Thankfully the whole volcano thing was over and buried after that.
I checked the reaction of what other people thought of it- Raphtalia, understandably, had her face in her hands- meaning she either had a fever (less likely) or found the whole thing to be a waste of time (more likely). Shindo and Filo, as expected as the two culprits behind why we were even doing this in the first place, were ecstatic.
Surprisingly, Eclaire was rather positive about the whole thing. "I didn't think you were actually going to do it," she said excitedly. I had thought that she might be a bit more strict and stern, given that she would want to set an example for Melty. But much like a certain black-haired loli from a famous isekai anime, she seemed to enjoy explosions.
Fitoria seemed to be rather indifferent, though noticing how Filo jumped around, probably was fine with it. Her gaze still turned cold when she looked at me. Couldn't she give me a break some time?
"Alright everyone!" Shindo said. "I'm gonna say what everyone's hoping to hear!"
Right, he was going to tell them to leave.
"My bro's cooking tonight!"
"No I am not!" I said, but my voice was drowned out by everyone else's cheers. Fitoria didn't seem to understand why this was such a big deal, but even Eclaire was drooling at the prospect.
Oh well, I suppose I would do it just to make Raphtalia happy. When she had heard that I was going to be making dinner, she perked up, and I swear I could almost see a phantasmal tail behind her wagging to and fro in excitement.
I shook my head- Raphtalia didn't have a tail, what on earth was I even thinking about?
"Alright, but I'm going to need some ingredients..." I said, muttering under my breath.
While the whole science project thing had been a dud, there was something that was somewhat successful about today. I got a message on my phone while I was contemplating on just what to make, it was a reply from 'SwordMaiden.'
"Sure, I guess I'd be willing to do a few 1v1 sessions if it'll help our numbers. I'm on Mon, Wed, and Fri 4-6 P.M., so let me know what time and date works for you.'
I opened up her page to reply. "Hey Raphtalia, what's a good time for you?" I showed her the message.
"I think... Friday should be the best?"
"Alright," I said while typing out a reply- though, before I could hit the 'send' button I paused. Did I really want to go ahead with this? It seemed odd that I would be having second thoughts now, given I was the one who had proposed it. The thing was that Raphtalia was technically still a 'noob' when it came to Eryuentiu Online as such, if she was going to talk to someone who actually knew about the game, there was a chance that our ruse might be discovered.
While I was pondering this, Eclaire seemed to have noticed what it was that I was doing, and said, "Mr. Naofumi, who is this?"
"Oh, do you also follow Eryuentiu Online?"
"What is that?"
"Oh, a video game."
"No, I don't have time for such matters," Eclaire said. "But I think I've seen this person before... I just can't put a finger on where..."
"Oh," I said. "First, you knew who Fohl was, do you happen to know everyone I run into?"
"Eh?"
"Maybe Eclaire's the 'guy who knows someone,'" Shindo suggested.
"What's that?"
"You know how in movies or shows the protagonist will need something obscure done, and wonder how they'll do it, so then they scratch their chins and are like, 'Oh, I know a guy who knows someone who can help us?'" Shindo said. "Maybe you're that person, Eclaire, except you're you know... a girl, not a guy."
"E-Eh?" Eclaire said, being taken aback by whatever Shindo said. "Uh... who is the main character in this scenario then?"
"Well, I would like to say me, but I think it's my brother here," Shindo said. "He's got real main character energy- I mean, look at the harem he's assembled!"
"I don't have a harem," I said while finally deciding that we had little to lose while hitting 'send.' Only thing to wait for now was the reply.
"Boo! When's dinner gonna be ready?" Filo moaned. She glared at me, and I glared right back.
"Don't worry, Filo, Naofumi is working on it," Melty said, stroking her arm and reassuring her. She then glared at me too. "Right, Naofumi?"
"Yeah, yeah, I just had this to deal with," I told her as I got up. "In the meantime, there's some leftover ice cream in the freezer, help yourselves to some."
"But Bro, that's my share of ice cream that's left!"
"Too bad- it was your idea to invite everyone, now deal with it," I told him while I wondered on exactly what it was that I was going to make for dinner.
After some consideration, I decided. "Alright, we're eating macaroni and cheese tonight!"
"Eh!?" this declaration was met with some confused looks. Clearly this wasn't what they were expecting.
"Don't worry, I'll put my 'special touch' on it," I told them. Yeah, mac n' cheese was not something gourmet exactly, but I intended to make most of it myself.
The most important thing, of course, was the sauce itself. I had Eclaire arrange for the ingredients while Shindo and Filo fought over the remote- Shindo wanted to see the latest trash harem isekai anime, while Filo wanted to see the latest episode of Magical Girl Kiiroi. (Honestly, did she want to watch her own show that badly? I mean, Melty also wanted to watch it, but I didn't get why Filo was so adamant on it. Maybe she just wanted to see how she looked like performing, but she had to know the story inside and out, right?) I broke up the fight by reminding Shindo that they were guests and whatever they wanted took precedence.
"So, Raphtalia, I go to this place to practice fencing," Eclaire said. "Would you mind joining me one day? I would love to see some of the moves you can pull off."
"Oh? Like western swordplay?"
"Yes, I know you're more into kendo, but I think that you might enjoy fencing as well," Eclaire said.
The two of them then began planning what to me sounded like a 'girl's day out'- well, I personally thought that the two of them could use one.