Day 3.
Late afternoon.
Jasper’s stomach made a sound.
Not a rumble.
A _roar_.
Like a hollow drum got kicked down stairs.
_GRRRROOOAAANNNNN_
Leon’s eyes snapped open.
He frowned slightly, head tilting like he’d just remembered something important.
“Ah,” Leon said.
Jasper clutched his stomach, face red.
“I haven’t eaten in three days, Master. I’m starving. Like, actually starving. My body’s eating itself.”
Leon kept frowning at him.
“I forgot that you would get hungry.”
Jasper blinked, stomach growling again.
“How do you mean you forgot I’d be hungry? Don’t you eat?”
Leon shrugged.
“Once you reach Celestial Stage, you don’t need food. You absorb Asteria directly. Food is just taste. Habit. I forgot mortals still need it.”
Jasper stared.
“So… no food?”
“No food,” Leon confirmed.
Then he stood.
“but we go get some.”
Ten minutes later they walked into Fang & Flame.
Glass doors slid open with a soft hiss.
Inside was all clean lines, warm light, polished stone floors.
Holo-displays floated above each table showing rotating dishes.
The air smelled like grilled meat, fresh bread, and something sweet.
No smoke.
No sagging beams.
Just modern.
Advanced.
New.
They sat down at a booth by the window.
Leon didn’t even glance at the menu display.
He just leaned back, hands in his pockets.
A waitress approached their table.
Fox lady.
Four tails, each tipped white, swaying behind her.
Simple black uniform, apron tied neat.
She smiled with sharp teeth that didn’t look dangerous at all.
“Welcome to Fang & Flame,” she said, voice warm.
“I’m Genevie. What can I get started for you two?”
Her eyes flicked to Jasper’s stomach, then back up.
Jasper grabbed the holo-display.
Two options glowed in front of him.
_HUMAN MENU_ and _BEAST MENU_.
Genevie tilted her head, tails curling slightly.
“Human menu’s got all the classics. Cheeseburger, fries, roast meat, soup. Comfort food. Beast menu’s weirder stuff. Wolf cheesecake’s real popular. Savory, not sweet. Tastes like winter and smoke. We’ve got beast root beer too. Goes good with everything.”
Jasper’s eyes lit up.
“Wolf cheesecake. Beast root beer.” He tapped the human menu too.
“And a cheeseburger. And fries.”
Leon finally looked at the display.
Then at Jasper.
One eyebrow went up.
“You just cleaned your entire body,” Leon said flatly.
“Three days of purging. And your first meal is a cheeseburger, fries, and two cheesecakes?”
Jasper raised a fork like a sword.
“Junk food is life. How dare you.”
Genevie snorted.
“Kid’s got priorities. I’ll put that order in, cub.”
Leon sighed and ordered tea for himself.
“Small portions,” he told Genevie.
“He’ll puke if he eats too fast.”
“Got it,” Genevie said, walking away.
“One burger, fries, wolf cheesecake, beast root beer. And tea for the old man.”
“Old?” Leon muttered.
Jasper grinned around the menu.
“Worth it.”
Leon pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Down the line, you need to stop eating junk food and eat something a little more healthy. Like a salad.”
Jasper paused.
“Like coleslaw?”
Leon stared at him.
“A real salad. Actual colored greens. Not coleslaw. Not potato salad. Green. Leafy. Vegetables.”
“Ew,” Jasper said.
“Eat your burger,” Leon muttered.
“We’ll argue about greens after you don’t die from eating too fast.”
Jasper leaned back, starving, amused, and already planning to ignore the salad advice forever.
Genevie came back with the tray, four tails swaying.
She slid the plates onto the table without a sound.
Cheeseburger.
Golden fries.
Wolf beast cheesecake that smelled like smoke and frost.
And a tall glass of beast root beer, dark and fizzy.
Jasper’s eyes lit up.
He grabbed a fry, dunked it in ketchup, and pointed it at Leon like a lawyer making his case.
“Hold on,” Jasper said, mouth already half full.
“Now that I study it… potatoes are a vegetable. Ketchup is basically tomato smoothie. And fries are fried in vegetable oil. So fries with ketchup is technically a salad.”
Leon didn’t even blink.
Jasper took a big bite of burger.
“Also the bun is grains. That’s healthy. So I’m eating balanced. Carbs, veg, protein. Boom. Nutrition.”
Leon lowered his hand.
He stared at Jasper for a long second.
“That logic is stupid. But it makes sense all at the same time.”
Genevie tried not to laugh.
Failed.
“Kid’s got you there, boss.”
Jasper grinned, then cut into the wolf cheesecake.
Steam rose.
He ate it.
The warmth sank deep, heavy, rooted.
Not a spike.
A foundation settling.
He sighed happily.
“See? Salad. And dessert. I’m basically a health model now.”
Leon picked up his tea and drank it in one go.
“I forgot mortals need food. I did not forget they’re idiots.”
Jasper just waved a fry.
“Don’t hate the player, Master. Hate the food pyramid.”
Genevie refilled the root beer.
“You two are fun. Come back when the kid’s ready to try actual greens.”
Leon met her eyes.
“Don’t encourage him.”
Too late.
Jasper was already planning to call the next meal “smoothie bowl” if he poured root beer over the cheesecake.
Geneviel set the plate down.
Wolf beast cheesecake.
Steam curled off the crust, smelled like smoke and frost and baked cheese.
Jasper stared at it.
“Wait. Why’s it hot? Every cheesecake I’ve ever eaten was cold. You have to store it in the fridge. If it’s warm it’ll… I don’t know, melt or go bad or something.”
Genevie smiled, four tails flicking.
“Not this kind, cub. Moon-milk doesn’t curdle like regular milk. We bake it fresh. Served hot. Savory, not sweet. That’s how the Asteria stays stable.”
Jasper cut a piece.
Steam rose.
“Well this is an unusual turn of events. Every cheesecake I’ve eaten has always been cold. This feels illegal.”
He took a bite.
The cheesecake itself was hot on his tongue.
But that wasn’t the warmth that mattered.
The _Asteria_ inside it sank.
Deep.
Heavy.
Like a stone dropped into still water.