[★ Feat Achieved! Befriending one of the main casts!]
[You gained x1 Random Silver Ticket!]
Well, what do you know? There was a feat system in there somewhere? What else didn't I know about? I would have loved to be informed about this kind of thing beforehand, Miss System. But a free ticket is a free ticket nonetheless.
Alright, let's see what this one gives me. Let it ride.
[Rolling the Random Silver Ticket.]
[Amulet of Health]
|Common Item|
A gold amulet with a red gem that slightly increases the vitality of its wearer.
It's about time my luck ran out. It was good while it lasted, so the result didn't particularly bum me out.
More importantly, I was rather happy that I could walk side by side with the character I could only see through the small screen of my phone in my past life. The experience was quite otherworldly, and slightly surreal to say the least.
And as expected of a prestigious academy, the whole place is really big. If it weren't for Mei showing me around, I might actually have experienced defeat for the first time since I woke up in this world.
Like, why was there a statue of the principal in the middle of the premises? He wasn't even some kind of philosophical guy, just an ordinary old man who loves to bring up the glory of Chiba Academy before he was even born.
At least I kept notes of the classes. But no matter how big or great this academy is, it is still a study environment for high school students. That means there are clubs that I could join to gain extra credits, but those hardly matter.
"So you had been living in Europe since you were born? No wonder your English is quite good, Wata—Haru-san."
"You're not so bad yourself, Raiden-san. Your pronunciation is on point, cute even."
We came to a stop at the rooftop. It was surprisingly clean; I didn't even think they'd put a bench here. In my past life, I don't think I had ever gone to the rooftop during my student years.
"C-Cute? Mou, please don't tease me."
Mei sat beside me on the bench, too. She must've cooked her own lunch, judging by the lunchbox she just pulled from somewhere.
As for my lunch, we made a quick stop at the cafeteria a while ago before coming up here. I just grabbed whatever was available there: two sweet rolls and one orange juice box. It wasn't bad, but definitely not enough to fill up the stomach of a growing teenager.
There was actually plenty of food; they even got cake for some reason. Was the chef who made the food a famous one, too? If so, I should've grabbed something expensive since the cafeteria is free for the students.
In just a few minutes, I made quick work of the rolls before flushing them down with the orange juice box. Unlike me, who devoured food in the blink of an eye, the girl beside me was eating very elegantly with wooden chopsticks in her hand.
The reason I thought she made her own lunch was because the contents of the lunchbox didn't look like they came from a convenience store. I had seen the kind of lunchbox sold there very often myself, so I knew how to differentiate it from a homemade one.
"You're quite a good cook yourself, huh? That's kind of surprising."
It was, in a way. I knew she was a good cook, but my knowledge of it was from when she had moved to St. Freya High. The surprising part was that I didn't expect her to already have some skill at this point in time. No wonder that Tuna loves her cooking so much.
"Ah, well... I'm often home alone since my Dad is busy with work," she said softly, momentarily letting go of her chopsticks as they rested against her lunchbox. Then, she lightly scratched her cheek as her expression turned lonely. "He told me to just order food online or buy it from the convenience store, but I... I thought it'd be great to learn how to cook myself."
So was that how she became good at it? Her father was too busy with his company to the point that she had to make her own food?
I recognized this annoying plot from miles away since I've read plenty of stories that love using it. Honkai is no exception.
Raiden Ryoma was grieving from the loss of his wife, and the only way he thought could lessen the pain was to busy himself with work.
And the entire time, his daughter needed his attention the most since she was also grieving from her mother's death.
"Um... would you like to have a little taste? It's just, I never had a second opinion before."
"Hm? How about your friends?"
I knew she still had some friends here who would crowd her every so often. Sure, they had their own reasons for approaching her; they couldn't fool a spy's senses. But to Mei, the attention must be quite difficult to deal with.
"Ah, that's... it's a little embarrassing to admit, but I lied to them, saying I bought it from the convenience store. I was still learning back then! My cooking has improved a lot!"
She emphasized the latter part very strongly for some reason. Instead of laughing at her effort to cover up her insecurity, I simply nodded.
"Did they taste it and say it was bad?"
"Well... I know they didn't mean it in a bad way, but I just didn't have the courage to be honest back then."
Mei picked up her chopsticks before grabbing a mouthful of rice with a piece of karaage on top. Then, she raised it toward my mouth with an expectant look in her eyes.
If I were to reject her offer, would I get a gold ticket? I couldn't help but think of the Chaos Gacha's feat achievement. In the end, however, I slowly opened my mouth and accepted her offering.
Wait a minute. My eyes suddenly widened at the realization. Am I being spoon-fed by Mei right now? Well, it's with chopsticks, but still!
[★ Feat Achieved! Tasting Raiden Mei's cooking for the first time!]
[You gained x1 Random Silver Ticket!]
Well, I guess that's to be expected. She is known for her cooking even in the game, after all. The exact opposite of Kiana, where anything the Tuna tried to make ended up like a purplish mess that was outright poisonous.
[★ Feat Achieved! Being hand-fed by Raiden Mei!]
[You gained x1 Random Gold Ticket!]