Chapter 229: One More Person?
'Having a roommate who can cook really helps a lot.'
Luke thought this while continuously eating.
With Ikki helping prepare the ingredients, he could focus entirely on eating.
Otherwise, having to both cook and eat would waste considerable time.
However, while Luke was happy, Ikki nearly worked to death.
Fortunately, Luke's standards for cooking quality weren't high - years of adventurer life had thoroughly eliminated any pickiness about food in him.
In the Dungeon, you had to eat even the most unpalatable things, and in the deeper levels, you'd eat anything to restore energy.
The current situation was similarly 'special', so Luke treated it like being in the Dungeon, having no particular requirements beyond the food being cooked.
After all, it couldn't be worse than those times.
At first, Ikki cooked seriously with the mindset of 'can't cut corners for a friend'.
But after a while, he discovered his cooking speed couldn't keep up with Luke's eating pace, and the other showed absolutely no signs of being full.
So, Ikki chose to give up.
With minimal seasoning and support from plenty of pre-cooked and frozen foods that needed no preparation, Ikki's cooking speed increased steadily.
However, even at his fastest, he still couldn't match Luke's eating speed.
They continued this pattern of cooking and eating for two full hours.
Just then, someone knocked on the dormitory door.
Ikki looked at his 'roommate', who was still eating, and shook his somewhat numb hands saying:
"Luke, you can keep eating, I'll go check out the door."
With that, he quickly walked to the entrance.
'Finally, I can catch my breath...' With this thought, Ikki went to open the door.
He also wondered who would be knocking so late.
Opening the door, the first thing Ikki saw was Stella's vibrant red hair.
Though surprised the princess would come knocking so late, Ikki politely asked:
"Vermillion-san, what brings you here so late?"
"Are you looking for Luke?"
Facing Ikki's questions, Stella's face flashed with irritation.
But then, as if catching a scent, the girl's nose twitched slightly, and her irritated expression immediately changed to one of reluctant yearning.
Ikki watched in bewilderment as Stella performed this face-changing act at the dormitory entrance.
When the girl's expression finally settled on embarrassment and resignation, she prepared to speak.
But just as Stella opened her mouth...
*Growl~*
A peculiar sound rang out.
Hearing this sound, Ikki's expression turned knowing, while Stella became angry with embarrassment.
"What could I do! By the time I realized, I'd already missed the cafeteria's dinner hours!"
The hungry girl, forced to seek help from the only people she knew at school, immediately burst out when her stomach's growling was heard.
"I was going to buy something at the supermarket."
"But some inconsiderate person cleared out everything edible in the entire supermarket, leaving only weird snacks that couldn't possibly fill anyone up!"
Self-deprecating and embarrassed, Stella glared fiercely at Ikki.
"I thought, missing one meal is fine, I could just endure it."
"But your dormitory has been sending out all kinds of food smells non-stop!"
"You're making something delicious, aren't you!"
"How long are you planning to cook?!"
"This is revenge! It's revenge, right! You must be getting back at me for looking down on you in the Director's office! Right?!"
*Growl~*
"Ugh..."
Stella, who had been quite aggressive, deflated instantly at the second stomach growl.
"Please... please share some food with me..."
Ikki watched extremely awkwardly as the girl slumped to the ground.
He had caught certain hints in Stella's words that couldn't be ignored.
'Cleared out... the supermarket...?!'
If it was really as he imagined... no... it couldn't possibly be anything else!
This had to be Luke's doing!
The Princess of the Vermillion Kingdom going hungry on her first day at Hagun Academy - clearly his new roommate bore full responsibility for this terrible incident...
Both emotionally and rationally, Ikki couldn't refuse a classmate's plea for help.
Though even without Luke's involvement, someone of his character wouldn't refuse to help others anyway.
'Well, she's a girl, so she probably won't eat too much...'
'Luke shows no signs of finishing anyway, so what's the deal with one more person?'
Thinking this, Ikki said to Stella:
"We are having dinner... if you don't mind, would you like to join us?"
"Um... though Luke's appetite is a bit much, so prepare yourself not to be shocked..."
"It's fine, how much could he possibly eat compared to me!"
Ikki's words were cut off by the red-haired girl, who suddenly sprang up from the ground.
The girl said to Ikki in an extremely sincere tone:
"Thank you so much, this is literally life-saving, I'll definitely repay you in the future!"
With that, Stella eagerly darted past Ikki, rushing toward the source of the aroma she'd been tracking.
"Eh?! Wait..."
Ikki couldn't stop her in time, and the moment Stella burst into the room, she saw Luke still eating, and the various food packaging scattered everywhere.
Instantly, the air fell silent...
Closing the door and following her in, Ikki nervously watched the atmosphere that felt like the calm before a storm.
Afraid Luke and Stella might start fighting on the spot, he quickly stepped forward to explain.
Unexpectedly, the next moment, Stella quietly walked over and obediently sat down.
Meanwhile, Luke said irritably to the boy, who stood frozen in place:
"Did you really think we'd start fighting?"
"Let's not talk about being that immature, even if we were going to fight, it would be after the meal."
"My dear friend, since you still have energy to entertain others, how about putting more effort into cooking?"
Stella, who had sat down and realized from his words that Ikki was the 'chef', kept nodding in agreement with Luke's point.
At the same time, the girl eagerly grabbed the food on the table and started eating.
Ikki scratched his head awkwardly, then quietly sighed and walked back to the simple kitchen to continue his culinary training.
While it was good that Luke and Stella hadn't started fighting, he couldn't quite feel happy at the moment.
Stella's words before entering - "how much could he possibly eat compared to me!" - kept echoing in Ikki's mind.
It was giving him an ominous feeling of unease.