"To think I somehow became long-lived just like that. Yuuka, thank you very much," Yuto teased lightly.
His gratitude toward Yuuka carried a touch of ease.
Yuuka did not speak.
She merely nodded lightly, leaving no clue as to what she was actually thinking.
"Ah, Boss, is that...?" Yukari's gaze landed on the travel rules noticeboard nailed to the support pillar, drawing everyone's attention.
Yuto couldn't help sighing.
It had finally been noticed!
He had been wondering whether no one would pay attention to the wooden board he had worked so hard to nail up.
Now that Yukari had discovered it, he felt relieved.
"That's right. Those are the restaurant's current rules for crossing between worlds," Yuto said with a hint of pride.
His own small restaurant was this mysterious, so of course it was worth being proud of.
Everyone was greatly shocked as they read the board.
Since there were only about a hundred characters, they finished reading quickly.
Immediately, each of them fell into their own thoughts. Crossing worlds—just saying it sounded dreamlike and unbelievable, yet what was presented before them was fact.
"Want to try?" Yuto asked with a hint of anticipation, wanting to test the electronic scale and the proof slips.
After receiving the items, he had slightly revised the board's contents, adding the requirement for a proof slip to make the rules more detailed and complete.
He had originally thought someone would jump at the chance to try it out.
In the end, no one did.
This was far beyond his expectations. He had thought that crossing worlds would easily stir up curiosity.
"None of you are interested?"
Most of them shook their heads, their answers was largely similar. "There's nothing I need for the time being."
Even those who expressed interest said they wouldn't use it tonight.
Yuto sighed in disappointment.
He thought again of Ainz and Rimuru, who had been incredibly excited when they learned they could cross worlds.
Everyone else's reaction was completely different, making the contrast obvious.
Clatter~
Just as Yuto was thinking this, Ainz and Rimuru arrived at the same time.
"Yo! Kamisaka!" "Yo! Boss!"
The two, who had grown increasingly familiar with each others, greeted Yuto in unison.
The slime and the skeleton glanced at the people inside the restaurant before becoming visibly awkward.
Around the counter sat a circle of women.
How could two shut-in "wizards"—older single men—feel comfortable sitting at the counter?
"As expected of you, Kamisaka/Boss!" they praised simultaneously, giving Yuto a thumbs-up before heading to an empty table.
Yuto was completely baffled.
'What does "as expected of you" mean? What did I do???'
"Kamisaka, help us get our handheld consoles!"
After sitting down, Ainz and Rimuru remembered they had left their consoles to charge overnight.
Ainz raised his skeletal arm and shouted.
Yuto's eye twitched.
He wanted to say something, but decided to let it go.
Everything was his fault, he should never have bought the handheld consoles.
Calming himself down, he retrieved the devices from beneath the counter. With a casual toss, they were caught by Rimuru's slime hand.
"Thanks, Boss!" As soon as the slime finished speaking, he began battling Ainz.
They hadn't even ordered anything to eat.
...
A short while later, Yuuka's flower cakes were ready.
When he handed them to her, she still only nodded lightly.
Although she seemed rather cold, Yuto felt this was just right. She had always had this kind of expression from their very first meeting.
Having spent so much time together, they had grown used to each other, if she suddenly changed, Yuto would actually feel that something was wrong.
His gaze lingered slightly on her.
Biting into the flower cake, the Flower Tyrant showed no shyness or avoidance under his gaze.
Instead, she ate openly and calmly, feeling as though her mood was unexpectedly good.
"Boss, Boss! Can I interview you now?!" Having finally waited until Yuto brought out the last portion of flower cakes, the reporter girl couldn't help speaking up, interrupting Yuto's gaze.
She excitedly raised her hand like an elementary school student, showing no trace of the painful expression she had worn when Remilia tormented her earlier.
"Mm." Yuto moved his gaze away from Yuuka, smiling and nodding at Aya.
"Great!" the crow tengu cheered.
Meanwhile, a certain Flower Tyrant quietly eating her cake furrowed her brows almost imperceptibly.
Along with her frown, the cheering reporter suddenly felt an inexplicable tremor in her heart.
'Hm?! Was that my imagination???' Aya was somewhat surprised.
The tremor had come and gone quickly, making it easy to dismiss as an illusion.
Thinking about the interview, the reporter threw the feeling to the back of her mind.
Heaven and earth might be vast, but news was the greatest!
Besides, she hadn't provoked anyone today. Even if someone wanted to beat someone up, they needed a reason, right?
The questions Aya asked at the beginning were fairly normal, covering topics like how old he had been when he learned to cook.
But later, they started to go off track.
"Boss, why are most of the restaurant's customers women?" Aya asked, holding up her notebook with excitement in her eyes.
Yuto felt a little helpless.
It was true that most of the customers were women, but the others couldn't be ignored.
Ainz, Saitama, the King of Conquerors—there were quite a few male customers too.
"As for the ratio of male and female customers, I think it's merely a matter of coincidence. It doesn't really prove anything," Yuto answered.
Aya nodded before immediately firing off her next question. "Then, Boss, do you feel happy about the fact that female customers make up a relatively large proportion of the guests? From a man's perspective, female customers are generally more attractive than male customers, right?"
Yuto hesitated slightly. "If I were answering this question from a man's perspective, then female customers are indeed generally more welcome. However, I personally believe that when running a restaurant, one should treat all customers equally. I would not show favoritism toward either side because of gender."
It was a very appropriate answer, and the truth.
A question like this was not worth falsifying. Speaking honestly, beautiful and graceful female customers naturally attracted his attention as a man, but he had never neglected male customers because of that.
Even with someone like Fafnir, he interacted from the equal perspective of an owner.
"Oh~ Boss's answer is very impressive~" Aya nodded, her pen quickly flying across the notebook.
'Boss Kamisaka Yuto admits that female customers are more welcome.'
She had not written anything false, she simply omitted one sentence.
Although she was a good reporter, she still had to be responsible for newspaper sales.
Would people really like to read serious news? If she didn't add some colorful gossip, no one would buy the paper!
This was the classic theory she had developed after losing money for a long time. She was indeed a good reporter, but perhaps a prefix was needed: she was a good tabloid reporter.
Yuto didn't know what she had written, simply assuming she was recording what he said.
Surely she would not deliberately fabricate anything, right?
"Then I have one more key question," Aya said, focusing intently. "Boss, have you ever had any feelings for the female customers in the restaurant~?"
"Cough! Cough!"
Caught off guard, Yuto subconsciously coughed.
The question caused the atmosphere in the restaurant to suddenly change.
Although everyone had been listening, their emotions hadn't been stirred up nearly as strongly as they were now.
After all, gossip wasn't just a human instinct.
Even Ainz and Rimuru temporarily put down their consoles and looked over.
This went even more so for people like Yukari, who wished the world would fall into chaos!
Even the calm Yuuka shifted her gaze slightly toward Yuto.
Having finished her flower cake, her calm eyes glanced sideways, she was actually quite curious about the answer.
"Does this kind of question count as part of an interview too?" Yuto asked.
"Well, we agreed it would be an in-depth interview, so of course it does!"
Yuto sighed helplessly, but a smile soon curved his mouth.
Naturally, he could feel that everyone was focusing on him.
"I'll still say the same thing. I treat all customers equally. Everyone can be considered my friend, and friends are not divided by gender," Yuto answered.
It looked as though he had answered, but in reality, he had said nothing.
"Then, Boss, aside from seeing the female customers as friends, have you ever had any deeper—"
"Cough. I suddenly remembered that Rimuru hasn't ordered yet. Let's leave today's interview here for now, Miss Shameimaru," Yuto interrupted.
Aya wanted to press further, but Yuto cut her off.
Just as she was about to plead, a chill appeared in her heart once more.
The inexplicable coldness made the crow tengu back down as she recalled the tremor from earlier.
Perhaps it hadn't been an illusion.
The interview ended, leaving everyone looking slightly bored and unwilling to let the topic drop.
"Rimuru, order something!" Yuto shouted.
The slime wanted to say something, but upon seeing Yuto's smile, chose to shut up.
"Uh, then give me a few skewers."
As Yuto slipped into the kitchen, Ainz nudged Rimuru.
"You could've just said you weren't eating anything and let the interview continue," the skeleton whispered furtively.
"Why didn't you say that?" Rimuru countered.
"Kamisaka asked you, not me!"
"...Then next time, you do it."
"No way. What if I make Kamisaka angry?"
"Then what about me???"
"???"
The two of them whispered back and forth until Fafnir frowned.
"Focus on the game," the dragon said coldly.
"Oh," Ainz and Rimuru replied in unison.
The trio continued playing.
Originally split between two tables, Ainz and Rimuru had noticed Fafnir playing and decided to join him under the principle that "all gamers under heaven are family."