Chapter 59

[Third Person's PoV] 

What followed Rose's medical lessons was lunch. As they made their way to the cafeteria, Nino complained the entire time.

"That is no way for a teacher, much less a healer, to behave. They're supposed to treat people, not cause them harm. She even made me cut my own beautiful skin!" Nino grumbled.

Erza looked at Nino in confusion and asked, "You seem wildly affected by this. Why?"

Yotsuba answered, "Our dad is a well-known healer/doctor, so we think very highly of others in the same profession."

Nino nodded, "That's no way a healer should act."

"Actually, she's like that because she's really passionate about what she does and is just really extreme about it," Futarou added.

Nino scoffed, "You're only defending her because she's beautiful."

Futarou gained a lifeless and defeated look. "No, it's because I know someone who's exactly the same way as her."

Erza lightly slammed her fist into her hand before a shiver ran down her spine. "So that's why she reminded me of someone. You're talking about Lady Scáthach, right?"

Futarou nodded with a sigh, while Erza gained a weary smile.

Miku put a hand on her chin. "I feel like I've heard that name somewhere, but I can't remember."

"Who's that? And why did you both react so weirdly about it?" Ichika asked curiously, seeing how uneasy Erza and Futarou got.

Erza patted Futarou's back pretty harshly as she explained, "She's Futarou's master, and let's just say she can be pretty extreme with her training."

It was then Erza's turn to gain a lifeless look. "As soon as she saw me, she said I had a lot of potential and kidnapped me to start training. Even as someone who likes rough, hardcore training, I can say she's too much."

"Why don't you just quit if it's too much? It's not like she can force you," Nino asked, looking at the two of them weirdly.

Erza smiled at the question. "Because her training is actually helpful and very beneficial, even if we like to complain. And I think that's what Futarou was trying to say earlier about Ms. Usato. Even if she can be a bit extreme, I'm sure she means well."

Futarou nodded in agreement, while Nino still scoffed. "I still don't like her."

It was then that they arrived at the cafeteria. The cafeteria was a very large room with multiple tables and lines to order food, which seemed to have a lot of high-end options.

Although the lines were long, they moved very quickly, likely due to the high-ranked staff in the kitchen, which Futarou was able to detect.

Upon reaching the front, there was a long menu with different kinds of food from all over the world.

After picking something light, Futarou went and sat down with Erza and the others, who also picked something light.

They then slowly turned towards Itsuki, who had multiple plates of food. Seeing them staring at her, she blushed. "Don't judge me."

Both Erza and Futarou raised their hands, indicating they weren't judging.

Futarou got the food to try it and see how it compared to his own cooking, as the school had some of the best chefs in the world, all with different abilities to enhance taste and improve their cooking.

At Futarou's table, Hinata sat close to Miku since they both sat together in their previous class and got along well with their introverted personalities.

Meanwhile, Luck and Kirishima walked up to Futarou and asked, "Mind if we sit with you?"

"Nah, go ahead," Futarou said, not minding in the slightest.

"Itadakimasu" They all said clasping their hands

they all began to eat. "Oh wow, this is really good," they all said as their eating quickened.

Except for two people, Erza and Futarou. Erza turned towards Futarou and narrowed her eyes. "I blame this on you."

Futarou just smirked and ignored her as he reached into his system, making it look like he was using his space ring, and started putting food down for his summons, mostly for Eevee, who was looking at him expectantly.

"EEVEE~!!!" she shouted in happiness.

Luck looked towards Voltara and questioned, "What is she? She seems to be made of lightning... is she strong?"

"The name's Voltara, and I'm a lightning spirit. And I gotta say, you are someone a lot of lightning would go for," she nodded.

"Thank you?" Luck said, looking at Futarou with confusion.

"It's a compliment," Futarou said.

"As for whether I'm strong…" Lightning started crackling around her, "What do you think?"

"I think I really want to fight you," Luck said with a large grin.

Meanwhile, Erza was looking at Futarou expectantly.

Seeing her look, Futarou playfully rolled his eyes and reached into his system, pulling out a bento and handing it to her.

"Yes!" She celebrated as she opened the bento and saw a strawberry shortcake on the side.

She reached for the shortcake, but Futarou smacked her hand.

Holding her hand, she looked at Futarou with a pleading look, but Futarou ignored it. "You know you should eat the dessert last."

Erza grumbled a bit as she ate the rest of the food first, but she had a satisfied look as she ate it.

"Are you two dating?" Yotsuba asked, seeing how they interact.

This caused Erza to almost start choking on her food. "No, Futarou and I are just good friends," she adamantly denied.

"Really? Because the vibe you two give off is something like a married couple, and you two always sit together in all the classes we have taken," Ichika teased.

Miku and Futarou then made eye contact, causing Miku to look the other way while gaining a tiny blush.

"No, we don't, and that's because Futarou is the only person I know here," Erza responded to Ichika.

Futarou looked at Erza with a deadpan expression. "You don't have to deny it so adamantly, you know…"

Erza blushed as she apologized, so she chose not to continue with that topic and focused on eating her strawberry shortcake.

Seeing Erza really enjoying herself with her cake, Itsuki got curious. "Did you not enjoy the school lunch or something?"

"It's alright," Erza said with a shrug. "I've had better."

"Really!?" Itsuki asked, surprised, as that was one of the best foods she had eaten.

"Can you please tell me where?" Itsuki asked expectantly.

"Is it due to your ability?" Erza asked, remembering how she ate something before fighting Yami.

Itsuki nodded. "Depending on how good the flavor of the food I eat is, the better my power would be. To give you an example, let's say ice cream. If I ate one that tastes foul, at most I would be able to use ice magic and make a couple of ice cubes. But if the ice cream is one of the best and it's the most delicious, I would be able to summon a blizzard. So, can you please tell me where you had better food than this? It would really help me out."

"Well, the best food I ever had was Futarou's cooking."

"What?" Itsuki asked, unsure if she heard her correctly. "Are you serious?"

Although Erza was reluctant, she pushed her bento a bit and said, "Take a bit of the cake and see for yourself… but just a little tiny bit."

Itsuki did as she was told and used the spoon to take a small bite…

"AAHHH~ SO GOOD~" Itsuki moaned as she imagined herself bouncing in a giant strawberry cake with a small strawberry falling from the skies.

Her moaning caused them all to stop what they were doing and look at her in shock. But none were more shocked than her sisters.

"What the hell was that!?" Nino asked.

While Itsuki turned as red as her hair and buried her face in her hand.

Erza rubbed her cheek a bit. "Right… I forgot Futarou's cooking had that effect on people."

They all turned to look at Futarou, who looked back at them…"What?"

Before they had a chance to say anything, Itsuki slammed the table and stood up with fire burning in her eyes. "How much?"

"How much for what?" Futarou asked, seeing fire burning in her eyes.

"How much do I need to pay for your services?" Her tone expressing she wasn't willing to take no for an answer.

"Before I answer that, I'm curious, what do different flavors do?" Futarou asked.

"Uh well, so far, Umami enhances my strength and durability, spicy foods give me fire magic and fire resistance, cold foods like I mentioned give me ice magic and resistance to the cold, salty foods give me earth magic and a great defense, sour improves agility and reflexes, while sweets give me a boost of stamina and speed."

"That is definitely interesting… as for my services… I honestly don't know. No one has ever offered to buy my cooking before," Futarou unsure of how to go about it.

"What do you mean? I have asked you to be my family's chef millions of times before," Erza said, glaring at Futarou.

"Huh, you were serious?" Futarou said.

"Of course I was!" Erza said with a serious expression and tone.

Unfortunately for them the bell rang at that exact moment signifying the end of lunch.