Reynard Everheart & Nakamura Akio
Nakamura Residence - Night
Cooking: The art of preparing food by applying heat. Admittedly, it is considered impossible to perform after all the food you own has been stolen by the legendary drunk thief.
However.
Hidden within the depths of the Nakamura Residence lay a miracle, capable of defying fate in order to make the impossible possible-!
It was Hitomi's top secret food storage that only a selected few had knowledge of and it was, needless to say, password protected. Thankfully, you knew the combination needed to open it. No matter which angle you looked at it, it looked like a safe. Maybe because it was a safe. Compact and the best of the best, indestructible. You remembered Hitomi had to ask for a loan to buy such a thing. But, in the end, all was okay, right? It had worked wonders until this point in time.
Standing right behind you, Natsume Raku waited anxiously, for you were about to open Pandora's box.
What you found inside was one plastic bag filled with vegetables and one bag of white rice. They looked as good as new. But what stood out the most was the object next to them, attached to one of the safe's inner corners. You didn't need to look at it twice to confirm, that was definitely a plastic explosive. So that was what would have happened had you imputed the wrong password. Since the bomb was placed inside the safe, probably nobody would get hurt, but all the food would be destroyed. It was hard to grasp why Hitomi would build a system like that, but there were some part of your sister that you would always leave unquestioned.
"Yay-!" With a jump, Raku celebrated. "Let's begin, Onii-chan!"
Something told you that the no longer secret storage wouldn't be as safe anymore. But seeing her so happy made the whole thing worth it.
-------
The dinner table had proved to be a weird combination.
Eating rice, salad and pizza at the same time would never be a common occurrence. But since when had anything been common inside the Nakamura Residence? That just proved that, no matter the circumstances, some things would never change.
To be honest, cooking had not been that difficult, but in the end, Raku had taken over. While you had not initially thought that she was trustworthy for the task, as you had not seen her cook ONCE in her life, you were forced to change your mind when you tasted the result of her 'laborious efforts'. The food the two of you had prepared tasted way better than the pizza Rei had ordered. No, in fact, it tasted way better than anything you'd eaten before. The rice looked so bright, so pure... So unreal.
Even Hitomi was affected by its charm.
---Ultimate Housewife---
The innate supernatural skill to maintain a house properly in order, satisfy all of the husband's necessities and take care of the children. Through effort and determination, Raku has polished this ability to perfection. As such, her cooking (among other activities) has reached a level that surpasses that of mere mortals. No, it's more than that. At this point, one could say that Raku's cooking skills surpass that of god themselves. That's the true meaning of 'ultimate'!
-------
After you finished dinner, you played videogames together until Raku feel asleep. It was then when the conversation about the elimination game began. The three of you shared what you had been through in detail, trying to compile as much information as possible on the ritual. What caught Hitomi's interest the most was the 'dark' copy of Akio that one of the groups was forced to fight. She promised to contact Kimiko, so she and her friends could aid in the investigation as well. Just when it seemed that the exchange was about to end, Rei revealed the key piece of evidence he had obtained after his battle.
"These notes..."
The participant list. And the Magus code list. If you managed to put them together, then it would be possible to identify a target early in the game. It doesn't take you a minute to realize that said information could be used in more than one way. Either to identify the victim and prevent his or her execution... Or to identify the prey and be the first to take it down. But there are two other things that stood out:
First, Hitomi was not on that list, yet she had been a participant.
The first theory, the one that argued that the list was incomplete, was quickly shot down by Rei himself. Using Johnie as an example, he tried to explain to the best of his ability what Mihou called 'Irregulars'. Apparently, that other space was supposed to allow only Magi (and potential Magi) inside, that as much you had already deduced. However, it seemed that its original function was to allow 'a certain number of specific Magi only'. This led to the theory that, for some reason, the 'rules' of that space had been changed.
And second, and most important... Natsume Raku was on that list.
Everyone in the house had always suspected that the little girl was something more than a human. Even if it was nothing more than a little doubt, each of you had asked yourselves 'What if Raku was a Magus?'. Some of you even took that for a fact. Yeah, the drunk thief being on that list was not as surprising as it should have been. The feelings it gave birth to were rather complicated.
You looked at her, sleeping on the couch. She was harmless.
... Why did such an innocent person have to be involved in this?
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Originally Posted by hero
