"What would Sakura-chan like to eat?" Yuto asked, leaning over the counter with a warm, gentle smile.
Sakura furrowed her brows.
Her bright, usually dull eyes sparked with genuine puzzlement as she scanned the unfamiliar restaurant.
"Can you make... taiyaki?" she asked after a moment of hesitation.
A heavy hint of anticipation colored her quiet voice.
She looked up at Yuto, her face filled with quiet expectation.
She looked exactly like a well-behaved, hopeful kitten raising its head for a treat.
"Of course I can, Sakura-chan. Just wait a moment," Yuto smiled reassuringly.
He turned to his new waitress. "Tohru, keep Sakura-chan company for a while, and remember to keep smiling."
Since Sakura was a little girl around Shouko's age, it wouldn't be right to just leave her sitting alone in silence.
However, Tohru was a chaotic dragon who openly admitted she didn't have much fondness for humanity.
Yuto was genuinely worried that if he didn't give her explicit instructions, she might accidentally terrify the child.
"Leave it to me, Boss!" Tohru beamed cheerfully.
She gave Yuto a sharp, confident thumbs-up, practically radiating enthusiasm.
Yuto couldn't help but be slightly amused by her dramatic gesture.
"Sakura-chan, if you feel like talking, just chat with Tohru-nee for a bit," Yuto encouraged the little girl before stepping into the kitchen.
Sakura offered an obedient little nod.
Yuto tied on his apron and began prepping the taiyaki.
It was an incredibly traditional, nostalgic Japanese street snack—a warm, cake-like pastry shaped like a chubby little sea bream, traditionally stuffed with sweet red bean paste.
It was a simple dessert, but it required a specific, heavy iron mold.
Since taiyaki was such a beloved, common snack, Yuto had bought the specialized pan a long time ago just in case a craving struck a customer.
He measured out the precise ratios of low-gluten cake flour, cornstarch, and baking powder, sifting them into a large metal mixing bowl.
After whisking the dry ingredients evenly, he cracked in a fresh egg, added a generous drizzle of honey, and sprinkled in a measure of fine sugar.
He slowly streamed in milk while whisking vigorously until the mixture transformed into a smooth, pale yellow batter.
He covered the bowl with a layer of plastic wrap.
The batter needed to rest quietly for about ten minutes to allow the starches to hydrate and the flavors to meld properly.
While the batter rested, he retrieved the heavy cast-iron taiyaki mold from the lower cabinets.
The pan consisted of two hinged iron plates, with two deep, fish-shaped cavities carved into the center.
Since it had been sitting unused for a while, Yuto thoroughly scrubbed and rinsed the heavy iron under the tap, then set it over a low flame on the stove to quickly boil off the residual moisture and preheat the metal.
As the iron heated, Yuto wiped his hands and stepped back out to the counter, checking on his new employee.
"Tohru-nee... is that a real tail on your back?" Sakura asked, her large eyes fixed curiously on the massive, scaly green appendage swaying behind the waitress.
Tohru hadn't bothered to retract her tail since Yuto officially hired her.
It was just hanging out in the open, swishing happily.
"Yep!" Tohru declared proudly.
She deliberately flexed the muscles at the base of her spine, making the thick dragon tail wag rapidly back and forth, exactly like a happy dog.
"So... does that mean Tohru-nee isn't human?" Sakura asked softly, her head tilting in genuine confusion.
"That's right! Tohru is a dragon," Yuto answered with a smile as he walked over to them.
Hearing Yuto confirm it, Sakura's eyes widened in surprise and disbelief.
"A dragon? Like... the legendary giant dragons from the stories?" Sakura gasped, her small mouth open as she stared at Tohru with sheer awe.
"Hehe! Yes, yes! I am a proud, magnificent giant dragon, a supreme being infinitely superior to all mere hum—"
Thump.
Just as Tohru was loudly declaring her racial superiority, Yuto reached over the counter and lightly flicked her forehead.
It didn't hurt her thick dragon scales in the slightest, but the casual scolding gesture completely derailed Tohru's arrogant monologue.
"No need to finish that sentence. Sakura is just a child. Don't fill her head with your strange supremacist rants," Yuto chided with a gentle, warning smile.
Tohru rubbed her forehead and pouted, letting out a dramatic sigh before flashing a helpless smile.
"Alright, Boss." She shrugged her shoulders in defeat.
"It's okay, Onii-san," Sakura said softly, offering a polite smile. "I already know that dragons are supreme phantasmal species, beings infinitely superior to humans. Father told me and my older sister about them before. He even said that a top-tier Magus like himself would be no match for a true dragon."
Sakura had effortlessly filled in the blanks of Tohru's interrupted speech.
Hearing Sakura's casual precise terminology, Yuto froze.
He stared at the little girl.
He had initially assumed Sakura was just a normal lost child wandering the late-night streets.
But hearing her talk about 'phantasmal species' and 'Magus'... his assumption was dangerously wrong.
"Mm! Mm! Exactly!" Tohru nodded vigorously, completely validating the child.
"It seems your father is a smart human who actually understands the massive gap between our species! Mere humans? Hah! I could wipe out an entire city of them with just one breath of dragon fi—"
Thump.
"I told you to stop talking nonsense," Yuto sighed, flicking the dragon girl's forehead a second time.
"Oh." Tohru pouted again, rubbing her head.
Sakura couldn't help but giggle happily as she watched the dynamic between the gentle chef and the terrifying dragon.
"Sakura-chan, is your father... a mage?" Yuto asked carefully, curiosity getting the better of him.
The moment he asked the question, the innocent joy vanished from Sakura's face.
Her expression instantly twisted into one of intense, panicked conflict.
Yuto's mind raced. He immediately recognized the sheer terror in her eyes.
"It's okay, Sakura-chan. If you aren't allowed to talk about it, you don't have to," Yuto smiled reassuringly, waving his hand to dismiss the question.
A heavy, visible wave of relief washed over the little girl's pale face.
Tohsaka Sakura had panicked.
Her father, Tokiomi Tohsaka, strictly enforced the absolute rule of the Magus Association: secrecy above all else.
Revealing the mysteries of magecraft to an ordinary civilian was a grave sin.
Realizing she had accidentally leaked her family's secret had made her small heart race with sheer anxiety.
Fortunately, the kind shopkeeper didn't press her for details.
She let out a long, shaky breath.
Standing nearby, Tohru's golden, reptilian eyes narrowed slightly as she observed the little girl.
A faint, glowing arc of magical light quietly flashed deep within the dragon's pupils.
She had already seen the little girl's horrifying uniqueness.
Through her Dragon Eyes, Tohru could clearly see the magical crests currently lying dormant throughout the child's small body.
...
"But Father said the Age of Gods ended, and dragons disappeared from this world a long, long time ago," Sakura noted, nodding obediently to finish answering Tohru's earlier question.
Even in this brief interaction, Yuto had already gotten a very clear sense of the little girl's personality.
She was incredibly well-behaved, polite, and carried a tragic, heavy gentleness.
"Hiks—" Tohru let out a sudden, sorrowful whimper, her tail drooping until it hit the floor.
Yuto looked at his waitress with a mix of confusion and amusement.
"Tohru, whats wrong with you now?"
"Boss! They are still my distant kin, after all! Even if they are dragons from a completely different dimensional world, hearing that they went extinct makes me really sad!" Tohru mumbled, resting her chin heavily on the wooden counter.
She looked exactly like a deflated sad lump of green dough.
"Maybe they didn't go extinct. Maybe they just all migrated to a different, higher dimension to survive, exactly like you did," Yuto offered, trying to find a logical reason to comfort the dramatic dragon.
Unexpectedly, Tohru's golden eyes instantly lit up.
She shot straight up, her tail wagging wildly again.
"That's right! Boss, that has to be it! The proud dragons of this world must have just packed up and moved to the Reverse Side of the World because they simply didn't want to deal with annoying humans anymore!" Tohru declared with absolute, renewed confidence.
Yuto couldn't help but laugh at how easily she rebounded.
Sakura giggled along with him, the heavy tension in her chest fully dissolving.
"Alright, time's up. I need to get back to the stove. You two carry on," Yuto said, glancing at the wall clock.
The ten-minute resting period was over.
It was time to bake.
He stepped back into the kitchen and peeled off the plastic wrap.
The batter had hydrated perfectly, turning a rich, uniform pale yellow.
Small air bubbles occasionally rose to the surface and popped, indicating the baking powder was active.
He grabbed a ladle and moved over to the stove. The heavy iron taiyaki mold was thoroughly preheated.
He opened the hinged plates, dipped a silicone brush into a dish of neutral cooking oil, and carefully brushed every single groove and corner of the fish-shaped cavities.
This step was absolutely crucial.
Every millimeter of the hot iron had to be coated in a thin layer of oil.
If he missed a single spot, the delicate batter would fuse to the iron, ruining the shape and making it impossible to remove the pastry intact.
Once the iron was slick and smoking slightly, Yuto scooped a generous portion of batter and poured it into the bottom halves of the two fish molds.
He quickly grabbed a piping bag filled with dense, sweetened red bean paste and squeezed a thick line of the dark, rich filling directly into the center of the wet batter.
He then immediately ladled a second, thinner layer of batter over the top, completely sealing the red bean paste inside.
He slammed the heavy top plate down, locking the mold shut, and flipped the entire heavy iron over the open flame to ensure even cooking on both sides.
Now, it was just a matter of waiting.
About a minute later, Yuto flipped the iron off the heat and popped the latch open.
Where there had been liquid batter just moments ago, two perfectly formed, golden-brown fish pastries now rested in the iron.
The intense heat had puffed the batter up, turning it a vibrant, appetizing orange-yellow hue, like the skin of a ripe tangerine.
The natural, intoxicating aroma of toasted vanilla, hot sugar, and rich baked bread immediately flooded the kitchen.
A dragon's sense of smell is terrifyingly keen.
The exact second Yuto cracked the iron mold open, Tohru caught a massive whiff of the sweet fragrance.
Whoosh—
The dragon girl's heavy tail began wagging so violently it actually created a strong breeze in the dining room.
"Hey! Boss! What is that?! It smells incredible!" Tohru gasped, practically climbing over the counter to see into the kitchen.
The proud human-hating dragon now perfectly resembled a starving golden retriever that had just smelled an open bag of treats.
Yuto could only sigh.
"Taiyaki," Yuto announced, carefully prying the hot pastries out of the mold. "Here you go, Sakura-chan. Be very careful, the filling inside is hot."
He wrapped one of the golden fish in a square of wax paper to protect her hands, placed it on a ceramic plate, and slid it across the counter to the little girl.
Wisps of sweet, vanilla-scented steam curled off the freshly baked crust.
Sakura's dull eyes lit up with sheer joy.
She desperately reached out with both hands to pick it up, but hesitated, deeply afraid of burning her small fingers.
She fidgeted, looking conflicted.
Yuto watched the struggling little girl with a gentle smile.
Meanwhile, Tohru was experiencing her own crisis.
She stood right next to Sakura, staring down at the golden pastry.
She was both deeply conflicted and overwhelmingly anxious.
Her tail swished back and forth like a metronome set to panic.
"I want some too! I want some too!!" Tohru whined, her voice carrying a heavy, desperate, almost coquettish tone.
Tohru had completely regressed into a demanding child.
Her golden eyes were glued to the pastry in front of Sakura.
They practically sparkled in the overhead lights—her pupils were literally glowing with draconic greed.
Sakura looked down at her warm, beautiful treat, and then looked up at the desperate, towering dragon girl.
The little girl offered Tohru a gentle, sweet smile.
She used her napkin to slowly push the plate across the wood.
"Tohru-nee, you can have this one," Sakura said obediently.
Tohru's glowing eyes widened in massive, pleasant surprise.
The heavy tail behind her wagged so hard it thumped against the floorboards.
"I can just order another one," Sakura reasoned softly.
She was an inherently kind self-sacrificing child.
Seeing the incredibly powerful dragon reduced to begging for a snack made Sakura feel a bit pitiful for her.
It was just one pastry, she could wait for another.
"Wow! Sakura! You are a truly kind human too!" Tohru cheered, a massive, delighted grin splitting her face.
Behind the counter, Yuto let out a heavy sigh, rubbing his temples.
'So basically, anyone who hands you food is a good person...'
'Tohru... you aren't an apex predator. You really are just a massive, scaly pet, aren't you?'
He seriously doubted her terrifying royal lineage at this point.
"Tohru. You cannot do that," Yuto said firmly.
He reached across the counter, stopped Tohru's hand from grabbing the pastry, and slid the plate firmly back in front of the little girl.
"Sakura-chan, that is very sweet of you, but you need to eat your own food."
Sakura looked up at Yuto, offering a small, apologetic smile.
Tohru, on the other hand, stared at Yuto with a face full of disappointment and sadness.
Her golden eyes literally pleaded with him.
"I knew you were going to act like this," Yuto sighed helplessly.
He turned around, walked back to the prep counter, and grabbed the second wax-paper bundle.
The iron mold always cooked two portions at a time.
He had intentionally made the second one specifically for Tohru, fully predicting that the gluttonous dragon girl wouldn't be able to resist the smell.
When Yuto walked back and handed the second steaming taiyaki to Tohru, the dragon girl threw her hands in the air and cheered loudly enough to shake the ceiling.
"Boss! You're the best!"
Yuto just shook his head, a fond, exhausted smile on his lips.
He was increasingly certain that he hadn't hired a waitress.
He had definitely just adopted a very large, very loud pet!
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