"If not for special circumstances today, I wouldn't have had the chance to come to the restaurant either," Senzaemon said with emotion.
When he mentioned "special circumstances," his expression changed unconsciously, as if he were still shocked by something.
Yuto's heart stirred a little.
He could not help feeling curious, but he had no intention of asking further.
Since it was a special circumstance, it probably involved something important.
Just as he was thinking that, the restaurant door opened once again.
They had just been talking about the Shinomiya family, and now, the Shinomiya family's young lady had arrived.
The instant Kaguya and Hayasaka walked in, Senzaemon, Erina, and Hisako all showed shocked expressions.
Their faces instantly took on a somewhat respectful look.
That change of expression left Yuto feeling a little helpless. Even though they possessed an institution like Totsuki Academy, before the Shinomiya family, it was nowhere near enough.
That was what a true top-tier conglomerate family was, everything was in their hands.
"Shinomiya-sama!" Senzaemon was the first to greet Kaguya.
Erina and Hisako also lowered their heads respectfully toward Kaguya.
After seeing the three of them, Kaguya's eyes showed a trace of surprise, but she quickly returned to calm.
As the young lady of the Shinomiya family, handling this kind of situation came very naturally to her.
"Nakiri-san, I didn't expect to see you here," Kaguya calmly addressed the three of them, giving a slight nod.
With her status, that was already enough.
"No, no, no—being able to run into Lady Kaguya here is our honor instead," Senzaemon said with a smile.
"There's no need to be so formal here. Just treat things as usual."
After saying this to the three of them with a faintly polite smile, Kaguya sat down.
Her maid sat down beside her as well. Off to the side, the expressions of Senzaemon and the other two remained stunned.
No matter how they thought about it, they could never have imagined that the Shinomiya family's young lady would come here!
Yuto let out a slightly helpless sigh inwardly, then turned toward Kaguya with a gentle smile.
"What would you like to have today?"
There was a trace of familiarity in Yuto's softly spoken question.
That familiarity in his tone made Senzaemon and the other two look even more shocked.
Kaguya lightly brushed back her long black hair with her hand.
Her gaze swept casually around, and she then noticed Reiko sitting by the counter and her expression changed instantly.
After noticing Kaguya's gaze, Reiko gave her a small smile and nodded.
Naturally, she still remembered Kaguya quite clearly.
Kaguya's expression hesitated slightly, but she nodded back to Reiko as well. Her eyes also fell on the onigiri in Reiko's hand.
After that, she looked toward Yuto.
"I'll have an onigiri as well."
Yuto smiled lightly and nodded, then looked toward Hayasaka.
Today the maid was dressed in a neat and practical summer outfit.
Yuto had asked her before about the delinquent-girl outfit from back then, and Hayasaka had replied that it was to keep herself as inconspicuous as possible when she was by Kaguya's side.
She only wore maid clothes inside the Shinomiya estate, once she went out, she changed into regular clothes.
"And Hayasaka?"
"A hamburger."
'Still a hamburger, just as always.'
After noting it down, Yuto turned and went into the kitchen.
He washed his hands, then scooped out some rice from the rice tub. Next, he spread a sheet of plastic wrap flat on the cutting board.
He pressed the rice onto it and flattened it out, then drizzled a few drops of sushi vinegar over it—left over from when he had made Reiko's onigiri just before.
Then he spread a bit of satay sauce in the middle of the rice.
After that, he used his chopsticks to place a bit of pork floss on top of the sauce.
Once that was done, Yuto began shaping it with his hands.
The satay sauce and pork floss were pressed into the center of the onigiri, so from the outside, the rice ball looked like nothing more than an ordinary ball of rice.
He cut off a strip of seaweed and wrapped it around the bottom portion of the onigiri, making it easier to hold by hand.
This was the simplest kind of pork-floss onigiri.
When Yuto had first learned to make them, he had felt as if he were making sushi.
Actually, if you made the onigiri a little smaller and added some dipping sauce, calling it sushi would not be entirely wrong either.
Carrying the onigiri, Yuto walked back out.
After setting it in front of Kaguya, he returned to the kitchen again.
Next up was Hayasaka's hamburger, which was simple enough—just stacking ingredients together, though he still had to fry the patty.
As he worked in the kitchen, a somewhat quiet atmosphere settled over the front hall.
The main reason was Senzaemon, Erina, and Hisako. Compared with how relaxed they had been earlier, they now carried an extra trace of tension.
After all, seated right beside them was the Shinomiya family's young lady.
Lucoa and Tohru were whispering to each other, simply not caring about these little matters between humans.
Fafnir, meanwhile, remained absorbed in his handheld game, the battle screen reflected in his glasses as he fought intensely!
Reiko looked at Kaguya and Hayasaka in puzzlement, then looked at the three from the Nakiri family.
She did not understand what exactly was going on, but she could still sense the tension in the three of them.
"Here they are—your hamburger."
When Yuto carried the hamburger out, he also became aware of the atmosphere in front of him.
He let out a slightly helpless sigh, though he was not especially surprised.
"Thank you, Boss," Hayasaka took the hamburger and began eating.
At her side, Kaguya had already eaten half of her onigiri.
As for the three from the Nakiri family beside them, Senzaemon could still more or less maintain his normal bearing, but Erina and Hisako both seemed slightly restrained.
"It's all right. There's no need to pay attention to anyone's status in here," Yuto said to the three of them with a light smile.
He felt a little helpless inside, thinking the three of them were not even as adaptable as Utaha.
That girl had become friends with all kinds of non-human beings as if it were perfectly normal.
Still, Yuto could understand Senzaemon and the others.
The more you understood, the more reverence you would feel.
Someone like Utaha knew that the people in the restaurant were extraordinary, but she did not know exactly how powerful they were, so she treated them with a more equal attitude.
In a certain sense, that was a kind of fearlessness born of ignorance.
But as members of another great family themselves, the three from the Nakiri family naturally understood the Shinomiya family far more deeply than ordinary people.
It was precisely because of that that they were even more careful about how they conducted themselves before a member of that family.
Only when you know how fearsome a tiger is do you dare not approach it.
Even though Yuto said that, the three from the Nakiri family still looked somewhat hesitant and ill at ease.
"In this restaurant, everyone's identity is simply that of one of Kamisaka-kun's customers. There is nothing to worry about," Kaguya added.
Yuto gave her an approving look, making Kaguya's heartbeat quicken ever so slightly.
After Kaguya's reassurance, Erina attempted to interact with her.
The response she received was nowhere near as intimidating as she had expected, which put the three from the Nakiri family at ease.
Their expressions and attitudes grew much calmer.
Observing the change, Yuto gave a slight nod. He never wanted his customers acting timid or constrained inside the restaurant, nights here were meant for relaxation, where outside rules and social restraints simply did not apply.
"I wonder how Shinomiya-sama came to discover this restaurant?" Erina asked, still restraining herself in front of the older girl.
Her pride was rooted in her family background, and while arrogant, she was far from foolish.
Next to the name Shinomiya, the Nakiri name amounted to very little.
Even if Kaguya insisted on being treated normally, Erina knew better than to forget her sense of proportion.
Hearing the question, Kaguya recalled her first meeting with Yuto.
Under the pouring rain, the boy had saved the girl who had nearly been hit by a car. The more she thought about that scene, the more her face reddened.
Her sudden blush made the Nakiri trio freeze!
Well-read in all kinds of shoujo manga, Erina had her own insights into that specific expression.
The same went for Senzaemon and the perceptive Hisako, who had picked up quite a bit from Erina's reading habits.
Only Hayasaka, sitting beside her mistress, remained utterly calm.
Always observant, the maid had already reached her own conclusions about her mistress's feelings the day before.
"It was only because of a coincidence or two," Kaguya said, taking a deep breath.
She suppressed her flush, returning her expression to its usual calm.
Erina did not press further, worried that prying might offend the young lady.
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