Once Yuuka and the rest of the chaotic group took their seats, Yuto pulled out his notepad and began taking their orders.
Yuuka ordered her usual, custom-made sunflower cake.
Yukari, noticing the golden croquettes that Utaha and Shouko were happily eating at the end of the counter, decided to order one for herself.
Ran still wanted her beloved fried tofu—she seemed to have a deep, unbreakable obsession with it, much like Yuuka's attachment to her flower cakes.
Curled up in the fox-woman's lap, Chen happily requested the same bonito-flake cat rice she had devoured last time.
When Yuto turned to the new girl in the red-and-white shrine maiden outfit, he wasn't entirely sure how to address her.
"My name is Hakurei Reimu. Just call me Reimu," she said, before leaning forward with an incredibly serious, grave expression.
"Boss... does plain white rice cost money?"
Yuto blinked, completely taken aback by the question.
This was the first time anyone had ever asked him that.
"No, white rice is complementary with a meal," he answered, thoroughly puzzled.
Reimu nodded earnestly, her brow furrowing as she pondered this information deeply for a moment.
Finally, she looked up and slapped her hands on the counter. "Then I will have one bowl of plain white rice, please."
Yuto nearly laughed out loud.
She had thought about it so hard and all she wanted was a bowl of rice?
'Is she deliberately teasing me?' he wondered.
The other patrons in the restaurant reacted immediately, their expressions telling a completely different story.
Yuuka let out a quiet scoff of disdain.
Yukari burst into a fit of laughter, hiding her smile behind her folding fan.
Ran shook her head in utter helplessness, while the blonde girl in the witch outfit just sighed in resignation.
Down the counter, Utaha had to cover her mouth to hold back a laugh, while Shouko, completely unaware of the bizarre dynamic, just kept happily chewing on her croquette.
"Reimu-san, are you being serious?" Yuto asked, genuinely concerned.
"I'm completely serious," Reimu replied with absolute conviction. "I'm a pure, dedicated shrine maiden. Plain white rice alone is more than enough to sustain me."
Yuto was momentarily stunned.
'So pure shrine maidens only eat white rice...'
"Sigh. Reimu, there's really no need to be so painfully frugal," Yukari chuckled, her voice dripping with barely suppressed amusement.
Hearing that, Yuto glanced at the shrine maiden again and finally understood.
'Ah. She's not being pure. She's just broke.'
"Reimu-san, if you're a bit tight on funds tonight, I personally recommend today's daily special," Yuto offered gently.
"It's pan-fried dumplings, only 500 yen."
Earlier that day, Yuto had impulsively bought a batch of frozen dumplings at the market.
When he got back to the restaurant, he regretted the purchase, deciding instead to fry them up and sell them as a cheap daily special to get rid of them.
However, the shrine maiden clearly couldn't even afford a measly 500 yen.
She stubbornly insisted on her bowl of plain rice, clinging to her ridiculous excuse about 'shrine maiden purity' to save her dignity.
It was honestly a bit tragic to watch.
"Boss, please just give Reimu an order of the pan-fried dumplings," Yukari sighed, finally unable to bear watching the pathetic display any longer.
"Right away," Yuto nodded.
Hearing this, Reimu quickly whipped her head around to look at the older youkai.
Her eyes practically sparkled with anticipation and delight!
"Yes, yes. It's my treat," Yukari waved her fan dismissively.
Instantly, the 'pure' shrine maiden's face lit up with a massive, beaming smile.
"Yukari! It seems you actually do have a tiny bit of noble virtue left in your heart!"
Yukari's eye twitched. "Boss, cancel that order of dumplings for Reimu."
"No, wait! Yukari, you are the most youthful, lovely, and generous seventeen-year-old beauty in all of Gensokyo!" Reimu panicked, instantly changing her tune.
"Hmph~ That's better."
Yuto watched the chaotic banter with a wry smile, shaking his head before moving on to the blonde witch who had been watching him with wide, curious eyes.
"Um..." Yuto began.
"My name is Kirisame Marisa! I'm an ordinary magician! Just call me Marisa, da ze!" she cheered, enthusiastically cutting him off.
Her voice was bright and loud, making it instantly clear that she was a warm, incredibly open-hearted girl.
That kind of boundless energy was hard not to like.
As for her introducing herself as a 'magician,' Yuto didn't even bat an eye.
He had already fed a useless goddess and a skeletal Overlord; a teenage witch was nothing new to him.
He was just a bit curious about the quirky verbal tic at the end of her sentence.
'Da ze... what does that even mean?'
"So, Marisa-san, what would you like to eat?" Yuto asked with a welcoming smile.
Marisa took a deep breath and tapped her chin thoughtfully with her finger.
She thought incredibly hard, her face scrunching up.
Finally, as if a lightbulb had gone off in her head, she slammed her hands on the counter.
"Boss! Can you make mushroom soup?!"
Yuto was slightly taken aback.
Marisa was actually the first customer to ever request a bowl of soup as a main dish.
He thought about his ingredients for a moment. It wasn't a problem at all, so he nodded.
"Great! Then I'll have a big bowl of mushroom soup!" Marisa laughed excitedly.
Having collected all six orders, Yuto stepped back into the kitchen.
Calculating the prep times for everything, he decided it was best to get Yuuka's flower cake steaming first.
While he began chopping and prepping in the kitchen, the front counter erupted into a buzzing conversation.
It was mostly Marisa and Reimu bickering loudly, with Yukari occasionally tossing in a snarky comment just to stir the pot.
Yuuka, on the other hand, ignored them all, resting her chin on her hand and watching Yuto cook with a cold expression.
Being stared down by the Flower Tyrant while slicing mushrooms made Yuto feel more than a little uneasy.
"Hey, Marisa, why did you ask for mushroom soup?" Reimu's voice drifted into the kitchen. "Don't you literally make mushroom soup at your house every single day?"
Marisa offered a bright, entirely shameless smile. "Well, yeah! But for some reason, the mushroom soup I make always turns out incredibly poisonous! I wanted to try the Boss version to see what I'm doing wrong!"
Reimu's face instantly fell into her hands.
In the kitchen, Yuto froze, his knife hovering over the cutting board.
He was utterly speechless!
'Drinking poisonous mushroom soup every day... kid, how have you managed to survive until now?!'
In the past, when it was just Yuuka visiting, the restaurant had been dead quiet.
When Yukari started showing up, it remained relatively peaceful, but full of quiet teasing.
But tonight, with the arrival of Reimu and Marisa, the restaurant had instantly transformed into a madhouse.
The energetic witch and the perpetually annoyed shrine maiden kept loudly arguing over the most trivial things.
Smack.
Yukari lightly tapped Reimu on the back of the head with her closed fan.
"Reimu, you need to keep your voice down in here," she scolded gently, glancing toward the kitchen.
She was worried that Yuto might get annoyed by the sudden, overwhelming noise.
Hearing this, Yuto chuckled and called out from the kitchen.
"It's fine, Yukari-san! Restaurants are supposed to be lively—that's exactly what makes them feel like real restaurants."
Yuto didn't find Reimu and Marisa annoying at all; in fact, he found their vibrant energy incredibly nostalgic.
After all, he had worked in commercial kitchens across two different lifetimes.
In his previous life as a head chef, when was a successful restaurant ever perfectly quiet?
Since coming to this new world and opening this strange, secluded little spot, that kind of bustling, chaotic atmosphere had completely disappeared from his life.
Although the peace and quiet of his late-night shifts were nice, he deeply missed the noisy, vibrant hum of his previous life.
The clinking of plates, the loud laughter, the smell of hot oil, and the bickering of friends—it felt lively. It felt human.
To Yuto, that was the true, undeniable magic of running a restaurant.
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