ch261-ch280 · 269-ch269
Chapter 269: The Blood-Sucking Girl 【Nishino Miki】 Part 3
SIDE: Nishino Miki (the girl with the 【Blood Suck】 special skill)
'Hey, here's your order!'
My sense of taste had NOT recovered......
The only thing that tastes good is Soushi-kun's cooking.
Why? I came up with a hypothesis.
"......Ah. It's good."
"Really? Thank goodness~. Lining up for a whole hour was worth it."
This is a tiny little restaurant inside the headquarters dungeon.
A truly tiny shop, apparently run by the owner all alone—yet it's a famous place that draws a line.
The number of meals the owner's 【Chef】 MP can produce—about a hundred.
Every day, people queue for that day's limited-hundred daily special.
(This confirms that food made with a 【Chef】's skills is edible for me......)
But this shop won't do.
The hour-long line is one thing, and while I can't call the prices steep, they're considerable.
I can't come here every day.
Other shops will be much the same, I'd bet.
Until I think of a solution, Soushi-kun is my only resort.
Soushi-kun must hold the 【Chef】 job too......
"Hey? Now that we've learned all sorts of things, is today okay?"
An hour in line and not one complaint from Hina—that was why, then......
She was SO cooperative because she wanted her blood drunk.
I'm already full, though?
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"Haven't you been getting a bit full of yourself lately?"
After school, the girls of my class corner me.
My eyes have gotten incredibly good lately.
I'd heard that leveling up makes glasses unnecessary inside the dungeon—but my eyes improving OUTSIDE it was a surprise.
I'd stopped bringing my glasses to school entirely......
I'm usually the one shrinking in the corner of the classroom, but since summer break ended, the boys have been talking to me constantly.
Well, I did turn pretty, so it can't be helped.
Maybe it's the beach house job experience, but talking to men had stopped bothering me, so I just chatted with them normally.
Come to think of it, out of habit I may have been a touch too friendly......
So they pegged it as me sucking up to them......
"HEY! You guys! Get away from Miki!"
"Tch, here she comes, here she comes. We'll remember this......"
Hina came to my rescue.
Even my classmates can't talk back to Hina, who looks every inch the delinquent.
This sort of thing happens now and then.
I'd better be careful......
"Miki, you okay? What's with them? HEY! Lay a hand on Miki and I'll send you flying!"
Hina bellows at their backs.
You don't have to get THAT angry, you know?
Will she be all right?
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'Kyururuuu'
My stomach growls in the middle of class.
I'll drink water during break and somehow muddle through until after school......
Water goes down normally.
But juice or coffee won't.
Maybe it's the smell I can't handle.
Soushi-kun's cooking gets me through each day, but I'm an exam student.
My stomach keeps emptying while I study at night.
I might crave something sweet, but anything that touches my mouth comes right back out.
I've even caught myself thinking I should swallow sugar whole without chewing.
"Nishino. Give us a minute."
Here we go again.
I braced for where they'd drag me, but it's the back of the school building.
The worst.
There are boys here.
Now even if Hina comes......
"You and Higashi have gotten way too full of yourselves!"
The girls hurl abuse and grab me by the hair.
And right at that moment......
"Miiiikiii—"
Hina arrives.
A boy moves to block Hina as she tries to reach me, and—
"Gah!"
Whatever she did, the boy crumples to the ground.
"Eh?"
Is it over now?
I grab the arm of the girl holding my hair and pull it away.
"Ow. Hey, let go......"
I'm not gripping THAT hard, am I?
The instant I release her, she bolts off with the other girls.
Three boys lie sprawled on the ground.
"Hina, you're amazing."
"Hahh, hahh....... Miki, you okay?"
Worrying over me—how cute.
Maybe I'll be extra gentle with her today?
'Kyururuuu'
I'm hungry......
I look at the boys lying there.
......I feel nothing.
Inside the dungeon I can sense delicious or disgusting, but up here on the surface I can't.
I don't even want to drink blood.
I want Soushi-kun's cooking......
Let's hurry to the dungeon.
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"......What a smell."
The mouth-watering scent that hits me the instant I pass through the Dungeon Gate into the Chiba Dungeon......
It slips out of my mouth before I can stop it.
"Eh? You think so?"
Hina sniffs and snuffles, but she seems to smell nothing.
Is this what they call a blood-scent only I can perceive?
A different smell from THAT one......
......There he is. That person.
A hooded man in front of the counter.
The face glimpsed beneath the hood is a little sickly, a little shadowed...... my type, maybe.
The moment I step forward, the woman beside him glares at me.
Watanabe...... that woman again.
She's always next to THAT one, so I can't even talk to him.
But as for whether this one smells tasty or nasty—tasty, honestly.
Though next to THAT one or this person, she pales a bit, I'd say?
"Why did you leave me behind~"
UGH, the smell!
What is with that woman!
Two more women come in from the dungeon, and the source of this stench has to be the one who just shouted.
Look closely, and she's unbelievably beautiful.
But what IS this smell...... it's bending my nose out of shape.
"Hina-chan, let's go."
I can't bear it.
As I pass the smelly woman, who heads toward the tasty-looking man at the counter, the other woman glares at me too.
What is with these people?
"Ishikawa-san will drive you home, apparently—shall we go together?"
"Oh, I couldn't possibly...... I can walk home, so it's all right."
"That will not do. What if something happened? We are neighbors, so please, don't hold back."
"Ume...... no, you. It's right there, so don't hold back—get in."
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"I'M making dinner today!"
Just my luck.
The Soushi-kun dinner I was looking forward to looks out of reach today.
And the one cooking is Shiraishi, reeking of that awful smell......
When dinnertime comes, maybe I'll sneak home early and pretend I already left?
I can't hold out unless I drink Hina's blood on the way back......
"Hey, let's talk to Soushi about it. He'll definitely help us out."
For Hina, that's a good idea.
But I don't want Natsuki glaring at me like those class girls, so I should clear it with Natsuki too.
After all, Soushi-kun makes dinner for Natsuki's sake.
I envy her, honestly......
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"Oh my, Miki-chan. You're not eating, are you? Don't you like hamburg steak?"
Anego-san has appeared too, and today THAT one is at the table as well.
I was all but dragged into my seat, and I hesitated even to touch food made by that nasty-smelling woman.
And hamburg steak...... brings back something unpleasant.
"Ah...... I-I'll dig in."
"Miki......"
Refusing to eat here would be rude.
This comfortable place I finally secured—I'd hate to lose it over one awful meal.
I steel myself and bring the cut-open hamburg steak to my mouth......
"Ith sho goood......"
This is the same as my mother's hamburg steak.
Sweet.
Oh—I see. My mother's hamburg steak had honey in it too.
A long, long time ago, there was my mother, and my father, and Grandpa and Grandma too......
I remember when we all gathered around the table, spending happy times together.
When did those memories turn painful......
Tears well up on their own, but still my chopsticks won't stop.
Delicious, delicious, delicious......
Perhaps carried along by me, Hina is crying too.
"Ehhh? What's gotten into you two?"
Shiraishi—no, Shiraishi-san......
There are other people here, yet I end up explaining everything anyway.
"Thorry...... sniff, sniff. Okay. Um, lately everything I eat started tasting bad...... I could barely eat anything at all anymore."
The tears, the chopsticks, the words—none of them will stop.