Yet after an entire afternoon, Phaga and Ellen hadn't managed to uncover anything.
"Ugh, what a pain!"
Ellen flopped onto the bed, yanking a pillow over her face. Soon, a muffled, despairing voice drifted out from under it:
"We wasted the whole afternoon—my eyes are going blurry, and we didn't find a single useful thing! If I'd known, I would've just gone back and taken the exam."
"...Heh."
Phaga chuckled softly. Closing the laptop on his lap, he leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling.
"The eighth multiple-choice question was calculating the mass of an unknown planet. The answer choices only differed by one order of magnitude.
"The last two multiple-choice questions were 'pick three out of five.' The school kindly warned in the instructions that if you picked too few or picked wrong, you'd get zero points.
"One was on electricity—a tiny switch flipping on and off, circuits going from series to parallel, then both at once. The question text filled an entire page—longer than my 800-word essay.
"The other was mechanics—a little monkey swinging on a rope. They added a pile of restrictions in the middle, then asked which conditions would let the monkey actually swing into the high-voltage line."
Flat on the bed, Ellen suddenly tossed the pillow aside and turned her head. Just hearing Phaga list the question types made cold sweat bead on her forehead.
But he wasn't done. Phaga twirled his fingers idly as he continued, like reciting treasures.
"Then came the experiments—testing knowledge of instruments. Choosing resistors was the easy part. Turning an ammeter into a voltmeter? Routine.
"And three long-answer questions: optics, electricity, and mechanics..."
"Enough!"
Phaga stopped. He felt a soft, cool touch on his arm. Turning instinctively, he found Ellen weakly gripping his wrist. Her voice came out tired and pleading.
"Don't read anymore... please."
Phaga smirked. "Didn't you say you wanted to go back for the exam?"
"I'm sorry..."
A faint, pitiful apology slipped from her lips.
But in the next moment, she suddenly sat up, dragging Phaga's chair closer to the bed. Slowly, she asked:
"Wait—how do you even know what was on the exam?"
"They posted it in the class group. Praise for the school, discussions of the civil code, answer sharing—everything."
Phaga raised his phone with a shrug.
Ellen hurriedly grabbed her own phone and opened the class group. Sure enough, the chat was buzzing—an endless stream of chatter. Writers, critics, niche hobbyists—every kind of post imaginable.
"These people really have too much time on their hands!"
Ellen scrolled through the constantly updating feed.
All this drama for a single physics exam... The class chat was flooded with memes—cosmic deities, radiant guardians, entire galaxies rallying to 'protect' some poor soul.
Beyond those gates, some star-struck fool played the role of a planet orbiting his goddess—like he was sacrificing his own mass just to ask the principal how much his goddess weighed.
[Class President: Ah, this eternal orbit—how could it not be the unchanging love between her and me?]
[Ruby: ...Class President, that sucker's goddess has eternal love with plenty of other stars too!]
Phaga chuckled knowingly at the screen. Just then, someone knocked on the door.
Ellen heard it too and called out, "Come in."
Click.
The doorknob turned, and a pair of green twin-tails peeked through first. Little Corin stepped inside, nibbling on a small cake between words.
"Mr. Phaga, Miss Ellen, Mr. Lycaon asked me to call you down for dinner."
"Oh, okay."
Phaga and Ellen replied together, heading for the stairs.
"Oh, sorry—wait for me. Let me finish this cake first."
...
"I'm so sorry, Miss Rina. I completely forgot we were having a big dinner tonight. I just had a piece of cake, and I'm already pretty full. I might not be able to eat much later... I really, really apologize!"
As soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs, Corin bowed ninety degrees toward Rina, apologizing timidly.
Phaga and Ellen looked over. Rina's expression darkened slightly, though her smile stayed fixed in the dignified manner of a head maid. She answered coolly, "It's fine, Corin. Just a pity, that's all..."
But right after, she clapped her hands together happily.
"In that case, everyone else will have to eat Corin's share too! Everything must be finished!"
"Yes!"
Only Ellen's lone voice rang out as she casually took a seat at the dining table.
Phaga, however, was already feeling uneasy.
What sort of dinner could be so fearsome it drove little Corin to lie just to escape?
He felt a burning gaze and looked up—Rina was watching him with eager anticipation.
There was no way out. Phaga sighed inwardly and sat beside Ellen.
Glancing up, he saw Lycaon speaking into his communicator.
"Yes, near the edge of Lumina Square. Someone's food-poisoned. Please send an ambulance."
Hiss—
Phaga sucked in a breath. Having spent so much time with Ellen, he'd come to believe Rina was a fine cook. But now, doubt stirred. His heart began pounding harder and harder.
"Corin, take a seat too. Even if you already had cake, this is your welcome feast. You should eat a little."
"...Okay."
Corin's answer trembled as much as her legs. Even as Rina helped her into a chair, her thighs were shaking.
Rina, on the other hand, seemed oblivious. Resting her chin on her hands, she smiled brightly.
"Alright then—let's begin dinner!"
With that, she floated forward and lifted the cover off the first dish.
Phaga swallowed hard as the lid rose, revealing... a fish platter. Each tiny fish had a grape stuffed in its mouth, lined neatly around a base like a pizza.
His eyes widened.
On a round, pizza-like base were scattered blotches of red and green paste. Around the outer rim lay a ring of small fish, each one holding a grape between its teeth. Their dull, glassy eyes seemed to glare up at the heavens in eternal resentment.
Phaga's chest tightened. He swallowed involuntarily, staring at the dead fishlets that seemed to carry a lingering resentment.
"Hmm, Phaga's already drooling with hunger?"
The voice whispered right beside his ear. He turned in alarm to find Rina bending down, her face close to his.
"Uh... heh..."
He forced a stiff smile.
Rina reached out and lifted another cover.
At once, a cloud of steaming white mist burst forth, as if desperate to escape confinement.
Phaga's pupils shook as he peered inside. Logic told him it was soup.
Closer inspection revealed stewed lamb offal—heart, stomach, liver. To cover the gamey stench, the dish was piled with cilantro.
But it wasn't enough. The pungent odor of the offal burst free, claiming victory over the cilantro and assaulting everyone's nose.
"Time was short. Lord Lycaon kept giving me things to do, so I only had time to prepare two dishes."
Rina shot Lycaon a reproachful glance. A flicker of guilt crossed his face as he scanned the group. His pale expression all but said:
Everyone, I tried my best.
But Rina quickly brightened again, clapping her hands.
"Still, I made plenty of both dishes. I guarantee everyone will be full!"
"Everyone, please enjoy!"