Labyrinth Restaurant

"Surprised"

Well, this is Alice, who got a sudden confession from Simon, and that was already a big surprise. Anyway, I didn't imagine this kind of favor at all.

The low level of experience in romantic relationships also appalled at that surprise.

The majority of my previous long life has been unrelated to love and so on, and even after I properly understood something called romantic emotion, it was only directed from me to the Demon King, and being favored by someone, etc., was in itself on the outside of my imagination.

At the end of the day, Alice's complexion of her appearance can be cited as a distant factor.

Alice's thought of an attractive woman was referring to someone whose body was uneven and who wore a mature woman's calm and colorful incense. Imagine, for example, how you've grown Lisa today at about a dozen years of age, and so on, you'll be pretty close to her ideals.

I was thinking that a low height, flat self, far from that ideal, could never be as close to it as being favored by the opposite sex… There is no doubt that the lack of confidence around it also affected how passive the attitude regarding the demon king was.

In fact, there's something called personal preference, and it's not like Alice bothered to feel inferior, but I was just having trouble making an objective decision because of her sad, lack of experience.

Let's get back to it.

I was told a lot of enthusiastic love in front of me and turned it down, and there was also a backward sentiment in Alice that I was embarrassed and sorry for doing it.

"Hehe."

Overall, I didn't feel so bad. Rather, it's no exaggeration to say that I was in a pretty good mood. Even now that I'm doing this, I'm getting ready before the store opens while singing nose songs and such.

Unless you're someone you hate to have confessed to, or your guts on the side of the confession are twisted so tight, normal people are fond of straight favors.

No one, young or old, will feel hot and bad about the opposite sex. Well, as far as accepting it or not, it's another story.

What would have been fortunate for Alice this time was that her opponent, Simon, was still a young boy. I can't deny that there was a smiling feeling somewhere, like when a kindergarten nanny promised to marry a orphan, and it's no exaggeration to say that I was able to handle it with sufficient leeway.

If Simon had looked like a young man who had grown into a splendid one serving, Alice's upset would have been even bigger (though it wouldn't have changed that he was winning zero more than he had a demon king).

That would also mean that for Simon, cruelly, he wasn't seen as a reciprocal opponent, but if he really saw a single-digit boy his age with nearly ninety times the age difference as a paedophile, that would be the problem. Love should be free, but minimum moderation must be observed.

I'm Alice, who had a very rare experience and was in a good mood for that, but if you're still more greedy,

"The Demon King said, 'Alice is mine!' I don't know what you'd say... hehe hehe"

If the Demon King stood in front of Simon with perseverance and insisted on his fiancée's position with such resolute rhetoric...... no, if he had forcefully held me to it and claimed Alice's ownership, Alice would have been even more Tokimoto.

However, reality does not turn that conveniently, as can be deduced from the rhetoric "if it were so". I have no choice, so I cover it with paranoia.

Because of the smile I mentioned earlier, the Demon King never showed the color of jealousy that his fiancée had been dictated in front of him, and he never broke the usual slight attitude even after things were over.

You can also say that that unwavering attitude is a testament to your trust in Alice, and it's a demand that, from the Demon King's point of view, is close to a claim in the first place.

"A little more... something, here's the deal"

It was Alice who wanted the Demon King to come just a little more (but to the extent that there was no shortage according to her mind's readiness) and luxury.

◆ ◆ ◆

"Surprised"

And Lisa, who was hiding in the shadows and overlooking Simon's confession, was squeaking the same sentiment as Alice. However, unlike what Alice said, colors like inspiration and respect are also included there.

How surprised Lisa is that she went back to Japan shortly after that and went to school properly for once, but the class content barely comes to mind.

I usually keep my grades in quite a position because the roots are serious (right after I first returned from another world, my grades were temporarily down because of a blank of schooling of over a year, but now I'm getting my lag back properly), but today it looks so much like the sky above that whoever sees it clearly.

Still, instead of being scolded by a teacher, is it Lisa's virtue around worrying about her illness?

For Lisa, who has no way of knowing what process actually led to that scene, Simon, who makes a grand confession in front of a large crowd, seemed to have the courage and readiness she didn't have.

I didn't think or think of anything negative like "I'm …" but I was more impressed than that.

You can easily touch numerous video and literary works in modern Japan, and confessions of love and the like are also common, just familiar… but that is not the case with opportunities to witness real things that are not crops.

The power of a scene where one person overcomes the grid and becomes ready to reveal her thoughts (even though it wasn't actually as dramatic as Lisa imagined, but simply a result of just hitting the road) was enough to move her hard heart.

Of course, things are different with Simon and Lisa.

I don't know if I totally deserve it, or if it was Lisa herself who caused this much confusion, so much so that I wanted to have a head, given the complexity of the issue at hand.

Nevertheless, there is something horrible about living with this Moya Moya for as long as you can imagine. The possibility that one day grief would fade into backward hopes, and that the rest of my life would just end up waiting for "one day," had also left Lisa unable to affirm that it was an absurd delusion right now.

"But... what shall we do?

I'm sure there's a problem, but I feel like the key problem statement is written in an unknown language and I can't read it. Now you can't even tell where to start.

Even though the time limit for the exam is imminent, I don't know if the question is mathematics, Mandarin, or family medicine instead of writing the answers. Even if you stare at the problem paper enough to make a hole in it, you're just wasting your time mischievously.

Lisa kept thinking about it from the first hour until after school, both in class and on holiday.

When I got home, I kept thinking about it all the time, even as I helped with the house and homework.

Well, in conclusion, no matter how much I twisted my head, I didn't come up with any particular proposals like this. Well, I wouldn't have a hard time in the world if a Pompous name came to mind just because I've been worried for a long time. Instead, it will be Othi who narrows his horizons.

But it's also the world's business that the solution is rolling where you don't even think about it.

When I went to pick up the fridge wheat tea to cool my head up in the long bath, my underfoot was away because I was walking immersed in my thoughts, and I accidentally smashed my pinky toe into the heavy cardboard box I had in front of the kitchen door.

"Ahhhh!?"

It was a state of vegetation that wasn't fortifying the flesh with magic, so I was smothered by intense pain. It's intense enough damage to make you crouch on the spot and can't move for a while.

All this time, the troubles with the boulders were also blown out of my mind. Later on, that might have been good to go back to. Even for a very short time, I was able to return to my normal flat mental state thanks to the pain.

Somehow the pain was healing, Lisa looked at that cardboard box with hateful tears.

"What is this...?

The contents of that box were food sent from Lisa's cousin's house.

The contents are seasonal fruit, according to the Cool Flight feed letter affixed to the top of the box. What a huge box weighed more than ten kilos that didn't shake even when Lisa's pinky hit it.

Fortunately, it's not something that will hurt you overnight or so, and you can't go into a household refrigerator for everyday use, but you can also transfer it to a large business refrigerator located in the store downstairs after business hours, or you would have left it in a box temporarily.

Lisa's cousin's home, where both parents are often away from home, occasionally sends her a hemming of ingredients that she can't consume.

You won't waste too many ingredients in the average household, or because Lisa's house, which runs a restaurant, is easy to consume. It's called the win-win relationship.

"Looks delicious. I need to put in a thank you call later..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

A little flash was born behind Lisa's brain, who was opening the box and checking the fruit in it.

"Mother! Can I have this for a second?

It's not like opening up all the problems, but it's possible that using the contents of this box can make the status quo just a little better.

The idea came to mind.

All you need is courage.

Lisa aroused the only courage that remained in her heart remembering Simon's majesty, and finally made her decision.

◆ ◆ ◆

The next afternoon.

"Go ahead, I got a lot from my relatives, so I'm going to hem it."

"Well, this is polite"

Lisa hasn't actually visited the Demon King's restaurant in a week since the last day of the festival. A large cardboard box is held in its hand.

"Oh, persimmon. Sounds delicious."

"Yeah, let's make something sweet."

Inside the box were tons of dark orange persimmon fruit.

Unique blue fragrance not felt in other fruits.

The slightly stiff fruit texture was firmly heavy, and the Demon King and Alice were overjoyed with this gift.

By the way, that's a different story, but Lisa was actually absent from work unauthorized for a week, but didn't it pose a problem? And didn't the demon kings think that strange?

In conclusion, it did not pose a problem, nor was it suspicious.

Originally, it's an appropriately extreme working condition that you only have to come when you feel like it, and you can do enough just Demon King and Alice because you're not in trouble with manpower in the first place. Even in rare crowds, you can turn the store around adequately if you call for a cosmos or an empty homunculus.

And about Lisa not showing her face for a week, it was interpreted as "I'm sure she's tired after the festival" or "I'm sure she's busy with her studies". In fact, before Lisa's school went on summer vacation, that's how much she was off during the final quiz of a semester, so it was thought that would happen sometimes.

Let's get back to it.

Thus, what are Lisa's thoughts on visiting with a massive hemming, but no such thing. Simply, anything could have been an excuse to come out in front of the Demon Kings.

It's an idea that doesn't have so much other love as it seems to clap out, but it must have worked once and for all because I was pushed backwards by the pretext "to give you a hemming" to come before them in this way.

Lisa also has to admit that she can't solve all the problems at all.

But as I carefully solved the tangled yarn, I subdivided the problem to the size that even Lisa can handle today, and realized that it was never possible (perhaps) to digest it little by little, thanks to the temporary recovery of my thoughts with the pain of hitting my pinky toe on my foot.

And I analyzed and dismantled the problem in front of me, and I came to admit that whatever I was going to do, nothing would begin without meeting the Demon Kings first.

It also took these pretexts and a lot of courage to do what was normal up to this point, but it's a disgusting thing to actually come by.

Lisa, surprisingly light on her own, was able to deal with the Demon King and Alice as usual.

Meet first, and talk.

Whatever the end of the day, nothing starts unless you can do it.

The journey to be pursued is far away, and it seems like we could take the first step for now, although it is still going to be a long way ahead of us to be able to talk in depth so as to get to the heart of Lisa's problems.

◆ ◆ ◆

"By the way, what shall we make?

A demon king with persimmon fruit in his hand asked Alice and Lisa.

"Persimmons have surprisingly limited cooking options."

"Even in our shop, is it enough to add the cut to the dessert after the meal?"

Of course, it doesn't mean it's bad to eat as it is, but it's something that makes you want to try and do something about cooking as a hobbyist.

However, a fruit called persimmon is not as intense in its flavor claim as citrus, it is not as flavorful as it is heated or apple or berry based, and it is medium difficult to handle.

An unusual characteristic for edible fruits, where almost all acidity is absent.

The amplitude of texture during the edible period that when ripe, it becomes so soft with trollies that it is close to creamy, but before that it is hard.

There's no mistake about the delicious, but it's too unique, so treating it like any other fruit risks failure.

"In the meantime, let's keep eating"

The Demon King took one to the kitchen and immediately peeled and cut it.

When the three of us taste the fruit that is stabbing the claw twig, we can still feel the teeth that make stiff crisp noises and the refreshing and understated sweetness. You can still eat it like this, but if you leave it for the next few days or so it will be softer and sweeter.

"Hmm, let's make some dried persimmons"

"Speaking of which, I hear some tempura shops serve dried persimmon tempura."

Lisa showed off the knowledge she remembered when she heard the Demon King's words.

Sleek sweet dried persimmons coming out of crisp clothes. As for dessert tempura, it's a classic alongside ice cream tempura, but the Demon King and Alice didn't seem to know.

"Oh, that looks delicious. Let's make it."

"But even though it's a sweet persimmon because of it, do you make it all dry persimmon?

"So is that."

Regardless of the tomatoes, Alice came out of the opinion that it would be a shame to dry all the sweet persimmons you could eat as they were.

Because it's a raw persimmon, the three of us come up with a variety of ideas that we thought we should consider using its virtues.

Persimmon lamb stiffened in cold weather after mopping down.

Sorbet or gelato made by freezing softened fruit until trout.

Peel, then boil in wine and sugar for compote.

Finely chopped fruit, served in a bowl with raw cream or ice cream, in a parfait.

Cook side by side over wheat dough for tarts and pies to eat with crisp foundations.

None, not bad. It's not bad......,

"It's subtle to think about whether it tastes better than other fruits."

Like Lisa said, I'm also sure it seems tastier to cook other fruits in the same recipe. Even if it tastes pretty good, if you want to pursue the unique goodness of persimmons, you're going to need to change your mind.

"Hmmm......"

Lisa haunted her head, but this concern was also to be described as a pleasant one, so to speak, the opposite of what has been depressing here lately. No matter how hard it bothers you, it makes it more fun and makes you feel better and better.

Lisa casually looked at the cardboard box she was putting persimmons in and noticed a single persimmon leaf in it. Apparently, only one piece was mixed up with the fruit.

"Speaking of which, it's also called persimmon leaf sushi."

It is a type of sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves with vinegar rice and ingredients to enhance its preservation and its refreshing flavoring by the sterilization of the leaves.

Nevertheless, it is not possible to make it into boulders with just one leaf.

"Yes, what about this?

Lisa seemed to really enjoy herself and conveyed the ideas she had come up with to the Demon Kings.

◆ ◆ ◆

It is used in the main vinegar rice with sweet vinegar pickled lencon, also in the ingredients of flyer sushi such as vinegar pickled ginger (galli), shiitake mackerel, brocade eggs, smoked salmon and dried shiitake mushrooms.

Yes, Lisa came up with flyer sushi with persimmons.

The persimmon before it softens is surprisingly compatible with vinegar when paired with radishes and turned into a pickle.

Ordinary fruit is too sweet to be a sushi utensil, but it is a use because the flavor is not too claimed persimmon. The shaky texture of the chopped persimmon is interesting and you can enjoy a sweetness separate from that caused by sushi vinegar.

I diverted the sushi rice from the beginning because I had enough for other menus, just mixed the chopped ingredients and served the shiitake mackerel and salmon beautifully, and it was done in no time.

"I miss only one dish."

and Lisa also made a piece next to the Demon King making flyer sushi.

This persimmon salad is cut into easy-to-eat sizes of persimmons and cabbage and soothed with a simple dressing of vinegar, olive oil and salt pepper. This persimmon is often seen as a Japanese-style ingredient in one way or another, but it also goes well with these western-style dressings.

This is also an easy product to cut and soothe, so it was done quickly.

"Hehe, that's fun"

Lisa can't help but enjoy making delicious food, discussing recipes, and doing the same until last week.

Even though I didn't do anything special or anything, the Demon King was just next door and spending time with me, and I felt so happy that I didn't want to laugh any more.

I say that happiness is the first time you see gratitude since you lost it, but now was exactly the situation for Lisa. We can also say that the value of happiness that was naturally around us can now finally be measured correctly by being in this troublesome situation.

People are incomplete beings that others can't even rightly recognize about themselves.

I can also say that Lisa's situation today was caused by her underestimation of how much she liked the Demon King. He looked sweetly at his thoughts that it was something he could gamble with even if he gave up.

The time is just before dinner, and the store is still carrappo.

All I made this time was a small amount for tasting, so the three of us decided to eat the puff before the customers arrived.

"Yeah, this sweetness sounds good."

"Demon King, this salad is good too."

The combination of mottled rice and shaky persimmons is interesting and oddly adds aftertaste thanks to its unique aroma and sweetness. The salad also fully enjoyed the persimmon flavour without the personality diminishing due to the taste of the dressing.

This time it meant tasting, and I only made a small amount of about a cup of rice tea bowl per person, but it was done so well that I thought that was a failure.

"Perhaps you can put this on the menu"

"When you don't have fresh persimmons, it's delicious to add dried persimmons."

"Oh, that sounds good, too. Demon King, why don't we try it later?"

Alice seems to particularly like persimmon salad.

I'm also intrigued by Lisa's talked about dried persimmon salad and talk to the Demon King about trying it later.

◆ ◆ ◆

Seeing Alice speaking amicably with the Demon King, something black crossed Lisa's mind for a moment.

It doesn't take long to understand that that's the emotion of jealousy.

That black monster whispers toward Lisa.

Take the demon king from Alice's hand.

Whether they call me shameless or lose my friendship, do you have enough love in you to tolerate it? And, a monster called Jealousy has tried to manipulate Lisa's mind skillfully.

If Lisa had been there before, she wouldn't have lent an ear to such temptation.

I thought it was some kind of distraction, and I should have tried to forget it sooner.

But now Lisa was aware that the monster was also part of herself, an untrue authenticity. To just try to be good as a person, but also to say that it is a mistake to give up your own well-being.

That may be right at first glance, but you're actually just running away from the problem. Even if they are similar on the surface, they are just acts of selfishness that are the opposite of honorable self-sacrifice, etc. I guess the vanity of wanting to be a "good person" was also fuelling that.

But that's all I know, and it should be noted that Lisa sealed her jealous emotions behind her smile.

Whatever you do, it's not now.

On this occasion, for example, now, if you tell me to do no favors then, and I confess as I am, I may be able to be a rack, but that is just being a jerk and in the end I am just running off on a cheap path.

Lisa wants to be happy, not rack.

I finally realized that.

What it takes to be happy is to be convinced.

It's about looking directly at your beautiful and dirty parts and even continuing to bother you. I didn't notice the latter part before, and no, the situation got obstinate because I pretended I didn't, but I should still have a chance to get my loss back.

Lisa was secretly prepared to talk to the Demon King and Alice over and over again from now on, and to ask herself hundreds or tens of thousands of times that question repeatedly to find a convincing answer.

◆ ◆ ◆

A brave man is a courageous man.

So what is courage?

Those who are supposedly brave in the world jump into dangerous situations where ordinary people are scared, or confront mighty enemies, but it is the strong will to support such people that is the courage?

You can say you're right, or you can say you're wrong.

If that person is just pretending to be fine without looking directly at reality, it's not courage.

If the spirit wears off after the person has dived many training grounds and is only blunt against fear, it cannot be called courage either.

But if anyone admits to being afraid of something they fear, becomes aware of their weakness and lack of power, and still stands up trembling for something important, then that person is the one who is truly courageous. You could say he's a brave man.

Anyway, from the surface of merit, I don't see any motive for action, so I don't know if it was courage to support that person other than in person.

In that sense, I guess Lisa has never been a true brave man before.

It doesn't matter what the world says or how it is valued by others.

Because a brave man is not just a strong person, but must have the courage that his title deserves.

But after a long detour, she acknowledged her weakness and filth and grew to the point where she wanted to have the courage to ride beyond it.

We've only just taken the first step, but Lisa has finally begun to take the road to becoming a true brave man.