The Tale of Ren - Book one: The Hunt Begins

11. Awkward dinner

They go back upstairs. When they open the door, Michelle sees a tall man in his twenties, with long, braided, white hair, clothed in an early 19th century outfit of a butler, standing in front of her. 'What's the matter Xirol?' Asks Ren.

'Dinner is almost ready. Miss Michelle, would you like to stay for dinner?' He asks her.

'Heh? Y-yes please.' She stammers a bit. Xirol nods and goes to the dining room. 'Well than everyone, see you soon.' Says Nate, and he walks to the front door. Shun and Kyle follows.

'Huh? H-hey wait. Where are you going?' Asks Michelle. Shun and Kyle turns around.

'Where are we going? Home of course.' Answers Shun.

'But aren't you staying for dinner too?' She asks.

      Shun and Kyle look at each other. Shun wants to say something to Michelle but before he could, a grin appears on Kyle's mouth and he grabs Shun by his shoulders and pulls him with him out of the house. 'Hey, what are you doing Kyle?' Shun shouts. Kyle turns around by the door.

'Have much fun with the two of you. Tell me everything about it tomorrow Ren~.' He singsong teasingly and disappears with Shun.

'Y-you!'

      But Kyle couldn't hear Ren anymore. He sighs. 'Damn him. Alright Michelle, let's go.' He turns around and sees that Michelle blushes as she looks at the other guests leaving.

'S-sorry for the trouble.' And she turns her head away. Cute. Thinks Ren and he notices that his ears started to feel warm. It turns awkwardly quiet. Luckily, Xirol came into the hall at the right time. 'Dinner is ready.' He announces. 'Alright, let's go.' And Ren goes off to the dining room first, almost running. Michelle quietly follows.

Michelle sits across him. She takes up the silverware and tries a bite from her food. She immediately grabs the glass of water next to her and gulps it down while coughing. 'Are you alright Michelle?' Ren asks. Michelle puts the glass on the table again.

'Yes, it was just a bit too spicy for me.' She says. Xirol suddenly appears next to her.

'So this much is a bit too spicy for you?' He asks.

'That's right. But apart from that, everything tastes good.' She answers awkwardly. I hope I didn't offend him. She hopes. Xirol grabs Michelle's plate and walks with it back to the kitchen. 'Don't worry Michelle. These are the flavour I mostly like, so Xirol adapted his cooking style to match those flavours.' And Ren continues to eat his steak. Michelle looks at him.

'Adapts? Do you mean that he memorizes how much of each ingredient he puts in the food without tasting it?' Ren nods while chewing. 'But can't he just taste the food bit by bit when he makes it, instead of memorizing everything?' She asks curiously.

'He can do that, but sometimes I have some guests coming over to my house. If they ate the food that Xirol made by tasting it himself first, the guests wouldn't be able to eat it. It has no flavour at all and otherwise, it is way too strong, too spicy for example. After all, demons have different kinds of tastes than humans. But we can kind of adapt and learn to eat, don't know about humans though. N-not that I mean it as an insult.' He hastily added to his sentence. 'I see. That makes sense.'

      Xirol appears next to her again with a new plate. He puts it down in front of her. She sniffs. It smells less spicy than the first one.She thinks and takes a bite. Now that the spicy flavour is mostly gone, the flavours of the other ingredients flows in her mouth. She swallows.

'Amazing, this is so delicious. It's as good as in a fancy restaurant, maybe even better.' She says with glittering eyes. Xirol nods and jots something in a little notebook. 'I see, so these are the tastes that you like the most.' He mumbles while leaving the room, back to the kitchen. Ren chuckles. Michelle heard him and looks at him. 'What?' She asks a bit unsure. He waves his hand, gesturing that it was nothing. 'No nothing. But his food is good right? As long as he knows what the other likes, he can make the food as good and fancy as in a five-star restaurant, if he doesn't know, then it doesn't taste at all.' He says with an amused smile. Michelle nods in agreement.