Yes."
Kaede smiled and nodded: "Eriri wanted to eat ribs, so we came to buy them after school."
Kaede also saw what Takanashi Toka had bought and said in surprise, "These ingredients are all for Western cuisine."
"Yes, I'm a head chef at an Italian restaurant, and I specialize in Western cuisine. It's also what I cook most often at home."
Saying this, Takanashi Toka took out her business card from her pocket and gave it to Kaede and Eriri: "If you have a chance, you can come to the restaurant where I work. Give me a call, and I'll give you a discount. I'm quite confident in my cooking skills."
Kaede took the business card and saw the restaurant's name, realizing it was a place he hadn't been to before.
After thinking for a moment, he recalled that Takanashi Toka was indeed a very skilled chef, so it might be worth trying.
Taking the business card, Kaede said, "Okay, if we get a chance, we'll definitely come to taste it. Both Eriri and I enjoy good food."
Eriri looked at the business card in her hand and asked curiously, "Miss Toka is so amazing! I know many restaurants where the head chefs are men. Head chefs in large restaurants have very high demands for physical strength and various other aspects."
Eriri herself had now learned to cook and naturally knew how tiring it was to be in the kitchen. And she was only cooking for two people, herself and Kaede. In a large restaurant, whether it's lunch or dinner, once it gets busy, it's at least three or four hours non-stop. Without some physical stamina, it's impossible to keep up.
Takanashi Toka nodded and said, "That's true. I also studied for several years and slowly worked my way up to the head chef position. But it's still not enough now; I plan to go abroad for further study for a period of time later."
Eriri couldn't help but clap her hands and exclaim, "Oh! That's amazing! At most, I can only cook homemade dishes. Being a head chef must be very tiring, right?"
It was now the Takanashi sisters' turn in line. Takanashi Toka took out the ingredients from her shopping cart one by one and said, "It is quite tiring, but I've gotten used to it."
Just as she was speaking, she saw her younger sister attempting to put a box of cherry tomatoes she had just taken out back. She immediately took the item back and tapped her sister's head: "Don't mess around!"
"Ugh… Why buy such a Devil Fruit…"
Covering her head, Takanashi Rikka looked at the box of cherry tomatoes on the checkout counter with a terrified expression.
After hearing Takanashi Rikka's words, Eriri glanced at the cherry tomatoes and asked, "Why is it a Devil Fruit? They're clearly delicious!"
"What?!"
Takanashi Rikka looked at Eriri in shock and said, "This is clearly a Devil Fruit! Especially that green slime inside, it's definitely something only Devil Fruits have! You've really had your mind corroded by such things… Ugh!"
Takanashi Toka directly raised her hand and grabbed her sister's cowlick, looking at Eriri apologetically: "This girl is just a picky eater, that's why she makes up these ridiculous things. I apologize."
Eriri nodded: "I thought so too." However, why doesn't she even like to eat this? If it were green peppers or something, Eriri could understand, but these cherry tomatoes, they're sweet and sour and quite tasty.
Indeed, the Chuunibyou mindset is not something a normal person like her can understand.
When facing her sister, Takanashi Rikka truly dared not speak out in anger, completely suppressed. Covering her head, she watched pitifully as Takanashi Toka paid for the cherry tomatoes.
After buying everything and putting all the ingredients into bags, Takanashi Toka said goodbye to Kaede and Eriri, then pulled her sister away.
Kaede and Eriri then paid as well, carrying their purchased ingredients out of the supermarket.
Walking home, Eriri said, "Kaede-kun, next time let's go eat at the Italian restaurant where Miss Toka works! It's been so long since I had Italian food!"
"Sounds good." Kaede nodded, "Italian food, let me think… Besides various kinds of pasta, I remember having risotto, and lasagna is also very good. Then there are various bacons and sausages, quite a lot of delicious things."
"Hehe, then we definitely have to go eat!"
Eriri took out her phone and searched, finding that the Italian restaurant where Takanashi Toka worked had extremely high ratings online, but also very expensive prices. It wasn't a place ordinary people would frequent.
"A high-class restaurant…" Looking at the information on Eriri's phone, Kaede finally understood why Takanashi Toka, a head chef, would have a business card. Just the prestige alone was incomparable to ordinary shops.
After some thought, Kaede said, "In that case, how about we have dinner there on the day we go to the Ueno Zoo this weekend?"
"Great! A big feast!!!"
…Time fast-forwarded to the weekend.
After encountering the Takanashi sisters that day, Kaede and Eriri finally didn't run into those two Chuunibyou girls during their school commute for the next few days. For a moment, it felt a bit unfamiliar; they had originally expected to be stopped a few more times.
But none of that mattered. What was most important now was going to the Ueno Zoo, an outing Eriri had been looking forward to for a long time.
Early in the morning, Kaede didn't even need to rush her. Eriri got up the moment her alarm went off, ran on the treadmill, took a shower, and changed clothes.
Kaede, meanwhile, prepared breakfast while calling his mother, reminding her to come over and help take care of the Cat at home. Because Kaede and Eriri were eating out for dinner and might be home late, the Cat might get hungry.
Asakura Reiko naturally had no problem and promised to come over in the evening to prepare dinner for the Cat.
"Kaede-kun, your relationship with Eriri should be fine recently, right? Mom hasn't asked about it." Asakura Reiko, on the other end of the phone, had also just woken up and asked with concern.
Kaede leisurely fried eggs and replied, "Don't worry, it's as good as ever. Otherwise, we wouldn't be going out to play together today, right? And you can also ask Aunt Sayuri. If anything really happened, she would definitely tell Aunt Sayuri."
"Of course I know that, but I still wanted to hear you say it yourself, Kaede-kun."
And speaking of Sayuri, Asakura Reiko thought for a moment and suggested, "Speaking of which, it's been a while since our two families had a meal together. How about we have dinner together tomorrow? I'll make the arrangements."
"I'm fine with it, as long as Aunt Sayuri and Uncle Spencer are free."
And so, Asakura Reiko, after hanging up the phone, immediately went to contact her future in-laws.