Chapter 353 ·Side Story Chapter 4: The Legendary Restaurant 4
Chapter 353: Side Story Chapter 4: The Legendary Restaurant 4
“Those small fries sure know how to act up.”
Phew.
With a light sigh, Airi shook the blood and dust off her hands.
Around her, more than a dozen men lay sprawled unconscious on the ground.
It had taken her roughly five minutes to deal with all of them.
Even that was only because she hadn’t used any Modules, not wanting to unnecessarily make the situation bigger.
But this wasn’t Sector E, notorious for its terrible public safety. This was Sector C.
No matter how quietly she tried to wrap things up, there was no way the commotion of a fight involving more than a dozen people wouldn’t reach the police.
Before Airi could even catch her breath, flashing police lights appeared in the sky along with the wail of police sirens.
“Th-The police……!? We have to run, Serena!”
“W-Wait, Airi!? Ugyahhh!?”
Serena, who had been hiding behind them while the fight was taking place, was forcibly dragged into running with her when Airi grabbed and pulled her along.
She tried to shout that they hadn’t actually done anything wrong, but while being dragged along by Airi’s monstrous strength, she missed her chance to speak.
The fear of the police that had been ingrained into Airi’s body over many years was not something that could be easily erased.
[W-Wait, you two young ladies over there! Stop!]
The police were just as bewildered.
The report they had received said that two women had been surrounded by thugs and looked like they were about to be harmed.
Yet when they actually arrived at the scene, all the thugs were sprawled across the ground, while the two women themselves started running the moment they saw the police.
Just what kind of situation was this?
Even for a preliminary statement, they needed to catch those two young ladies and hear what had happened.
Thinking that, the police hurriedly jumped out of their patrol car and began chasing the two.
“D-Damn it, Serena! They’re going to catch us!”
“Wait, Airi! My waist! My waist!”
Eventually, Airi tucked Serena under her arm and began fleeing at full speed.
[Sh-She was an Adapter!? Damn it, just chase them for now!]
Once the police realized Airi was an Adapter, they even deployed equipment to pursue them, which frightened Airi even more and made her flee at full speed…… thus beginning such a vicious cycle.
However, in the middle of Sector C, where CCTV cameras were installed everywhere, it wasn’t easy for two women wearing dresses to completely evade the police, and the two were caught before long.
In the end, the two were taken to a nearby police station and questioned by a detective.
“……Tell me, ladies. Why did you run?”
“G-Get me a lawyer! Until then, I’m not saying a single…… Agh!?”
“Where did you even learn that from!? Why are you making this into a bigger deal!? Please calm down!”
Only then finally freed from Airi’s grip, Serena smacked the back of Airi’s head.
Of course, unlike in the past, Airi’s Replacement Rate had risen considerably, so Serena’s hand hurt more from hitting her…… but Serena did her best not to show it and carefully explained the circumstances.
They had simply been passing through the area, and some suspicious men had attacked them, so they had only fought back.
And despite being a woman, Airi had been able to defeat more than a dozen men because she was a Trinity Academy student.
“An Academy student?”
“Yes. She should have her student ID too. Hey, show him.”
“……Never show weakness to the police.”
“Stop saying weird things! S-Sorry. She isn’t normally like this, ahaha.”
Was it because she had just fought those thugs?
It seemed Airi’s instincts from her old back-alley days had resurfaced.
Fortunately, after Serena coaxed and soothed her, she managed to calm Airi down.
Airi, having finally come back to her senses, also cooperated obediently with the police, and in the end, they proved their innocence and that they had acted in self-defense.
However, it had still been an incident involving violence, and since both of them were young students in their early twenties, contacting their guardians was made a condition for releasing them with a warning.
And so Serena’s parents and Aaron were contacted.
A short while later.
“Phew…….”
Aaron appeared at the police station with a deep sigh.
When the strongest person in the city suddenly walked into a small police station, the entire station was thrown into an uproar.
“L-Lord Aaron Stingray!?”
“I heard my student is here.”
“Ah, ahh! Over there.”
Aaron spotted Airi and Serena sitting near the police station’s front desk and walked over to them.
Then he lightly rapped each of them on the head with his knuckles.
“What in the world have you been doing that I’m getting calls from the police station?”
“S-Sorry, Chairman…….”
“I’m sorry…….”
“Enough. Come on. I’ll hear the whole story on the way back.”
Aaron put the two into the flying sedan he had parked in front of the police station, then personally drove toward Sector B.
“So, what happened?”
“W-Well…….”
After exchanging wary glances, Airi and Serena eventually confessed everything to Aaron.
From the story about the ‘Legendary Restaurant’ they had received from Linda, all the way to what had happened when they were nearly there.
After hearing the circumstances, Aaron didn’t scold them any further.
Instead, something else caught his interest.
“The Legendary Restaurant?”
“Yes. They say it’s a restaurant that grants wishes…….”
“Hmm…….”
As if something had come to mind, Aaron hummed quietly for a moment before subtly turning the steering wheel.
Instead of returning to the Academy, he began heading back toward Sector C, where the girls had been.
“W-Where are you going?”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to visit the Legendary Restaurant? I’ll take you there.”
“Huh?”
The two girls’ expressions instantly brightened.
“You’re going to help us find it, Chairman?”
“Did you have a wish you wanted granted too, darling!?”
“Who are you calling darling? Anyway, there’s nothing to find. I already know where it is.”
“What!?”
The two stared at him in shock, but Aaron merely enjoyed their reactions and gave no detailed explanation.
Eventually, he parked the car in a suitable parking lot and casually began leading the way on foot.
As though he truly knew its location, unlike the two girls, he didn’t start from the 23rd Street square, nor did he bother checking the position or direction of the sun as he strode ahead.
“He really does seem to know where it is.”
“Yeah. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve at least asked him to go with us.”
Whisper, whisper.
Airi and Serena chatted while following behind Aaron.
Then Aaron asked them.
“What wish were you planning to make when you got there?”
“What? Ah, well…….”
“To let me marry darling!”
While Airi hesitated in embarrassment, Serena answered energetically.
Aaron shrugged once as if he had expected that answer, then eventually stopped in front of a certain building.
“Here it is.”
“Ooh…….”
In front of Aaron stood a building without any sign whatsoever.
It didn’t even have windows, so they couldn’t see the interior at all, but from the narrow gap around the first-floor entrance, a fragrant aroma drifted out along with warm yellow light.
“Now, let’s go in.”
“W-Wait. What about these things and the invitation we found along the way?”
“It’s fine. You don’t need them.”
“What?”
Airi held out the items she had collected while following the route, but Aaron waved them away.
Then he casually opened the entrance and walked inside.
The moment the door opened, they saw an extremely luxurious restaurant that stood in stark contrast to the shabby exterior of the building.
There weren’t many tables, and likewise, there were barely any customers.
Aaron strode forward and arbitrarily took the innermost table.
While Airi and Serena remained bewildered, Aaron whispered his order to the waiter who approached to take it, and before long, the food arrived.
The appetizers were salad with citron sauce, bread served before the meal, and several other dishes of unknown names.
And once they finished the appetizers, the main dish finally appeared.
It was none other than a steak made from young lamb marinated in a special seasoning and grilled just right.
Port wine was served alongside it as the beverage, and handmade vanilla ice cream came as the final dessert.
Only after they had finished the entire meal did Aaron ask the two.
“Now. What did you think?”
“It was extremely delicious. It was delicious, but…….”
“It’s more ordinary than I imagined? Of course, the ingredients aren’t exactly things you can easily find anywhere, but this is about the level my family occasionally eats when we dine out…….”
“Is this really the Legendary Restaurant? It doesn’t exactly seem like a magical restaurant that grants wishes.”
At Airi’s question, Aaron took a spoonful of ice cream and answered.
“What were the characteristics of the Legendary Restaurant you mentioned?”
“What were they again…… ‘There is no sign, and the chef’s face cannot be seen.’”
“Also, ‘There is no menu. Once the customer sits down, an Android waiter brings out the food. Eating the food sends you into ecstasy.’”
“Right. There’s some exaggeration mixed in, but doesn’t it fit perfectly?”
Aaron continued with a smile.
“This establishment has no sign and no menu. As for the chef, chefs normally don’t show their faces to customers unless someone makes a complaint.”
“B-But they said eating the food makes you incredibly happy? That while eating, your mind becomes so completely absorbed in the food that you can’t think about anything else. And that no matter how full you are or even if you have an upset stomach, you keep eating until the end.”
“Think about the process of getting here. It wasn’t easy getting from the starting point all the way here, was it? You would’ve worked up a decent appetite along the way.”
“Th-That’s ridiculous……!”
“And how would someone who normally eats things like synthetic protein meat feel after eating Triple-A Grade young lamb? They’d feel extremely happy, wouldn’t they? Just like you did when you first visited the dormitory cafeteria in your first year, Airi.”
“D-Don’t bring that up!”
While Airi protested, Serena, apparently still unconvinced, continued questioning him.
“But it wasn’t so good that I’d keep eating even if I was full or had an upset stomach.”
“One meal here costs around one million credits. Wouldn’t you force it down just because wasting it would hurt too much?”
“Eek…….”
Serena’s expression crumpled slightly.
Come to think of it, every ingredient in the dishes had been top-grade produce that couldn’t be found in an ordinary supermarket.
How would someone even obtain something like the hind leg of a young lamb in this city?
“Wait. Then what about the restaurant disappearing after you leave? They say even if you come back, the restaurant is gone on another day.”
“The chef here cooks as a hobby. They’ve prepared several restaurants like this and open whichever establishment they feel like operating. There’s a rough pattern based on the day of the week and date, but ultimately, it depends on the chef’s mood, so luck plays a part. Since this place opened today, it probably won’t have any chance of opening again until next month.”
“I-I can’t accept this!”
Airi shouted, becoming slightly agitated.
“Then why does the dress code matter?”
“Restaurants of this kind normally select their customers according to a dress code. No matter how much money someone has, they aren’t going to admit a customer wearing slippers.”
“Then what about the most important part, the ‘wish’? Where in the world did the story that a place like this grants ‘wishes’ even come from?”
“Heh.”
As if he had been waiting for that question, Aaron smiled and answered.
“Think about it, Airi. Who exactly can burn close to one million credits on a single meal?”
“Uh…… Extremely rich people?”
“Specifically?”
“People affiliated with Megacorps…… or influential politicians…….”
“Would people like that be unable to grant a single ordinary person’s wish? Setting up an entire company for someone they brought here because they liked them would be nothing.”
“N-No way……!”
Airi looked shocked.
Aaron continued regardless.
“Actually, this place was famous among the second and third generations of wealthy families. Usually, it’s a place used to get closer to someone they like.”
“What does that mean?”
“Think about the process of getting here from the 23rd Street square. Using ‘finding the Legendary Restaurant’ as an excuse, you walk through the busy district together while looking around at various things, then walk alone together through somewhere a little less crowded and build the mood, and finally have a meal at a special restaurant you supposedly discovered. In other words, it’s a ‘date course.’ That’s why even the chef here, who normally opens the restaurant whenever they feel like it, will prepare ingredients in advance if contacted beforehand.”
“…….”
Only then did everything fall into place.
Come to think of it, Linda, who had given them this note, had also said she visited this establishment together with her husband.
Vladimir had undoubtedly suggested searching for the ‘Legendary Restaurant’ as a special event, then followed the date course he had planned, taking her around various places before pretending they had stumbled across this establishment by chance.
Then he had planted the illusion of a miracle in the innocent Linda’s mind, and after the meal, he had probably planned to prepare a present while saying something like, ‘Actually, this is a restaurant where wishes come true.’
And then, by coincidence, Chairman Kharitonov had agreed to their marriage, truly completing the legend of the ‘restaurant that grants wishes.’
“I can’t believe this…….”
“Rich second- and third-generation heirs probably started bringing ordinary people here as part of special events, just like Vladimir did, and that’s how the rumor began spreading. Then, as rumors usually do, it became inflated into something completely different from the original story.”
Disappointed, Airi buried her face against the table.
If she had known this would happen, she wouldn’t have needed to spend that huge amount of money buying a dress.
Aaron laughed at the sight of her.
“If you need magic that effective, wouldn’t it be better to ask Evangeline instead? There’s a Magical Girl nearby, so I don’t understand why you’d deliberately choose such a roundabout method.”
“……I already regret it, so stop teasing me.”
“So in the end, a rumor was just a rumor.”
Serena also couldn’t hide her disappointment.
Aaron then asked the two of them once more.
“Still, wasn’t it quite a good meal?”
“…….”
“…….”
The two remained silent for a moment, but they had no choice but to admit it.
“……It was delicious. Delicious enough that I want to eat it again.”
“Could you order us a little more ice cream?”
Aaron smiled and ordered additional dessert, and the three of them leisurely left the restaurant only after enjoying their meal to the very end.
(Side Story 1 End)
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