Miss Tong's Level was beyond his imagination. Her logic and behavior were completely unlike anyone from Reality, which deeply troubled him.
If someone he'd known for a while had acted like that, Jiang You would have given in 90% of the time.
Speaking of which, a beautiful German girl moved in next door? And she even stayed at my place last night?
Jiang You subconsciously swiped at the air, trying to pull up the game menu. Good, nothing appeared. This was still Reality. The full-dive immersion was so realistic now that it had its downsides—it was easy to lose track of what was real.
He pushed open his bedroom door, and an intensely spicy aroma immediately assaulted his nostrils. Jiang You sniffed. The smell felt strangely familiar.
"Good morning."
The beautiful, white-haired girl who called herself Christina appeared before Jiang You, wearing an apron over her high school uniform. Modern high school uniforms had long since abandoned the old, bulky styles for a more contemporary look. To people from other countries, however, they still resembled sportswear. The slim-fitting white uniform made Christina look even more petite. Judging by her appearance alone, it was hard to believe she was old enough for high school. Let's just say... she had plenty of room for growth.
"Good morning. What are you...?"
During his time living alone, Jiang You rarely cooked for himself. The time spent prepping ingredients and washing dishes could be better used for a few more rounds of gaming. He never expected to eat breakfast at home one day—though this particular breakfast seemed rather... bizarre.
"Ah, this is Mapo Tofu Ramen."
Christina explained, clumsily stirring the pot with a ladle. "Just a moment, it's almost ready. As thanks for letting me stay the night, I'll let you taste my cooking!"
"Mapo Tofu... Ramen?"
To Jiang You, this was an incredibly strange combination. No sane person would put those two things together. It was as bizarre as strawberry-flavored mapo tofu. "Where on earth did you learn to make this? Was the ramen shop owner back in your hometown named Kirei Kotomine?"
"Christina" broke out in a cold sweat. She had, in fact, learned this recipe from Kirei Kotomine. During the Fourth Holy Grail War, Jiang You had taken her and Kirei to a Chinese restaurant that served mapo tofu, so she had always assumed he loved the dish. She had even specifically asked Bubble to send her back to the Fourth Holy Grail War period to learn it.
"Isn't this a specialty dish from your country? I thought you'd like it."
"Only Japan would do something like this," Jiang You replied. "It's like eating dumplings with rice. To us, it's just carbs on carbs."
To be fair, it wasn't completely unheard of. Some people paired dumplings with congee, but that congee was usually so watery it served more as a broth.
Jiang You noticed Christina's darting eyes and assumed she was just unfamiliar with local customs. He added, "Also, we don't usually eat something this spicy and oily first thing in the morning."
"Oh! Then... I'll make something else."
Christina immediately moved to dump the pot of mapo tofu.
"Don't go to all that trouble. That's just usually. It's perfectly normal to break routine once in a while."
Jiang You quickly stopped her. It would be too discouraging to let her throw it away. He wasn't a stickler for tradition when it came to food—as long as it tasted good, that was all that mattered. He wasn't some Italian who'd have a meltdown over pineapple on pizza.
"Besides, this is a gesture of your goodwill," he said. "Just... try not to bring those Japanese or anime-inspired styles here. Next time, you might end up putting fruit in dumplings, and that would be a real joke."
"Huh? But don't tangyuan have lots of fruit fillings?"
Just like how foreigners often couldn't tell the difference between wontons, jiaozi, and hundun—or used the same word for "sword" and "blade"—tangyuan and dumplings were practically the same thing in their eyes.
"..."
Jiang You realized it was pointless to argue about "tradition" with a foreigner. It was an abstract concept, like trying to stop the Japanese from putting strawberries in mapo tofu.
"You're right," he said, giving up. "People should be brave and try new things."
Besides, I'm not the one eating it, he thought. Do whatever you want.
"That felt really half-hearted," Christina pouted, puffing out her cheeks. But the rattling of the pot lid immediately drew her attention.
"It's ready! Come try my cooking."
Jiang You stared at the bowl of mapo tofu ramen. It looked surprisingly good—the color and aroma were both appealing. The only question was how it tasted.
"Go on, try it."
A smaller bowl of mapo tofu ramen sat in front of Christina, along with a glass of iced milk—presumably to counter the spice. That's strange, Jiang You thought. If she can't handle spicy food, why would a German go out of her way to learn how to make mapo tofu? But since he didn't know her well, he decided against asking. For all he knew, she might just enjoy the masochistic thrill.
Under Christina's hopeful gaze, Jiang You took a bite of the mapo tofu.
The familiar feeling intensified.
He quickly realized the problem: this tasted remarkably similar to the mapo tofu from Kirei Kotomine's ramen shop in the Fourth Holy Grail War! The thought made him instinctively swipe at his menu bar again, but thankfully, nothing appeared.
"It's not bad," he said.
In truth, Jiang You didn't really like the flavor. It was overwhelmingly spicy, emphasizing heat above all else. Kirei Kotomine's preference for this pain-inducing level of spice stemmed from his own masochistic tendencies. Still, Christina had cooked it herself, and he didn't want to crush her enthusiasm.
"I'm glad you like it."
Seeing Jiang You give her a thumbs-up, Christina beamed with joy. She instinctively scooped up a piece of mapo tofu coated in red chili oil. A volcanic eruption of spice instantly exploded on her tongue. Even though it wasn't her first time—and she'd even cooked it herself—she still couldn't handle it. Her face contorted, and tears welled in her eyes.
Fortunately, Christina had come prepared. She quickly dunked her tongue into the glass of milk. The cool sensation and the milk's neutralizing effect brought immediate relief.
Jiang You looked up at Christina. Upon closer inspection, he noticed she did bear a slight resemblance to Illya, though her eye color was more realistic. Her reaction reminded him of his early days in the game.
As Jiang You stared at her, Christina seemed to realize something and quickly gulped down the milk.
But it was too late. As if possessed, Jiang You blurted out the name:
"Illya?"