"Ryuji-san! Ryuji-san! Did you make this food?!"
Mitsuri dashed over to Ryuji's side like a pink gust of wind. But she didn't snatch the food from his hands. Instead, her eyes sparkled as she stared at the braised dish he was placing on the table. Her lips trembled with longing, and she swallowed her drool between every word—like a kid asking if Daddy had more licorice beans to share.
"Yes! I did."
Ryuji answered with a proud smile.
In this era's Japan—never mind MSG—even basic spices like pepper and cinnamon were luxury items. The best most noble households had access to were basic sauces and honey.
And this wasn't just any noble house.
This was the Demon Slayer Corps—Japan's last hope against the supernatural.
Even so, most people didn't have access to such luxuries.
While it's true that MSG was originally discovered by the Japanese, in this alternate timeline where demons exist, the discovery barely made any progress before the whole world fell into chaos due to demon attacks. So it never had the chance to become widespread.
Even before that, MSG was far too expensive for commoners to afford.
But more importantly—
He had used Erina's personally crafted seasoning. Yes, Erina from the Food Wars world. The "God Tongue" herself.
Considering it even contained medicinal properties, calling it an aphrodisiac wouldn't be entirely wrong.
"Uuuu… I want to eat so badly…"
Mitsuri bit her finger as she struggled to hold back her drool. She stared at the simmering chicken stew Ryuji had served, and in her mind, she imagined countless adorable little chicks fluttering their wings, chirping, "Eat me! Eat me!" They were just too cute!
And she, like a hungry hawk, desperately wanted to gobble them all up!
"Um… Ryuji-san… slurp… can I please… just one bite? I'll trade you one hundred sakura mochi for it!"
She had to summon all her courage to make that offer.
While she desperately wanted to taste that heavenly food, eating her fill was still a top priority.
Offering up over a hundred sakura mochi for one bite—that was a massive concession for her!
But at the same time, it showed just how much she valued Ryuji's cooking.
"That's a bit much, don't you think?"
Ryuji looked at Mitsuri's barely contained drool and her pitiful puppy-dog expression. He instinctively reached out and patted her head, and she, like a puppy, leaned into his hand and rubbed against it affectionately.
"If you want to eat, then eat. You don't need to trade me any mochi. I'm not really used to Japanese food anyway."
He was telling the truth.
As the saying goes, "Each land nurtures its own taste." Chinese food abroad often gets butchered into unrecognizable forms, and it's the same in reverse. People from different regions naturally have different palates.
If authentic Chinese dishes really sold well overseas, there wouldn't be so many strange fusion versions.
And just like genuine American or Japanese food isn't something a Chinese person would naturally enjoy, Ryuji found many of their eating habits hard to accept.
Take for example eating an entire box of rice with just one pickled plum—something commonplace in this era of Japan depicted in Demon Slayer.
Or the American-style burgers overloaded with five or six slices of cheese, slathered in butter and mayo—he simply couldn't stomach those.
Just imagine eating a dumpling filled with whipped cream.
Erina, being Japanese, naturally excelled at cooking dishes that suited the Japanese palate. That's something no chef can escape.
It's like asking a Chinese roujiamo (meat bun) master to make a hamburger—sure, he could probably do it, but it wouldn't taste as satisfying as one made by a professional burger chef.
This is a matter of specialization.
That's why he always carried Erina's custom seasonings with him.
They were his ultimate culinary trump card.
"Ohhh!! Thank you so much, Ryuji-san! You're the best!"
Mitsuri immediately plopped herself down at the table, her eyes glued to the food like magnets. She had already begun fantasizing about how blissful it would feel to take that first bite.
The maid understanding the situation, quietly brought over a huge bowl of rice and timidly tried to slip away.
But Ryuji stopped her.
Even though she was clearly trying not to get involved in the affairs of the Demon Slayer Corps' upper ranks—after all, she was just a servant—Ryuji had already promised that she could join them for the meal.
As for social status?
Ryuji, being a transmigrator, had every right to confidently, righteously, and unapologetically place all the natives on the same level.
"Alright then, let's eat."
As Ryuji's voice fell, even Shinobu couldn't hold herself back—she lifted her chopsticks with a cheer.
Mitsuri, meanwhile, fell into complete bliss the moment the food touched her lips—because everything tasted amazing.
Since Ryuji hadn't gone for the chicken first, Mitsuri took a bite of the vegetables instead. But the instant they entered her mouth, her eyes widened.
It was as if she could taste spring itself.
She felt the warm spring breeze washing over her, gentle sunlight caressing every inch of her skin and body—so comfortable it was almost unbelievable.
"Ah~!"
She let out a soft cry, her cheeks flushed bright red. But she didn't care about how improper that outburst was. Instead, she wiped away the tears she hadn't even noticed forming at the corners of her eyes and spoke with a voice trembling with emotion:
"It's just… too delicious!"
Ryuji was momentarily stunned, still holding a piece of vegetable with his chopsticks. After all, he hadn't made that dish with much skill. Since it wasn't prepared by Erina, and since he never really learned how to stir-fry vegetables, the dish turned out a total mess—neither crisp nor pretty. It was only thanks to Erina's seasonings that it was even passable.
His stewed meat, on the other hand, had decent technique—he had taken time to learn that one seriously.
This poor girl…
That was Ryuji's first thought. She must have never had anything truly good to eat.
So, without hesitation, he picked up a piece of chicken and placed it into Mitsuri's bowl.
"Here—have some meat."
Mitsuri, while still shoveling down rice soaked in veggie broth, immediately grabbed another bowl to catch the piece of chicken from Ryuji.
"Arigatou!" (Thank you!)
Right after saying that, Ryuji watched her stuff her mouth with a huge bite. Her neck visibly moved as she swallowed—but she acted as if nothing happened, quickly grabbing another piece of chicken. After just one bite, her face flushed even deeper—and another bowl of rice disappeared!
This "bite of dish, bite of rice" style of eating was something Ryuji had never witnessed before.
Though he himself had quite an appetite due to various reasons, he usually just dug into meat. Unless Erina hand-fed him vegetables, he wouldn't touch anything that wasn't bok choy, tomatoes, napa cabbage, or kelp.
As for rice—he'd eat it only when he remembered it was there.
He needed high-calorie food to fuel his powerful body, after all.
Watching this scene, he couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for her…
She really hasn't eaten anything decent before… poor thing.
He thought this sincerely.
But when he turned his head, he saw that even the kitchen maid was eating with the same intensity. Even Shinobu, though more restrained, was mostly piling on rice rather than vegetables or meat.
Yet despite that, it was already clear that the food he had prepared wasn't going to be enough.
"Man…my cooking's really not on Erina's level."
Scratching his head as he watched the flushed faces of all the women at the table, Ryuji sighed and walked back into the kitchen to make another batch.
Although he hadn't even eaten a few bites himself, as a stand-in chef, he still felt a kind of joy watching them devour the food like that.
Especially Mitsuri—with her dish-rice-dish-rice rhythm, eating as if she were drinking—Ryuji couldn't help but nod.
"So this is the happiness of a chef… a kind of recognition, huh?"
He didn't find Mitsuri's eating scary at all. For the people of this not-so-wealthy Japan, her ravenous appetite might seem shocking, but to Ryuji, it just made her seem… adorable. She had a very "appetizing" charm.
If only he weren't the one doing the cooking—it would've been even better.
He ended up spending a full hour in the kitchen, cooking non-stop, before Mitsuri finally finished her meal.
By that time, four entire rice barrels had been emptied.
By the end, Ryuji was literally serving her rice in metal basins.
Yet when he looked at her slightly bulging tummy, he couldn't help but suspect—was there a nuclear reactor in that stomach of hers?!
She ate so much, and yet it barely even showed!
"Ugh… I'm sooo full…"
Rubbing her belly contentedly, Mitsuri's… breasts jiggled along with the motion. But when she noticed Ryuji off to the side, explaining to the kitchen maid why all the rice was gone, her expression suddenly froze—and quickly turned ghostly pale.
Shinobu, who had also eaten more than ever before, glanced at Ryuji with a rosy blush. She had been planning to show off her newly developed breathing technique to him after half an hour. But when she saw Mitsuri's pale face, her curiosity got the better of her.
"What's wrong with you?"
"D-Did I scare Ryuji-san?! A-And he didn't even eat any of the food even though it was so delicious…"
Only now did Mitsuri realize that she had been eating so ravenously that she hadn't noticed—Ryuji hadn't touched the food himself. The moment that thought struck her, a wave of panic surged through her.
"What if Ryuji-san starts to hate me because of this? What if he's hungry now? What if I never get to eat his food again?!"
She clutched her face in distress, overwhelmed by anxiety and guilt. Shinobu stared at her in stunned silence, about to say something—when suddenly, Mitsuri, in a panic, darted toward Ryuji.
But because she'd eaten far too much, she couldn't control her momentum and ended up barreling into him headfirst—crashing right onto Ryuji's body and knocking him over!
Flustered and utterly distraught, she let out a desperate cry.
"R-Ryuji-san! You don't hate me, right?! You don't think I'm just some girl who can only marry a bear, right?! You're not disgusted by how much I ate, are you?!"
She braced herself, fully expecting a scolding.
But instead, Ryuji simply chuckled.
"Of course I don't hate you. And you're a very adorable girl, Mitsuri. Even the way you eat is cute. Watching you enjoy the food made me want to eat, too."
He paused and smiled gently.
"If I were the guy you were having a blind date with, I think I'd marry you on the spot."
And he meant it.
Hearing Ryuji say something like that with such a smile—Mitsuri…
"Uuuuhh!! I want to marry you, Ryuji-san!!"
~~~~~~~~~~
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