### Chapter 9: Battlefield on the Dining Table
"You aren't some old monster who's been hiding for hundreds or thousands of years until now, are you?"
Fushiguro Toji looked at Ryota with his sanpaku eyes, sizing him up.
"With that kind of imagination, I think you could write a novel."
Ryota leisurely put a piece of tempura into his mouth.
"Tch."
Fushiguro Toji clicked his tongue and resumed eating.
Fushiguro Toji could see that Ryota was the type of person who was extremely arrogant and confident.
That aura radiated from the inside out, stemming from a solid foundation of confidence.
There wasn't a hint of falsehood.
Fushiguro Toji trusted his five senses and the feedback he got from Ryota completely.
Because of this, he knew Ryota wouldn't deceive him about such a thing.
In fact, he disdained hiding or concealing anything in such trivial matters.
Thus, he didn't waste any more breath or dwell on Ryota's identity.
After that, the table fell into a quiet dining atmosphere.
Until—
*Clack!*
Two pairs of chopsticks collided, making a crisp sound.
Beneath the chopsticks lay a plate with only a single piece of tuna left.
Ryota and Fushiguro Toji looked up simultaneously, staring at each other.
"Quite a coincidence."
Fushiguro Toji chuckled.
"Indeed. There are other dishes on the table, go eat those. This last piece is mine."
The corner of Ryota's mouth also curled up.
The two stared at each other for a few seconds, an invisible smoke of battle seemingly permeating the air.
Then.
"You really talk big, kid. Your meal is on my tab, you know."
The muscles in Fushiguro Toji's right arm bulged as he wielded his chopsticks.
The chopsticks in his hand left an afterimage in the air, stabbing straight towards the tuna on the plate at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye.
"That was your condition for sharing the table. It has nothing to do with who pays."
The instant before Fushiguro Toji's chopsticks could touch the tuna.
Ryota moved even faster, like a bolt of lightning, snatching the tuna before Fushiguro Toji could.
Then, under Fushiguro Toji's gaze, he slowly put it into his mouth.
He raised an eyebrow slightly at the former, speaking with a playful and provocative tone.
"Besides, using such a thing as an excuse isn't something a character like you should do."
"Hah—"
The unruly and wild smile on Fushiguro Toji's face grew even wider, and the aura radiating from his entire being changed drastically.
If before it was a slightly rippling sea surface...
Now, it was a boiling volcano, ready to erupt with monstrous, scorching lava at any moment.
He responded using Ryota's earlier words.
"Character has nothing to do with how one eats."
Before his voice faded, Fushiguro Toji reached for the dish closest to Ryota.
Those ordinary chopsticks seemed to transform into an arrow leaving the bowstring at this moment, targeting the food on that plate as prey, determined to hunt it down!
"Going for my favorite dish just because you lost? Are you a sore loser?"
Swallowing the delicious tuna, Ryota moved again.
Like Fushiguro Toji, he raised his speed to a higher level.
The result was the same as before; Ryota still snatched the piece of meat Fushiguro Toji was aiming for.
"Tsk tsk, you have no right to talk about me, do you?"
Beside Fushiguro Toji's face was the target from just now.
"Oh?"
Ryota's black eyes shifted slightly, looking at the meat on his chopsticks.
It turned out to be only half of the complete piece.
What Fushiguro Toji held was the other half.
"Interesting indeed."
A flicker of crimson light flashed in Ryota's eyes, and an aura filled with madness overflowed from his body.
"Same to you."
Fushiguro Toji unceremoniously tossed the meat into his mouth, grinning devilishly.
The next moment.
The two of them moved again in unison.
*Clack! Clack! Clack!*
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
The sounds of chopsticks hitting chopsticks, plates, and bowls rose and fell.
Countless afterimages almost occupied the entire dining table.
Turning it into a small battlefield where Ryota's deep blue aura and Fushiguro Toji's black-grey aura intertwined and raged.
"...These two guys."
As the other person at this table, Kong Siu was quite speechless now.
He couldn't intervene at all, let alone eat.
With his physique that was only slightly stronger than an ordinary person, if he reached out to intervene in that invisible battlefield, his entire arm would likely be shattered into pieces instantly.
Not even a whole part would remain.
At this moment, although he was originally a member of this table, he was now like an outsider.
He could only watch helplessly as Ryota and Fushiguro Toji, with speeds breaking common sense, snatched the food from plate after plate into their own bowls.
In the bowls on both sides, the pile of meat and vegetables was rising visibly fast.
"That young man—"
Sighing deeply in his heart, Kong Siu's gaze also became serious.
Although his naked eyes couldn't see their movements clearly at all.
Judging from the amount of food piled up in the bowls on both sides, Ryota's pile was slightly higher than Fushiguro Toji's.
That meant, in this invisible confrontation, Ryota faintly held the upper hand!
"Truly terrifying!"
No wonder his partner had that kind of atmosphere with this young man initially.
And agreed to Ryota's condition.
At that time, Kong Siu had somewhat sensed a clue.
This black-haired young man was definitely not ordinary.
One must know, Grade 2 or even Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers were nothing more than trash to be casually dealt with in Fushiguro Toji's eyes.
They couldn't possibly elicit such a reaction from Fushiguro Toji.
Therefore, Kong Siu had formed a certain expectation of Ryota in his heart.
Even after knowing Ryota's name and finding no intel on him, this expectation remained unchanged.
But.
Starting from the first snatch of meat, where the black-haired young man named Ryota bested Fushiguro Toji by a move.
Kong Siu's estimation of Ryota's strength abruptly shot up a notch.
It was the first time he had seen his partner, known as the 'Sorcerer Killer', fall into a disadvantage in a confrontation with someone else.
Even if there was a large element of probing, and perhaps not even one-twentieth of their strength was used.
However—
It wasn't over.
The first time could be excused by the above situation, but subsequently, the real confrontation began.
Yet Fushiguro Toji was still in a disadvantageous position...
Kong Siu couldn't help but think more deeply.