Don't use Type-Moon references in Oregairu!

Fujimaru Ritsuka felt restless in the car as she imagined Abigail staring longingly at the clock on the wall, counting down the time until she could see her again, and then her expression shifting from anticipation to disappointment to sadness.

"Don't worry, Fujimaru. Abigail is such a good girl, she won't have a problem with you. She definitely understands that she was busy and that's why she came back late." Yui Yuigahama tried to relieve Fujimaru Ritsuka's pressure, but she obviously failed.

Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed, looking disappointed: "Yui-chan, you probably don't understand."

Huh? What did you call me again?

Yui looked completely bewildered, not paying much attention to his heartbroken expression—he's a lolicon, after all.

"Imagine this. Your sweet little girl is waiting expectantly for you to come home, but you never show up. In the end, she falls asleep on the sofa, hugging her pillow. How lonely would that be?"

"It's noon now, don't talk like you're some lowly working person who doesn't get home until midnight." Yukino looked out the window and began to wonder if the sun was even real.

"Sigh! This is so complicated. It's a pity Yui isn't a lolicon." Yui nodded heavily, indicating that she could feel Fujimaru Ritsuka's deep affection for lolis.

Incidentally, the two women exchanged a glance, both thinking the same thing: Don't worry, Abigail isn't someone to be trifled with either...

On a weekday at noon, the roads in Chiba are usually very quiet, and they soon returned to Yukino's apartment.

As soon as the door opened, Fujimaru Ritsuka, like a silly father, opened his arms and shouted, "My dear Abi, the captain is late!"

"Captain~ I thought you were going to leave Abigail behind to go on a date and have fun, waaaaaah." Abigail threw herself into Fujimaru Ritsuka's arms, clinging to him like a koala, complaining with teary eyes.

"It's the commander's fault for letting Abby down. Abby, tell me what you wish for, and the commander will definitely grant it."

"Really?"

"real!"

"I want to eat pancakes!"

"can!"

"I want the guild leader to play games with me!"

"can!"

"I don't want to take online classes!"

"Can..."

"No, that won't do." Yukino crossed her arms in front of her chest, indicating that it was absolutely unacceptable.

"Tch (whispering)" Abigail turned her face away, revealing a mischievous expression, then quickly feigned pitifulness, pleading with Fujimaru Ritsuka, "Really, it won't work~ Captain~~"

She clung to Fujimaru Ritsuka's waist, shaking his shoulders vigorously with her soft little hands. Fujimaru Ritsuka was shaken, but the two silent girls beside her kept staring coldly at her.

In order not to completely compromise her principles with the little girl's soft and cute pleas, Fujimaru Ritsuka struggled to put Abigail down and patted her head: "No, no, you can't. Good Abigail still has to study hard, otherwise how will she survive in society in the future?"

"The captain can take care of me! Is that not allowed?" Abigail looked up at Fujimaru Ritsuka as if she were looking at her hero. She tilted her head innocently, expressing her great confusion.

"Oh dear... it's said that you can't raise them, but it seems like you can. But Abigail still has to attend classes properly." Fujimaru Ritsuka stammered, which finally warmed up the two gazes beside him a little. But this time, it was Abigail's turn to stare at him resentfully.

Fujimaru Ritsuka could only pretend to look around at the scenery, then his eyes lit up—on the living room computer, Abby's online class page seemed to still be open, and the lit screen showed Abby doing her homework.

"Haha, let me see how well Abigail is doing with her studies." Fujimaru Ritsuka strode towards the computer.

"Huh? How could this be!" Abigail realized what was happening and, like other children whose test papers had been discovered by their parents, jumped up and down to stop Fujimaru Ritsuka from looking at them.

Fujimaru Ritsuka: Plans are working! Abby is too exhausted to think about breaking her promise anymore, hahaha.

95. Yukinoshita is preparing to retaliate.

After much pleading and cajoling, Abigail finally managed to persuade Fujimaru Ritsuka to give up on checking her homework. Wiping away her cold sweat, she was relieved that her low-scoring assignment, which had been marked with countless checkmarks by the teachers, hadn't been brought out.

That scoundrel of a leader, he'll definitely take a picture of me with his phone and use it as my embarrassing moment, right? Humph, I won't let you do that!

But, did I forget something?

Abby pondered in confusion.

Seeing Fujimaru Ritsuka scratching her head as she tried to remember, Abi felt a pang of anxiety—she couldn't let her remember.

He took Abigail's soft little hand in his hand and eagerly led her out the door: "Abigail, as a reward for studying hard today, how about I take you to get some dessert? There's a five-star hotel where their pancakes are incredibly delicious, and they also have all sorts of delicious cheesecakes and pasta desserts."

"Yay! Let's get going!" Abigail excitedly grabbed Fujimaru Ritsuka's hand and ran towards the elevator.

"That's so despicable! First, he used the tactic of checking her homework to throw little Abby into a panic, then he tempted her with delicious food to make her lose her mind. Using this method to deal with a little girl, Tou really has no class." Yui puffed out her cheeks, very dissatisfied.

I'm so disappointed that I didn't get to see Aten sign a humiliating surrender under Abigail's offensive.

Yukino didn't know what to say, but Fujimaru Ritsuka's comeback against Abby seemed like a good thing. After all, don't underestimate Abby just because she's small; she's got a lot of ideas. If she agrees to tell him a bedtime story or use him as a pillow while he sleeps, that would be amazing!

"Yukino-neechan, Yui-neechan, come here! Abby wants to eat pancakes."

Abby's anxious calls came from the elevator, and Yukino couldn't help but smile—what could that little glutton possibly be thinking? Kasumigaoka-kun is a bigger threat.

"We're here." Yukino pulled Yui along as they stepped into the elevator.

As the elevator descended, Yukino casually inquired about Kasumigaoka Utaha's situation: "By the way, we've taken a long leave of absence to do some serious shopping in Chiba City. How's Kasumigaoka doing? She's in Tokyo, so it must be quite inconvenient for her to come over, right? I think it's best not to interfere with her studies for now."

Previously, when Kasumigaoka Utaha was not around, they had discussed this topic privately. Yukino persuaded Fujimaru Ritsuka to let Kasumigaoka Utaha stay in Tokyo, arguing that "asking Kasumigaoka, who lives in Tokyo, to participate in the operations in Chiba might affect her normal studies and life."

Fujimaru Ritsuka also thought that made sense, but...

“That makes sense—provided that he has his studies to spare.” Fujimaru Ritsuka shrugged with a wry smile. “I also told her that there’s no rush this time, and we might have to go to London together later. But she wouldn’t agree.”

During the previous ritual to summon the evil god, thanks to Aki Tomoya's blog, Kasumigaoka Utaha's work gained wider attention, and its sales completely surpassed the halving threshold. Subsequently, drawing heavily on Murasaki Shikibu's memories, she completed two volumes at an astonishing speed, with the quality not only not decreasing but actually increasing, earning high praise from her editor.

Because her work became a minor hit, she, who was already rather indifferent to school life, simply asked her teacher for a long leave to go out and gather material for publication, and took a break until the final exams. After handing in both volumes of the novel, she didn't need to write any more novels for the next six months, and was now bored out of her mind, in a state of leisurely organizing writing materials.

"...So, apart from Eriri and Hibiki Sakura, who are two external members, Chaldea will be deploying its entire force in Chiba this time." Fujimaru Ritsuka's phone rang at that moment. He glanced at his phone. "Hmm, speak of the devil, she emailed us asking where we're meeting."

Yukino thought to herself, "This woman is incredibly fast. Everything she says is so elegant and plausible; Fujimaru Ritsuka can't possibly refuse, after all, they're both members of Chaldea." But it's good, though. They might face a formidable enemy later, and working together as a team might even create better chemistry.

Nothing unusual happened along the way. When they arrived at the entrance of the grand hotel, Kasumigaoka Utaha was playing on her phone at the entrance.

Upon seeing them arrive, Shiyu put her phone in her handbag and rushed over enthusiastically, taking Fujimaru Ritsuka's free left hand and complaining in a coquettish tone, "Fujimaru, if I hadn't emailed you, you wouldn't have invited me to the gathering, right? I knew about this restaurant online before, and I really wanted to come and eat here."

Taking the initiative, she skillfully and naturally wrapped her arms around Fujimaru Ritsuka's, pressing them very close together.

Such disgusting breast size!

Taking back what I said earlier, Yukino felt that it would be difficult to get along with Kasumigaoka Utaha; the battle between flat-chested and large-breasted aliens had only just begun.

"Yukino, let's go in too." Seeing Yukino's black aura churning, Yui grabbed her arm and pulled her inside.

Even Yui, are you going to humiliate me?

Feeling the soft touch of her arm, Yukino Yukinoshita's eyes became vacant.

Thinking about it carefully, it seems that only Eriri Sawamura is similar to me... and she also noticed when she bought underwear for Abby that, strictly speaking, Abby's cup size is even a bit bigger than hers.

This world must be hostile towards me; everyone around me is older than me.

Even after sitting down, Yukino was still pondering, delving into the realm of genetics, and finally came to a conclusion: It's all my dad's fault! Otherwise, why would I drink milk before bed every day, eat papaya desserts from time to time, and even get massages occasionally, all to no avail?

Sure enough, that lazy guy should be arrested and disciplined.

Yukino Yukinoshita decides to call her mother and ask her father to coordinate with Haruno, ostensibly to prevent other uncles from causing trouble.

Hmph hmph hmph...

Yukino revealed a smug smile, the sadistic aura of which made the onlookers shudder, especially Utaha, who began to seriously reflect on whether she had gone too far.

No, I'm always this enthusiastic, aren't I? And I don't seem to sense any malice from Yukino directed at me; on the contrary, she seems to have already vented her anger.

Everyone was on edge, and as the leader of Chaldea, Fujimaru Ritsuka decided to break the ice. He cleared his throat and called the waiter to take their order. With outsiders present, Yukino also snapped out of her daze.

"By the way, Yukinoshita, you like Ise Ebi, right?" Fujimaru Ritsuka ordered the set meal recommended by the waiter, and suddenly remembered the information she had received from watching the Oregairu radio show before, so she asked her to confirm.

"Hmm? Yes." Yukino blinked, her mood brightening—today's victory still belongs to me, Yukinoshita.

96. Subtle Eating Habits: A Hidden Scene at the Table

Ise lobster, or Ise ebi, is a top-tier delicacy even in Japan, a country rich in seafood, its freshness irresistible. Now, in mid-to-late May, is the last chance to savor this seasonal Ise lobster. The waiter, smiling broadly, inquired with the kitchen over the walkie-talkie and announced that they still had seven or eight lobsters in stock, all freshly purchased from fishermen in Chiba Port just two days prior.

What? You say this hotel mainly serves Western food? How novel! In Japan, they can't function without a Japanese chef. Those big-spending gourmands, what kind of cuisine wouldn't they want? Although the Japanese chef will only prepare the dishes when the guests order something delicious.

What could Fujimaru Ritsuka say? She could only give the waiter a thumbs up and change all the other dishes, except for the dessert portion. The waiter returned the favor with a humble smile.

A 30-centimeter-long Ise lobster usually weighs over a kilogram, so it's definitely more expensive than an Angus veal steak. But Fujimaru Ritsuka can't just order Ise lobster for Yukino, can she?

Oh, it's okay. I still have the bounty for completing the Tokyo incident. A set meal is worth tens of thousands of yen, so I can still afford it.

Fujimaru Ritsuka touched her purse with relief, but after this whole operation, everyone was all smiles and expressed their anticipation.

Yui, drooling with anticipation, swung her legs, her expression almost identical to Abigail's. Seeing Abigail's excitement, she was a little puzzled: "Abigail, I remember Salem is in Massachusetts, right? Boston is near you, you should be familiar with lobsters. Why do you look so excited, like it's your first time eating it?"

"Huh? Do they have lobsters in Boston?" Abigail asked, quite bewildered.

Yukino sighed, “It’s comforting that you remember Boston is in Massachusetts, Yuihama. But Boston lobsters are neither from Boston nor lobsters—they’re from neighboring Maine and are just transported through Boston Harbor. Besides, they’re crayfish with claws. Real lobsters don’t have big claws, and their meat is even more delicious.”

"Wow, Yukino-neechan is so knowledgeable! Can you tell me what kinds of lobsters there are in the world?" Abigail asked with a curious look, pestering Yukino for a lesson.

As she recounted how French blue lobsters and spiny lobsters cost tens of millions of yen, tears of envy welled up in everyone's eyes.

Fujimaru Ritsuka was utterly shaken. The Tokyo Incident = Aki Tomoya = French Blue Lobster? He instantly felt a deep respect for Aki Tomoya, who was still imprisoned in the Special Affairs Bureau. He also felt a surge of dissatisfaction with the Special Affairs Bureau's stingy budget.

Fujimaru Ritsuka was completely unaware of the problem, since strictly speaking, he had only possessed supernatural abilities for less than a month and was completely unfamiliar with the transactions and interactions between superhumans.

In the extraordinary world, the current hard currency is primarily extraordinary materials and the items made from them. A single, complete piece of a monstrous bone can fetch millions of yen on the black market. Moreover, the Special Affairs Bureau has entrusted the entire Chiba Prefecture to Chaldea for contractual management, making it a golden goose from which they can continuously generate commission fees from ordinary people.

Fortunately, even using extraordinary materials to enlighten ordinary people requires a large amount of ordinary instruments and other materials. Therefore, the purchasing power of various currencies has not yet shown signs of collapse. However, perhaps in the future, maintaining an advantage and credibility in settlements will require reliance on certain mass-producible extraordinary materials or tools.

While Fujimaru Ritsuka was adding her own drama to the scene, and Yukino was explaining the different textures of various lobsters to the others at the table, the Ise lobster was ready and served.

Out of consideration for Abigail's small stomach, they did not choose the most traditional sashimi method for Ise lobster this time, but instead opted for two main cooking methods: [Cruel Grilled] and [Steamed Yoshino Lobster].

Although she's not a big fan of sashimi, Fujimaru Ritsuka dislikes lobster tempura even more—the tender and sweet lobster meat is perfect for enjoying the natural flavor of the ingredients, but when it's made into tempura, the inherent advantages of the ingredients are easily masked.

Yoshino steamed lobster is a traditional steaming method. A little miso and other seasonings are placed on the lobster meat, and then it is steamed with broth. The lobster meat is tender and chewy, retaining the fresh and sweet taste of the ingredients, and is also incredibly rich, making everyone very happy to eat it.

However, the [Cruel Roast] dish made Fujimaru Ritsuka marvel at how creative the Japanese were – it was cooked on the spot.

While they were each eating half a Yoshino steamed lobster, the Japanese chef brought over lobsters and cooking utensils on a cart and parked it near Fujimaru Ritsuka's table.

He took three lobsters out of the tank, quickly placed them on the charcoal fire, and skillfully performed a live lobster-frying demonstration right in front of them.

“How pitiful…” Fujimaru Ritsuka heard Abigail’s soft murmur as she watched the Ise lobster’s majestic tentacles trembling.

Just as he was about to comfort Abigail, the aroma of the cruelly grilled Ise lobster began to waft out.

"...But it's so delicious, slurp!" Abigail couldn't wait any longer, so she picked up the lobster miso soup next to her and took a sip to satisfy her craving.