Dimensional Descent

Leonel should have been taking in what the rest of the room had to offer, but truthfully, he couldn't take his eyes off of Aina. Everything from the beads of sweat falling down her face to the apron clinging to her curves made his heart stop.

Aina's smile faded into one of confusion.

"What's wrong?"

For a moment, Aina became worried. In truth, she had taken Leonel's things without asking and even started using the kitchen wares and appliances too. Though Leonel had said to treat this place like her home, had she maybe gotten a little too comfortable?

She blushed in embarrassment, trying to figure out how she should apologize. Though Leonel never spoke about his parents, Aina had gained a few tidbits here and there, definitely enough to know that this place was left behind by his father. After all, she had been there when Leonel first got the Segmented Cube.

For all she knew, this place was very important to Leonel but now whatever sentimental value it might have had was washed away by her cooking.

But, before she could form the words of apology, she found a large shadow enveloping her.

Leonel hugged Aina tightly, seemingly not feeling much from the heat around them at all. At his current level, it might as well have been a slight breeze tickling his skin and nothing more.

Aina was stunned for a moment. But when she realized what was happening, she panicked.

"You … you're going to burn yourself!"

Leonel pulled back and grinned, his smile beaming. Clearly, though, he didn't take Aina's warning very seriously.

In truth, even Leonel didn't quite know why he was so excited. There was just something about the current situation that felt right.

death. He might as well have put his foot in his

these words to himself, he still beamed beside himself, unable to stop

only to find a large steel table filled with delicacies. Each had a small cut in them, making

all

before she could answer, a hint of panic colored her features.

dashing to the stove

elaborate omelet, expelling a rich fragrance, flipped in the air to reveal a golden brown base that seemed crisp just to

before rushing out of the kitchen, pan in

the end of her run was something that left him even more stunned than

here several times. In fact, he frequented

to comfortably feed a family of eight. But, at the moment, every stretch of table was completely covered with a

her tippy toes, carefully sliding the omelet onto a layered dish as

only at that moment that Leonel understood that all the dishes that took up the steel table were nothing

He had no idea how much effort Aina had put into trying different combinations of beast meat and herbs to eventually come up with all of this, but he was

you just standing there

And so Leonel did.

maybe like those comedic animes his dad always made him watch, he'd have

was so delicious that Leonel felt as though he was ascending to another realm. And, in fact, in a way, he was. It was even to the point where even the injuries he hadn't bothered to heal to this point as though a badge to remind him of something,

a smile on her face, her elbows on the table and her hands cupping her face. Though she too had a great appetite, after all the taste tests she had done over the last few days, she was

he had seen before… Just how many test dishes would she