Fuyuki City's Shinto was originally a residential area east of the Mien River. It was a new, modern commercial street built by the local government on the site of a national railway during the island nation's period of rapid economic growth. The original plan was to develop the entire wilderness into a new town.
However, with the bursting of the economic bubble in the early 1990s, the island nation's economy suffered a major setback, leading to the "Heisei Great Depression" period. This caused the original plan for a new commercial street to die in its infancy.
Even now, 40% of the buildings remain unfinished, but fortunately, the park and shopping streets in front of the railway station are completed and open for business.
After closing the Mirror Dimension, Nyarlathotep began using the pretense of "investigation," which was actually a "date," to drag Chen Yu around the shopping streets near the lovers' tavern.
From the arcade to the dessert shop, and then to the cinema.
Nyarlathotep enthusiastically and curiously observed the entertainment of this world, tasting its delicacies.
After watching "The Mask" at the cinema, Nyarlathotep, holding a skull backpack doll she had won from a claw machine at the arcade, asked Chen Yu, "Darling, where should we go next?"
For Nyarlathotep, the destination didn't matter, as long as she could deepen her relationship with her Master.
Hearing Nyarlathotep's words and glancing at the time displayed by the system, Chen Yu decided to solve the lunch problem first.
After all, he hadn't dared to eat any of the breakfast Nyarlathotep had personally made before they left, and although he had a small cake at a dessert shop while shopping, most of the other desserts had gone into Nyarlathotep's stomach.
Seeing Nyarlathotep wolfing down the cake, it seemed she had a taste system similar to humans.
Looking around the commercial street, he discovered a restaurant with a sign called "Hongzhou Yan Sui Guan · Taishan."
The name clearly indicated it was a Chinese restaurant, so he decided to introduce Nyarlathotep to Chinese cuisine, hoping to change her habit of eating raw food, which was like "drinking blood and eating fur."
So, Chen Yu pointed to the "Hongzhou Yan Sui Guan · Taishan" Chinese restaurant and recommended to Nyarlathotep, "Would you like to try this?"
"Nyarlathotep will listen to Darling!"
Nyarlathotep happily agreed.
Although it was a holiday and the commercial street was bustling with people, the glass door of this Chinese restaurant called "Hongzhou Yan Sui Guan · Taishan" was half-closed. When the two entered, they saw that the diners inside were few and far between.
Several tables were placed at the front of the shop, and decorative landscape paintings and a menu with only names were posted on the walls. The kitchen was at the back of the shop, half-hidden by a screen made of ebony wood.
The shop owner was surprisingly a small loli, seemingly under 1.5 meters tall, with a pair of bun-styled hair. Through the half-closed screen, one could see her waving a ladle, coating all the food ingredients in the pot with chili.
It was incredibly crimson and pungent; just looking at it from afar made one's mouth water.
Half of it was due to the fragrant aroma, and half was purely from the Stimulate of the chili.
"Two guests? Please wait, it will be ready soon... What would you like to eat?"
The petite shop owner waved her ladle while still attending to the guests. Chen Yu looked at the menu posted on the wall, considering what to eat.
"Wow! Neither round nor square, between clear and viscous, red and white intertwined, it looks very delicious!"
Nyarlathotep stared at the food continuously stir-fried in the owner's pot, mumbling incomprehensible words.
"Hoo... ha... hoo... ha...!"
"Young lady, it's better not to get too close to Ba Laoban's kitchen."
"Although Ba Laoban's mapo tofu is absolutely superb, if the splashing mapo accidentally gets into your eyes, it will undoubtedly cause blindness, and even if it touches your skin, something very terrible will happen..."
Hearing a somewhat familiar voice from beside the guest seating, Chen Yu looked towards the seat.
He saw a brown-haired man in a dark blue trench coat with a cross on his chest, warning Nyarlathotep with a strange expression.
He had been so focused on the menu that he hadn't noticed Kirei Kotomine's presence in the restaurant.
After noticing Kirei Kotomine, Chen Yu felt a momentary tension, but seeing him still sweating profusely, eyes gleaming, and a look of pleasure as he quickly ate spoonful after spoonful of mapo tofu from his plate, Chen Yu relaxed.
It seemed the other party had no intention of acting.
Perhaps under his Confundo and Nyarlathotep's Unspeakable Appearance, Kirei Kotomine hadn't discovered their true identities.
It seemed the previous warning was just a kind reminder.
"Father Kirei, you're joking. Although I know my mapo tofu is quite spicy, saying that accidentally splashing it into your eyes can directly blind you is too exaggerated!"
Ba Laoban poured the freshly stir-fried mapo tofu from the pot into a large porcelain basin and placed it on Kirei Kotomine's table.
As soon as it was placed on Kirei Kotomine's table, Kirei Kotomine politely said "Thank you" and immediately finished the remaining mapo tofu, including the sauce, from his original plate, then eagerly began to savor the newly served mapo tofu.
More sweat appeared on his face like rain, his upturned lips constantly chewed the crimson sauce and tofu, and his eyes, devoid of highlights, seemed to only see the basin of mapo tofu in front of him.
To cool down, Kirei Kotomine even unzipped his trench coat, revealing the black shirt underneath.
"Darling, Darling, Darling, this looks so interesting! How about we have this for lunch too!"
Nyarlathotep tugged at Chen Yu's clothes, curiously pointing at the mapo tofu on Kirei Kotomine's table, indicating that she also wanted to try it.
Seeing Nyarlathotep full of curiosity, Chen Yu agreed to her request.
Chen Yu was also curious about how delicious the mapo tofu that Kirei Kotomine was so fond of truly was.
Since they were here, not trying the mapo tofu highly praised by Kirei Kotomine felt like something was missing.
"Two guests, the mapo tofu needs to be freshly made, please wait a moment."
Perhaps to help guests pass the boring waiting time, this Chinese restaurant actually had a large-screen television, and it was playing news about Ryunosuke Uryuu.
"Next is the follow-up report on the serial bizarre murder cases in Fuyuki City. At the scenes of the three murder cases discovered so far, all featured mysterious patterns, suspected to be magic circles, drawn with the victims' blood. What is intriguing is what the magic circles drawn by the culprit actually mean. Today, we have invited a criminal psychologist who is proficient in..."
Although the serial killer Ryunosuke Uryuu had been secretly executed by him last night to summon Caster, the media and police department didn't know. It was estimated that the TV would continue to report on the heinous murder cases in Fuyuki City, reminding citizens to be safe, until more explosive news appeared, and then the hot search on the serial murder cases caused by Ryunosuke Uryuu would slowly die down.
Chen Yu and Nyarlathotep chose a seat far from Kirei Kotomine.
Chen Yu pretended to watch TV while keeping an eye on Kirei Kotomine, who was eating mapo tofu heartily, out of the corner of his eye.
One must know that Kirei Kotomine's close-combat ability was not weak. If he suddenly attacked with a sharp weapon, such a distance would still give him a moment to react.
Fuyuki Church was in the southeast of Fuyuki City's Shinto area. Given Kirei Kotomine's habit of eating mapo tofu, there was a high chance of encountering him if he went to a Chinese restaurant.
But to run into Kirei Kotomine on his first visit, the odds were too high!
Should he take advantage of the other party's defenselessness and eliminate him?
Chen Yu rested his chin on his hand, pondering this question.
Nyarlathotep, meanwhile, sat on the stool, swinging her black-clad legs, her curious purple eyes staring unabashedly at Kirei Kotomine.
She seemed to be wondering why the human in front of her reacted so amusingly.
Even though he was sweating profusely and his tongue was in unbearable pain, a strong sense of pleasure surged within him.
It seemed only by eating such a torturous dish could he feel alive.
Nyarlathotep quickly matched this with some knowledge of this era that she had been granted by the Holy Grail when she descended as a Servant.
Without a doubt, the person in front of her was a masochist!
"Darling, Darling, I suspect this person is a masochist..."
Nyarlathotep's voice was very soft, so soft that almost the entire Chinese restaurant could hear it.
Chen Yu quickly covered Nyarlathotep's mouth with his hand.
Even if you noticed, Nyarlathotep, you shouldn't say it out loud!
Ba Laoban, who was holding a tray and preparing to deliver food, burst out laughing. She patted Kirei Kotomine's back while roaring with laughter: "Father Kirei... Hahahahaha... a masochist... Hahahahaha... This is the funniest joke I've heard all year... Hahahahaha."
The tray she held swayed with Ba Laoban's laughter and pats, and the two freshly cooked mapo tofu dishes inside also rippled.
After a while, Ba Laoban, seemingly having laughed enough, suppressed her laughter and placed the two fiery red mapo tofu dishes in front of Chen Yu and Nyarlathotep.
Fiery red chili oil floated on the deep red tofu sauce, shimmering with a crimson glow under the lights.
Chopped garlic and spring onions were sprinkled on top, garnishing this classic Sichuan dish.
Looking at the mapo tofu filled with fiery red sauce, Chen Yu decisively ordered two bowls of rice.
He was not like Kirei Kotomine, a ruthless person who ate mapo tofu without any staple food.
As the rice arrived, Chen Yu immediately picked up the chopsticks from the table, grabbed a piece of mapo tofu, and began to taste it.
Hiss... so spicy!!!
It felt even spicier than what was called super spicy or devil spicy!
Instantly, an intense spiciness rapidly spread throughout his mouth, continuously stimulating the taste buds on his tongue.
The tender and smooth tofu had a silky texture, perfectly blending with the spicy and numbing flavor of the sauce.
He quickly shoveled a mouthful of rice.
The fresh aroma of the rice balanced the spiciness of the mapo tofu, leaving an endless aftertaste.
Nyarlathotep also learned from Chen Yu, using chopsticks to pick up and eat mapo tofu.
Even though Nyarlathotep was using chopsticks for the first time, she skillfully picked up a tender piece of tofu.
Mimicking Chen Yu, she shoveled rice and ate at a rapid pace, seemingly unable to stop.
"Hmph—mapo tofu with rice is a heretical way of eating it."
Kirei Kotomine's cold snort caught Chen Yu's attention.
"A true mapo tofu enthusiast should eat it this way to be considered brave!"
Kirei Kotomine put down the spoon in his hand, picked up a basin of mapo tofu, and directly drank it like soup.
Crimson sauce dripped from Kirei Kotomine's chin onto the table, but he didn't care.
After finishing the entire basin of mapo tofu like he was drinking soup, Kirei Kotomine let out a satisfied burp.
"mapo tofu doesn't need any staple food at all. Any addition of staple food is an insult to mapo tofu. If you're eating mapo tofu, then just eat mapo tofu."
Kirei Kotomine stood up, wiped his mouth with a napkin from the table, and pulled out several Japanese yen from his pocket, placing them on the table.
His steps did not stop as he walked past Chen Yu and Nyarlathotep, heading straight for the exit.
As he was about to leave the shop, Kirei Kotomine said, "Young man, young lady, judging by the way you eat, you both seem to be foreigners. I'll give you a piece of advice: Fuyuki City is not a good place for tourism right now. It's best to leave Fuyuki City quickly, as things are about to get chaotic here!"
With that, Kirei Kotomine left without looking back.
Confirming that Kirei Kotomine had no intention of acting, Chen Yu quickly sent a telepathic message to Nyarlathotep, who was happily eating, telling her to send an otherworldly bee lurking in the Mirror Dimension to follow Kirei Kotomine.
After Kirei Kotomine left, the petite, loli-like Ba Laoban began to clear the tableware Kirei Kotomine had left behind.
While tidying up, she asked Chen Yu, "Are you from the Heavenly Dynasty?"
Hearing Ba Laoban's words, Chen Yu nodded. Although he wasn't from this world, he shared a similar history with the same culture.
"Of course."
"Indeed, only people from our hometown can use chopsticks so skillfully. Oh my! Finally, someone from home who doesn't treat mapo tofu as a staple food has arrived! The islanders here all treat mapo tofu directly as a staple food. I've been running this shop for a few years and almost forgot that mapo tofu needs to be eaten with a staple food!"
Ba Laoban sighed, wiping the sauce off the table with a rag, and said to Chen Yu, "Father Kirei was right, you heard it on TV. There's a serial killer committing crimes all over Fuyuki City right now. So far, three young girls who stayed out late have been victims, and the local police department doesn't know who the culprit is. So, never go out late at night, especially you, understand?"
Ba Laoban said, looking at Nyarlathotep.
Nyarlathotep was controlling a swarm of otherworldly bees to track Kirei Kotomine. Through the information transmitted by the otherworldly bees, she could clearly see Kirei Kotomine walking towards Fuyuki Church and didn't pay attention to what Ba Laoban was saying.
It wasn't until Ba Laoban looked at Nyarlathotep that Nyarlathotep reacted, asking with some confusion, "Me?"
Ba Laoban said earnestly, "Yes, the victims are all young girls who stayed out late. A pretty girl like you absolutely must not go out late at night, or you will definitely become the target of a murderous pervert!"
Ryunosuke Uryuu would target Nyarlathotep?
Even if Ryunosuke Uryuu was resurrected and given twelve more lives, it wouldn't be enough for Nyarlathotep to play with.
Looking at the loli-sized Ba Laoban, Chen Yu questioned, "Then aren't you afraid?"
Ba Laoban pointed to herself with some confusion, then suddenly realized and said, "I'm not a young girl. I just don't show my age. Don't look at me like this, I'm already at the age where a woman's beauty fades. That killer wouldn't be interested in me. Besides, I know some martial arts, so I have some self-defense capabilities."
So Ba Laoban just looked like a loli?
Looking at Ba Laoban's words, Chen Yu cast a subtle glance at Nyarlathotep.
In that case, Nyarlathotep was actually the same.
Feeling Chen Yu's subtle gaze, Nyarlathotep said with some displeasure, "Darling, it's very rude of you to look at me like that, you know..."