Alternate Reincarnation

Approaching Nightmare & Haunting Ruler

Welcome back! Time for Chapter 5, "Approaching Nightmare & Haunting Ruler"

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"Itadakimasu!"

Shido felt his anticipation rose when the voice of the various inhabitants of the Itsuka household, overlapped, signifying the beginning of dinner time.

It was quite a bit later than usual. Since he, as the chef, had invited Miku -the only Spirit he had sealed who didn't live near his residence- to come over his house, Shido wanted to wait for her so she could join the dinner.

Unfortunately, she didn't come as quickly as Shido had expected. It was almost half an hour since he called her, and she hadn't shown any signs of being here yet.

He didn't mind waiting for some more minutes, but some of the Spirits there certainly would. Left with little choice, he decided to begin dinner without Miku.

Despite the various different appetites that the Spirits had, all of them did share something in common; his cooking. That was one of the few things he could take pride with, not that there was much else to boast about.

However, tonight, they would notice something was different with his food.

"What is this, Shido? This is really delicious!"

Tohka's bright smile and excitement seemed to rise to even higher levels than usual.

"...Is this, pasta?"

Origami looked questioning, but she was devouring her food at a rate faster than usual.

Shido smiled. Of course, Origami would be the first to identify it. He supposed that deserved a reward.

"Yeah. I tested a new recipe, does it taste good?"

"This tastes like the dish served by the angels themselves!"

It was Kaguya who answered. Of course, she was being overdramatic as usual, but Shido knew her complements were genuine.

"Praise. This food is on a different class than your usual serve."

Shido felt his ego was stroked gently. Even Yuzuru wasn't immune to his new recipe.

"Wow..."

Natsumi, for once, appeared speechless, and she only stared at the food on the plate with wonder on her eyes.

"It's delicious..."

Yoshino was gently slamming the table beside the plate – a natural reaction if hers when she ate something good – while the puppet on her hand stared to him.

"Shido-kun, did you learn to cook better or something?"

Shido merely nodded sagely at Yoshinon's question.

He was very satisfied that the girls liked his food. It was because the food today was the result of another hellish training made by his sister.

Since Nia's rescue, Kotori had subjected him to various training, just like the ones he suffered through to date the Spirits.

Only, it was worse because it was not just dating skills this time. Things like his cooking skill, conversational skill, and even artistic skill were also beaten into his head...

"All of that pays off in the end, huh? It's unfortunate those three didn't get to test it..."

He glanced to the three empty seats in the room.