Kiru with a smile on her face slowly opened the mini cooler and pulled out a steak 12-inches wide and 3.5-inches thick. It was on a golden tray that had beautiful marbling on it that could easily be graded as an A5. The moment Kiru showed it to everyone, Reiki's stomach started gurgling loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. But oddly enough all of their gazes were still stuck on the steak on the tray of gold. Kiru said. "Looks like most of us here knows what this is."

All of them were just staring at the piece of meat except for Reiki who was holding his stomach while it started to make an inhuman gurgling sound. Arashi finally snapped back to reality as she worryingly asked. "Lil bro are you okay?" Reiki made a small nod but his stomach grumbles only got louder each time. Igai let out a sigh knowing he won't be able to taste it stood up and said. "Thanks for the meal bro. If you failed at your business start a restaurant, you'll be rich in no time." Giving Reiki another slap at his back before he walked towards the living room where the rest were staying.

Reiki was still holding his stomach thinking. What's happening to me? The voice said. [It's Q... That girl brought out a piece of dragon meat and Q wants it.] With another loud rumble from Reiki's stomach, this time a small trail of drool came from the side of his lips as he used both his hands to ease the pain away.

The voice said. [You need to swallow your pride and accept it. Q made your body digest the contents of your stomach already.] Reiki thought. But I ate most of it and-. With another loud rumble, Reiki gritted his teeth as he clenched his stomach with his hands. From the edge of Reiki's left eye, something black started to spread at a visible rate as his head was facing the ground.

[System: Queen is attempting to control the host.]

The voice said. [Q behave! He'll eat the piece of meat, so stand down! We don't need to cause him more trouble.]

[System: A third party suppressed Queen.]

The black that was spreading in his left eye started to receding but Reiki's stomach grumbling only got louder as more drool came from the edge of his mouth. Kiru said. "Little brother you can have it..." Arashi narrowed her eyes as Kiru trailed off her sentence. She continued. "If. You eat the entire thing." Arashi stood up in her chair on her right as she furiously said. "Are you f-. Kidding me?! Are you trying to kill him? We all know what happens if anyone eats something their body can't contain!" 

Kiru not being intimidated said. "I bought this in case something like this happens..." Using the corner of her eye to look at Reiki she continued saying. "And by the looks of it, I was right to prepare it." Reiki taking multiple deep breaths said. "What... Do you want? In exchange for it?" His stomach let out another loud rumble as Reiki bit his lip and blood started to color the drool that was leaking from the edge of his lips.

Kiru smiled and said. "Little brother, your words hurt me. All I'm trying to do is help you eat your fill. Seeing you in pain like this burdens my heart so much." Arashi took one step toward her and said. "You little-." Seijo suddenly appeared behind her as he put her arm on her shoulder to stop her. He said. "Tiger..." Arashi suddenly moved her shoulder making Seijo lose his grip on her. She sat back on her chair with her arms crossed with an indifferent expression with a hint of concern when she looked at Reiki painfully clenching his stomach. Kiru gently placed the gold tray on the table and slowly moved it towards Reiki and said. "Here you go, little brother a generous meal from a generous sister."

Arashi glared at her using the corner of her eye but Kiru couldn't see it from behind. Reiki stared at the piece of meat swallowing the saliva in his mouth as he thought. What happens if I eat it? The voice said. [Nothing... We lose either way. A. Q goes berserk and hunts everything within a 10-mile radius until a few species are nearly extinct or B. You eat this dragon steak and they will know you have a secret on you.] Reiki thought. How so?

His stomach making another rumbling sound with his eyes on the meat on the tray. The voice said. [In summary stronger monsters have a higher concentration of mana in their body. These monsters usually only eat things that have a large volume of mana. Why do you think there are still thousands of low-level monsters? What would a dragon's diet consist of? Another monster that has a large concentration of mana or a variant like that boar you ate.]

[Although their populations are almost non-existent, variant class and unlike in other realms what this realm calls 'Raid' and a few 'Boss' classes surprisingly takes a fair amount of time to digest their food resulting in a hibernation-like behavior. Minus a few exceptions like dragons who can live off darkness and light alone... What I've observed in your... Forgotten realm is that certain species of monsters that get too strong are doomed to die in either deep slumber or starvation. Why do you think they attack you, humans, in the first place? You keep stealing their only food source.]

Reiki with one last painful stomach rumble slowly moved with his lightly trembling hands as he reached for the golden tray. By this time Yuko finished doing the dishes and was watching everything unfold in interest. Yuko thought. Now we can see how unique his body is... Though Seijo might pay for it one way or another.

Reiki picked up the tray as he went back into the kitchen and sliced the dragon steak into four pieces with some scoring on the meat to make it cook faster in a pan with the heat on high with some butter and olive oil. The sounds of his stomach rumbling only became louder as he sat on the floor waiting for the meat to finish cooking.

~10 Minutes Later~

Walking back into the table where the girls were sitting, they saw Reiki holding a plate with both hands while forcing himself to not eat it with his bare hands. The voice said. [Truth be told, I'm surprised you were able to suppress Q from making you eat it raw.] Reiki kept his focus and eventually sat on the opposite of where the girls were sitting while Seijo was watching Reiki with interest.

Staring at the four pieces of dragon steak Reiki grabbed a knife and fork that was prepared for him a few minutes ago he sliced off a good amount of meat and ate it. He felt his stomach feel bloated as he gave himself a few rubs to ease it down, a few seconds passed Arashi asked. "Lil bro how do you feel?" With her face full of worry. Reiki replied. "I feel like I'm going to pu-." He stopped near the end of his sentence when he felt his stomach expanding. Letting out a painful grunt as he started to sweat profusely and his vision turned hazy while lightly tipping sideways on his chair. Arashi stood up and quickly moved to the chair next to him as she said. "Lil bro?! Lil bro!? Tell us how you feel! So we can help you!"

Turning her head and facing Seijo, she said. "Dragon do something!" Seijo pondered for a moment and said. "I think he might have eaten a slice too big for his body to digest." Arashi standing up on the chair next to him furiously said. "Did he!? I couldn't tell!" Seijo shrugged and said. "It's not like this hasn't happened before. He either goes into a food coma for months or we do surgery on him and take the steak out... By the way..."

Turning his head to look at Kiru calmly drinking tea, not caring what was happening. He said. "How strong was this dragon?" Arashi knows what type of monster Reiki ate. She shouted. "You brought dragon meat?! Dragon meat!? Is that head of yours a decoration!?" Yuko was too busy while placing all the dishes they used.

While parts of his vision were slowly turning white the voice said. [Eat everything.] Reiki thought. I already feel my insides expanding from a single slice. The voice said. [Don't worry about it and eat. Q and I will make sure your body won't give up on you.] While everyone was arguing no one noticed Reiki was slicing the rest of the dragon steak into bite-size pieces. Kiru was still drinking her tea while Arashi's eyes were spewing fire and Seijo was waiting for her reply.

Kiru made a small smile and said. "You can take a sample and find out." Seijo made a small frown while Arashi said. "Fine! But if anything happens-." She turned her head to face Yuko who tapped her shoulder in a frenzy. She said. "What?" Yuko pointed at Reiki's plate. Turning around she saw him chewing the last bit of the steak as he started to slowly turn red and breathing heavily. Arashi shouted. "Dragon! Reiki ate the entire thing!" Seijo turned his head around while Kiru's eyes were wide open staring blankly at the empty plate.

Seijo said. "Rooster drag Tiger out of here! I'll warn the others!" While running towards the living room Kiru was nowhere to be seen already while Yuko dragged Arashi by her hand out of the shop. Arashi said. "Wait! We need to help him!" While being dragged by the hand she gripped the doorway and said. "We can still help him! If we act-." Yuko cut her off saying. "We're out of time! I'll pay you what you loaned him so let's get out of here while we can!" With a swift tap of her arm, Yuko broke the chunk of the wall where Arashi was holding and dragged her to the front of the shop.

…

Reiki was still in the chair breathing heavily and thought. What's happening to me? The voice said. [Nothing much. Just relax and let me and Q control you for a second.] With a deep breath to calm himself down, Reiki felt different thoughts in some part of his mind.

[System: Third party has partial control over the host.]

[System: Queen is being used by the third party.]

[System: Queen has made the host use Devour.]

[System: Queen has made the host use Devour.]

[System: Queen has made the host use Devour.]

[System: Queen has gained 30 Hunger.]

[System: Queen used the skill Repair.]

[System: Queen used the skill Repair.]

[System: Host has lost control of mana suppression.]

『Mana Flow Has Been Activated. Mode: Released by 100%』

The voice said. [Hang on to what's left of your sanity. Your blood is going to boil for a few seconds.] Reiki started to hyperventilate as his vision began to blur and his skin turned red the more time passed. the voice said. [It would've been ideal if there weren't any witnesses... But I don't want to wander around the realms for the next few thousand Eons.]

Kiru who was peeking around the corner was watching everything and even brought out her phone to record with her eyes giving off a faintly glowing blue. Reiki suddenly stood up from his chair making it fall over as he used his hands to rub his eyes, he let out a pain-filled grunt from how hot it felt. Some steam started to come out from the top of him.

With one step forward he felt his muscles go limp as his face almost smashed right into the floor letting out a moan of pain Reiki felt his throat go dry in an instant. Without him noticing it his eyes turned hollowed as he tried to stand up his entire body suddenly felt like he was being burned alive. Clenching his hand into a fist so hard his knuckles made a cracking sound with blood coming out of his palms from his nails being buried, letting out a hysterical scream from the top of his lungs.

______________________________________________________

In Front Of The Shop

All of them except Kiru were at the front of the shop with a barrier around them. Arashi was on the left side alone, with a cold expression on her face. To break the tension Fuitchi said. "Seijo, couldn't you just surround him in a barrier? The game was already reaching the ninth inning." Seijo said. "Easy for you to say. I would have to buy another one and we all know how expensive this can cost-."

Before he could finish the shop was engulfed in mana. Everyone stared at it while Yuko said. "That's strange... Why is their exceedingly pure and dense mana here?" Then everyone in the barrier froze in place when they heard Reiki scream. A few birds that were around some trees flew away from the sudden cry.

______________________________________________________

Back Inside

Slowly the steam coming out of his body dissipated as his skin was turning into his regular pasty white. Reiki stood up immediately and ran toward the refrigerator drinking everything he could. Kiru hid away when he screamed and her phone was missing, she was drying her hands using a white silk handkerchief walking inside the kitchen she saw Reiki who was chugging down a water bottle with his right hand and with his left hand he was pouring water all over himself.

With a single look, Kiru saw his mana flow was rapidly growing in size. She thought. Amazing... With mana like this, he could easily be a magistrate for mages in the future. With a growing smile on her face, she knew he would be able to leave this realm in the future and it would only be a matter of time. The sound of footsteps was coming from the doorway.

Kiru turned her head and saw everyone was curious about what had to happen wh Reiki. The first one inside the room was Arashi. She was frantically searching the room and saw Reiki's clothes were wet as he was chugging a bottle of water with a few empty ones next to his foot. She ran towards him with a hug and she reflexively let go of him and said. "Hot! Lil bro are you okay?" Reiki empties another one and  said. "I-I'm fine... But I'll be needing an ice bath and more cold liquids..." As he opened another bottled water before he started to drink he said. "Why does this place even have bottled water? They have a sink over there."

Arashi picked up one of the empty ones and said. "It's one of the owner's things. And you're one to talk, these things are quite costly you know." Drinking the last bottle of water in one go he reached for the fridge and pulled out a liter of milk, orange juice, and Oolong tea. With one twist he opened up the liter of milk and started to chug it down as fast as possible. Everyone had a shocked expression except Kiru who made the effort of pulling out her phone inside of her wallet that was no bigger than a yen bill.

Arashi was still worried about him before she could say anything Kiru said. "I already made a few... Orders, 3 minutes give or take you can have your ice bath and more fluids..." She trailed off as she looked up and down on what was left of Reiki's clothes. She continued saying. "And new clothes for my little brother to change into." With a bright smile on her face and a chuckle for good measure.

Arashi frowned and said. "You can bring the ice but I'll be the one who'll pick what he's going to wear." Kiru lazily turned her head to face her and said. "And risk my little brother looking like you?" Examining what Arashi was currently wearing she let out a small sigh with a small shake of her head. Arashi's eyes twitched as she said. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

Kiru shrugged and said. "Have you looked into a mirror recently? Your clothes alone make me question your feminine side." Arashi took a step closer to her and said. "Huh?! Not everyone can afford to sit on their butts the whole day and live off their parents! My clothes are used for more practical reasons! Unlike you wearing a sundress indoors! And another-."

Everyone heard the doorbell ring Kiru took holding her phone with a few taps she placed it back into her wallet. There were no sounds of footsteps from the door. Kanzei just suddenly appeared in the middle of the room with 4 large coolers over his right shoulder that almost touched the ceiling and in his left hand was a large brown bag that had no designs on it.

Kanzei said. "Ojou-sama, I'm sorry for the wait. As per your request ice for an ice bath and clothes with exact measurements of the boy." Kiru took the brown bag from his hand she said. "No Kanzei, you were right on time." Everyone had their guard up when he suddenly appeared except for Seijo who was thinking of something.

Reiki, who had already emptied the orange juice and milk, took the cap off the Oolong tea and said. "Nice to make your acquaintance Kanzei-san." He held his free hand toward him waiting for a handshake. Kanzei's expression didn't change but his eyes slightly faltered when he noticed Reiki wasn't holding any malice towards him. Kanzei said. "I'm... Intrigued. You don't hold anything against me since our last... Meeting." Reiki said. "I'm not one to hold a grudge on someone who was following orders within justification."

Kanzei shook Reiki's hand. Showing what he had in his hand Reiki said. "Oolong tea?" With a liter of Oolong tea in his hand, Kanzei thought for a bit and said. "I usually refuse drinks but, I do appreciate a good Oolong tea as long as its shade is visibly dark amber." Before Reiki could turn around two glasses appeared in Kanzei's freehand on a closer look the glasses had a few delicate designs on them.

With a shrug, Reiki poured both the glasses with Oolong tea. Kanzei raised his glass closer to him. Knowing what Kanzei meant Reiki carefully clinked their glasses together and simultaneously said. "Cheers." As both of them drank their respective glass, both of them emptied it in one go Kanzei asked. "Why don't you prefer milk tea instead..." Reiki answered. "Just call me Reiki. I do like a good black tea but I don't always have the time to brew so Oolong tea was the closest thing. Though some brighter version of it is quite good."

Kiru was watching from the side with an intrigued expression as she kept her eyes glued with interest. Kanzei takes the glass from Reiki with a move of his hand and both of the glass vanish. He said. "Ojou-sama, can you tell me where the bathroom is? So I can place the ice in the bathtub." Kiru said. "Down the hall on the left." Kanzei left immediately with Reiki behind him as they left everyone in the kitchen. Arashi said. "Kiru-san, what do you stand to gain?"

Before anyone else could say anything Kanzei was already back in the room on the right of Kiru and said. "Ojou-sama I have placed all the ice in the tub and stowed away the coolers that I've brought." Not turning around and Kiru sat back on the chair she was sitting in previously and said. "Thank you for your hard work. Now... That was quite unexpected from you Kanzei. You accepted a person offering you a drink."

Kanzei said. "You do know I love black tea... And besides, the main reason for our rough... Our first time meeting was because of you stating... Conditions." Kiru lazily sat in a chair and aid. "Do you still believe that people who drink black tea or anything bitter have been through hardships?" Kanzei stayed silent as he stood at her left waiting for his next order. Arashi who was glaring daggers in her eyes had her arms on her waist as she coldly said. "Now that's over with. Out!" Kiru not turning around to face her said. "No thank you."

As she took out her phone browsing on the internet. Arashi was on the verge of exploding but Kiru suddenly said. "Don't be like Arashi-san." As everyone in the room fell into a daze as Seijo with his eyes narrowed and a frown on his face, Seijo said. "What did you just say?" Kiru let out a small sigh and said. "Seijo I'm not in the mood to talk right now." Seijo coldly said. "Who are you?" Letting his mana spread out in the room to intimidate her. Kanzei on her left, let out his mana spread at the same time easily stopping his. Kiru said. "Who do you think I am?"