‘They're so excited, but it's only natural given that they're about to have a meal with me, the cutest girl in the world! Then why are they acting so blasé!? Kunio Saiki and my anti-social classmate, why don't you say ‘Oh wow!’ ?? When you see me, your reaction should always be ‘Oh wow!’
You're no psychic, but you can feel her thoughts radiating off of her. You're sure she seems to have some sort of internal conflict inside her mind.
As a person who was sometimes ignored for most of their life and regarded as a backup acquaintance by those at the peak of their high school, you learned to observe people through their emotions, facial expressions, body language, and the way they speak, sometimes aiding you in times of what to say and how to settle one down into a different, more docile mood.
This time, you were with unfamiliar people, in unfamiliar territory. So it is no surprise that you were alert.
‘ –There's no way my charms wouldn't work on a quiet dork like him! Who's always got that far-off look about him, and probably has a scary dark side and an intriguing air of mystery with a penetrating gaze that can seep through my veins.’
‘And that average person who always stays quiet and doesn't speak at all when I talk to them, with those bedroom eyes and moody, cute expressions on their face that they don't realise they have. And when they probably pretend they're not listening when I speak to them–’
Her face was in pure bliss, and the air around her warped into a pink, pleasant state. How did she manage to solve her conflict that fast? You envy her quick solutions to her mental battles.
You have arrived at the…. Ramen.. Shop? At this point, you weren't sure if this was a shop and not a dumpster fire scorched by poverty, taxes and debt with the ridiculous amount of dirt and grime. You're not sure how the building hasn't collapsed, the shop sign looks ancient with some words scratched off it, the building is still not complete in construction, only leaving the concrete walls with no paint. And broken glass.
Your mum says not to judge people based on their looks, fuck that. This is literally the exterior of a cesspool of the bubonic plague. This seems like a horror movie waiting to happen. The ventilation system is rusting, and every cell in your body is retching from the sight. If a single atom belonging to you happened to step inside this place, your immune system with start protesting inside your body and go on strike.
‘Well, at least they and Teruhashi seem to have one thing in common, being overdramatic’
Looks like you, Teruhashi and Kaidou seem to share the same thought, that pink-haired unemotionally available shapeshifter is just nonchalant while Nendou doesn't seem to mind this run-down building.
‘When will you stop making insulting nicknames for me every time I hear your thoughts?’
Your thoughts quieted down, leaving behind the familiar noise of static, due to Saiki’s misfortune (fortune?), your thoughts disconnected from his psychic mind-reading abilities. Even his powers werent enough to hear your thoughts, taking more effort than normal.
“My friend’s cousin’s ex-dog walker said it's good, so it's gotta be good!” Your friend’s cousin’s ex-dog walker has fried taste buds. Is this an infamous Japanese urban legend? Instead of Sadako crawling out of the well and murdering us, she will crawl into the food and murder us from our stomachs?
Teruhashi Kokomi is in a state of despair, in which you relate to, you have self-preservation instincts unlike these two, you're not sure if Saiki is willing to eat poison.
“I'm sorry, but something urgent just—”
Alas, all her attempts to communicate were muffled by Kaidou.
“You don't want to eat at this run-down rathole, do you, Teruhashi??”
All life was drained from Teruhashi’s eyes. At this point, the air around her was enveloped in a dark state, and her golden aura suddenly vanished. It was like seeing those manga effects in real life, which shouldn't be physically possible, but you'd better know better to question the world’s logic now. Wow, good job, Kaidou, not sure how you managed to make the perfect girl’s likeability decrease for you even more.
Bless the poor girl’s patience, she reluctantly agreed.
“Seriously, don't feel pressured to stay here,” Kaidou said.
“It's ok, I'm fine” You're not.
“Taste is what matters!”
Your sure if the taste of this ramen was so banger, the manager would have enough money to renovate this place.
But you respect her commitment to being the stereotypical trope of a perfect, pretty girl, oh, and her stomachaches.
‘Well, you're absolutely right.’
‘I spent 16 years carefully crafting the image of a girl with a perfect appearance and personality. I can’t burst that bubble in front of them!’
Wow, not even the interior can salvage this place.
As expected, the state of the inside is also... how do you say this in polite words? shitty; the wooden table you sat at was covered by a layer of dust. You had to drag another chair to sit at the four-chair table. You felt like an extra NPC sitting with pink meow meow, literal Aphrodite, a goblin and a person who thought they were a shounen protagonist.
“Hey, mister manager! Five ramen, please!”
Wow, even the manager's appearance isn't helping in this case.
Wow, you just got served slop. The vegetables look depressed, the meat is thrown sloppily on the side, and the eggs are from 1984. The bowl is unwashed, the noodles came from a drug dealer, and heaven forbid what those random chunks of unknown substances floating around in the broth are. The broth is bubbling. The pungent smell immediately invaded all of your nostrils. If it wasn't bad enough, you can visibly see the purple steam rising in the air, highlighting the fact that it is inedible.
And you all shared one sentiment,
This was made in Chernobyl/this is basically a hazard to living people. Your nonexistent appetite ran away from your stomach.
Can even the perfect girl eat this? I think no one can.
To everyone’s surprise, she slurped the ramen (albeit only a little at the time)
You're not sure how, but she managed to eat the hazardous food for the sake of upholding that perfect image to please everyone, even if she didn't need to.
She braved through the food with tears pricking at the corner of her eyes.
“I don't think you should be eating that…” Kaidou’s tone had a bit of worry for Teruhashi, which was understandable considering she consumed an unspeakable thing. His baffled expression and Teruhashi’s random bravery for eating it. Well, including the look of horror on everyone's face after she ate it ties it all together.
“Hey, pops! Even pigs at the sty wouldn’t eat this slop!” Nendou complained loudly at the counter.
You shrank away from the ‘thing’ which should be censored by the universe. Saiki remained in a state of shock.
All their affection rate for Teruhashi lowered.
In the end, you walked home with a sick and dampened mood, Teruhashi, two idiotic boys walking behind her, you with a traumatic experience and a saiki deep in thought.
Saiki’s and your affection rate for Teruhashi went up a little.
