"Let's go, let's go! Time for good food!"
The snack area was on the east side of the mall. It was an artificially created "old-style street" with grey brick paving, retro signboards, and dim, lantern-style streetlights.
Two neat rows of stalls lined the street, their various aromas mixing together to weave a net that made it impossible to walk past without stopping.
Kiana's eyes sparkled like a cat that had caught the scent of meat.
She turned to look at Shu, gave him a thumbs-up, and flashed a "youthful" smile.
"Shu, leave the rest to me! You helped me pick out clothes, so I'll help you pick out good food. Fair, right?"
Are you really picking it out for me?
Shu was silent for a second. He suspected Kiana was just using "buying a portion for him" as an excuse to eat two portions herself.
"I'm not very hungry. You can eat however many portions you want," Shu shook his head and said directly.
"Liar, you barely ate anything this morning." Kiana completely ignored Shu's refusal and simply dragged him into the snack street. "Besides, eating isn't just about filling your stomach, it's about enjoyment! It's happiness! Don't you get it?"
Dragged by her, Shu stumbled into the snack street.
"Enjoy it well!" Kiana spread her arms wide, as if embracing the aroma of the entire street. "I, Kiana Kaslana, will show you today just how happy eating delicious food can make you!"
With that declaration, Kiana grabbed Shu and began her sweep of the snack street.
Her action of immediately pouncing on the very first stall made Shu's eyelid twitch.
Is Kiana really planning to eat her way through every single stall?
"This one, this one!" Kiana pointed at the skewers of gluten rolling over the charcoal fire at the first stall, her eyes shining. "I want to eat this!"
Shu already had his phone tightly in hand, ready to scan the code and pay at any moment.
"How many skewers?" he asked.
"Hmm..." Kiana stared at the gluten, thinking seriously for a second. "Five skewers!"
The stall owner replied with an "Okay," nimbly brushing on sauce and sprinkling spices.
Kiana stood on her tiptoes to watch, not hiding her drooling anticipation for the food in the slightest.
"Smells so good... the color of this sauce is so pretty... that chili powder looks so spicy... oh, right! Boss, go easy on the chili for two of those skewers!"
Standing behind her, Shu looked at her impatient appearance, smiled helplessly, scanned the code, and paid.
The five skewers of roasted gluten were quickly handed over.
Kiana took the first skewer, blew on it, and took a bite.
"Mmm—!"
Her eyes instantly widened, and her ahoge quivered.
"So good!"
She chewed and chewed, her cheeks puffed out, her face full of intoxication.
Then, still intoxicated, she held the two less-spicy skewers up to Shu's mouth.
"Quick, try it! I specifically told the boss to go easy on the chili for these two!"
Shu paused.
"I..."
"Just try it! It's really good!"
Shu looked at her sparkling eyes, fell into a habitual moment of silence, then took the roasted gluten, lowered his head, and took a bite.
The gluten had a slightly charred exterior, the sauce leaned towards sweet with a hint of smokiness, and the texture was bouncy and chewy.
"How is it?" Kiana asked.
"It's pretty good," Shu said.
Kiana blinked, somewhat dissatisfied with this answer.
"Just 'pretty good'?"
"Um... it's very delicious?"
"Obviously it's very delicious!" Kiana stared at Shu for two seconds, then shook her head and took another huge bite.
"Forget it, you don't know how to appreciate things."
Shu: "?"
The second stall was teppanyaki squid.
"I want this too!"
Kiana pointed at the squid tentacles sizzling on the iron griddle, while still holding the roasted gluten from the previous stall.
And surprisingly, Shu saw a raging fire of vengeance in Kiana's eyes.
Kiana was indeed here for revenge.
Even though this wasn't the exact teppanyaki squid that had trapped her and prevented her from finding Shu in peace last time, they were both teppanyaki squid, after all!
Damn you, teppanyaki squid, I have brought you destruction!!
Shu silently scanned the code and paid again, then silently sped up his consumption of the roasted gluten in his hand.
He had a premonition that at this rate, Kiana would soon fill his hands with all sorts of snacks.
The squid was ready quickly—a whole teppanyaki squid, plus a handful of tentacles, served in a paper bowl, the aroma hitting their noses.
Kiana took the paper bowl, grabbed a squid tentacle first, and opened her mouth to chew it fiercely.
"Mmm—this is good too!" Kiana achieved the impressive feat of lasting one second against the teppanyaki squid offensive. She used a skewer to stab a large piece of squid tentacle heavily coated in sauce and extended an invitation to Shu, "You hurry up and try it too!"
"Try this!"
Shu carefully caught the piece of squid in his mouth.
The squid was very tender, the sauce was savory, fragrant, and slightly sweet, and the heat from the chili was just right.
"How is it?"
"It's pretty good."
"Compared to the roasted gluten?"
"They're different."
"Which one is better?"
Shu thought for a moment.
"They're both fine."
Kiana frowned.
"What do you mean 'both fine'?"
"Just that... they're both okay."
"How can they both be just 'okay'!" Kiana refused to accept this. "One of them has to be better!"
Shu looked at her, silent for a second.
"Which one do you like more?"
"Me?" Kiana paused, then thought about it seriously. "Hmm... the squid? No, the roasted gluten is good too... hmm... they're both good! I can't decide!"
The corners of Shu's mouth curved up slightly.
"There you go."
Kiana realized what had happened and stomped her foot in exasperation.
"You tricked me!"
"I didn't."
"You did!"
She took a huge, angry bite of squid, her cheeks puffing out even rounder.
Next came... takoyaki, fried chicken cutlets, grilled cold noodles, stinky tofu, egg waffles...
At every stall they visited, Kiana would buy a portion, take the first bite, and then hold it up to Shu's mouth.
"Try this!"
"How about this one?"
"This one, this one!"
Every time, Shu cooperatively took a bite and gave his evaluation.
"It's alright."
"Not bad."
"Pretty good."
"It's okay."
"Mhm."
Kiana's frown grew tighter and tighter.
It wasn't that she was dissatisfied with Shu's evaluations—those things really were all pretty good; she thought so herself.
She was dissatisfied with how Shu evaluated them.
Wasn't this just trying to keep everyone happy?!
It was just evaluating food, why was Shu acting like he was caught in a waifu war?
Damn it... does he think I'm some kind of bad guy who would secretly hide and hog all the food if he said it tasted good?!
This is the second time Shu has suspected me of this!
Wait... Kiana remembered Shu's personality again.
Socially anxious, didn't like to talk, bad at expressing himself.
Wait, does he act like this even with food?
Wah—isn't that life way too painful!
No, she had to find out what Shu really liked today... If only the Book of Time were here right now... hiss... wait, Shu had protested about her reading the Book of Time before.
She couldn't read the Book of Time either...
She decided to try another method.