96 Good Hearing

Granny's half-joking tone seemed light hearted enough, but...

『Wait! Grandma Sue, you can't do that to me!』[Freyana]

Freyana showed real, unadulterated horror on her face.

『I'm… not even in cooking club...』[Anastasia]

Even Anastasia showed some amount of distress, which made Nova confused.

Saeyeon had a big grin on her face, which scared Nova.

『Oh? Is that a cooking challenge I hear?』[Saeyeon]

『No way?! Senior, you're going to fight me for him?!』[Freyana]

Saeyeon had a blank look on her face for a moment, as if Freyana said something ridiculous before it turned into a smirk.

『Nova WOULD be a pretty good bonus, on top of winning this!』[Saeyeon]

She began to roll up her sleeves.

『...Sophia, can you get me a knife?』[Anastasia]

The look on Sophia's face stiffened up when she heard this.

『For murder?!』[Sophia]

『...No, for cooking.』[Anastasia]

Sophia breathed a sigh of relief and ran across the room to ask for a knife.

Hazel even got a bit excited.

『I can finally prove myself to you, master!』[Hazel]

She ran to the kitchen to get ready.

『The first food war of the year is underway! Everyone, please take a seat!』[Hazel]

『Ohoho.』[Granny]

『...Geez! Just wait there, Grandma Sue! I'll knock the socks off of your feet!』[Freyana]

They all ran into the kitchen and left Nova and Granny there alone.

He was having a good time, but wondered why she went out of her way to drag him there.

『...Why did you take me here, Granny?』[Nova]

『I gotta take care of all of my grandchildren! Every student of this school is like family to me!』[Granny]

She had a restful face as one of the girls brought over a cup of tea for her.

『Thank you, dear.』[Granny]

Once the girl left, her face seemed to house a bittersweet smile.

『...But, I also wanted to see something.』[Granny]

『See something?』[Nova]

Granny nodded.

『Your father. What hair color does he have?』[Granny]

『Blonde? Or maybe it was closer to a white?』[Nova]

If Nova was paying attention, he might have been able to catch Granny's finger suddenly twitching.

『...And what about your mother?』[Granny]

This question actually hit one of Nova's soft spots.

In all of his life, he had no idea who his mother was, nor what she was like...

『...She has the same blue hair as me, I think.』[Nova]

Save for the dark blue hair that he was given by her- which his dad mentioned once as… "A gift from your mother."

Granny had a small gape in her mouth before it transformed into a light smile.

『...That's very good. Your mother must be a very beautiful person.』[Granny]

『...I'm not sure? I've never met her.』[Nova]

She suddenly changed expressions to a solemn horrified expression.

『Goodness, I'm sorry!』[Granny]

Nova didn't mind too much.

『It's alright. I'll find her some day.』[Nova]

Granny had a neutral open expression before transitioning to a smile.

『...You know, Nova, they say that Seeds were first gifted to the first Sprouted in order to vanquish the monsters and beasts of the land.』[Granny]

Nova remembered this part of his history class.

『Right. And that the Seeds were given to each of his descendants to continue the fight, right?』[Nova]

Granny shook her head.

『It's not?』[Nova]

Nova had a surprised look on his face.

『They say that your seed is the gift to follow your dream.』[Granny]

Nova was shocked.

『...Follow… my dream?』[Nova]

『Hmm… I'm sure you'll be able to reunite with her one day. Fate works in strange ways.』[Granny]

She took a sip of her tea.

『Now, let's watch the show.』[Granny]

She waved her hand and the walls between the cafeteria and the kitchen suddenly disappeared.

『W-w-what?!』[Freyana]

『Oh? We're beginning?』[Saeyeon]

『..W-What is going on?!』[Anastasia]

They scrambled each to a separate station while the other students sat at nearby cafeteria tables in excitement.

『Ohoho. This is the first food war of the year, and the prize is your hand in marriage! Isn't that great?』[Granny]

『...My hand in marriage?! I'm honored, but...』[Nova]

Nova's sentence was cut off by an explosion.

『-ohmygodwhatwasthat.』[Nova]

Across the room was an explosion at Anastasia's kitchen.

『WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WHY DID YOU CAST FIREBALL ON THE POT?!』[Sophia]

『...Flambe.』[Anastasia]

Hazel lifted up what remained of the pot- which was no less than scrap metal at this point.

『YOU WERE BOILING WATER!』[Hazel]

『Goodness! How exciting!』[Granny]

Freyana started floating into the air with streaking lines of a vibrant light green mana moving all of the things in her kitchen space.

『...Scary.』[Nova]

『Oho. Freyana dearie is getting quite serious. She must really like you!』[Granny]

Nova had a semi-uncomfortable smile on his face.

『Well, I really like her too! We are dating, after all.』[Nova]

Granny stared straight at Nova after he said that.

『Dating at 16, 17? Much too young, young man!』[Granny]

『Huh? Is it?』[Nova]

『When I was your age, I was already married!』[Granny]

『Huh?! What kind of logic is that?!』[Nova]

『Dating comes after marriage, no?』[Granny]

Nova couldn't help but burst into laughter at Granny's joke.

『Hahaha! What kind of ridiculous situation is that?!』[Nova]

『It's true, you know! When are you going to marry her?』[Granny]

『I think if I'm going to marry her, it'd be in the future!』[Nova]

They both suddenly jumped when they heard a plate shatter.

Freyana's ears were a good deal more sensitive than the others, so she picked that up from across the room.

Her face blushed red, all the way to her ears, as other plates and pans hit the floor as she lost her concentration.

『Oh no.』[Nova]

Other students began to talk as well.

『Huh? What happened?』

『Did she drop something?』

『Must've been on accident!』

Freyana began to panic before Granny waved her hands and raised a wall around her.

『Oho. She must have really good hearing to have heard that.』[Granny]

『Hahaha! I love her. She's precious.』[Nova]

He kicked back a little with Granny.

At first, he had trouble warming up to her, but she ended up being a very kindhearted and funny person.

『Just as well. I've known her all of her life! She's definitely one of my grandchildren!』[Granny]

Nova laughed until his stomach began to hurt.

『You know, back when she was 7...』[Granny]

The wall that Granny created suddenly exploded.

Freyana shouted from across the room as a delicious smelling scent wafted out of the enclosure Granny made.

『STOP! GRANDMA!』[Freyana]

『...Goodness. I underestimated her hearing...』[Granny]