"What a retard!"
"Goodbye. My mom doesn't let me play with fools."
After casting a small look of disdain at Sena Hiromi, Mo Bai turned and walked away.
"Wait. General Head Chef Dōjima Gin said for you to call him; he wants to talk to you." Stroking his chin, Sena Hiromi, who still hadn't figured out what had happened, remembered his responsibility as a messenger.
"Okay, got it."
Mo Bai's departing back trembled. Although he made an 'OK' gesture with his back to Sena Hiromi, cold sweat began to emerge on his forehead.
Dōjima Gin was looking for him? Could it be that the matter at the shrine was exposed, and he was going to give him small shoes to wear?
"I am Mo Bai. Due to the existence of the Friend-Jinxing Buff, I pitted my superior during the study period, successfully causing him to come down with a severe cold and be hospitalized. I am currently panicking like crazy."
Mo Bai took out his mobile phone, wearing an expression akin to constipation.
He knew there was a high probability it was about that Branch Hall Head Chef matter, but he couldn't help the guilty conscience he felt after trapping someone.
That was a genuine imprisonment for a day and a night.
If he put himself in the other's shoes—learning that the guy who trapped him at the shrine entrance to eat wind and drink dew for a day and a night was inside the shrine soaking in hot springs, taking recipes, and eating the Imperial Feast...
Mo Bai felt that even he wouldn't be able to control his own violent temper, no matter how sufficient the latter's reasons were.
Miyamoto Yayako and Yukikawa Yukie watched with fascination as Mo Bai took out his phone along the way with a conflicted face, hesitated repeatedly, and then put it back.
It looked extremely like the appearance of someone who, after achieving fame and success, wanted to confess to their secret crush but didn't know how to start.
The girls' gossiping minds were instantly detonated.
Highness Mo Bai is in love? Yukikawa Yukie blinked at Miyamoto Yayako, asking silently.
Judging from the expression, nine times out of ten, yes. That look of being perturbed mixed with a little excitement is very much like 'love is hard to say out loud'. Former IGO Gourmet Investigator Miyamoto Yayako spouted nonsense based on her ability to observe words and expressions honed over years of practice.
Female friendship can often be formed with just a single sentence of "Your clothes are so pretty," but in the face of a shared gossip attribute, the favorability rating between the two girls, who had been fighting inextricably just hours ago, rose vertically by ninety degrees.
Should we help? It seems that people with this kind of experience often don't have good endings. The True · Thorough Understanding of Worldly Affairs · Experience Entirely from ACG Industry Otaku Miko Yukikawa Yukie continued to blink.
Nani!? There's such a thing! The True · Penetrating Analysis · Observation Entirely Based on Rushing In Steel Straight Girl Miyamoto Yayako believed it.
As a retainer who had not yet been acknowledged, she felt a heavy responsibility on her shoulders—she had to do something.
Highness Mo Bai's smile will be protected by me, his retainer!
But Miyamoto Yayako understood that her own power alone was not enough.
Miss Yukikawa Yukie, I need your help.
Leave it to me! A star flashed in the corner of Yukikawa Yukie's eye as she gave a thumbs up.
"..." Mo Bai turned his head to see the two girls behind him looking like their eyelids were cramping, his head full of question marks. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing!" The two, who relied on eye contact to reach a consensus, spoke in unison.
If it were ordinary times, Mo Bai would definitely poke holes in this lousy acting, but right now he was preoccupied and had no mind to care about others.
"I have something I want to ask you guys."
"Ask away!" As if heavenly thunder hooked up with earthly fire, raging flames instantly ignited in the eyes of Miyamoto Yayako and Yukikawa Yukie.
"If there is a matter—if I don't say it, the other party might still know, but if I do say it, it might cause irreversible consequences for both sides..."
"Should I say it or not?"
Hiding was impossible to do for a lifetime; rather than living in fear, it was better to actively admit one's mistake.
Mo Bai thought this way, but he still felt a bit flustered in his heart.
After all, logically, it was hard to justify.
Mo Bai's mind conjured up a violent scene of Dōjima Gin finding out that he had repeatedly remembered the former's predicament only to continuously choose to selectively forget.
That figure, strong as a bear, spread his arms and stood with his legs apart in a manner full of imposing momentum. His eyes held shock, doubt, and even more so, the heart-wrenching pain of learning he had been betrayed.
"You [beep]! Why?!"
Then he would lift him high and snap him in two.
"You have failed this city!"
"..." Mo Bai, having completed a mental theater synthesizing numerous elements, shuddered.
Miyamoto Yayako and Yukikawa Yukie, who looked like big shots but were actually rookies, glanced at each other and nodded in unison.
They both obtained the answer they wanted from each other's eyes.
Senior/Highness's love will be escorted by us.
"Senior, there are some things that if not spoken aloud, will cause more misunderstandings and a more complicated situation." Yukikawa Yukie, who had played thousands of mobile games and read tens of thousands of romance novels, had clear eyes flashing with a strange light. Oh my god, it's actually a secret crush! This kind of opening, which looks the hardest at a glance, is so exciting!
"Yes, the Art of War states: Strike first to gain the initiative."
"You must bring out your imposing manner! Accomplish it in one move!"
The Steel Straight Girl Miyamoto Yayako revealed the word "Rush" fully between the lines.
If the other party has male friends with good relationships, I'll go and break their legs!
Miyamoto Yayako had completely forgotten her official identity as a former IGO Gourmet Investigator, letting herself fly without looking back on the road to becoming a dark force.
"Is that so? I understand."
Indeed, hiding it and trembling in fear was not a solution.
Mo Bai took out his phone.
"...Why are you guys leaning so close?"
Seeing Miyamoto Yayako and Yukikawa Yukie looking as if they were about to stick to his body, Mo Bai's head was covered in black lines.
"We're leaving right now, leaving right now." The two wore awkward yet polite smiles, holding hands like children as they ran excitedly out of Mo Bai's line of sight.
"Was the relationship between those two that good before?" Mo Bai felt it was strange looking at the direction they departed.
Mo Bai shook his head and dialed Dōjima Gin's phone number.
"Haha, promoted to Branch Hall Head Chef..."
"General Head Chef Dōjima Gin! I didn't mean to pit you!!!"
Mo Bai, choosing to adopt Miyamoto Yayako's strategy of striking first, howled with a voice that scared Dōjima Gin into silence.
Dōjima Gin's Three-Hit Combo of Confusion: What the hell? What's going on? How do I deal with this?
...Macho man crying in progress...
"Alright, alright, stop howling. I know you didn't mean it; I forgive you." After understanding the sequence of events from Mo Bai's mouth, Dōjima Gin, who didn't know whether to cry or laugh, helplessly chose to forgive.
There was no other reason; his head, already groggy from the heavy cold, suffering a sonic attack of demonic sounds on top of that—that taste was simply something else!
"Let's talk business."
"Mo Bai, do you know?"
"Humans have limits."
Mo Bai: ?!!
Mo Bai's expression began to turn serious. Finally...
Had the time finally come for him to play along with someone else's meme?!!
"W-What exactly are you trying to say?!" With a slightly trembling voice, the sound of nervously swallowing saliva, and that panic as if perceiving something big was about to happen, Mo Bai grasped the character's expression with incomparable precision.
Behind the green belt, two pairs of bright eyes were staring at Mo Bai, whose acting skills were exploding.
________________________________________
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