Chapter 0153: Feeding Play
Realizing her boyfriend was teasing her, Erina shot him a reproachful glance, her adorable expression making Hayashi's heart melt.
"Hmph, if Hayashi wishes, I wouldn't mind buying these snacks~" Erina stuck out her tongue to lick her lips, saying with a playful smirk, "After all, I just need to take photos before tossing them to you, heh~"
"Spare me," Hayashi raised his hands innocently, "I don't want to fill up on these snacks and then have no room for the lunchbox you lovingly prepared for me—"
As he spoke, he deliberately glanced at the bag hanging at Erina's waist.
Erina cutely wrinkled her nose and huffed, "Hmph, I didn't prepare any lunchbox for you."
Hayashi grinned and took her hand, leading her toward the next attraction, saying, "Oh? I don't believe that~ Hehe."
"No, no, there isn't any~"
"Then I'll just eat you for lunch—"
"Even if you eat me, there isn't any!"
"Raaah—"
...
...
"Ugh—"
Mana rubbed her arms in disgust, muttering, "Wow, are young couples always this sickeningly sweet nowadays?"
Gross~
"Hehe—" Hisako, reacting completely differently from Mana, nodded with a blissful grin, saying dreamily, "Ah, this kind of everyday scene is truly the best! I'm shipping them so hard, thank you for the food!"
She gazed happily at the photos in her phone album—she had captured so many precious moments of Erina just now! These little expressions were ones the usual Erina would never make! They were ultra-rare SSR... no, UR-tier CG shots!
Meanwhile, the old man stood with his arms crossed, watching Erina skip around like a general overseeing his troops from afar.
Go for it, Erina!
...
...
"Wow, wow—"
Alice, hiding around the corner, gaped in shock at Erina, who was skipping around like a little girl. She rubbed her eyes vigorously, exclaiming in disbelief, "Th-th-that's that Erina!? That Erina!?"
Unbelievable!
That tsundere Erina was now showing such a sweet smile, sweet expressions, and sweet movements!?
Has someone possessed you or something!?
Are you aiming to be the Sweetheart Queen now??
Unbelievable!
Is love really this magical? To turn that Erina into... this??
Alice fell deep into confusion.
...
...
Most of the thrilling rides at the amusement park were nothing to Hayashi and Erina—even the ultimate adrenaline-pumping roller coasters, bungee jumps, and sky bridges barely fazed them. They could try them all with complete nonchalance.
At one point, Hayashi even saw a guy who had slipped on the sky bridge and ended up straddling the support beam below, too scared to move. And, as it turned out, the staff member who went to rescue him also slipped and ended up straddling the beam right next to the guy. The two of them ended up hugging the railing and crying together.
In the end, Hayashi reached out and pulled them both up, earning himself a round of enthusiastic applause.
Lol.
"Ah, after losing the thrill, I feel like roller coasters aren't even as fun as bumper cars," Hayashi said with a sigh as he lazily sat at the outdoor café, speaking to Erina beside him. "At least with bumper cars, I can control them myself. Roller coasters are just boring."
Erina gave Hayashi a strange look and teased, "By 'control,' you mean fiercely competing with that five-year-old on the track and then flipping over in the end?"
Hayashi coughed awkwardly and replied, "I was going easy on him, okay? Just giving the kid a happy childhood."
"Sure, sure, I believe you," Erina chuckled, resting her chin on her hand with an amused smile. "By the way, if you were to design a roller coaster, what kind of tracks would you make?"
Hayashi perked up immediately, waving his right hand excitedly. "First, I'd add like eight or ten full 360-degree loops, then a hundred-meter-long 'Cyclone Charge Tornado,' and then—"
Erina covered her forehead in exasperation and sighed, "Thank goodness you're not the one who built this amusement park, or it'd be infamous worldwide."
Like an execution-site roller coaster or a butter churner (big exaggeration), for example.
Hayashi caught the sarcasm in her tone and pouted, slumping onto the table. "Come on, back when I played Planet Coaster, I made tons of money, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, tons of money, tons of money."
"Wow, you don't believe me? Fine, next chance I get, I'll show you my save file!"
"Can you cash out that money, though?"
"Ahem, well, uh—oh! I'm starving! Let's just have lunch first!"
"All you think about is eating!" Erina rolled her eyes but still pulled out the "Erina Special·Deluxe Three-Tiered Heart-Shaped Bento (Rainbow Rarity)" she had prepared for Hayashi from her backpack.
"Ooh, this looks amazing!"
Hayashi's eyes lit up as he stared at the bento in delight.
The entire meal was customized to his tastes by Erina, with every dish being his favorite—like fish-flavored shredded pork, sweet and sour pork with pineapple, cumin lamb, black pepper pork chops, fried chicken, and more. It was a carnivore's paradise.
"Hmph, you carnivorous beast!"
"Humans evolved for so long and finally climbed to the top of the food chain—isn't it just so we can eat meat?"
"That's such a twisted logic."
"Hmph, well, I'm a carnivore, and that's that!"
"Hopeless."
Erina picked up her chopsticks, grabbed a piece of sweet and sour pork with pineapple, and held it up to Hayashi's mouth, saying softly, "Say 'ah—'"
"Ah—nom!"
Hayashi happily bit into the sweet-and-sour meat glazed in red sauce, letting out a satisfied hum. "This piece tastes ten times better than usual! So weird—why is that?"
Erina tilted her head and echoed playfully, "Why is that?"
Hayashi put his hands on his hips and declared proudly, "Because I can taste Erina's love for me in it, nyaa!"
If there were others present, Erina might have still felt a bit shy, but right now she was alone with her lover of over five years—how could she so easily slip into a bashful state?
Unfortunately, she could.
"Rua!"
Erina let out an adorable yet embarrassing sound, then lightly kicked Hayashi's shin with the tip of her foot, her cheeks slightly flushed as she scolded, "Idiot!"
Even if those things were true, you're not allowed to say them out loud, dummy dummy, big dummy!
"Ehehe~"
Hayashi chuckled lazily, not bothering to pick up his chopsticks. Instead, he simply opened his mouth wide, waiting for Erina to feed him. With a resigned smile, she picked up her chopsticks, grabbed another piece of karaage fried chicken, dipped it in the special sauce beside them, and stuffed it into Hayashi's mouth.
Crunch crunch—
After biting through the crispy outer layer, Hayashi could clearly feel the burst of juicy flavor as the chicken tore apart in his mouth, blending with the unique taste of the sauce and elevating the entire dish to another level.
"So good!"
Hayashi happily gave Erina a thumbs-up, then cheerfully opened his mouth wide again.
"Are you really planning to make me feed you the whole time?"
"Huh? Not allowed?"
"Are you a child? Honestly, what am I going to do with you—" Though Erina said this, her actions betrayed her as she obediently picked up a piece of grilled meat and brought it to Hayashi's lips. Hayashi happily opened his mouth, took a bite, and then squinted his eyes in satisfaction, saying, "Next, let's have rice, followed by black pepper pork chops!"
"Now you're ordering dishes!"
"Hehe, hurry up, hurry up!"
"Eat yourself to death! Open wide!"
"Ah~"
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...
After an hour-long sweet exchange, ninety-five percent of the lovingly prepared lunchbox ended up in Hayashi's stomach, while Erina merely took a small taste at the end before disappointedly setting down her chopsticks.
"I was quite satisfied when it was freshly made, but once it cooled down, it just wasn't good anymore."
"Well, that's the picky God's Tongue for you—"
"Exactly, the picky God's Tongue—delicious food makes it even more demanding, and to satisfy its demands, you have to seek out even more delicious food, which in turn makes it even pickier…"
"It's a vicious cycle."
The previously cheerful mood vanished without a trace. Hayashi gloomily poked the lid of the lunchbox with his chopsticks and said, "Hopefully, the next world can solve this—at least I think the chances are pretty good."
Erina blinked and asked, "Because of the gods in Orario?"
Hayashi nodded. "They've been around for hundreds of millions of years, after all. They should be more reliable than Arceus, right?"
When Hayashi learned that the Arceus who got wrecked by a meteor in Michina was just an insignificant fragment of her true self, he had asked Arceus to cure Erina's tongue. But Arceus had awkwardly told him…
"To put it in terms you'd understand, this is like asking a veterinarian to treat a human. You're asking a bit much of me."
After all, Arceus is the creator deity of the Pokémon world, and the ones with unique powers are the Pokémon—which is also why the language proficiency Hayashi gained in the Pokémon world was "Pokémon language."
Erina, clearly recalling Arceus's unreliability, couldn't help but smile wryly. "True. Let's hope the gods of the new world are more dependable than Arceus."
Hayashi took Erina's hand resting on the table and gently encouraged her, "Don't worry! Even if the gods of the next world can't fix it, it's fine. There are still so many unexplored worlds out there—we'll definitely find one that can cure the God's Tongue's flaw!"
Erina's eyes curved into crescents as she nodded softly. "Mm! I believe in you."