No Such Thing as a Free Meal
Mrs. Frey floated out a bunch of food on trays.
『Alright, kids. I know how it is, so I'll treat you to a meal tonight! Don't worry about who pays nor how they pay. We have enough money as is, anyways.』[Mrs. Frey]
『Thanks mom!』[Freyana]
『Thank you, Mrs. Frey.』[Nova]
『Thank you for this privilege, Mrs… Frey.』[Kikhia]
『Ah…. Thank you very much, Mrs. Shaylon!』[Alex]
She walked back out of the room while talking.
『Circulate your mana. That's my warning for you all… but looks like Nova is already ahead of you all!』[Mrs. Frey]
『...Huh?』[Kikhia]
At this point, Nova's mana raged on like a river, but his source was beginning to run dry.
『...Infused food is always scary.』[Nova]
The food they were served was a bit unexpected.
Instead of some kind of fancy meal like expected, it was a homestyle meal...
...Except that they didn't all have the same thing on their plates.
Nova looked across the table, and saw Alex had the same thing as him.
Alex did the same, before the both of them looked over to the girl's plates.
『...Different?』[Alex]
On the boy's plates were mashed potatoes and peas, along with some other bland or supplementary foods- along with soups and other foods that required spoons.
They also only had spoons- nothing else.
Meanwhile, on the girl's plates were foods that seemed flavorful and even spicy.
And forks.
Out of the corner of Nova's eye, he saw Freyana grasp at the fabric on her dress as she pulled her legs together.
Freyana's body seemed to glow bright pink and she was even nervously sweating.
She whispered just loudly enough for Nova to hear.
『...Oh no… Mommy, why...』[Freyana]
Nova didn't understand the implication of her actions, but he put a hand on hers as reassurance.
He whispered very quietly to her.
『...Are you alright?』[Nova]
『...My mother wants us to… feed each other.』[Freyana]
『...A-a-ah..?!』[Nova]
Nova's face grew red.
He was used to her feeding him and him feeding her in private… but…
He looked up at the two confused clubmates across the table.
『...Err… Should we… split up the food on the plates?』[Nova]
To his surprise, Kikhia was the one who responded first.
『There is no need.』[Kikhia]
She raised her fork up with some type of braised meat and raised it up to Alex.
Her face faintly flushed pink.
『...It's my duty to ensure your best interest as your...』[Kikhia]
Alex opened his mouth without thinking too much and ate it.
Despite Kikhia's further reddening face, he continued to chew.
『...It tastes great! My mana is going haywire, though!』[Alex]
He raised up a spoonful of mashed potatoes and extended it to Kikhia.
『...Your favorite food is potatoes, right? It's been a while since we've had some!』[Alex]
She reluctantly opened her mouth, allowing Alex to put the spoonful of mashed potatoes into her mouth immediately.
『...I wonder when the last time we've fed each other was!』[Alex]
He immediately used the spoon for himself right after, causing the entire table to silently turn in their seats.
「...Holy shit. He's insane.」[Nova]
He ate a bit more before raising the spoon for her again.
「...Oh my god. Does he… know what he's doing?」[Nova]
She continued to eat more, growing deeper shades of pink with each spoonful of food.
Nova picked up his spoon as well, murmuring quietly to himself.
『...PDA is bad.... But is it really..? There's… only one way to find out!』[Nova]
He lifted up a spoon of mashed potatoes and moved it over slowly to Freyana.
『...I..I...』[Nova]
He had trouble conveying what he wanted to say, so he just lightly bit his tongue and moved the spoon closer to her with an awkward smile.
Her embarrassed face melted once she realized Nova decided to cut through the awkward air and follow Alex's lead.
She put it into her mouth and lifted up a piece of braised beef in return.
Nova opened his mouth and let Freyana feed him.
The moment he began to chew into the juicy braised beef, mana and flavor filling his mouth.
He felt the mana pour into his mouth the moment he bit into the beef, causing his mana to surge faster.
『Woah..?! All of the mana I depleted regenerated itself in an instant…! How is that possible?!』[Nova]
Nova's mana veins threatened to burst, causing him to speed up his mana's circulation speed to the limit.
『That's the ability of Mrs. Shaylon, after all! There is a reason she's a sought after chef!』[Alex]
Alex and Kikhia kept eating at a fast speed.
『How do you all eat so quickly?! Doesn't the mana fill your mana veins to the brim?!』[Nova]
Alex looked over to Nova with an awkward smile.
『...I was raised up on this. It's pretty easy for me to eat this.』[Alex]
Kikhia also nodded.
Freyana kept her mouth open for Nova, inciting him to keep spoon feeding her while circulating his mana to the maximum.
『...Blessed Flame Rebirth.』[Nova]
A blue flame appeared, covering Nova's body.
His Blessed Flame Rebirth's control had improved over the last few months, but his range still remained a few feet from the source.
The dark blue flame from the beginning had more and more specks of white in it, over time.
『Woah! Nova, what are you doing?!』[Alex]
『My flames can heal injuries...』[Nova]
His mana veins constantly swelled up, before regenerating, like muscle cells.
『...If I constantly heal my mana veins, it'll regenerate and make me stronger! I can also eat more of this!』[Nova]
He normally wouldn't use this technique though, because he was scared of blowing up his mana veins or damaging himself, but Reischneid said he would use the byproduct to infuse into himself, thus Nova was being a bit reckless.
On the other hand, Freyana had a… strange expression on her face, panting a little.
『Hehe… I haven't seen your blue flames in so long… Here, Nova...』[Freyana]
She raised her fork and shoved more food into Nova's mouth out of the blue.
『Hmm?!』[Nova]
The mana surged in his already full veins, causing him to put more energy into his Blessed Flame Rebirth.
He struggled to shout her name with his full mouth.
『Fweywana?!』[Nova]
『Hehe… I love seeing you eat, Nova!』[Freyana]
She continued to feed him at an impossibly fast speed.
「Uh… Nova… I'm not sure if I can siphon this much mana… START CIRCULATING FASTER IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!」[Reischneid]
Nova's blue flames raged on as he struggled to survive the greatest danger of the day- Freyana.