Chapter 59: Stick Man

She looked around before taking a seat and noticed there were only two items on the menu: fried rice and ramen. The ramen seemed to be unavailable, as it was crossed out. Momoi asked, "Ah, I would love to get ramen but..."

"Well, it takes time to prepare ramen, and I don't have much time today, so it's out of order for now," Tsuna explained patiently, waiting for Momoi to make her order.

"I see, that's unfortunate..."

Momoi hummed as she looked at the fried rice. She was about to make an order when she noticed, "Then I'd like a servi--- what! It's 5,000 yen per serving?"

"...."

Classic response.

She blinked in shock as she asked, "Are you writing the price correctly, Ito-kun?"

Though her family was well-off since Too Academy was quite a prestigious private school, Momoi still felt it was quite a lot to spend on fried rice.

However, Tsuna just shrugged and said, "It is what it is. So, do you still want to order?"

"...Alright, then please give me one serving," Momoi ordered with a slight grumble in her tone.

She silently tightened her fist in determination as she looked at Tsuna with a piercing gaze, which made Tsuna slightly raise his eyebrows at the blatant glare.

"What's the deal with her?" he wondered as he went back to the counter to start cooking the order.

Seeing Tsuna skillfully prepare all the ingredients, the way he utilized his knife, and the way he moved his wok, Momoi seemed surprised as she silently muttered, "...He's actually a cook?"

Momoi couldn't help but sigh as her confusion grew. She had visited Totsuki Culinary Academy a while ago to find details about their next opponent.

Though she was surprised at how prestigious the academy was, which was many times more than Too Academy, Momoi was even more surprised to learn that the team that had slaughtered Seirin was, in fact, an actual culinary academy!

That got her confused. Why would these future chefs play basketball, much less be good at it?

"And they have only five players..."

Which was quite understandable since they were trained to be chefs, not athletes. So, having fewer people playing basketball in such a massive academy made sense to her.

This time, she found Tsuna's restaurant address from a poorly made pamphlet she found on the academy's grounds and came to find out that Tsuna owned a small restaurant.

"Here's your fried rice..."

Tsuna's voice brought Momoi back to reality.

She thanked him before turning her eyes to the bowl of glistening fried rice in front of her, which looked absolutely appealing.

"...He's truly a cook, huh?"

Momoi sighed, realizing that it was the best-looking fried rice she had ever seen.

She took a bite, only to widen her eyes in shock as the taste exploded on her palate, "So good!"

"I'm back!"

A loud voice reverberated across the restaurant as the door burst open. A red-haired teenager walked in with a smug expression, which didn't seem to impress Tsuna at all.

He sighed and spoke, "Rindo-senpai, if the door ever breaks, I'll make sure to break your bank in return..."

"Hehe, come on, the door is sturdy enough, right?"

Rindo didn't seem bothered by it as she made her way in and realized there was a customer, "Ah, there is a customer?"

"...Ah, hello there," Momoi was a bit surprised by this cheerful guest as she greeted her politely.

Rindo seemed flattered by it as she nodded, "Oh, please, enjoy your meal. Tsuna does make a great fried rice..."

"Ah, yes, it is indeed very good..."

"Fufu, of course...."

She seemed proud despite not being the one cooking it as Rindo turned to Tsuna as she sat down. "Go cook mine, Kouhai!"

"...One serving?"

"Yes, please..."

Rindo nodded happily as she looked around like a curious cat.

Her antics made Tsuna sigh as his eyes flashed in realization; he had never asked her about this before.

Turning to her, Tsuna saw Rindo's smile getting wider, and she asked first, "What is it that you want to ask, Kouhai?"

"...I thought you promised to give my restaurant a promotion? Where's my customer?" he asked sternly, his eyes narrowed sharply.

There had never been high-level customers, as he had hoped for from Rindo promoting his business.

Though there were some curious people walking in, they were scared away by the price, which was fairly normal to him if they knew the taste.

However...

"...Ah, p-promotion..."

Rindo's response was quite suspicious as she stuttered, and Tsuna frowned.

"What? Did you not do it yet?"

"Ah...h-haha, of course I've done it..."

Looking at the way she glanced around like a panicking cat made Tsuna's suspicion grow, and he asked again, "How did you do it then?"

"I-I did so by sharing some good pamphlets of your restaurant..."

"Pamphlets? So simple. Where did you put them?"

Tsuna frowned at this, knowing that simply distributing pamphlets wouldn't be enough to attract customers. Rindo scratched her head awkwardly and answered, "In some club buildings at the academy..."

"...That's it?"

He felt his frustration rising, almost tempted to cover his face in disbelief. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he said, "Maybe... Maybe the pamphlet was quite special..."

"Let me see the pamphlet..."

Tsuna tried to convince himself of this as he then opened up his hand in a gesture for her to give it to him. 

"...."

Hearing this made Rindo seem even more nervous as sweat rolled down her forehead.

She took out a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket and straightened it, though it barely improved its condition.

Handing it over to Tsuna, she watched with apprehension as he looked at it with dead eyes.

"Hehe, I hand-made those. It shows my sincerity, Tsuna," Rindo explained, trying to lighten the mood.

Tsuna kept staring at the pamphlet in his hand.

It was just a simple white paper, with his name and Rindo's, mentioning the address and its specialty, with handwriting that was barely readable.

And to make it worse, there was a seemingly childish drawing of a stick figure that resembled a kindergarten student's work. Tsuna asked with a hint of disbelief, "...What is this stick man?"

"It's you, Tsuna," Rindo explained in a small voice, fidgeting nervously as Tsuna's expression darkened and the atmosphere suddenly turned chilly.

"...It's me?"

"Ah! That pamphlet was what I saw to find this place..." Momoi chimed in, finding the pamphlet cute in her opinion.

Rindo, hearing Momoi's comment, had her eyes light up in excitement, thinking her promotion had finally worked. She felt a sense of pride as she turned to Tsuna, expecting to receive compliments with sparkles in her eyes.

"...This handmade pamphlet works?"

Tsuna asked, unconsciously crushing it in his palm, which made Momoi blink in confusion.

Turning to Rindo, who looked at him expectantly, Tsuna's cold expression melted into a kind smile, causing both girls to blush at how handsome he looked.

Rindo felt her heart flutter, thinking she had passed the hard stage of getting Tsuna to accept the pamphlet she made.

However...

"Eh?"

Contrary to her expectations...

Tsuna picked her up as one might pick up a cat, slowly making his way out of the restaurant with Rindo staring at him in confusion. He smiled even wider, though this time, Rindo felt a shiver down her spine as he coldly spoke, "...Get the heck out of my restaurant."

He threw her out like one might discard a stray cat.

"You're banned from coming to eat here until you've done a decent promotion..."

Tsuna gave her an ultimatum as he forcefully closed the door behind her, snapping Rindo out of her reverie.

She pouted and screamed, "But I already did! Can't you see I got you a customer? It's a big success!"

"Shut up, just do what you're supposed to do or I will throw you out in the middle of nowhere!"

"...Mou, Tsuna, you meanie!"

Rindo pouted annoyedly, but she honestly walked away, tightening her fist determinedly as she muttered, "Sure, I'll draw it better this time..."

"Don't draw it!"

Tsuna's voice was heard from within as Rindo clicked her tongue in frustration.

---

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