"I'm done with my shower. You can go now, Ryohei-kun."

Yurine, dressed in her cute pajamas with a soft white towel draped over her shoulders, emerged from the washroom. Her damp, reddish-brown hair, though clinging together, did nothing to diminish her beauty; in fact, it gave her a touchingly charming look.

"Jashin-chan, come dry my hair," she said, before sitting down next to an outlet in the living room.

"You're so bossy," Jashin-chan grumbled instinctively, but she still retrieved the hairdryer from a cabinet and slithered over.

"Um… Yurine." Ryohei, inhaling the pleasant fragrance coming from the petite goth-loli, pulled the pajamas he'd bought earlier from a shopping bag. "Let's go look at apartments the day after tomorrow."

"Hm? Why the sudden change of plans?" Yurine asked, surprised. Their original plan was to open a restaurant first, and then move to a nicer apartment. There was a logic to it: a new apartment building might not have a place to park the food cart or a courtyard to clean it in. Her current place, for all its faults, had both. Plus, lugging ingredients up and down an elevator would be less convenient than her ground-floor apartment. If he opened the shop first, none of that would be a problem. Besides, opening a small shop in Ota Ward wouldn't cost that much—two or three million yen at most. Ryohei could earn that in half a month of running his stall, maybe even less if he worked hard.

"I had Jashin-chan introduce me to a friend. She's coming over on Sunday," Ryohei explained. "I'm going to treat her to a meal, and if she agrees to stay, this apartment will be too small."

Yurine glanced at Jashin-chan, thinking that Ryohei must be truly desperate to rely on an introduction from her. She would have trusted Medusa more.

"Hey, what's with that look, Yurine? I feel offended!" Jashin-chan, who had just plugged in the hairdryer, noticed Yurine's skeptical gaze and scowled.

"It's nothing. I'm just surprised Jashin-chan would actually help you," Yurine said, her eyes returning to Ryohei with a faint smile. "Alright then, let's go look at apartments the day after tomorrow. I'll contact a real estate agent tomorrow."

"Okay," Ryohei replied, and then headed for the bathroom.

From behind him, he heard Jashin-chan mutter, "He is my familiar, after all…" followed by the whirring of the hairdryer.

The next day, the weather was clear again. The sun was bright in a cloudless, sapphire-blue sky, pouring its brilliant golden light down onto the city.

Yurine had two classes this morning and didn't have enough time to join them for shopping. Accompanied by Jashin-chan, Ryohei went to the market. He bought all the ingredients for tonight's Katsu Sando stall, as well as the materials for the Omurice and Crème Caramel he had promised to make for Yurine.

Jashin-chan had made Omurice for Yurine many times before—it was one of her favorites—and had also tried her hand at crème caramel a few times. She easily guessed his plan. On the way back, she asked, "Are you making Omurice and crème caramel?"

"Yep," Ryohei nodded.

"Did Yurine ask you to?"

"No, I offered to make it as a thank-you. She said those are two of her favorites."

"Huh?" Jashin-chan's eyes widened, and she bared her fangs in a pout. "Then how come you're not making me a thank-you meal? I'm the one who introduced you to a new friend! You're so ungrateful!" She began to vehemently condemn him.

Ryohei was taken aback. He was being chewed out by the scumbag snake herself. But, thinking about it, she had been a big help last night, contacting her friend in the Demon World right away. She had even used Ryohei's brand-new smartphone to make the call. He had been baffled at the time, asking, "How can a human-world phone call the Demon World?!" Jashin-chan's reply was simply, "Magic and science." Ryohei didn't get it, but he was impressed. In any case, she had helped him.

He glanced sideways at her. "What do you want to eat? I'll make it for you, as long as the ingredients exist in the human world."

"Hmm, really?" Jashin-chan's expression flipped in a textbook example of changing faces. Her pout vanished, replaced by a brilliant smile. "Let me think, let me think…"

Her mind immediately went to all the high-end ingredients she could never afford. "A5 Wagyu Beef, matsutake mushrooms, Yubari King melons, snow crab, bluefin tuna, fugu…"

"You really don't hold back, do you!" Ryohei's eye twitched as he cut her off. "I'm trying to thank you sincerely, and you're treating me like a pig for slaughter! You picked all the most expensive things!"

"You're the one who said the ingredients just had to be from the human world," Jashin-chan replied with an innocent smile. It was a complete facade.

"...For a meal like that, you'll have to wait until I open my restaurant," Ryohei said after a moment's thought. It wasn't that he couldn't afford it, but it certainly wasn't feasible right now. Once his restaurant was up and running and he wasn't short on cash, then maybe. He wanted to try those ingredients himself, too.

"Hmm? Is that an empty promise?" Jashin-chan's face changed in an instant, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.

Ryohei rolled his eyes at her. "You think I'm like you?!"

"...That's true," Jashin-chan said, thoughtfully retracting her gaze. She actually agreed with him.

Ryohei was left speechless for a moment. Seriously? Should I thank you for your trust, or praise you for your self-awareness? He didn't even know how to respond.