. . . loading : real-life otome simulator !

loading 3rd chapter : 55%

"Hehe, no worries, I like spicy things. I'll text you some recipes from my world, maybe you could invest it into something! Or should I inform Azul first... Ugh, anyway."

"Thank you, truly, little imp. Come back again!"

With that she made her way back to Ignihyde, founding Idia's room quite fast and knocking before entering, no signs of Ortho remaining.

Yuu figured out Idia wasn't wearing headphones since she heard "c-c-come in" said in a very little voice, then she opened the door and sat at her place where she was gaming for the whole afternoon straight.

"I-I think I have an idea too..." Idia suddenly said, unaware of Yuu willing to make some ramen yet.

"Uh?" she answered, adjusting herself and opening her plush tote bag she was carrying with her all the time.

Yuu thought she witnessed the personification of the loading screen when there was no sound from Idia for something that felt like 30 seconds. She turned to him, his eyes locked on her bag which was accustomed to have cat features. Plush cat ears poking out of the front pockets were so cute Idia couldn't process his speech in a human way.

"W-wha ー"

"Perhaps you like cute things?" Yuu made a guess, secretly admiring how adorable his pink cheeks were. "You can touch it."

"C-can I?!"

She handled him her bag, making sure it's closed so he won't see her little surprise she prepared, and then observed him playing with plush ears, his long thin fingers looking absolutely stunning, andー

Wait wait wait. No. That was not what she was thinking, no way.

Brushing off the pile of incoherent thoughts, Yuu cleared her throat and Idia returned the belongings to its owner quickly, stuttering and not even slightly noticing his flickering hair tips.

"I'll definitely hear your thoughts about the game, but first... do you have a boiler here?"

"Uh, yeah, why asking?"

"Oh, show me the way!" Yuu grabbed her bag proudly.

"No need in showing you the way... I'll just call Ortho."

Right, Yuu suddenly forgot she was in Ignihyde, core of the tech development heaven.

Ortho did actually have a boiling system in his chest, which came to a surprise, but in any case she poured hot water into paper noodle cups and handed one to Idia, causing him to almost drop the cup out of surprise.

"W-what the..." he mumbled, smelling a familiar spicy aroma. "When did you... no, more importantly, why did you bring it here..."

Yuu shrugged her shoulders, grabbing chopsticks and smiling kindly. Her eyes locked with Idia's for a mere moment, but he averted his glance, staring somewhere at the floor.

"N-norm... no... Ugh, what do I call you now..."

" Umm so what do I call you now, what do I call you ~" [1]

Yuu hummed something which was supposed to be a song, but Idia was too focused on how sweet her voice sounded, maybe more than he normally would observe someone. She was a human form of a paradox, never failing to shock him.

"Sorry, couldn't resist!" she giggled. "I just thought we hadn't had dinner, and since I'm occupying your place for some time, I was feeling guilty that I already invaded your personal space, so this is an apology... Kind of. And the second reason is a selfish one, but it's too embarrassing to voice out, so I'll remain silent!"