Chapter 62: Food Talk

"So, Haruki Hotaru. I heard from the current General of Gluttony Shota Beelzebub, about what you did, and all I can say is I'm impressed."

"Really? Thank yo-" Wait what did he say? "Excuse me Beelzebub, can you repeat what you said?"

"Hmm? Okay. *Cough* So, Haruki Hotaru. I heard from the current General of Gluttony Shota Beelzebub, about what you did, and all I can say is I'm impressed. I think that's what I said." Beelzebub said that as he continues too much on his food.

Wait... "Shota? You've talked to Shota!? When?! When did this happen?! Please tell me!" If what Lucas theorized to be true, then they could've talked yesterday, but what if they talked a long time ago? No that couldn't be possible, since not even the other General has talked to them.

Which means... They could've talked yesterday since Shota was thanking Beelzebub when he was dreaming.

"When was it perhaps..? Hmm... I forgot."

"...." What did he say? "Huh?! How would you forget something that important?! Are you an idiot?!" Without even noticing it, I fearlessly called the original Sinner of Gluttony an idiot.

Not a good thing to do, since he might almost kill me like a certain representative of a sin, but since I heard Shota's name I couldn't hold back my anger.

After all, I don't know what's happening to him right now, and what's Beelzebub is doing to him right now.

"Forget, forget hmm... I wonder why I decided to forget it..."

"No that's not natural at all! There's no way that you can forget something on demand! Especially since you're demanding it onto yourself!" This guy is starting to get into my nerves, are the other original Archdukes like this? My dream of Lucifer being cool broke down when he's starting to get annoying. And like Lucifer, Beelzebub is like him!

Seriously, Satanael can be sloppy and childish sometimes when he didn't betray us, and Mammon is the only normal persona of a devil of the Original Sinners.

"Haha!" Beelzebub was laughing at my angry face. "You're really like your father aren't you Haruki? Like him, Jarren was always worried about the safety of his allies, that he would even try to sacrifice his own life just to save them."

Like my father? "I'd rather not being compared to my own father please." Even, if I'm happy that my father is like that, I couldn't hold back my anger at him.

If possible, I want Beelzebub to just say that this is what I am, a guy that cares for his friends the most. Not a guy that is like his own father.

I would've been happy being compared to my father if I haven't known the truth yet, but now's too late for that.

"Is it because of what you've seen? I guess that's it isn't Haruki Hotaru? It's normal to be angry with a traitor, especially if it's someone like you who loves his home, but what could it be? Why did I compare you to Jarren? Is it because you reminded me of him? Or is it something else besides that?"

"Why are you even asking me that?"

"Who knows, maybe you know Haruki Hotaru."

"*Sigh* Just tell me what you want from me." If this guy is gonna say that he forgot why he wants to talk to me, I'm really gonna punch him.

"First I would like to answer my own question first Haruki, about why you reminded me of your father a lot. I think I had a hunch on what it could be because I remembered her telling me an amazing tale of what you did to her Haruki Hotaru."

"Wait what are you talking about? Who's her? Who are you talking about Beelzebub? I don't remember doing something to a girl ever."

Beelzebub let out a smile. "Oh, I think you know who I am talking about Haruki Hotaru."

"I know..?" Then who could it be perhaps? if I've done something to a girl, I only remember making Akemi cried, hiding Ruri's secret, saving Luna's life, accepting Millie even if we are not related by blood, and protecting Talya from Azazel. So are they the "her" that Beelzebub is talking about? Couldn't be, since it's probably only a single person because it's not plural.

Then my only answer would be... "Is it her Beelzebub? That mysterious blonde girl that I met on my dreams and thoughts?" Yes, she's the only one that Beelzebub could probably be referring to.

Even if I haven't done a single thing to her, her face is the only one I can see when Beelzebub is calling her by "her".

After all, that mysterious blonde girl whom I never met in my entire life, seems to know about me, and also it seems like she has connections with both my father and Lucifer, so it's not odd to know that she had a conversation with Beelzebub.

And also, when I'm here, all I could think about is that girl.

"That's correct! I'm impressed that you answered that correctly Haruki, so I want to ask you, why did you answer "her" perhaps? It could've been any other else, and your mother might be a potential answer too you know that?"

"It's an easy answer, I just eliminate the candidates on who could you be referring to."

"Hmm... Not an intriguing answer I would say, but aren't you sure that there's something else that could lead to "her" as an answer?"

"A different reason why she's my answer to his question? To be honest, I've been thinking about what she's doing for a long time now, and I just couldn't think but her face and voice sometimes."

"I'm not like Asmodeus who's good at this stuff, but I want to know, what do you feel about her?"

What do I feel about her? About a couple of hours ago, I remember Ifrit telling me about me getting a partner, is that what Beelzebub want's to know?

Because, I remember that girl telling me that she loves me and misses me, even on the point that she hugged me tightly.

But what're my feelings for her? Because unlike her, the other girls that I've met and become friends with, I've always had lew- I mean wholesome fantasies of them. That's all, wholesome not vulgar and lewd things... And when I think of that blonde girl on my mind, I can't think of her as a potential love interest or partner, but more like someone that holds dear to my heart? "*Sigh* My feelings... I'm confused right now, she's like someone important to me, but I don't know why though."

"Hmm... Then what you're saying is that she's important to you, but not as someone as you like? I see... So what she says is true then..."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Did I friend-zoned a hot babe like her? Then, I take back what I said!

"Well she's actually like you Haruki, she always says how important you are to her and that she loves you very much that she'll sacrifice her own life for you, but she always said that you're only an important friend and doesn't think of you as a love interest. And I know that she's telling the truth because of my skills, *Sigh* Kids these days are sure confusing."

So she thinks the same as me, an important friend that she truly loves and cares about, despite even I don't know her and she only talked to me three times.

But why though? Why do I feel the same way as her? Is there an answer to why I feel this way? D*mn, relationships are really hard to understand.

Then I guess time would answer that somehow, for now, I'm gonna go back to talking with Beelzebub. "*Cough* Beelzebub, now that you answered your question, I want to know why you're here? And also where's Shota and Akemi if you know where she is?"

"I did promise to answer them, then I'll answer the second question first then." swallowing down a whole steak, Beelzebub proceeds to answer. "For starters, Shota Beelzebub is okay, and he's sleeping at the place where you met Lucifer, we had a nice chat and ate a lot of food for about 15 hours, so he's tired."

"So? When will you going to bring him back?"

"To answer that I don't know."

"Ha!?" There he goes again. "What do you mean that I don't know?!" For now, I'll hold back my punch until he clarifies why.

"To put it simply, I'm still waiting for Leviathan and the current General of Envy Akemi Leviathan to finish up, since I heard there's trouble happening on their side, and also I'm still not done having a chat with Shota. He's a nice kid, so I want to get along with him and teach him some few things."

Then that clarifies that Lucas' theory is true then, and there's trouble happening with Akemi and the original Leviathan? "What's happening to Akemi right now Beelzebub?"

"How would I know? Leviathan is a secretive person, and she hates men a lot, so I can't go and ask her that, because I might die a second time from her."

Poor guy, then I'm not gonna punch him for now. But if something is happening to them that's taking them very long to solve, I hope that it's not something dangerous.

"Then let's head to the first question you asked Haruki, why am I here in your soul space?" Drinking a cup of water after eating, Beelzebub smiles at me very brightly. "It's maybe I want to help you perhaps?"

If he wants to help me then that's okay because Lucifer has helped me a lot of times already, so getting the help of another strong Archduke is amazing. "So what do you want to help me with Beelzebub?"

"I heard about this training of yours right now with the daughter of Vladamir and Hans, so that girl asked me to come here and help you Haruki."

She's helping me? Then that's a hundred percent better than their help! After all, having a beautiful girl help you is truly amazing. "So what is she gonna help me with?" I excitedly asked.

"She wants you to drink a mysterious concoction, but I don't know what the concoction does because she doesn't want to tell it to me, so I don't know if it's safe or not."

"I don't care about that! because there's no way that a beautiful and nice girl like her would poison someone that she says that's important to her. So give it to me!" As of right now, I'm like a child who's excited to get a new toy from his parents.

"You have to find it yourself Haruki."

"Huh!? Is this some kind of game to you!?"

"What if I say yes?" With a smug smile, he told me that.

"*Tsk* Then where did you hide it Beelzebub?"

He smiles. "It's right in front of you Haruki Hotaru."

"Right in front of me?-" Wait could he mean? Did he mixed it with one of the foods here?!

"So this is gonna be our goodbyes for now Haruki Hotaru, I'll leave you to it then, bye-bye. Also a hint you can use anything that's here, so make good use of the guidance."

"Wait!-" Before I stopped him, Beelzebub has finally disappeared without a trace, and all that's left is me and a massive table filled with many foods.

How am I gonna find it? If there are so many foods here? And there's no way I can eat all of this, so I just have to try this by pure luck.

Why am I even saying luck if luck clearly hates me? "Here I go, time to eat!" I grabbed the soup from the bowl and ate it. And after eating it... "*Blech*" I puked.

This tastes disgusting! I picked up a piece of meat and ate it, and again and I puke it out. "What is this taste?! It's far more disgusting than spoiled food."

Now, what do I do? If all the foods here are disgusting, how would I get that concoction that she gave me!? This is hard, my stomach and my mouth would die from that disgusting taste, no I would die.

"*Sigh* That f*cking b*tch! I knew that I should've punched that guy in the face!" Right now there's a guy(me) swearing tons of bad words while shouting on top of his lungs about his hatred to a certain person who he has just met.

"Such luck that I have *sigh*." Oh, dear Gods that personify the word luck, why do you hate me?

About an entire hour has now passed, and I haven't got that concoction that the beautiful gave me yet.

As of right now, I Haruki Hotaru the current Ruler of Hell, is now meeting his end. Having been eating a lot of disgusting and deadly food for an entire hour, and puking it all out, I was now on the verge of despair and sadness.

And right now, I'm on my knees crying like a little child. "Why is this happening to me?" I asked myself.

Being alone in this empty space is making my sanity die, actually I'm already insane at this point! Because I've been talking to the foods for a long time now! And it's all that b*tch's fault that I'm stuck here and if I saw that b*tch again, I'm going to punch him on the face really hard that his masked will break! Because my anger is immeasurable right now!

Also, I don't really want to eat those disgusting food again, so I'm just here with my friend who is made out of the disgusting meats on the food, and right now we're watching a really sad movie.

Don't ask me why I have a friend and a movie to watch, because I'm completely insane right now!

"Oh my dear friend, Meatthew, what do you suggest I do?" Meatthew is the name that I gave to my meat friend, combining to word meat with the name Matthew, I gave him the name Meatthew. Not a creative name, but it works.

"....."

"Just what I thought, Meatthew wouldn't respond... Now, what do I do?"

"Maybe you could try to talk to your Guidance soul Haruki Hotaru."

"Huh!" I look around to see where the voice came from.

"I'm here Haruki Hotaru, right beside you."

I looked at what was beside me and saw who was talking. "Meatthew, you actually talked..."

"Of course, because I am your friend Haruki."

"Meatthew... Thank you for being my friend and talking to me." I'm really happy right now, and I'm serious that I'm not insane because Meatthew is really speaking.

"No problem Haruki, I'm here to help you as your friend, because I know how to escape this space."

"Really!? What is it Meatthew?"

"Beelzebub said to make good use of the guidance, so that means that you would need to use your Guidance Soul to escape here."

"That actually makes sense, thank you Meatthew, I'll try it right now!" I closed my eyes and focused. "Come to me my Guidance Soul!"

"What is it, Master?" When I opened my eyes I saw my guidance soul here in front of me.

"Guidance Soul! I miss you! You don't know how much I've suffered! But good thing that Meatthew is here!'

"....." Even if it doesn't look like it from the outside, I can feel that my own Guidance Soul is feeling pity to me. "Then what service can I do for you Master?"

"Oh you see-" I explained everything that has happened here on this space, about Beelzebub coming here, what we talked about, what happened after he left, and most importantly how I met my greatest friend and savior Meatthew.

"I see... Then I'll check on the foods now Master."

"Thank you!"

After a while, my Guidance Soul came back to talk to me. "Master, the tomato soup has the concoction."

"Tomato soup thanks!" When I looked at the table I saw the tomato soup that my Guidance Soul is telling me to eat, and that's when I found out why it's on the tomato soup.

It's because I hate tomatoes, to begin with! Tomatoes and especially ketchup are disgusting to me, so is that why Beelzebub wants me to eat this? Then I'm going to return by this, I'll do it!

I took the bowl that's filled with the tomato soup and ate it all in an instant. "It- it's so delicious!" Thank you! My pain and suffering from those disgusting food are disappearing.

"Ah, I'm in heaven..." When I looked at my body, I saw it shone with a bright light.

"So I'm gonna leave now, thank you!"

"It's fun meeting you, my friend, don't forget about me okay?"

Tears fell through my eyes and I shouted back at him. "I'll never forget you Meatthew! Thank yo-" Before I finally notice it, I was back to a very familiar room, my room.