After finishing his phone call with Utaha, Yuto went right back to work.
The kitchen was a comforting sanctuary of rhythm and focus. Yuuka's sunflower cake was already steaming, Yukari's salad was prepped and Ran's fried tofu was golden and ready.
For the little twin-tailed cat-girl, Chen, Yuto whipped up a comforting bowl of traditional cat rice.
He figured a yokai born from a feline would appreciate it. He shaved fresh bonito flakes over a bed of warm rice and drizzled it with a touch of light soy sauce.
The moment Chen took her first bite, her face lit up with pure joy, and a happy, unconscious "nya" slipped past her lips.
Yuto had just started dicing the apples for Kaguya's dessert when the shop door slid open.
Matoba Toushi swaggered in.
"Oh? So this is the delinquent trying to cause trouble for our dear chef? He certainly looks the part," Yukari murmured.
She hid her mouth behind her folding fan, her purple eyes dancing with dangerous amusement.
Yuuka didn't smile.
Her usually green eyes bled into a piercing, bloodthirsty red as she cast a freezing glare at the boy.
"He really fits the stereotype, doesn't he?" Reiko noted quietly.
"Wait, weren't they all supposed to be bald?" Saitama asked, genuinely scratching his balding head.
He remembered Utaha saying the Housen gang was entirely hairless.
"Why does this guy have hair?"
"How recklessly foolish. To barge into this sanctuary..." Ainz murmured, rubbing his skeletal hands together.
The twin red orbs in his hollow eye sockets flared to life, making him look exactly like the Grim Reaper who's about to pass some judgment!
Kaguya remained silent, but her brows knit together in an elegant frown.
Matoba's interruption meant her candied apples were delayed.
Finally calm after her miserable time in the rain, the young heiress was now intensely irritated.
She looked at Matoba as if he were already a corpse.
Beside her, Hayasaka's posture shifted slightly, like a predator ready to erase the boy from existence the second her lady gave the word.
Standing in the center of the restaurant, Matoba felt his aggressive bravado shatter into a million pieces.
He wanted to scream, to curse, to assert his dominance—but his throat was clamped shut.
He couldn't even move a muscle!
He was paralyzed by the sheer crushing weight of the auras filling the room.
Every pair of eyes staring back at him was impossibly cold, looking at him the way a human looks at a crushed insect.
His blood ran ice-cold.
His lungs forgot how to pull in air.
Death.
The concept echoed through his hollow terrified mind.
"Were you looking for me?"
Yuto's calm voice suddenly cut through the suffocating pressure, breaking the invisible chains binding the delinquent.
Matoba could move again, but his desire to fight had completely evaporated.
He was consumed by cold, blinding dread.
He wanted to turn and sprint out the door, but his legs wouldn't obey.
All he could manage was a stiff, robotic nod.
"Let's settle this outside, then," Yuto said, calmly untying his apron.
"What about my candied apples?" Kaguya's voice was like cracking ice.
"Please give me just a moment. I'll finish them as soon as I get back," Yuto promised softly.
He hung his apron on the hook, grabbed his umbrella and stepped out from behind the counter.
"Hurry up," Kaguya demanded, unbothered by the unfolding drama.
"I will." Yuto walked over to Matoba, whose face was currently contorted into a mask of pure, breathless terror.
"Let's go outside."
The second Yuto gave the command, the oppressive weight lifted.
Matoba didn't even wait for an umbrella, he burst through the door and fled into the pouring rain like a man escaping hell.
"Tsk, tsk. Absolutely zero mental fortitude," Yukari giggled.
"He'd make the lowest grade of fertilizer, that's all," Yuuka scoffed.
"Will the manager be okay?" Reiko asked, looking slightly worried.
"I already placed a curse of misfortune on that boy. Kamisaka will not come to any harm," Ainz stated proudly.
"I still don't get why he has hair..." Saitama muttered.
...
Outside, Yuto stepped into the storm.
He found it strange that Matoba was completely silent, shivering and violently shaking his head.
'Is this how delinquents act? He's pretty arrogant,' Yuto thought to himself, completely missing the fact that the boy was traumatized!
"Boss!"
"There he is!"
"It's the kid!"
The moment Yuto and Matoba stepped out of the alley, a sea of bald heads swarmed them.
The Housen gang was hyped, eagerly waiting for their fearless leader to lay down the judgement!
"Is this everyone?" Yuto asked calmly, gripping his umbrella.
He looked at the impressive crowd of shiny heads, then glanced at Matoba.
The gang leader was still frantically shaking his head, his face twisted in a bizarre, agonizing grimace.
"Kill him, Boss!"
"Finish him off!" the underlings roared, completely blind to the absolute terror in their leader's eyes.
Then, to the utter shock of his gang, Matoba shoved his own men aside and bolted.
He didn't give a shit about revenge or Housen's pride anymore!
His mouth wouldn't work, but his legs finally did!
He just wanted to get as far away from that cursed diner and its monstrous patrons as humanly possible!
But he didn't make it far.
Smack.
A heavy wooden club slammed directly into Matoba's head.
Blood sprayed into the torrential rain, adding a brutal splash of crimson to the dreary gray street.
Both Yuto and the Housen delinquents froze.
A massive, dark tide of people was advancing from both ends of Ichinosuke Street.
Dozens of umbrellas bloomed in the rain.
Hostesses, club managers and bouncers—the people of the red-light district—were marching forward, gripping baseball bats, metal pipes, and wooden clubs.
They all wore terrifyingly cheerful smiles as they locked eyes with the Housen gang.
A sudden overwhelming wave of joy and gratitude washed over Yuto's heart.
He couldn't help but laugh softly.
"Ah, really..." he murmured, shaking his head with a touched, helpless smile.
They had all come to protect him.
"Yuto-chan! Why didn't you tell me you were in trouble?!"
Hanako parted the crowd, her usually warm and maternal face set into a stone-cold furious scowl.
She was wearing her black kimono embroidered with bright red peonies.
In her left hand, she casually held a long smoking pipe.
A respectful hostess walked beside her, keeping an umbrella perfectly positioned over her head.
Behind her, a bouncer was dragging the unconscious bleeding body of Matoba by the collar.
The Housen delinquents were now in a full-blown panic!
Their thirty members were completely surrounded by hundreds of armed, angry adults with nowhere to run.
Hanako stopped right in front of Yuto. She took a slow, deep drag from her pipe and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke into the rain.
Then, without even looking down, she pressed the burning bowl of the pipe directly against the back of the unconscious Matoba's neck.
Sizzle—
"Yuto-chan, honestly, why didn't you say anything?" she scolded, though her fierce tone melted into soft affection the moment she looked at him.
"Aunt Hanako..." Yuto was momentarily at a loss for words, offering a sheepish, embarrassed smile.
"If anything like this happens again, you come to me immediately. Do you understand?" she demanded.
"Yeah, I understand."
Satisfied, Hanako turned her sharp, predatory gaze toward the trembling Housen boys.
"You brats really have some nerve coming to my street." Her voice was devoid of any warmth.
As she spoke, the men and women of Ichinosuke Street tightened the circle while raising their clubs.
Just then, the wail of police sirens pierced the heavy rain.
Hanako frowned, her sharp eyes scanning the terrified teenagers.
One of the bald boys was clutching a cell phone to his chest, looking like he was about to cry tears of joy.
He had called the cops to save themselves from the angry mob!
"Tch," Hanako spat, her face twisting in utter disgust.