61 Cabin

{REALM: THE SEA OF STARS}

{DEPTH 12}

One Depth and one laborious fish butchering session later, and Riku found himself casually snacking on a plate of fish sashimi that he made for himself and his companions. In front, Nyx was eagerly eating her fill while navigating, having made her own snack bar complete with different dipping sauces as she ate like a queen without a care in the world. Likewise, Shizu herself was occasionally grabbing a small bite from the plate of sushi and sashimi currently placed on her lap. Yes, actual sushi with rice and other simple additions. For some reason, Nyx immediately made a small cabin on their boat that housed a suspiciously well stocked kitchen. So stocked, in fact, that he suspected that Nyx must've had a hand in the fish that almost sank them a Depth ago. Because why else would she not feel afraid of being literally sunken in the middle of the space ocean?

Oh right, she was a goddess, and she probably wouldn't even drown even if she wanted to.

Shrugging at his lack care to call his goddess out on her dangerous eating habits, Riku returned to his snack as he dipped a piece of what they now dubbed as 'giant space fish' into a small container of soy sauce and popped it into his mouth. Unsurprisingly, the fish tasted like it came out of the ocean with how fresh and vibrant it was on his palate. Even though he was casually just eating what amounted to scrap cuts at the moment, it almost felt like he was eating prized tuna belly with how the texture and taste hugged his tongue in all the right ways. It almost made him want to moan in approval with how amazing it was.

"You know, I'm going to get fat if I keep eating this," Shizu casually stated from where she was sitting, her mouth still full as she popped another small sushi roll into her mouth. "I'm already full and I'm still eating. Why is this so good?"

"My Champion is just that good of a chef," Nyx gloated from her position in front of the boat, her mouth also full while she spoke. "I'm not going to let this opportunity to eat good food pass me by. Anything we come across, we kill so we can eat it."

"That's easy for you to say. You probably won't get fat no matter how much you eat," Shizu whined even as she kept eating. "I'll never medically recover from this..."

"Aren't you already dead though?" the goddess teased. "It'll be fine."

"It sure doesn't feel like it..."

Riku couldn't help but smile as his two current customers liked what he served them. It was times like these that he really loved changing professions from being a mere hitman to a simple sushi chef. It was much better to apply his skill in making people enjoy his craft in more peaceful ways rather than through the more gruesome and morbid ways of torturing and killing. Sure, some skills overlapped, but the satisfaction of a clean hit didn't come close to the satisfaction of making people refuse to stop eating with how good his food was.

"I'm glad you're both enjoying your meals because there's more where that came from," he smirked as he gave the two a slight bow.

"This is criminal," Shizu pouted even as she put another piece of sashimi into her mouth. "I'm not even a big sashimi enjoyer. Why does this taste so good?!"

"I need more servings here, my Champion!"

His smirk growing even wider, Riku bowed out from the two women in favor of returning to where he truly felt at home; the kitchen. He hadn't been in one for so long, and while it wasn't his own kitchen, it was more than enough for his purposes as he walked to the massive freezer and pulled out what was left of the fish he had killed from earlier. Pulling out his knife, he took a deep breath before putting himself into the zone, deftly cutting off portions of sashimi while also discarding what few scraps there were left. Eyeing the rice cooker, he pulled out a few balls of rice and pressed them onto his palm, making a soft bed of delicious white rice for the fish to lay on. Topping it off with a quick wrap of dried seaweed, and he had made the final portion of fish sushi and sashimi that he could make for now. They were out of fish now, which meant that if they all wanted to eat, they'd have to find another fish for him to cook.

Walking out of the cabin, the former assassin hid the smug smirk on his face the moment he saw the eager looks on both Nyx and Shizu's faces the moment they saw the plates he was carrying. Giving the largest one to Nyx, he turned around and gave another portion to Shizu even as she did her best to decline.

"N-No... I shouldn't..." she weakly shook her head even as her eyes did little to hide her wants and needs. "I've eaten more than what I would've back home."

"There's no shame in eating, Shizu," he told her, his voice taking on a soothing tone as he upped his classic sales pitch. "You've been eating even before we got to this Depth. And did you feel any different?"

His fellow Champion frowned even as she fell into deep thought. "Actually... not really? I don't even feel like I need to sleep or eat, to be honest..."

Riku silently agreed with that observation. Ever since he found himself in the Deep Blue, he never once experienced the need to sleep despite the constant walking and fighting that he had to do. He felt a bit of hunger, of course, but it never got to the point where he felt like he needed to eat. He also never experienced wanting to go to the bathroom for some reason. But then again, wasn't that a good thing?

Yes, he didn't bother questioning it because it wasn't a problem in the first place, which meant that whatever problems Shizu had with her figure would never happen since god magic was making things happen anyway.

"Then there's your answer," he told her with a soft tempting smile. "Eat as much as you want, Shizu."