A Discomfort She'd Never Felt
"Wooow..."
"It just melts on your tongue. I guess that's what you get with expensive food? It really does feel different."
"Woooow..."
"I never imagined meat could turn out like this... it's honestly incredible."
The expensive course meal the Team Leader had treated us to was far more impressive than I'd expected. Truly, far more impressive than I'd ever imagined.
I felt like I was starting to understand why people flocked to this kind of cuisine — why expensive food held such a grip on people, why they sought these places out.
It went beyond mere taste and entered the realm of sensation itself. The way the fish dissolved the instant it touched my tongue. The way something so beautiful on the plate unfolded into a cascade of flavors once it entered my mouth...
It was genuinely extraordinary.
"Woooow..."
Our little dokkaebi had been completely speechless for a while now, reduced to a total idiot...
Unlike Batori and me, who were lost in wonder, the Team Leader reacted as if none of this was anything special. She just watched us with an amused, fond look, clearly used to this sort of thing.
Well, she did come to places like this often. She was the one who'd brought us here in the first place, so of course she would be.
"This is one of my personal favorites. Is everyone enjoying it?"
"Y-yes, it's incredibly delicious...!"
"It's wonderful. I'm not usually the type to go all-out on a course meal, but if it's this good... I could definitely see myself coming back."
"Hehe."
This was only the third course, and there was still more to come, so of course we were looking forward to the rest. The Team Leader had eaten here often enough that she probably knew what was coming. Batori and I, on the other hand, had no idea.
"Whooooaaa..."
I could only marvel at each dish as it arrived. They were creations I could barely even describe, and every single one of them was so good it was almost a problem.
Was this food, or was it art? That was the kind of question these plates made you ask. There was something impossibly thin and shatteringly crisp, layered with meat that had been seared hard and fast and packed with all sorts of ingredients. And something that looked for all the world like cream, yet tasted like galbitang — that rich, deep Korean short-rib soup...
It was all just so fascinating.
"...Holy crap."
Which is why that slipped out of me. It was caviar... except it wasn't caviar. Truffle cream, maybe? Even after they explained it was a truffle cream mixed with just the right amount of mustard, it still felt like caviar — and somehow even more impressive than that...
"...Team Leader, I won't tease you about your age for at least a week."
I had no choice but to respect her like she was the heavens themselves. The thought even crossed my mind that it might not be right for her to bring us somewhere this nice and pick up the entire bill.
Of course, she made far more than I did, and she'd earned plenty back when she was still an active hero... so it wasn't really a problem. But I couldn't help thinking about it.
"......"
Not that I was going to refuse a free meal. I'd just have to secretly transfer some money into her account later, I thought, as I enjoyed every last bite of what remained.
"...That was incredible."
"It really was..."
The dessert... well, even that was fancy enough to give me pause. We enjoyed it as we fell back into conversation.
Up until now we'd been doing nothing but gush about the food, over and over, to the point it was getting a little embarrassing... but we'd talked about it enough by now. Not that the dessert wasn't amazing enough to keep going. But we had plenty of other things to talk about.
"Well? I picked a good place, didn't I?"
"...It's so nice I was honestly a little overwhelmed."
"Hehe."
"Whenever we go out for company dinners, we never come anywhere like this. It's always some little izakaya or a Korean BBQ place. I can't quite get used to it."
I really hadn't expected the Team Leader to bring us somewhere this nice. I hadn't grown up wealthy, so I couldn't help wondering if it was even okay for me to be treated this well. The place was so good that thought came naturally.
If I'd been the type who loved luxury, who enjoyed spending money, who truly adored the art of dining... I probably would have come here every payday. Though the price was the price, of course. Spending over a hundred dollars on a single meal by myself... that just felt weird in all sorts of ways. The fact that Association employees were paid reasonably well was a separate matter entirely.
"Haha, I don't just bring anyone here, you know."
"Oh... that just now? That sounded exactly like a successful older girlfriend."
"...What are you even talking about."
"Pffft, I'm kidding. Besides, 'successful older woman' already fits you on a regular day."
"......"
Chatting over this uniquely fascinating dessert and a cold drink was genuinely fun. It was a different feeling from talking over grilled meat at a BBQ place... like I was somehow becoming a more sophisticated person without even realizing it.
"Did you enjoy it as well, Miss Batori?"
"Y-yes...! I ate so well... I've never had food like this in my entire life, so it was, um... really amazing...!"
"That's a relief. Course meals can be a bit hit-or-miss, you know. If you'd been disappointed by the portion sizes, I would have felt a little bad."
"This is something you treated us to yourself, Team Leader... I couldn't possibly complain..."
"Hehe, I suppose that's true."
Batori seemed to be enjoying herself quite a bit, too. I didn't actually know her food preferences all that well. But judging by the way she'd been acting just now — unable to form words, just making those little oohs and ahhs — there was no way that was a negative reaction.
"Hmm... Team Leader, what are the other courses like here?"
"Hm? The one we ordered is pretty well-balanced... Course C is a bit heavier. The main is pasta, and you get about three slices of steak. Since the courses themselves are more substantial, there are fewer individual dishes."
"Ooh... interesting. I'd love to try that next time."
"Hehe, shall I treat you again?"
"I'd love to take you up on that, but I feel a little guilty about being treated this many times. Next time I should treat you, or we could just split the bill?"
Even if the Team Leader made a lot of money, money was still money. Spending it always left you with a little pang of regret. That was only natural. No matter how nice it was to be treated, there were limits, right? Especially asking your boss to keep buying you expensive meals. That was something you just shouldn't do.
"Hehe, you really don't have to worry about that."
"I just feel bad, that's all."
"If you'd just be a little nicer to me on a regular basis, that would be wonderful."
"Ah, that's a bit difficult."
Well, gratitude was gratitude... but I still had things I needed to say.
"......"
While Charlotte and the Team Leader chatted away, all warm and easy with each other, Batori sipped her drink and nibbled at her dessert, listening to them talk. She didn't say a word. She just sat there quietly, listening.
"But Charlotte, you make a pretty decent salary yourself, and it's not like you're bleeding money on rent. I'd have thought you'd come to places like this every now and then..."
"Ah, I just feel weird spending over a hundred dollars on a single meal. I can eat just fine for around ten bucks, so... I don't know. Do I really need to? That's honestly how I feel."
"Ahh... I can see that. But doesn't treating yourself somewhere like this every so often lift your spirits a little?"
"It's less that it lifts my spirits and more that it just feels novel."
"Hehe."
The two of them had started talking just between themselves. Of course, part of that was because Batori couldn't insert herself into the conversation at all — because she trembled every time someone spoke to her, because she kept turning to her dessert and drink rather than contributing anything. At some point, Batori had fallen out of the conversation entirely, and she quietly watched Charlotte and the Team Leader go back and forth.
Ordinarily, whenever she talked with Charlotte, whenever they met, it was just the two of them. That was the nature of meeting with your assigned counselor. Of course they had to meet one-on-one to have a proper conversation. She'd grown used to that, and she'd expected the same today.
But then, out of nowhere, another woman had appeared and shattered that expectation. Charlotte's Team Leader. A former hero, thirty years old, who ran the Welfare Bureau. She'd suddenly suggested they all eat together, and that was how this situation had come about.
"Heh, honestly, I was just planning to grab some tasty ramen or tonkatsu. Or even just a bowl of soup and rice. I never expected we'd end up somewhere this lavish. I was really surprised."
"Still, I am sitting across from a junior hero. I ought to put on a reasonably impressive showing, don't you think?"
"Hmm... you already failed at that when you didn't use your hero name..."
"...Drop that."
"Heh, shall I?"
Charlotte had always looked at Batori. Always poured her attention onto her alone. There was the counselor thing, of course, but she always answered when Batori contacted her privately, too. Every time they met, she treated her the same way — devotedly helping her. Batori remembered all of that.
Which was why, today, with the Team Leader added to the mix, with that gaze and that attention split... Batori felt a considerable discomfort. A discomfort she herself didn't yet fully understand.
...She's not even someone she counsels. She's not even related to her. Why? Why...
There was a kind of deprivation, too. The person who had always taken care of her was treating someone else this well, and Batori felt a profound disconnect. It wasn't as if she treated the Team Leader as well as she treated Batori...
"Heh, Team Leader, this time you should..."
"Shall I? That does sound nice."
But it was more than enough to make her feel a discomfort she had never properly experienced until now.