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Instead of grabbing dishes from the table, Machi ladled herself a bowl of ham and winter melon soup.
"Hss—!"
The moment she tasted it, her eyes trembled again.
The salty richness of the ham had seeped into the melon's clean sweetness, each flavor lifting the other. The broth was unbelievably delicious.
It felt like the melon was dancing across her tongue, and every cell in her body was cheering with joy.
This was the first time in her life she'd eaten anything this good.
Before she knew it, her arm was moving faster, carrying spoon after spoon of soup and food into her mouth.
"I'm not letting you beat me at this," she muttered.
Noticing how her pace quickened, Morin grinned and picked up speed as well.
Soon, the four dishes, one soup, and even that big bucket of rice on the Gourmet Tablecloth had all been devoured, not a crumb left behind.
And that wasn't an exaggeration. Not a drop of grease remained. The plates were polished so clean they were shinier than Morin's face.
"Burp~"
Morin let out a little belch and leaned back, satisfied from head to toe.
"Man, that hit the spot."
"That's the best food I've ever had," he sighed. "But I'm still not satisfied. How about some dessert?"
He glanced at Machi. Just a moment ago she'd been fighting him for food like a wildcat, but now she'd returned to her icy, doll-like self, calmly dabbing her mouth.
"What do you want?"
"Anything's fine," she said, wiping her lips with the back of her hand.
"Then I'll pick."
Morin snapped his fingers. "Two apple custards and a glass of spring water with fresh leaves."
As his aura thinned, three cups materialized on the table.
No girl alive could resist the mix of fruit and pastry.
"What's the spring water for?" Machi asked, spooning the custard into her mouth. She couldn't hide the sparkle in her eyes as the sweetness burst across her tongue.
"You'll see," Morin said with a grin, enjoying his own dessert.
Machi nodded and quietly ate. A few seconds later, though, she spoke again.
"If we sold this food, how much could we make?"
"Honestly? Not a single coin," Morin replied without hesitation. "The moment we brought it out, everyone nearby would lose their minds and rip us apart to get it."
Machi fell silent.
She knew he was right. Food in Meteor City wasn't just valuable—it was survival. To show something like this in public would be suicide.
And yet, her gaze lingered on the custard in her hand, her eyes flickering in a way that made Morin feel a little uneasy.
"…Don't tell me she's actually calculating how much it could sell for."
Then it hit him. Right. Machi's always had a thing for money. That's why she stuck around Heaven's Arena and why she runs her stitching business.
Even for Hisoka—supposedly an ally—she'd charged fifty million for his right hand and twenty million for his left. Seventy million, just like that. Easier than robbing a bank.
"Guess beautiful women in manga really are money-hungry. Machi, Nami from One Piece, Android 18 from Dragon Ball…"
While Machi silently considered the value of the dessert in her hands, Morin's thoughts wandered off in strange directions of their own.
Soon the sweets were gone. Morin set the cup of spring water with its floating leaves in front of him.
"Now it's time to find out what kind of Nen user I really am."
Machi watched as he placed his hands around the glass.
This was the Water Divination test, a method created by Shingen-ryu to determine one's aura type.
You filled a glass with water, placed a leaf on top, then focused Nen into it. Depending on your type, the water reacted in one of six ways:
•Enhancement: the water increases and spills over.
•Transformation: the water's taste changes—sweet, sour, bitter, anything.
•Emission: the color of the water shifts.
•Manipulation: the leaf on top moves.
•Conjuration: crystals form in the water.
•Specialization: anything that doesn't fit the other five.
Neferpitou's test, for example, caused the leaf to wither—clearly Specialist.
Morin was curious to see where he fell.
"Most likely Conjuration, right?" he mused.
His system was basically like pulling items out of thin air. That had to be Conjuration.
With that thought, he focused his aura into the glass.
Machi stayed quiet, simply watching.
It was only their second day together, but Morin had already surprised her more times than she could count. He was… undeniably mysterious.
Her eyes stayed on him, sharp and thoughtful.
Before long, crystals began forming in the water, glittering under the light.
"Conjuration, just as I thought."
Morin wasn't surprised. With all the strange tools he had, it made sense.
He was just about to withdraw his aura—
"Hm?!"
His eyes widened.
The crystals didn't stop.
Instead, more and more kept forming, swelling larger by the second.
The water filled with jagged shards, their size increasing until the glass could no longer contain them—
CRACK!
With a sharp pop, the glass exploded in Morin's hands, shards and crystal scattering like a burst of fireworks.
"....."