Jin’s POV
   A few days ago, Nyri has vanished into thin air. Jin wasn’t worried at all. She’s more than capable of taking care of herself, and this is not the first time she disappeared, anyway.

   When he woke up this morning and starts preparing breakfast for himself, Nyri comes out of her room in her adult form. Without wearing any clothes. Whereas her child form makes her look like a girl about the age of nine, this form makes her look like a young woman in her early twenties.

   “Why are you in that form?” he asks.

   “I want to go to that Cultural Festival of yours.” she answers in a much more matured voice.

   He was wondering why she has disappeared.

   “And you planned to go in that form because…?”

   “I heard that there will be lots of delicious food. I want my stomach to be as big as possible so that I could taste them all.”

   “Just so you know, I don’t have any women’s clothing that fits you. Or any woman’s clothes, for that matter.”

   “You can ask Chinatsu again, right?”

   “I guess.”

   It’s still early, so Jin sent Sergeant Wakaba a message instead of calling her, just in case she’s still sleeping.

   “Nyri has changed into her adult form. She is akin to a human woman in her early twenties. Please bring her suitable clothing if possible.” he wrote.

   To be honest, he doubts she has any clothes for Nyri. When the dragon is in her mature form, her breasts are…very well-endowed. Sergeant Wakaba? Well, no comment. But she might have some. He could at least try and ask.

   “How much pocket money are you giving me, Jin? Millions?” Nyri asks excitedly.

   “Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t have that much with me. Even if I did, I still wouldn’t give you that much.”

   “Boo~.”

   “Now wait here while I go get the money.”

   “Remember to get as much as you can.”

   There’s a bank a few steps away from Jin’s apartment. He went to the ATM there and withdrew 30,000 yen.

   “Isn’t this amount way too little?” Nyri grumbles.

   “Be grateful that I gave you any money at all. Besides, I’ve never even spent half of this amount on myself.”

   “...I guess it’s better than nothing.”

   “Now, I don’t mind you going to the Festival, but I need to lay down a few rules. First, don’t cause any trouble. Second, if you happened to went to my class, you’re my distant cousin who came all the way from Finland. Third, don’t follow anyone weird to go somewhere. I worry for their safety.”

   “Fine. I’ll follow them.”

   Jin looks at her with a surprised expression.

   “You will? Seriously?”

   “Anything to get out every once in a while.”

   Jin quickly cooks breakfast for the two of them since he needs to head out to school soon. With her increased size, her appetite increased as well. Jin’s supply of food that he stored inside two refrigerators are gone by the time he was done with the cooking. He just hopes that she has no plan on keeping this form, or he might have to buy a third refrigerator.

   “Sometimes, I kind of think that you’re not normal.” she says out of the blue as they’re eating.

   “Where did that came from?”

   “I mean, there’s a naked lady with a dynamite body sitting right opposite you. And yet you’re showing zero reaction. It was the same when I appear as a little girl too. Are you sure you’re into girls?”

   “I’m pretty sure. I am, however, not into little girls, nor am I into bestiality. Hence I don’t react even when you’re naked.”

   “Ah, you’re no fun.”

   “Just eat your food. And make it quick. I need to do the wash-up too, you know.”

   Once they’re done eating and the dishes all the dishes had been washed, Jin changes into his school uniforms. He shakes his head in disgust. Wearing his school uniforms. On a Sunday. As if wearing them five days in a row isn’t torturing enough.

   “Well, I’m off. Try not to cause too much trouble for Sergeant Wakaba when she got here.”

   “Sure sure, I’ll be the very definition of good girl. And give me a tour when I got there.”

   “If my workload allows it.”

   Jin is the earliest to arrive. Guess he’s the only one who bothers to arrive thirty minutes before the agreed time to get everything ready.

   Stoves. Check. Gas. Check. Now to wait for the ingredients to arrive-

   “Good morning, Minase-kun.”

   Jin looks up and looks at the entrance. It’s Wakaba.

   “Morning, Wakaba. You’re early.” he greets.

   “So are you. You didn’t have to come this early, you know?”

   “It’s not like I have anything better to do, anyway.”

   “In any case, we can’t start with the preparation until the ingredients are here, so we can take it easy for now.”

   “Sure.”

   While waiting for the ingredients to arrive, the two of them are busying themselves with cleaning up their classrooms, arranging the tables and cleaning the floor. It didn’t take them long to be done with all those things, so they spent the rest of the time just sitting down and chat.

   “Are you nervous about later, Minase-kun?” Wakaba asks Jin.

   “Nope. Not one bit.”

   “I envy you. I was so nervous I could barely sleep.”

   A pause.

   “Esty, on the other hand, was still sleeping like a log when I left the house. I just hope that she can wake up and come here on time.” she sighs.

   “I highly doubt that she can.”

   “I would say that you have too little faith on her if it wasn’t for the fact that you’re probably right.”

   “Well, depending on the number of customers, we won’t even need her.”

   “Oh, don’t even joke about that! We worked so hard for this. It would be a shame if only a few customers visited us.” she chides.

   “I’m just being realistic. Besides, I prefer it that way. Less work for me.”

   “For someone who said that, you sure are diligent.”

   “Am I?”

   “Of course. You always have an aura that you want no part in all of this, and yet you’re helping out without a single complaint. You even arrived early today.”

   Jin shrugs. “I only did all these because it’s part of my responsibility.”

   “See? That part of you is what people call being diligent.”

   “...I guess.”

   “I know our classmates haven’t been treating you well. However, please know that you can always come and talk to me about your problems.”

   Her offer is pointless yet welcoming. Jin is just glad that there’s someone who’s even willing to give him some time of her day. Not that he’s ever going to accept the offer.

   “Yeah. Thanks for the offer.”

   Their conversation ended there as the others arrive one by one. After they went out to get the ingredients, they begin to prepare the dessert. As more time goes by, more and more of their classmates arrive. Estyshana is somehow here after seemingly being dragged by Watanabe.

   “Goodness, you look so sleepy Esty. Go and wash your face at the toilet.” Wakaba tells the demon.

   “Yes, mother.”

   “Who are you calling mother?”

   “Hey, Mama Chifuyu! I’m going to get changed into my work uniform, okay?”

   “Mama Chifuyu! Can I go to the toilet?”

   “Mama Wakaba, can I look around the school for a bit before we open for business?”

   “Would all of you stop calling me that? I’m not your mother!” Wakaba demands while pouting.

   “Hang in there, Mother Wakaba.” Jin whispers to Wakaba.

   “Not you too, Minase-kun!”

   Soon, the place is officially open for business. Surprisingly, the customers are keep on coming and coming. They barely have any downtime.

   “I need two mango puddings for Table 3!”

   “Is the Peanut Cream Dessert for Table 1 ready yet?”

   “Here it is!”

   “Two deep fried sesame balls for Table 9!”

   “Got it!”

   Jin is glad that their menu is simple, or they would have been overwhelmed by the workload for sure. Naturally, not all of the customers are here for the desserts and sweets. A lot of them are here for Yoshii. Jin could hear their demands to see him all the way from the kitchen.

   “Where’s Yoshii-kun? Bring him out!”

   “We came all the way from Ueno just to meet him, you know?”

   “Bring him out now!”

   “Yeah, yeah!”

   “I’m terribly sorry, customers, but I’m afraid Yoshii-kun is assigned to kitchen duties. Hence, he won’t be coming out.” Jin hears Watanabe telling them patiently.

   “You actually did that? What a waste!”

   “We don’t care! Just a few minutes is fine, just bring him here to us!”

   “Are you planning to go out?” Jin asks the popular prince.

   “Of course not. I volunteered to be part of the kitchen crew precisely for this reason. There’s no way I’ll go out and make things worse.”

   “Wise choice.”

   Eventually, those girls gave up and left. Finally, some peace and quiet. Or so Jin thought.

   “Minase-kun, there’s a lady with silver hair and blue eyes who’s here to see you.” Watanabe informs him.

   Oh, joy. She’s already here. And just when it’s busy.

   “Well, tell her to wait for a while. These desserts aren’t going to serve themselves.”

   “I’ve already told her something of that line, but she insists on seeing you.”

   “It’s fine if it’s just for a while, Minase-kun. ” Wakaba tells him.

   “Well, if you say so. I’ll make sure to be quick.”

   Sure enough, Nyri is sitting on one of the tables all by herself wearing some expensive-looking clothes. Jin needs to ask Sergeant Wakaba where did she got those clothes from. All the customers and Jin’s classmates are sneaking glances at her, but she pays no mind to them.

   She waves cheerfully at Jin when she saw him.

   “Hey there, Jin. Your cousin is here to see you.” she says to him.

   “I’m busy. Come back later.” he tells her bluntly.

   “How could you be so mean? I was, I was only worried about you~!”

   Nyri starts fake-crying. Jin felt killing intent coming from every single male inside the classroom. Not that Jin cares.

   “She said that she’s your cousin. Is that true, Minase-kun?” Watanabe asks him.

   “Yup. She’s the daughter of my father’s younger brother.”

   “But she has the look of a foreigner.”

   “My uncle married a Finnish woman.”

   Jin’s uncle, who’s the second eldest right after Jin’s father, has migrated to Finland and married a local there. And it’s true that they have a daughter who’s a bit older than Jin. In other words, Jin isn’t telling a complete lie.

   “That’s not really your cousin, is she?” Estyshana accuses him using telepathy.

   “Nope. She’s an Elder Dragon I killed. My sword is made from her corpse.” he confesses.

   “No wonder her aura seems familiar. And why is she here?”

   “To be a pain in the behind obviously-”

   “Enough about our family tree, Jin. You promised that you’ll give me a tour around the school.” Nyri reminds him.

   “I believe I said if my workload allows me. And it doesn’t. Not with all these customers around.”

   Jin was half-expecting her to go on a rampage and scare the customers away. Instead, all she did is looking at the menu.

   “Get me three mango puddings, three plates of sesame balls and four bowls of Peanut Cream Soup.” she demands.

   “Sure, sure. Give me some time.”

   Jin goes inside the kitchen in order to get Nyri’s orders.

   “Is everything all right, Minase-kun?” Wakaba asks.

   “Yeah. It was just my cousin. She wants to try some of the desserts on our menu, so I’m doing it right now to get rid of her as quickly as possible. Sorry for jumping orders.”

   “It’s fine.”

   Jin comes out with the desserts and puts them on the table. Nyri takes the given cutleries and start eating them.

   “After you’re done eating, walk around by yourself until I have the time to accompany you.” Jin tells her as she’s eating.

   “...Fine.”

   “And remember to pay for what you ate.”

   “Of course I will. I won’t dine-and-dash.”

   With that, Jin goes back to work. After an hour or so, the customers have finally start to decrease.

   “You can accompany that cousin of yours if you want. There isn’t much customers now anyway.” Wakaba tells him.

   “Nah, it’s fine. It would be bad if there’s a sudden rush of customers-”

   “Hey Minase! We’re here to play~!”

   Jin sighs. It’s one headache after another.

   “Was that…?” Wakaba asks.

   “Yup, the younger Graylock.”

   “It’s fine, you can go talk to them for a while.”

   “Thanks. And sorry about doing this twice in a row.”

   And so, Jin heads outside the kitchen once again. As he thought, Aldenia came here together with Audrey. Estyshana is standing next to them and chatting with Aldenia.

   “Good day, Minase-san. We are here as promised.” Audrey tells Jin formally when he got close.

   “It’s nice to see you, Audrey. You too, Aldenia.”

   “Hey, why aren’t you cosplaying like the rest?” Aldenia asks him.

   “Because I’m part of the kitchen crew. There isn’t any point for us to dress up like the rest.”

   “Aww, I was expecting you to wear those Chinese clothing!”

   “Too bad. Life is full of disappointment.”

   “It’s not too late to wear one. You can just borrow one from your classmate.” Aldenia suggests persistently.

   “No.” Jin says firmly.

   “Would you like to walk around the school with us later, Minase-san?” Audrey asks him.

   More death glares from the males.

   “Sure. I need to find my cousin first, though.”

   “Oh, your cousin is here as well?”

   “Yup.”

   “In any case, we shall not interrupt your work any further. Please get back to it.”

   “Right.”

   “See you later, Minase!”

   “Sure. See you later.”

   Jins shift has finally ended after an hour. After he left the classroom, the first thing he does is to look for Nyri.

   “Where are you now?” Jin reaches out to her using telepathy.

   “I’m not sure. I’m standing in front of a place where they’re turning a bunch of weird-looking balls on a weird-looking grill.” she replies.

   “A takoyaki stand, then. Wait there. I’m coming for you right now.”

   “Okay. You want some of these takoyaki or whatever?”

   “Sure. Get me one, please.”

   He also got into contact with the Graylocks.

   “We’re currently visiting the exhibition displayed by the Arts Club at the Arts Room.” Audrey writes.

   “Got it. I’ll be there soon.” Jin write back.

   “Wait up, Jin!”

   Jin turns around and sees Estyshana walking towards him while holding a signboard that advertises their class.

   “Has your shift ended already?” he asks.

   “Not really, but they allowed me to take a break earlier so that I could help with the advertisement.”

   “And why are you following me?”

   “It’ll be too boring if I walk around alone. Besides, you’re going to find those Graylocks, right? Not to mention that “cousin” of yours.”

   And so, Jin has to look for Nyri with Estyshana walking beside him. They get lots of stares when they’re walking together, and most of them are stares full of hatred and jealousy. The progress is painfully slow since the demon stops and looks at almost everything she sees. She also bought a lot of the food that interests her. IT was just a matter of time until all her money are spent.

   “Drat, my wallet’s empty now. Can you borrow me some money, Jin?”

   Jin sighs and lent her some.

   “Why do I have the feeling that you’re out of money all the time?”

   “I can’t help it. The food in this world, I mean this country is too delicious. Not to mention there are lots of fantastic games too.”

   Jin has a feeling that this demon has completely forgotten the reason she came to this world in the first place. Suddenly, she lets out a gasp.

   “D-Don’t think that you’re off the hook. One of these days, we’ll be settling this! Don’t you dare die before then!” she tells him while looking a little flustered.

   Oh, so she did remember.

   “Big words for someone who never won against me even once.” he mutters.

   “Do you have to remind me of that every single time? Oh look. There’s your dragon.”

   Jin looks at the direction she’s pointing. Sure enough, it really is Nyri. The dragon walks over to them and hands one of the takoyaki she’s holding to Jin.

   “I got bored. So I tried to look for you instead.” she tells him.

   “Fair enough.”

   Nyri stares at Estyshana. The demon stares back.

   “Nyri, this is Estyshana Von Mantus. Von Mantus, meet Nyri.” Jin introduces them to each other.

   “...Hello.” Estyshana greets Nyri stiffly.

   “Hi there.”

   “Right. Let’s go find the Graylocks already.”

   “Who?” Nyri asks.

   Jin explains their identity to her while they go to the Arts Room.

   “So, they’re also denizens from Ifezan.” Nyri concludes once Jin is done.

   “Yup.”

   The sisters were at the Arts Room when Jin and the gang reached the place. More introductions were made.

   “So, any place that all of you would like to visit?” Jin asks all of them.

   Nyri raises up her hand. “I wasn’t done walking around the food stalls.”

   “So am I.” Estyshana agrees.

   “Me too. I’m hungry.” Aldenia is also on board with the idea.

   “What about you, Audrey?”

   “I shall go with the flow of the majority.”

   “All right, then. I guess we’re checking out the food stalls first.”

   It was then when Jin’s sixth sense tingled. He knows that he didn’t imagine it as the expression of the others in the group have become serious.

   “Can you smell them?” Jin asks Nyri.

   “There are three of them in total.”

   “And their species?”

   The dragon furrows her eyebrows.

   “That’s the thing that bothers me. I can’t tell at all.”

   “Not even you? Whatever they are, they’re probably very dangerous.”

   “We’ll lend a hand in fighting them.” Audrey offers.

   “Yup. Let’s thrash them!” Aldenia agrees while cracking her fists.

   Estyshana didn’t say a word. Not that Jin was expecting any help from her.

   Jin shakes his head. “I appreciate your offer, but it’s better if you don’t show your true capabilities unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

   “I seem to be mistaken, but it would seem that you’re implying that we’re being observed.” Audrey points out.

   “You can say that. But I don’t have the time to tell you everything. For now, leave those creatures to me. ”

   “Understood. Godspeed and may you return safely.”

   “Good luck Minase.” Aldenia wishes.

   “Good luck, Jin. Don’t die or I’ll lose my source of income to buy more food.”

   “Thanks, Audrey and Aldenia. And, um, thank you too I guess, Nyri.”

   “...Don’t die.” Estyshana tells him a bit reluctantly.

   “Of course. I’ll make sure to come back.”

   Jin took some time to cast Mirror World in a secluded place just in case things got ugly. The moment he’s done casting it, everyone around him disappears. In this world, only he and the three unknown creatures exist. He brings out Felfarthen from the Vault.

   “Okay. Let’s do this.” he says to himself.