Chapter Three – Delicious Mysteries?

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The following work contains some scenes of violence (but not gore) against yaoi fans, as well as some rather racy heterosexual scenes between Akito and Yurika. If you think you know you will be offended by such, or are going to end up scarred for life because of such, please do not read further. I write for fun, and hope that my audience grins occasionally when reading my work. If you get mad or experience unfavorable reactions at any point while reading my work, well, that's no fun, and I would advise you to stop reading this story.

DISCLAIMER: Characters from Nadesico and parodies of characters from Banpresto are not my property. This is very important, people.

Now that Gai had accepted Akito's offer to be the restaurant's stay in bouncer, he was privy to the morning rituals of the Tenkawa household. Right now, in dawn's early light, he and Akito were preparing for the coming day the only way they knew how – stretching and exercising. But while Gai worked on loosening and strengthening his limbs, he noticed that Akito was doing an entirely different set of exercises. Said exercises involved the use of simple, common kitchen equipment – rolling pins, chopping boards, spatulas, and knives of various array, bowls and pans of all sizes. Akito went through a routine of sorts, swinging the implements this way and that, flipping them through the air and catching them. Gai watched, bemused, his own regimen temporarily forgotten.

Akito finished his exercises, his bare back and forehead beaded in sweat. He sharpened his senses, listening for the telltale internal silent shrieking of yaoi writers / fangirls, Satisfied that there were none in the vicinity, he set about putting the equipment into a box. Then Gai spoke up. "For a while there, I thought you were waiting for someone to reveal himself as a target for those knives and other stuff of yours."

Akito faced Gai, and gave him an appraising glance. No one would mistake Gai for a bodybuilder, or a gym buff – there was little definition in his muscles, but Akito knew the strength that lay coiled within his tall frame. He didn't even need to do his sensing trick to know that. Somehow, when one looked at Gai, he always seemed to radiate a sense of readiness, as if sending out the message "I'm willing to take you on, but don't expect to win from the onset." Akito would have preferred Gai's 'message' to say "Buzz off, or get busted," but that wouldn't have been good for customers. He remembered that Gai was a bouncer for the restaurant, not a bodyguard for the girls.

It was a Saturday morning – no school, except for those who needed make-up classes or advanced reviews for the college entrance exams. It meant that the two girls could sleep a little while longer. 'Stewing and simmering' Akito called it, when the girls had to get up but didn't want to. All and well, he supposed, taking the Tome of Apocrypha and reading a bit more of it. Thanks to Lapis Lazuli, the verso pages of the book were scribbled with translation notes. From those notes Akito found out various things, like the dumpling recipe that cured all minor ailments, to the way of bettering and protecting one's self using various kitchen implements. That was what he was practicing earlier outside, which Ruri irreverently nicknamed "Cook-Fu." Lapis had laughed, and the name stuck. He still didn't have the nerve to tell Gai what the girls had named it, though. He'd probably die laughing, and Akito knew from experience that funerals were expensive.

He heard a knock on the door, and frowned as he stood to get it. It was Saturday morning, so who could it be? He stopped near the door and called out, "Who is it?"

"Just an ex-pilot turned manga artist, who sidelines as a black monk fighter," came the cheerful reply.

Grinning, Akito pulled the door open, not realizing that he had forgotten to put his shirt back on. "Hey, what's up Hikaru – oh? I didn't realize you had company…" Akito's voice trailed off.

Standing at his doorstep was Hikaru Amano, sworn into secrecy in light of last episode's events, and just behind her was the blue-haired, blue-eyed captain of the Nadesico under whom Akito served, pun intended. Who, at the moment, was staring at Akito's chest, her cheeks turning red and her ears filled with the repetition of "doki doki doki." Hikaru spoke, breaking the spell on Yurika. "Wow, Tenkawa, mind if I stare too?"

Akito realized that the cool morning air felt very good on his bare chest, as did the sunlight – wait, his bare chest? "Gyah! Er, uh," he stammered, trying to decide whether to invite his visitors in before or after he put his shirt on.

Yurika spoke up as if reading his thoughts. "You put your shirt on after you've let your guests in."

"Won't I look I look like a pervert to the neighbors if I let in a couple of attractive women in my house, without my shirt on?" Akito asked Yurika as Hikaru passed by him.

"You see any of your neighbors up?" she asked back.

"No."

"There you go. And besides," Yurika paused in front of Akito, placing her index finger on his sternum, "I like looking at it."

Hikaru called out from the kitchen, "Hey, I didn't see Gai when I came in. Where is he?"

"Maybe he's in the shower, I dunno."

The sound of water being cut off, then of a door opening, was followed by a feminine shriek of surprise and a masculine wordless roar of outrage. And then:

"Gai! Your towel! Ecchi!"

"It's not like I meant for it to fall of in your presence!"

"Why is that thing pointing at me! Hentai! Sukebe!"

Gai thought up of something fast. "It's called morning wood, woman! A natural biological condition that affects healthy young males in the mornings!"

"Natural? Mornings? Does that mean if I caught you out of the shower in the afternoon, that thing wouldn't be there?" Hikaru demanded.

"Of - " Gai was about to say of course, but he played the scenarios out in his head. If he said that it wouldn't be there, she might get offended because it implied that she wasn't a sufficient excuse enough to cause an erection. On the other hand, if he said that it would still be there, he'd turn out to be a liar, refuting his own statement. It was a lose-lose situation, so Gai did the only thing a man could do in his shoes – get outraged, and get on the offensive. "Of all the things to ask! Will you take a rain check on that answer until I get properly dressed, or do you enjoy talking to naked men fresh out of the shower in the morning? If that's too much to ask, just head out to the living room and keep Akito and Yurika company."

He didn't bother to wait for her reaction, just made his way upstairs toward his room when Hikaru's voice called his name. "What is it now?"

"I can't go back out there!" She sounded mortified.

"Why ever not? It's not on fire, is it?"

"But it is! Our friends are doing a pretty good job of setting off whatever heat detectors are in this place on their own!"

Gai was torn between taking a peek to verify the truth of Hikaru's words, and getting into some clothes. Curiosity won out. Arranging his towel as carefully as he could around his waist, he went down the stairs again, choosing to lean out on the same side of the doorway that Hikaru was. His eyes widened at what he saw.

Yurika's sundress was in a heap on the floor, its wearer stretched out on her stomach over a shirtless Akito lying down on the sofa. Her hands were caressing his shoulders, and in return his hands were tracing the smooth curves of her buttocks, the silken skin interrupted only by the bare lines of a thong-style bikini bottom. She lifted herself a little and slid upward, and he closed the needed few inches to capture a budding nipple in his mouth. She moaned, and he groaned against her breast, the two of them totally oblivious to their hot and bothered friends, and to the gnashing of teeth of Akito-Gai yaoi proponents everywhere.

Hikaru heard, or rather felt Gai's heavy breathing, and wondered if she was breathing in the same manner, and why Gai was standing behind her when there was a perfectly good side of the doorframe opposite hers to watch the intensifying action going on in the living room. All thoughts flew from her head however, when she felt something hard and hot sear bottom through the fabric of her underwear. Belatedly she realized that Gai's towel must have fallen off, again ("Yeah, right," Hikaru thought.), but why was that thing rubbing against her panties? She was absently rubbing her butt against that hard and hot thing, and her over-heated mind came up with the conclusion that Gai must have lifted the hem of her short plaid skirt, let it fall around his member carefully, and was now tormenting her with it. She was congratulating herself silently when Gai whispered a question into her ear. "Jealous?"

"A little," she replied, not taking her eyes off the couple on the couch. They had now switched positions, with Akito propped on his elbows and leaning down over Yurika to tease her nipples with his tongue. Her hands were around the back of his head, holding him to her chest, her mouth breathily chanting her lover's name over and over.

"Well, we can't have that. I've got something that'll make you feel a whole lot better." Gai nuzzled her ear, then her neck, sending shivers down her spine.

"Mmm, I'll just bet you do."

"No, really, it's in my room. Come on up, and I'll show it to you."

"Mmm. Okay. Lead on."

"I've got a better idea." Gai stepped back a little to get some space, then scooped Hikaru off the ground and held her against his chest. She giggled, wrapping her arms around him. He took the stairs two at a time, intent on showing her the thing that would make her feel a lot better.

On the rooftop of a nearby apartment that overlooked the restaurant, two men were laughing maniacally. "It worked! My improved batch of Happy-Happy Love-Love chemical is a tremendous success! Those fools won't even have two brain cells to rub together to notice that they're acting rather out of character! Nyahahaha!" one of them, wearing a stereotypical mad chemist getup (stoppered vials and sealed Petri dishes peeking out from his coat pockets) boasted.

"Matte! Don't forget that without my Extra Omnipotent Technology, you wouldn't be able to pour your brew into the interior of the place using a tiny wormhole, and you would have been detected in 3 seconds flat by the extraordinary senses of that extra-lucky cook!" the second man reminded the first. He was wearing an outfit that might have caused him to be mistaken for an appliance salesman. He crossed his arms over his chest and laughed like a B-movie villain.

"Yes, yes, never mind that. And not even those two little pieces of lolicon bait can interfere with our plans – the chemical renders active, robust specimens under the age of twenty trapped in a deep slumber that is totally un-differentiable from regular sleep! REM, alpha waves, all normal! Hyukyukyukyuk!"

"Does that mean, theoretically, that if I were to crawl into their rooms and draw teeny-weeny circles on their tummies, they wouldn't wake up?"

"Hell, you can do more than draw circles on their tummies, and not just with your hands, and they wouldn't even notice! You can even stick your CENSORED into their CENSORED and CENSORED like there's no tomorrow, and they still wouldn't wake up! They'd wake up only when the last of the drug leaves their system – it's that powerful! You'd love that wouldn't you, you closet pedophile."

The two continued to trade barbs, when a voice caught their attention. "So, it's you two who would conspire to have a disciple of the great art of cookery to bow down to the altar of debauchery! This cannot be allowed! In the name of the Great Master Chef in the Sky, I shall punish you!"

The two men spun, looking for the owner of the voice. "There!" the appliance salesman pointed up, to a figure standing on the apartment's water tank. "Who are you that dares disturb us? Speak your name!"

"My name?" the mysterious man replied. "You do not deserve to know my name! Change, Whirlwind Power, TROMBE!"

"Hey, where's that weird trumpet orchestra sound coming from?" the mad scientist asked.

"Never mind that! This guy looks like trouble!" the appliance man said, drawing a high-tech pistol from his pants pocket.

"Wow - so that was a pistol in your pocket!"

"Shut up, old man, and get out of my way if you're no help at all."

"AHEM!" said the mysterious man.

"What?" asked the two evildoers.

"You're supposed to turn all your attention to me while I transform! Lousy idiots!"

"Really?" the pair asked, astounded at this unknown fact.

"Of course! We dashing, blonde, elegant fighters for justice must have full attention when we are trying to change into our combat forms, which mainly consists of a change of color palettes and sometimes a mask! Otherwise, there will be no big fight scene!"

"But that's just it," the appliance man said, aiming his pistol. "We don't want a big fight that would ruin our cozy set-up here, but we still need to be rid of you. So, we'll settle for a small scuffle. You'll have your screen time, and we'll be able to continue our plans of corrupting that spineless cook who's getting laid right now, and everyone will be happy." He squeezed the trigger, and a flame-colored bolt shot out, striking the man with the hero complex and sending him crashing down on the rooftop.

"Ow," the blonde mystery guy said as he picked himself up. "That's it. You've made a blonde unmasked hero angry. You're going to get it now. Behold!" He pulled out a pair of old aviator goggles and out them on. "Ike! TROMBE!"

Out of nowhere a huge black horse lands on top of the two evildoers, smashing them and their equipment into dust. And the apartment as well, because the horse was larger than a mobile suit, and made up of mythril. Fortunately, no one was in the apartment, which was inhabited by male and female college ronin, at that time. "Nice entrance, Trombe," the begoggled man said to the horse. "Good work."

"We're not out of trouble yet," the huge metal horse replied. "Mr. Zankantou was practicing on me, when you called. I leapt immediately, which sent the poor sot flying as well. He should be landing any time now."

"Ah, don't worry, DaiProsPector can fly."

"Not while he's drunk, he can't."

"He's what?"

"It was horrible. He staggers around the hangar area, in his machine, and tries to get on that Kung Fu Robot Unicorn. He got stabbed in the ass for that. Then he tried that Texas Robot Rodeo Horse, but he was too heavy, and the poor thing collapsed. He was trying to figure out how to mount the Armored Gunner Module when I called out to him and told him I was on the fourth bay from the door, left side."

As the horse predicted, a samurai-shaped speck began to grow larger as it descended at an alarming rate on the restaurant-turned-sex show den. The samurai now had its enormous two-handed sword out and was heard to be shouting, "I am the accountant that erases evil! Pedophilia is a perversion, but wild-monkey sex while mind controlled is evil! Be erased!"

"Ack! Trombe, we better move!" A hatch opened on the horse's belly, and the blonde man leapt into it, anime-style (but of course!). Trombe reared up, and sped off in an attempt to catch the sword-wielding drunk. When he decided that it was close enough, he called out, "Zankantou-sama!"

"Old friend?" the pilot of the plummeting (now in slow motion) samurai robot. "Is that you in the horse?"

"Zankantou-san, you must not crush that house below you!"

"But - the biofeedback is fuzzy, because of all the sake I had earlier! The thrusters won't fire!"

"Don't worry, I have a plan! Zankantou-san, I want you to ride me!"

"NANI!"

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" squealed a busload of yaoi fangirls nearby. "SUTEKI!"

"Ride Trombe, and we will execute the Whirlwind Anti-Ship Sword!" the masked man cried out over the noise.

"But what is the target!"

"We'll worry about that later when you land on Trombe's back! Let's just do it!"

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" came the squeals again, shaking the bus in its intensity. "SUGOI DESU!"

So, amid lots of squealing, with a great lunge Trombe caught the DaiProsPector squarely on its broad back. "WHIRLWIND-!" the blonde shouted.

"ANTI-SHIP SWORD!" the other pilot shouted. For some brief moments, DaiTrombe transformed itself into a caped humanoid robot. It threw its cape about, blocking out the sun and shrouding the place in darkness. Lightning flashed in the murk, and in the strobe-like lighting a rough pillar of stone rose, upon which a huge mounted figure sat on an equally large steed. The darkness was suddenly dispelled as the horse reared up on its hind legs, pummeled the air with its front legs, then leaped from its perch and hit the ground running.

The now-mounted samurai took its sword, slid the blade under the bus and flipped it into the air. Then with a great heave, Trombe leapt up sharply, as the DaiProsPector brought its weapon down, edge first, onto the bus, slamming it down into the pavement. The bus was cleaved in half, but Mr. Zankantou was not done yet. "CHESUTOOO!" he cried out, and the pavement under the halves of the bus exploded, obliterating the bus and its occupants utterly.

Surveying the destruction, or rather, computing the property damage, DaiProsPector let its weapon shrink to a more reasonable size. The hatch on Trombe's belly swung down, and the blonde slid out, and told his friend, "I'm going to check on some people, Zankantou-san. Don't go anywhere." DaiProsPector waved a hand, and the blonde left.

He made his way into the restaurant, careful to wear a gas mask before opening the door. No one was in the business end of the restaurant - most of the neighborhood was in a crowd, staring at the destruction and its cause. He made his way to the living area of the place, and saw a naked couple tangled on the sofa. Recalling what the villains had said, he decided that he was a tad too late - one of the couch cushions was stained with human, and if he was not mistaken virgin, blood. "But whose?" he thought. The young man certainly looked spineless, even as he frowned in his sleep, but he was with a girl so maybe- he shook his head to clear it of weird thoughts.

He had to do what he came here to do. He touched the young man's shoulder with a gloved hand, and to his satisfaction the young man quickly startled himself awake, which made the young woman lying on him murmur "You insatiable beast, at least give me a break first," and rub her cheek on his shoulder.

Akito stared at the ugly masked guy looming over him and his first words were, "Please, don't tell me I'll see it on the Net tomorrow!"

The man in the gas mask sweatdropped. "What do you think I am, boy? I am a defender of justice (TM)!"

"You don't look like one!" Akito whispered fiercely.

"It's because I don't want to go fuck-crazy like you did and tear into the nearest available woman like you did! Say, who is she anyway? Is that your girlfriend?"

"She's - she's my childhood friend, and if you touch her you die, I promise."

"You must love her a lot, then. Take my advice - get air-conditioning for this joint, don't go on a shuttle trip ever after you're married to each other, and everything will be fine, or my name isn't Ratsuel Feinschmecker."

A black-robed monk, complete with sakkat and ringed staff, appeared and said two words, "It isn't," then screamed as Ratsuel (is it really?) shot him down with a six-shooter. The corpse disintegrated, leaving not even dust behind.

"W-wha? I don't understand. You're not with those monks?"

"What monks?" the blonde asked, alert.

"Like the one you just annihilated!" Akito hissed.

"Oh. Never seen them before, save for now." Ratsuel took a seat opposite the couch and watched Akito intently.

"What!" Akito demanded.

"You're a chef?" Ratsuel asked.

"Nothing so fancy - I'm a simple cook, and I run and own this restaurant."

"I see. And your girlfriend? What does she do?"

"Ah, she's an ex-ship captain, graduated top of her class from the academy. Last time I heard, she said she was going to try becoming an idol. And she's not my girlfriend, she's just a friend."

"A friend huh? Since childhood, is it? A friend you just casually have sex with on the couch, who gave her virginity to you? My, that's a real good friend."

Akito turned red. Yurika chose this moment to wake up fully, and upon seeing Ratsuel, she did what any normal girl would do upon being discovered naked on top of her boyfriend - she screamed loud enough to shake the rafters, jolting Gai and Hikaru upstairs to wakefulness as well. Pulling their clothes on and trying to make it appear that they hadn't done the nasty in a hurry, they hurried down the steps to see what Yurika was screaming her head off for.

Mr. Zankantou walked in on them then, without a gas mask, taking in the weird scene. Ratsuel was confronting two people, and behind him was a naked couple, a boy and a girl, hugging each other, looking bewildered at the going-on. Hell, he couldn't blame the naked couple. He decided to get an explanation before he felt the urge to draw his katana and go amok. "I want answers and some food, and if I don't get them immediately, blood will flow!"

That was enough to bring all the noise to a halt. Sounding drunk, while fingering the hilt of a sheathed katana, did have its uses, the white-haired swordsman thought. Nothing like some peace and tranquility after destroying a busload of –

"Hey, you're that pedophile-looking person that was in here in the other episode!" Akito said, springing up from the couch and Yurika's embrace, forgetting his state of undress. Yurika quickly tried to cover her nudity with her hair and her hands, only to end up looking yummier.

Not that Mr. Zankantou noticed. He pointed the sheathed blade at the naked cook. "You and your wife better have some clothes on when I count to a hundred or else."

Akito took the hint and Yurika's hand as well, and raced upstairs to his room.

Ruri was sitting up on her bed, looking at the clock on the bedside table. She never slept this late, and the clock told her it would be noon in just a few minutes. "You awake?" she asked, not bothering to look at the one she was talking to.

"Yes. Something must have happened," Lapis replied. "Something tells me to not go into the first floor."

"You have that feeling too?" Ruri asked, and Lapis nodded. "Then, what's the worst case scenario?"

"A murderer is lurking downstairs?" Lapis theorized.

"No. There is something worse than that. Have you heard of what a fate worse than death is?"

"No," came Lapis' simple reply. Ruri leaned over and whispered into her ear, and she cried out, "No way! That's impossible!"

"It is possible. Take it from me, some men are attracted to light hair" – a sneeze came from downstairs – "light eyes" – another sneeze – "tiny hips" – sneeze – "and flat chests." As if to finally punctuate Ruri's litany, a very loud sneeze came from below. They heard an unfamiliar voice shout, "For cripe's sake, if you're gonna sneeze, don't do it where I'm working! Does all that martial arts training decrease your common sense?"

They heard Hikaru ask, "Mr. Zankantou, do you have any allergies?" They couldn't make out the reply, or if there was one. The door opposite theirs opened – Papa-san's room, they thought in unison, surely he'll take care of this – and they heard him call out, "Oi, Yurika, are you done yet?" A female voice answered, "Mou! It's not so easy to move around to get dressed, after the things you did to me. I'm still sore, you know, so you better give me some consideration!"

Ruri faced Lapis. "Get dressed. We're going down there. Wherever Papa-san is going couldn't be that bad, right?" Without another word, they changed, waited for Akito's and Yurika's footfalls to recede, and then followed.

They reached the living room – no one was there, but there was a weird stench there. Then they heard noises from the dining room, noises and conversation. It didn't sound like a battlefield, so they decided to just innocently stroll in.

Ratsuel noticed the pair. "Ah, Mr. Owner, you didn't tell me you had kids – from your first marriage, I assume?"

Yurika looked up, saw the kids, and froze. Even the tea near her plate turned to ice. In clipped tones and a frosty voice, she said, "Akito. You will explain this, yes?"

Mr. Zankantou's attention was on the girls as well, but for a different reason entirely. It's best not to know what those reasons are, but one persistent rumor going around is that Mr. Zankantou is a rabid fan of Akihabara Dennougumi and Aishiteruze Baby.

Akito shrugged his shoulders. "They're Ruri and Lapis Lazuli, my adopted daughters." He even tried his secret technique he learned from the Tome of Apocrypha, the legendary "Ueda Smile of Disarmament," but it didn't seem to thaw Yurika one bit.

"And you neglected to tell me this before we -"

Ratsuel plopped down a covered platter loudly on the table, successfully spoiling the moment. "Well, now that the kids are awake, let's invite them to sup with us. And now, I present to you, Paella Trombe!"

Paella Trombe, Akito noted, was your basic paella, though this one had black olives, black beans, a lot of red bits, and very yummy looking. He remembered Houmei-san's story, that the saffron was the key to good paella, and upon tasting a bite, he fell on to his knees by Ratsuel's chair. "Please, master, teach me!"

Everyone on the table laughed, except the kids, and Ratsuel. When the laughter subsided, Ratsuel told him seriously, "I don't take students, especially restaurant owners whose names I haven't been given yet."

"Gomen nasai! I'm Akito Tenkawa, specialty is Tenkawa-style Special Ramen! Please train me! My ramen is the only shining point in my record!"

"Don't be so modest – a cook who only does ramen well is not going to have a well-kept restaurant like this. Your other dishes must be excellent as well, and I can tell you're the only cook in the house other than me."

"Ahem," Mr. Zankantou interjected.

"Shut up, Zankantou-san. You can hardly equate foraging with real cuisine, and roasting a lizard over an open fire can hardly be called gourmet," he rebuked his friend without ardor. Mr. Zankantou smiled, as if enjoying the memory.

Gai asked, "How do you reckon that the rest of us aren't cooks?"

"By the calluses on your hands," Ratsuel explained, sounding as if he was talking to a child. "Look, your hands tells me that you spend time gripping stuff hard, heavy stuff for that matter – no markings of oils splats or constant exposure to heat. Hers," pointing to Hikaru, "are mainly on the ends of the fingers – someone still writes with pens, I see. Again, no heat damage. Same with the kids, the heat things. Mr. Zankantou has extensive callus patterns that come from either chopping wood for 15 years growing up, or by kendo training under a real combative school. This lady, here, has the prettiest set of hands - no trace of hardship whatsoever," he paused to lift one of Yurika's hands for all to see, and he gave it a kiss before setting it down, causing her to blush slightly. He continued, "Now, this cook glaring at me, well, he has it all – knife nicks, bad skin around the nails, and if I'm not mistaken, marks from accidentally picking up hot lids unprotected. Pretty much like mine," he concluded, showing his own hand. "Quod est demonstratum."

"Papa-san, that man's been staring at me all the while," Lapis said plaintively, staring back at Mr. Zankantou.

"Down, boy, down," Ratsuel said to Mr. Zankantou. He turned to look at the gourmet, his eyes pleading, but the blonde was firm. "Your hair will go white-"

"My hair is already white, Ratsuel," came the terse reply.

"Figure of speech. It's time we took our leave, anyway – the SDF might have towed Trombe and DaiProsPector while we were here, visiting with Tenkawa." Ratsuel rose and headed for the door, taking a mournful looking Mr. Zankantou with him. "And Tenkawa, remember what I said – don't let your childhood friend go, stay away from shuttles after you've married her, and you'll live to see your grandkids – barring another alien invasion, but who cares about those obnoxious aliens? And yes, I might decide to give you a test – if you pass it, I might consider taking you under my tutelage."

"You will? When can I expect it?" Akito asked eagerly.

"When you marry that fine-looking blue-haired childhood friend of yours, anytime after that. And if you have any more questions about today, the answers are in this envelope." Ratsuel replied. With that, he and Mr. Zankantou left them to the paella, and to have a much needed talk.

Akito called out after him. "Wait! I haven't even told you what the questions are, how can you answer them?"

Without looking back, Ratusel replied, "As the wise men once said, 'Ask and you shall be answered.' That's what a hero's envelope does, at any rate."

"Heroes' envelope?" Yurika asked.

Ratsuel stopped. "Yes. It's a useful plot device, making the next episode's flashback sequence seem reasonable."

"Hold up! Why do you know of the fourth wall?" Ruri asked.

The blonde resumed walking, and called back over his shoulder, "I'm not known as the 'mysterious gourmet' for nothing."