Chapter 122: Chef [Master Kalpas]

[After careful consideration, "Fire Moth" decided to rescue them and not "give up" on these patients... Again, if they gave up on them at this time, the blow to the morale of "Fire Moth" would be immeasurable, and it would probably collapse directly, making it difficult to recover.]

　　[So "Fire Moth" can only bite the bullet and continue to advance the research of related drugs, hoping that a solution can be developed sooner... But unfortunately, research in this area is still too difficult to advance, with many problems to solve, so progress can only be made bit by bit.]

　　[The "Sixth Herrscher Incident" served as a wake-up call. "Fire Moth" realized that even with your assistance, it cannot completely let its guard down. The best way to fight against Honkai is to improve its combat effectiveness. Therefore, "Fire Moth" has once again begun to recruit and train soldiers, and urged Vill-V and Mei to research various types of weapons. Plans to improve combat effectiveness in various aspects have also been proposed and approved.]

　　[At the same time, after discussing with you and Sakura, Sakura has also been added to the combat team of "Fire Moth." In special and urgent circumstances, "Fire Moth" will transfer Sakura away from you... However, "Fire Moth" has also made a guarantee that Sakura will not be transferred unless the situation is extremely urgent.]

　　[The "Sixth Herrscher Incident" was also a severe blow to you, especially when you saw that only Kalpas, Kevin, and Elysia had returned. When you followed the team to see the city completely occupied by deathly silence, you fell into a long silence.]

　　[If you had come with them, if your song could have an effect on the Herrscher... No, you can't think like that - you shook your head, putting aside this meaningless thought.]

　　[Just remember it, and then move forward firmly, that's all.]

　　[Just focus on the future and do better in the future, that's all.]

　　[You cheer yourself up again and clean up this silent city with the team. When you finally leave, you hum a song for the deceased to comfort their souls and console them... and you also need to vent your emotions a little with music, otherwise, you always feel like something is piling up in your heart, making you breathless.]

　　[You begin to participate more actively in the "Fire Moth" operations, and work hard to cooperate with Mobius and Mei's research, striving to find other uses for your "characteristics," or to allow your "characteristics" to benefit more people.]

　　[Unfortunately, this kind of thing cannot be successfully achieved by your hard work and positive attitude. In fact, your overly positive attitude makes others worry about your condition... You have been working non-stop for a long time, assisting in research, acting as a "taunting puppet," and maintaining the "bard" project. Even if you are still forcing yourself to smile, anyone can feel your fatigue.]

　　[Everyone thinks that it was the "Sixth Herrscher Incident" that stimulated you and made you think, "If you participate in the battle, will things be better?"... Even if you didn't say it explicitly, everyone can see this.]

　　[When everyone knows that this is not your fault, it is better to say that many people are glad that you did not participate in the battle, otherwise... the losses of "Fire Moth" may have been even greater.]

　　[So, everyone decided to use their own methods to help you relax a little and not get too hung up on this matter.]

　　[Just look forward...that's all.]

　　————————

　　"Um...can I ask what this is for?"

　　Sitting at the table, Nozomi looked at the bowl of hot noodles in front of him, then at the bowls of noodles placed in front of the others. He blinked and looked at Eden and Sakura beside him with some confusion.

　　"......"

　　"I heard that Kevin wanted to organize a team-building event..."

　　Sakura remained silent while Eden explained quietly.

Nozomi immediately looked at the other people around him and found that they all had expressions on their faces that were both bitter and expected.

"Does this... count?"

"It's planed."

"So... there will be no more activities after that? Just everyone eating noodles together? Or is this some kind of 'Fire Moth' tradition?"

"Oh, then it doesn't count... ah... no, no, it counts."

Hearing Nozomi's somewhat confused and amusing question, the others who were slurping noodles with a relaxed look on their faces responded to him while holding back their laughter, then came up to Kevin, nudged him with their shoulders, and said jokingly.

"Captain Kevin, can you say something?"

"......"

Kevin silently looked at Himeko beside him with an expression as if asking for help... Obviously, he also realized that he was not suitable to host this kind of event. After all, this kind of thing was usually hosted by Elysia... But he also wanted to help Nozomi and make Nozomi a little happier... In the end, it turned into such a funny and embarrassing scene.

"Don't look at me. This is what you have to prepare for. You have to take responsibility."

However, Himeko just shrugged her shoulders and lightly rejected Kevin's request for help, looking like she was ready to watch the show.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with this, slurp..."

A girl with chestnut hair and blue-green eyes spoke incoherently while wolfing down her noodles.

"There's food, and it tastes pretty good. It's much better than what we had before, slurp..."

"Pardo, don't be so anxious... No one here will compete with you for it..."

Aponia reminded gently from the side, her voice sounding gentle.

"Ah, sorry, Sister Nia, I'm just a little used to it... Any more? Another bowl!"

"Little Pardo is quite an eater. Not bad, not bad. The little fellow is a good eater. Grow taller and gain more meat... Come on, I'll get you some more."

"Growing taller is fine, but growing fat is not... If you're fat, you won't be able to run fast, and you won't be able to squeeze into a lot of places."

Pardofelis muttered a little embarrassedly, took the noodles served by others, and then lowered her head and started eating.

Then, a slightly dull voice, as if suppressing anger, sounded quietly, scaring Pardofelis so much that her body froze and her hair almost flew up.

"I'll eat you to death, kitten."

(TL: hoo?)

"Kalpas..."

"What? Are you scared?"

"No, no... no, there is... ah?"

"…snort."

Kalpas snorted coldly and looked away.

Pardofelis, who was originally as nervous as a cat with its fur standing on end, also shrank her neck. She first looked at Nozomi who was surrounded by Eden and Sakura, and felt that it would be too conspicuous if she moved closer, so she quietly moved her body and hid behind Aponia to seek her protection... Then she continued to hide behind her and slurp noodles, much faster than before, as if she wanted to eat her fill and slip away as soon as possible.

It's strange to say, after meeting Nozomi, every time Pardofelis wanted to avoid Kalpas, her first reaction was to look for a space behind Nozomi for her to hide, instead of looking for Aponia first...

Obviously, no matter how she looked at it, she should be closer to Aponia, who was walking out of Twilight Street with her, but Pardofelis always felt that Nozomi was reliable and willing to protect her... This was an inexplicable intuition, and Pardofelis was willing to trust her intuition.

Of course, Pardofelis herself is very discerning. If she sees Eden and Sakura next to Nozomi, she won't force her way over... well, generally not.

Everyone looked as if they were used to this scene, and some even laughed a few times, finding it funny that Pardofelis was so afraid of Kalpas.

Although most people are more or less afraid of Kalpas because of his fighting style and overly manic personality and will choose to stay away from him, after learning about Kalpas's battle record, many people want to get to know him.

In addition, with Nozomi and Aponia acting as bridges in the middle, although most people are still afraid of Kalpas, there are also many people who can talk to him and discover the extremely awkward concern under his violent temper and rude words, so most people are still friendly to Kalpas... There are relatively few people who are as afraid of Kalpas as Pardofelis.

As for why Pardofelis was so afraid of Kalpas... well... during a battle, Pardofelis accidentally went too deep in search of survivors, and stepped into Kalpas's battlefield... Fortunately, Kalpas didn't kill her and stopped in time, otherwise, Pardofelis would have been killed by Kalpas.

Since then, Pardofelis has been particularly afraid of Kalpas. She would hide from him when she saw him, or at worst go to hide with Aponia or Nozomi... There was no other way, because these two were the only people in the entire 'Fire Moth' who could persuade Kalpas?

However, Kalpas himself did not seem to be aware of this, and he really did not care much about this 'little cat' Pardofelis, and sometimes he would even deliberately avoid her... In Kalpas's words, 'That little cat is so timid that I will be scared to death if I get any closer, haha... It's really hilarious.'

But now, Kalpas's attention is not on this matter.

"Hey, Kevin, you called me here just for such a trivial matter? To eat noodles? Do you have a lot of free time?"

After glancing around, Kalpas turned his gaze to Kevin again. His slightly angry eyes penetrated the mask and made Kevin feel uncomfortable.

"…sorry."

"Huh? Are you saying apology?"

I don't know how Kevin's words annoyed Kalpas. Kalpas used some unpleasant words in his words... Oh no, this is normal for Kalpas. There's nothing to worry about.

"I'm asking you, do you guys eat noodles the way he does?"

"But the noodles are delicious... I am still somewhat confident about this..."

"Ah↗?!"

Kalpas interrupted Kevin's explanation with a strange and high-pitched voice of doubt, and then he took a step sideways, and while Nozomi was confused and the others were bewildered, he grabbed the noodles that Nozomi had not yet taken two bites of, and showed the noodles in the bowl to Kevin in a way that seemed a bit rude, but surprisingly did not spill even a drop of soup.

"Say it again?"

"…Is there any problem?"

Kevin looked at the noodles in the bowl with a confused look on his face, looked at the clear soup, smelled the unique fragrance of the soup, then looked at Kalpas with a bewildered look on his face and asked puzzledly.

"......"

This time it was Kalpas's turn to be silent. He glanced around and found that everyone else looked confused. He covered the mask on his face in annoyance and let out a low moan of somewhat collapse.

Then Kalpas walked into the kitchen with Nozomi's bowl of noodles and drove away all the chefs who were still working inside with an extremely angry roar. Then there were bursts of sounds of kitchen utensils colliding, followed by a fleeting dazzling flame... Not long after, an enticing aroma came out from the kitchen.

"So Kalpas... can cook?"

Everyone looked at Aponia blankly, hoping to get answers from the 'former Boss' of Kalpas.

"Kalpas did often come to the kitchen to help in the past, and the dishes he cooked were very popular with the children."

Aponia nodded slightly, responding to everyone's doubts.

"…Ah? Is this true? Am I dreaming?"

"What are you talking about !?"

While others were still confused, Kalpas had already come back with the bowl in his hand. The tempting aroma became stronger as he got closer, making people salivate uncontrollably.

"Give."

Kalpas put the bowl back in front of Nozomi, pointing to the soup noodles that had become much more delicious... I don't know if it was an illusion, but everyone felt that the soup inside seemed to be glowing with golden light...

And Kalpas did not leave after doing all this. He just stood in front of Nozomi, staring at Nozomi with a scrutinizing gaze from under the mask, and spoke.

"If it doesn't taste good, I'll put the bowl of noodles on your head."

"…Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

"Humph, do you dare?"

Kalpas sneered and then said.

"And if you dare to waste food, I will put this bowl of noodles on your head."

"That's really too much... But thank you anyway, Kalpas."

Nozomi smiled but didn't pay attention to Kalpas's words. he just picked up the chopsticks and tasted it lightly.

Immediately, Nozomi stopped and looked at Kalpas with surprise.

"It's delicious... Kalpas, can you teach me?"

"Why, do you want to switch to studying cooking?"

"It's always good to have many skills~"

Nozomi shrugged, reached out to take a small bowl, and was about to scoop out some noodle soup to share with Eden, Sakura, and the others, but Kalpas held his hand down.

"What do you want to do?"

A questioning tone came from under Kalpas's mask, and the look he gave Nozomi also became a little strange, with a hint of... blame?

"Can you give someone a small bowl? Delicious food like this is meant to be shared~"

"What's the point of sharing? Just eat yours."

"Can I...?"

"Why do you have so many things to do? I told you to eat alone, so eat alone!"

Kalpas snatched the bowl of noodles in front of Nozomi with some annoyance and then put it heavily back in front of him. Then he reached out and snatched the bowls of noodles from Eden and Sakura, and returned to the kitchen. After a while, there was another sound of kitchen utensils colliding.

"......"

This is really awkward, Kalpas...

The others watched this subtle and amusing scene silently and found Kalpas's somewhat "tsundere" appearance amusing. Even the fear that everyone had towards Kalpas dissipated a lot.

When Kalpas came out of the kitchen again, many people came forward bravely, wanting to taste Kalpas's cooking... Although Kalpas would always curse in a very angry manner, he did not refuse these requests, but just stayed in the kitchen and cooked noodles again and again...

So in the end, Kalpas simply started a big pot, and the others stood beside him like elementary school students, eagerly waiting for their own share.

"......"

Kevin took the bowl of noodles from Kalpas, tasted a little, and fell silent... Then he quickly finished his own portion in a "violent inhalation" manner, without leaving any soup. Then he walked in front of Kalpas, and under the subtle gazes of everyone, he clasped his hands together, lowered his head to Kalpas, and pleaded.

"Kalpas, I want to learn how to cook noodles."

"Is your brain broken?"