Chapter 22
Hearing Alice mention that she wanted to challenge herself by wearing a maid uniform, Takemine Mineo felt a flicker of genuine interest stir within him.
Taking on a student wasn't exactly a troublesome task. However, before Mineo could give an answer, Erina, who was sitting beside him, slammed her hand onto the table once more.
"Absolutely... absolutely not! Alice... y-you stop making such a mess of things! How could you... how could you possibly..."
Seeing Erina suddenly cut Mineo off, Alice puffed out her cheeks with a look of displeasure.
"And what's wrong with me!?" she huffed. "I'm just looking for a way to melt Mineo-kun's heart!"
"As a student, making your teacher feel happy both physically and mentally is a perfectly natural thing, isn't it? Or could it be that you, Erina, are planning to compete with me?"
When it came to debating, Erina was no match for Alice. Alice spoke freely and without burden, while Erina always felt as if there were weights in her mind restricting her actions.
At the very least, wearing a maid uniform was far too bold for Erina. Such an embarrassing thing... how could she possibly do it!
However, if she simply handed Mineo-kun over to Alice just like that, she felt incredibly unsettled.
Since they were children, Erina had never wanted to lose to Alice when fighting over anything. This time was no different—she wouldn't allow herself to be defeated.
Biting her lower lip, Erina suddenly found herself at a loss for words. Mineo's Molecular Gastronomy skills truly were extraordinary, so Alice's desire to become his student made perfect sense.
But if that happened, then she herself would have no role to play in this relationship.
No, I have to do something! Mineo-kun opened a restaurant here clearly to be closer to me!
Suddenly, an idea flashed through Erina's mind. Her face transitioned into a graceful, enigmatic smile.
Seeing Erina smile with that signature "Noble Young Lady" flair, Alice immediately felt a sense of foreboding. Was Erina going to use her aura of authority to suppress her again?
Fortunately, this time Alice had guessed wrong. Erina spoke directly to Mineo:
"Mineo-kun, may I ask a question?"
"If I remember correctly, you said earlier that only a specific few people can come to eat at your restaurant, right?"
"Meaning, for the vast majority of the time, you have plenty of free time and no other work to do, isn't that so?"
Mineo didn't understand why Erina was suddenly asking this, but he answered honestly:
"That's true; most of my time is quite free. Erina, why do you ask?"
"I was thinking... since Mineo-kun has so much free time, why not come to Totsuki?"
"The location of your restaurant isn't far from the school. Besides... besides..."
Besides, if you come to Totsuki, you can achieve your goal of being closer to me!
Stupid Mineo-kun, haven't you thought of that?
Erina stopped mid-sentence. As a high-born young lady, she still had to maintain her dignity. Since she had put it quite clearly, she felt Mineo-kun should be able to grasp the hidden meaning behind her invitation.
Hearing Erina's words, Mineo's first reaction was to assume she was inviting him to study at Totsuki. He had absolutely no intention of agreeing to that.
He had just escaped the grueling life of high school. He wasn't foolish enough to go back to being a student, even if there were plenty of beautiful girls at Totsuki. He much preferred managing his Dimensional Restaurant.
Without hesitation, Mineo said to Erina:
"Um... if you're inviting me to enroll at Totsuki, Erina, forget it. I'm actually not very interested in going to school."
"I'd rather manage my restaurant in peace. In my spare time, I can just play video games..."
Play video games!?
Mineo-kun, do you feel like I, Erina, am not even as interesting as a video game?
Erina bit her lip, feeling extremely annoyed. After struggling to compose herself, she spoke slowly:
"Mineo-kun, you've misunderstood! I didn't mean to invite you to be a student at Totsuki!"
"Your level of cooking... there isn't a single teacher at the academy who could teach you! It's like this... Totsuki Academy has a goal to become the number one culinary school in the world."
"At our academy, departments for French, Japanese, and even Chinese cuisine are already fully established."
"However, the Molecular Gastronomy department is the one with the weakest faculty at our academy."
"So..."
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