"I can see the end of the stairs," Miyabi remarked.
Seiji and Matsutani noticed that the stairs were ending as well, so they stopped arguing.
The three of them thus reached the end of the stairs and discovered that there weren"t any more stairs leading upward. Their only choice was to get off at this hotel floor.
Seiji was the first to enter. Miyabi followed second, while Matsutani entered last and sealed off the fire door with a spell.
This hotel floor was completely pitch-black—a darkness that Seiji was unable to see though even with his [Astral Vision]. The only lighting came from the cl.u.s.ter amaryllis flowers that illuminated the ground.
"Walk towards wherever there"s the most flowers," Seiji told Miyabi.
"Why"s that?" Miyabi looked at Seiji.
"Because they will definitely lead to something… Matsutani-senpai and I found you using this method as well."
"Why are cl.u.s.ter amaryllis flowers the guides in here?"
"I don"t know the answer to that." Seiji shook his head.
Miyabi decided not to pursue the issue after seeing that he didn"t know.
The three of them followed the path of brilliantly blooming red flowers.
Seiji introduced Matsutani to Miyabi as they proceeded.
The female high school student didn"t have any particular reaction to Matsutani"s ident.i.ty as Sharphorn Ironcliff or his light novel "I Can"t Sleep When I"m Sleeping Together with My Younger Sister!". She merely greeted him normally.
As the three of them walked onwards, they saw more and more cl.u.s.ter amaryllis flowers.
"Something"s up ahead. I don"t know what it will be. Be careful," Seiji reminded everyone.
Miyabi became nervous, which caused the cat ears on her head to twitch.
When they pa.s.sed through a large patch of cl.u.s.ter amaryllis flowers, they saw...
"Moon Bunny Eatery."
Miyabi, Seiji, and Matsutani were all rendered speechless.
They all remained silent while standing in front of the dark-brown wooden door with the exquisite welcome sign for several seconds.
Apart from the name, the welcome sign also had a cute image of a bunny sitting on a crescent moon. For such a wooden door to appear by itself in the middle of all these red cl.u.s.ter amaryllis flowers seemed like quite an abnormal sight.
"This is the restaurant that"s the setting for Yuuko Has.h.i.+moto-san"s Excellence Award light novel "Moonlight Eatery in Another World,"" Miyabi told Seiji and Matsutani.
"So, just like Senpai"s light novel, her story has appeared in this realm as well." Seiji rubbed his chin in contemplation. "Has.h.i.+moto-san is highly likely to be here… behind this door."
"Go ahead, Harano-kun," Matsutani gave his encouragement.
"Matsutani-senpai, how about you be the vanguard this time? I"ll be in charge of rear support."
"The vanguard can only be someone as strong and handsome and young as you! A middle-aged man like me is more suited to be a nondescript rear guard."
"And the honest truth in your heart?"
"Those who go first will often die, while those who go last will escape the easiest!" Matsutani stated seriously.
"I knew that was what you were thinking," Seiji retorted.
And so, he made his preparations and opened the door.
After opening the door, he saw a restaurant that had an elegantly decorated, brightly lit, and clean interior. He also saw…
"Welcome… eh?"
Yuuko Has.h.i.+moto who was wearing black and white miniskirt maid attire!
"Moonlight Eatery in Another World" was a story about a boy who loved cooking. His dream in life was to inherit and take over his father"s restaurant. Although this boy always wanted to help out in his father"s restaurant, he was never permitted to do so until he finally reached high school. Only when he started working at his father"s restaurant did he learn that the restaurant was actually connected to another world on moonlit nights. He also met a princess from this other world who just happened to be visiting his restaurant for the first time. They liked each other at first sight, and thus began the development of a seemingly unrealistic youthful love story.
This was a rather fresh story that combined the genres of food, another world, and youthful romance. The judges" overall reviews were that "It"s overall a good novel, but still lacking in some places and needs more details."
Yuuko Has.h.i.+moto was quite pleased with this result already. After all, she had already failed to garner interest for all her previous draft submission attempts. Finally receiving an Excellence Award gave her the motivation and interest to continue writing.
She was really delighted to have won her prize. However, she didn"t know what happened after that… When she opened her eyes again after receiving the prize, she found herself in a restaurant that was identical to the "Moon Bunny Eatery" in her light novel! Not only that, she was wearing a server"s uniform.
Then, Yuuko met the restaurant"s owner, one of the main characters of her own novel! After all, he was the main character"s father. She learned from him that she was the only server working at the restaurant.
Just what exactly was going on here!?
Yuuko really wanted to understand what was happening. However, she was unsure how to ask.
At this moment, a customer arrived, a red-haired warrior wearing a complete suit of armor! This was also an exact match for one of the characters in her novel.
The restaurant owner had her go over to serve this customer.
Yuuko felt quite anxious and wanted to leave here immediately. So, she ignored the warrior and went over to open the restaurant"s front door instead. However, she couldn"t see anything outside at all other than a black mist!
This obviously abnormal black mist frightened her. Yuuko no longer dared to step out of the restaurant.
At this moment, the restaurant owner scolded her for ignoring the customer and reminded her to do a good job at serving the customers.
Yuuko who was afraid of what was going on could only comply and obediently started working as a server in her own novel"s restaurant.
"Has.h.i.+moto-san… you"re working as a server here?"
"Um… I suppose so. I don"t know what exactly is going on here…"
Seiji looked directly at her.
"Allow me to confirm something first. Has.h.i.+moto-san, you remember who I am, right?"
"Yes, I remember. You"re Seigo Harano, the special award winner I met at Thunderbolt Literature"s award ceremony," Yuuko responded.
"It"s a good thing that you can remember…" Seiji walked into the restaurant and glanced around at the surroundings. "Can you tell me about what exactly has happened to you?"
"I don"t know… I somehow found myself here mysteriously while wearing this server"s uniform, and I was told that I was a server here… just what is this place? Why is it the exact same as in my light novel? How did I get here? I don"t know the answer to anything!" Yuuko was beginning to get somewhat frantic.
"Please calm down, Has.h.i.+moto-san," Seiji told her gently. "I"ll explain things to you… although I don"t know entirely what"s going on here, either, I can at least help clear away some confusion."
At this moment, Matsutani and Miyabi followed after Seiji and entered the restaurant.
Yuuko instantly widened her eyes upon seeing Miyabi.
"…Is.h.i.+harsan?"
"Yes, that"s me." The cat eared girl nodded. "Has.h.i.+moto-san, it"s great to see that you"re alright."
"Is.h.i.+harsan, why do you look like this?" Yuuko looked at Miyabi"s cat-like appearance in astonishment.
"I don"t know, either." Miyabi smiled wryly.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of a bell ringing.
Seiji and the others turned to see a handsome middle-aged man who had a small mustache and was wearing a white chef"s uniform.
This man was evidently the restaurant"s chef. He was indicating to Yuuko that she should hurry up and have the newly arrived customers take a seat and order some food.
"Why don"t you all take a seat first and rest a little?" Yuuko indicated to them.
"Can we actually order food here?" Matsutani asked.
"Yes…"
"Then I would like to order some food." The pudgy middle-aged man immediately sat down at a nearby table. "I came to visit the award ceremony originally because I was really looking forward to the banquet"s free food after the award ceremony, but now I got myself involved in such a strange situation. I"ve been so busy that I feel like I"m starving to death."
"Senpai, you"re quite direct when it comes to these things." Seiji looked at him. "Aren"t you worried about the food here having problems?"
"If I feel that anything"s wrong, I know a spell that can help me hurl up all the contents of my stomach!" Matsutani remained fearless.
Miyabi and Yuuko were rendered speechless.
"That sounds disgusting… if you really have to do that, please do it away from our sight in a restroom somewhere." Seiji"s cheek twitched at hearing this.
Then, he and Miyabi sat down at the table as well.
Just looking at the environment, this place seemed like a completely ordinary restaurant with nothing abnormal about it at all.
"I don"t know what secrets may be hidden here… but at least I think we can rest here for a moment," Seiji thought to himself.
Matsutani really did order some food.
After Yuuko Has.h.i.+moto brought over the curry rice that he ordered, Matsutani grabbed a spoon and shoved a large mouthful of curry rice into his mouth and chewed…
The next moment, his expression froze over.