The commotion at the nearby table did nothing to disturb the Wild Eats crew's meal. Perhaps it was the nostalgia of returning to a restaurant she hadn't visited in so long, but Pecorine's appetite had grown to impressive proportions. By the time Jhin fed her the last of the vegetable salad, the weathered owner sauntered over, an unlit cigar clamped between his teeth. He looked at Kokkoro and Megumin — both of whom looked like small children — stubbed the cigar out on the edge of his belt, exhaled a slow breath, and said flatly, "We're out of ingredients."
"Huh? I'm only at about seventy percent full. What about everyone else — are you satisfied?"
"More or less, I suppose." Jhin was the only one who shook his head — his appetite wasn't exactly small either.
"Well, if they've run out here, we could always try somewhere else," Kokkoro offered.
"Don't worry about it, Kokkoro." Pecorine rose to her feet with absolute confidence, waving her bandaged right hand at the owner like a cotton swab on a stick. "Boss! Bring out the secret menu!"
"Hm~" The owner gave her a long look. "You sure your friends can handle it?"
"No problem! Jhin and I have very similar tastes, and even if he can't finish it, I can eat everything myself!"
"Got it." The taciturn owner turned away, the dead cigar still hanging from his lips.
About half an hour later, five generous plates of food were set before the group.
Jhin surveyed the spread with wide eyes and let out a low murmur of appreciation. "Well. This is... certainly distinctive."
The dishes were flawless in color and aroma — there was absolutely nothing to fault there. The only thing that might give someone pause was the fact that every single one of them was, without exception, insect-themed.
Buglovers, rejoice!
Pecorine launched into an enthusiastic introduction. She pointed first at the edge of the spread, where a large crimson dragonfly perched magnificently atop a mound of mashed potato, surrounded by a bed of bright green vegetables. "The one on the far end is called Sautéed Shrimp Dragonfly. The wings are dipped in flour and deep-fried — they taste just like potato chips. For the body, you just pinch the tail and pull, and all the meat slides right out!"
She directed Jhin to demonstrate. He carefully snapped off the four wings one by one, then gripped the dragonfly's tail and gave it a firm tug. A pale, steaming cylinder of insect meat slid out with surprising ease. He then wrapped the long strip of meat around the wings and popped the whole thing into his mouth. Crunch.
"Mm! And next to it — Flame-Grilled Oak Beetle!"
Roughly the size of half a fist, blazing red-shelled beetles with the silhouette of rhinoceros beetles lay in neat rows across a black plate. Their top shells had been removed, and the tender white meat beneath had been seared at high heat to a rich, chestnut-golden color, releasing an aroma not unlike grilled fish.
"For this one, just squeeze a bit of lemon juice or dip it in the house sauce — that's all you need!" Again under Pecorine's direction, Jhin took charge of the operation. He picked up one of the plump, roasted beetle bodies, snapped it cleanly in half, added a splash of lemon and a swipe of sauce, and raised it to Pecorine's lips.
"N-next up..." Pecorine hastily swallowed and kept going. "This one is Creamy Stewed Flutterworm!"
Fat, round white larvae with vivid red circular mouthparts lay sprawled across thin-sliced cucumber, separated from one another by cherry tomatoes, the whole thing draped in a rich broth sprinkled with fine green onion.
"Flutterworms can be eaten with chopsticks or a fork — no special technique required. That said, I'd still recommend dipping them in the house sauce at least once."
"The last two dishes are called Fluffy Bread Worm and Crispy Long Bug."
According to Pecorine's explanation, the Fluffy Bread Worm wasn't technically an insect at all — it was the fruit of a tree called the Insect Bread Tree. When harvested before ripening, the slender fruit was coated in flour and deep-fried to become the Crispy Long Bug. Once allowed to fully ripen, the originally elongated fruit would swell into a round, plump shape; popped into an oven for half an hour, it yielded something that looked exactly like a fat grub, tasted like bread, and carried a faint, unmistakable savoriness.
"And that's the owner's secret menu — Bug Cuisine! So? Doesn't it all look absolutely delicious?"
"Hang on, hang on, hang on! You just said it yourself — these are insects, right?!"
"Well, yes. Bug cuisine is made from bugs — what's wrong with that?"
Kyaru grabbed her head with both hands. "Because they're bugs! How can anyone actually eat them?!"
"Kyaru, don't say that — you haven't even tried them yet. How can you say they're inedible?" Pecorine, fumbling with both bandaged hands, managed to spear a stewed Flutterworm on a fork and moved to offer it to her.
"D-d-don't — don't come near me with that!" Kyaru's face had gone ashen. She stumbled backward, eyes locked on the slowly advancing larva. "Jhin! Kokkoro! Megumin! Someone please do something about this person trying to shove bugs into people's mouths!"
Crunch. Crunch.
The crisp sound of fried food being chewed made the panicking Kyaru spin around — and her pupils nearly shook right out of her skull. All three people she had just called on were happily munching on a long, golden, deep-fried insect apiece.
"Y-you guys..."
"Kyaru, I'll be honest — this stuff is actually really good." Jhin held up his half-eaten Crispy Long Bug to show her the cross-section. "It's meat on the inside when it's not fully ripe. Nature is genuinely wild."
"All of you, snap out of it!" Kyaru threw her hands wide open, unable to believe what she was seeing. "These are bugs! They're relatives of the same bugs that came crawling out of every corner of the guild house when we were cleaning it!"
"As long as it tastes good, does it really matter what it looks like?" Megumin had grown up in a fairly poor household for as long as she could remember, and had always practiced the wholesome habit of eating whatever was in front of her. Even when facing bugs — if it smelled good and tasted good, down the hatch it went.
"How can that not matter?!"
"Being a picky eater is a bad habit."
"This counts as being picky?! A normal person literally cannot put bugs in their mouth! That's just basic human decency!" Kyaru was on the verge of a complete breakdown. She had never imagined that every single one of her companions would turn out to be star pupils in the Bear Grylls School of Wilderness Dining, chomping through insects with gusto — tasting like chicken, crunching like chips.
"You all just eat those — I'll step outside for a bit..."
The rest of Kyaru's sentence was cut short by a stewed Flutterworm being pushed between her lips. The fork was withdrawn. She sat back down slowly, cheeks puffed out, eyes bulging like they were trying to escape her face. She stayed perfectly still for a long moment, then finally said in a muffled voice, face planted straight down on the wooden table: "...It's... it's good."
"Heh heh. I knew you'd like it."
Still chewing, Kyaru shot Pecorine a deeply aggrieved sideways glare. "Even so — cramming insect-shaped food into someone else's mouth without permission is way over the line."
"Ahaha... It's just that you were about to walk out without even trying it, and I panicked, so I just sort of... did it."
Jhin picked up two slices of Fluffy Bread Worm, spread a piece of Flame-Grilled Oak Beetle meat with sauce, sandwiched it in between, and tucked in a few slices of cucumber for good measure. He held the completed creation aloft. "Behold: the Custom Bug Sandwich!"
"I can't believe you thought of that." Megumin couldn't help but applaud. "Genuinely impressive."
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