Chapter 9: Maybe Things Aren't So Bad?

The two Food Souls change halfheartedly, which is a good thing because I could use a break from the fanservice. Though, it looks like if the Food Souls are going to wear clothes like that, Black Tea, Hawthorne Ball, and Vodka could do the same.

"By the way," Brownie said, "since you guys don't have that many clothes, we bought some for all of you. They are all modest, and should be comfortable to wear. Here you go." Crepe and the butler give the rest of the bags to the other characters. As mentioned before, they're all filled with clothes in different styles and appearances; most for work in a restaurant like this while the rest are for casual days. Though, it's most likely they'll go for their default skins if they're heading out to fight Fallen Angels.

A few minutes later, Bamboo Rice and Spicy Gluten come back downstairs with the new clothes they're wearing; they don't seem to mind their new appearances. Spicy's wearing a black t-shirt with a blue image of a cat's face printed on it, a pair of shorts, and tennis shoes that go pretty well with the rest of her outfit. I'm very grateful that her tits are completely covered rather than partially like with her revealing default outfit. It's a good look; not only is it rather conservative, she also gets to show her figure, so it's a win-win for all of us. As for Bambri, he's wearing navy pants, and a beige shirt. Though, unlike Spicy, he's barefoot. Seems he's not used to wearing shoes at all.

Despite that, the two characters are handling the changes pretty well. My biggest concern, though, is that if we keep getting more waifoods like Vodka, Milk, and Spicy, this place will become a fucking Hooters in Food Fantasy . (I swear, I haven't been to one; I just simply heard a few things about Hooters, and that's it.)

What's a waifood, you might ask? It's a pun – a combination of the words "waifu" and "food." If you're really that unfamiliar with slang terms like this in general, a waifu (ワイフ) is a term used to refer to a fictional girl or woman (usually in anime, manga, or video-games) that one has sexual attraction to, and would even marry if the character is real. Keep in mind that (at least from what I've read in the Urban Dictionary) most Japanese speakers don't use that term and instead use the word "tsuma" (妻 ) to refer to somebody's real wife. The male counterpart for "waifu" is "husbando," though in Food Fantasy's case, it would be "husbento," heheheh. Seriously, you guys don't know what a bento is either? Dude, get a dictionary!

Okay, setting that aside, we start the next day off with Bambri, Brownie, Vodka, and Sandwich serving the customers; Black Tea, Milk, Crepe, and Hawthorne are cooking the food; Rice and Samson are keeping an eye on us while taking care of accounting; and Spicy and Tom Yum are put in charge of keeping an eye on me again.

The Dine-and-Dash room is a large and spacious room with a wooden floor. It has roughly a few windows here and there, but I imagine they're made from a sturdy glass that doesn't break easily. There are lights on the ceiling, which is high enough for an Uke Mochi to be here. I know that because we fought an Uke Mochi recently.

Spicy asked, "The dragon. Despite what Master Attendant told me about it, it still looks like a pet to me." Tom replied, "Yeah, even though she's been with us for about a week, we're still trying to figure out whether of not she's indeed a pet. She understands what people say and tries to be like a human sometimes, though. I guess the more appropriate term for someone like Danny RPG would be an animal companion."

"Is that so? Can she do tricks?"

"I don't know. None of us asked her to do that. I don't think any of us have really thought about it. Well, except for maybe two or three customers."

"Well, let's see then. Hey, dragon, sit."

I sit down.

"Roll over."

I cringe internally at the command. I have an issue with rolling and spinning. Still, I do it anyway. Spicy said, "Jump." I'm tempted to say "How high?" but, I decided not to. I think about the height of my jump and do it. I anticipated that I would make a small hop, but to my surprise, I leap as high as a house cat would, which is six times its normal height. Upon seeing this, I almost panic from the unexpected jump, but I manage to land on my feet. The Food Souls are surprised and impressed by this. Tom said with a smile, "Whoa, I didn't knew you could jump that high." Neither did I, I thought. Spicy commanded, "Alright, speak." I hesitate. Tom replied, "She can't really talk. There's a weird language barrier between her and us." "Y-yeah, it's quite a bother," I added. Spicy asked, "Well, isn't that odd?"

A commotion suddenly occurs in the dining room. Sounds like another dine-and-dash customer. Brownie and Bamboo Rice run into the room with the Fallen Angels chasing after them. In front of us are a Bloodshot, a two Squidlings, and a group Ring Teeth. Behind them is a Bulimia. The entities in front of the Bulimia are Normal Fallen Angels from the Savage Tribe. Considering they're labeled as Normal Fallens, I'm assuming they're some of the most common types of Fallen in Gloriville, along with the Fallens from the Altered Animal Tribe. The Bloodshot and Squidlings are roughly my size. Spicy chuckled, "Training time~" She grabs the handle of her whip while Brownie grabs his gun from nowhere and Bambri grabs hold of his machete. I raise my guard and hold my ground. Tom does a fighting stance to show he's not going down without a fight. He declared, "Ha, we must go all out!" "Right," the others and I replied. The Ring Teeth launch themselves towards Brownie and Tom, which the butler fights back with a blast from his cannon and Tom deals a heavy punch towards the other Fallen. A Ring Tooth approached Tom and launches its sharp teeth at the Food Soul like bullets. What the heck? Since when do they do that?! Another one does the same. A third one sends itself flying, spinning with its teeth out like a living shuriken star, but Bambri deflects it with his machete, slicing the small fiend in half. I quickly notice that the projectiles that flew left an impact on the walls. Yikes, how much force do these little guys have?! Small but sharp teeth come out of the Ring Teeth that launched their projectiles quickly. How many sets of teeth do they have? Probably endless, if I have to guess. "Hmph! Despicable," Spicy scorned, killing the small Fallens swiftly with her whip. All that's left now is the Bulimia. She uses her attack, Super Full, which she dumps her food reserves to us, dealing heavy damage, but Bambri and I dodge it. I run towards the Bulimia and grab her neck, strangling her while she tries to grab hold of me. I use my tail and hind claws to resist. I quickly glimpse at Bambri and I leap off of her; my wings unfold and I land as awkward as an albatross. Bambri immediately uses his energy skill, Colorful Bamboos, which his dense hair envelops his body as he leaps into the remaining enemy and whirls like a buzzsaw, dealing forty percent of his ATK as damage to the Fallen Angel. The Bulimia screams in pain and collapses to the floor. She dissipates upon fainting.

Milk enters the room, asking, "Is everyone okay? Oh, my." I immediately run from the room to get away from Spicy. She looks at the Food Souls in front of her and starts healing their wounds. Mostly, what these guys have are scratches and abrasions, but other than that, we're pretty fine. I check on the restaurant. The damage here seems pretty minimal, thankfully. There were scraps of food on the floor here and there, one table got upturned, a few drinks got spilled (I forgot to mention this also happened in previous times), and about two plates are shattered. We spend half an hour cleaning up the restaurant again. By then, the restaurant reopens. Reluctant to spend more time with Spicy, I head to the kitchen and hide inside one of the cupboards close to the floor.

I hear Tom's voice faintly say, "Hey, Master Attendant, have you seen Danny RPG?" He answered, "I think I saw her run into the kitchen. She seems pretty anxious about something." Tom enters the kitchen. I peek out and see that he's alone. I cautiously step out and approach him. He asked, "Hey, are you alright?" I think about what to write. He sits down, and I get closer to him. I sit down too. I take out my notepad and start writing. {I'm not really alright. I'm just hiding because I don't want to be near Spicy. If I didn't do those tricks, who knows what she'd do.} Tom replied, "Yeah, even in her new clothes, she's pretty intimidating. But, don't worry. You got the rest of us. We're not gonna let some dominatrix hurt you. Besides, I think she'll only see you as a pet rather than someone with a sapient mind. Don't worry about it too much, alright?" I give him a small nod. I write {I guess you're right. Maybe I'm just delusional or paranoid, and I might be getting carried away. Now, let's get back to work.}

I decide to work as a waitress again (along with Spicy while Tom work in the kitchen) which might help me get used to her presence. Besides, with the new clothes she's wearing, it makes my worries ease a lot better. At one point, a small family of three enters the restaurant and they sit at a table near a window. As I'm walking in search of a table that hasn't received orders yet, I hear a cheery little girl from the family saying, "Look, Mommy. There's the dragon! Isn't she cute?" I look at them, and I feel flattered about the compliment, rather than annoyed. I don't really know why, though. Maybe it's because of the brief conversation I had with Tom. Or maybe it's because I needed to hear something reassuring when Spicy is in the same room as me. Either way, I decide to approach them. From the girl's voice and appearance, she's probably about six years old. I put myself in a crouched position like a coiled spring, allowing me to exploit the strength of my rear legs as I leap upwards. On landing, I pull myself with my back limbs, gripping with my talons, bringing myself to a clumsy but still graceful halt. The girl looks at me with awe. "That was cool!" I write {Thank you. Now, may I take your order?} After the family orders their food, which I wrote in my notepad, I jump back down. I'm getting the hang of my landings pretty well. I enter the kitchen and give the order to the fellas working in the kitchen. Brownie enters the kitchen, grabs two plates, and walks to a table farthest from the main entrance of the restaurant. In no more than a few minutes, Sandwich enters the kitchen. He asked, "Is the food ready for one of the tables?" Black Tea answered, "Yes, the food is ready. Take it out quickly to the Table One." "Got it," he replied. A few hours pass, and the restaurant reaches its closing hours.

As the customers are leaving, we clean up the area the NPC was in, making closing hours pretty easygoing. Once everything in the restaurant has been mopped, dusted, and cleaned up for the night, we chill out in the residential area. The restaurant closes at 7:30 pm and we get everything cleaned up between 7:45 and 8:00; Brownie, Samson, and sometimes the other Food Souls usually take care of the residential area on their own time such as right now in the evening. Of course, some of the Food Souls decide to sleep immediately after we clean up the restaurant, and others like to hang out and play a small game (mostly cards) before resting. Spicy is sitting on the couch, watching Sandwich, Bambri, Hawthorne, and Vodka (who is drinking out of a glass of wine near her) play a game of cards. Not sure if it's poker or blackjack, though. Still, I decide to watch too. Meanwhile, Brownie is dusting the furniture. As much as I want to sit in one of the chairs, I decide to muster up the courage to sit near Spicy while maintaining a distance. Spicy mutters quietly, "They really are all so boring. One, two, ugh, they're all useless."

She looks at me, but I immediately avoid eye contact. Three seconds second later, I take quick glance, and notice that Spicy isn't looking at me. I decide to approach her. She looks at me again and said, "Hm? What do you want, dragon?" I take a step back. I sit down again and continue watching the Food Souls playing poker. Albeit, they're having their own conversations from time to time, it feels like there's an awkward silence. I tap fingers nervously. After some thinking, I sigh out of impatience with myself. Dammit … let's just get this over with. I take my notepad and pencil out of my Inventory and start writing. {I would like to apologize for my overreaction this morning. After seeing how you treated the customers and the staff today, it seems that I may have misjudged your character. I guess you aren't as bad as I thought.} I show it to Spicy. She replied, "I won't sugarcoat it, you are the strangest thing I have ever met, but I appreciate the apology. That said, you have some nerve to approach me like that." I step back even further. She went on, "Scared, aren't you? I'm not surprised. People usually either try to flirt with me or run away except for the customers. Don't think we're going to be friends; I can create a suffering in you at anytime I want. Never forget what the crack of a whip sounds like, understand, pet?" I nod rapidly and run away from her. I head up the stairs as soon as possible while everyone else in the room stares at what just happened. Spicy chuckled, "I always enjoy a good conversation.~"