Dungeon Refrigerator 50

Test

Eating Ramen

Room 301, was Serai's room. Facing east, it must be the best room in this apartment, where the morning sun shines brightly.

"I'll get ready quickly, so wait outside!"

Saying that Serai-san hurriedly entered the room. I wanted to say something like, "Get ready in 40 seconds!" to her retreating figure, but I refrained from doing so. After all, it was such a famous line, and I feared it would create an awkward atmosphere if Serai-san knew about it.

"Hmm..."

Taking my gaze away from the room's closed door, I looked at the surrounding scenery. 

Her room is on the third floor, the view was quite nice. Yeah, it's a nice place to live. Female college students these days are amazing. Serai-san is probably busy opening drawers and packing her belongings in the room. I couldn't help but feel a little excited thinking about what kind of panties Serai-san chose for the overnight stay.

However, such enjoyable and exciting fantasies were suddenly interrupted. I caught sight of a suspicious figure in the corner of my vision. The narrow alley in front of the apartment didn't have a distinction between the sidewalk and the road. From the T-shaped intersection to the left, a figure that appeared to be a man suddenly emerged and looked at me standing in front of Serai-san's room. Then, the figure hurriedly hide in the alley from which he had just come out.

"Huh!?"

(Could that be the stalker Serai-san was talking about!?)

"(Clatter) Sorry for the wait, master! Hm, is something wrong?"

"Huh? Ah, no, it's nothing..."

As Serai-san noticed my troubled expression and asked me, the presence of the possible stalker targeting Serai-san disappeared from my perceptible range.

(Damn it. Maybe it was a failure.)

I hesitated. I hesitated to use the power I had gained in the dungeon on the ground. I could have jumped down from the third floor and immediately chased after the prowler.

I hesitated. Using the power I gained in the dungeon on the surface. With my current abilities, I could have jumped from the third floor and immediately pursued the suspicious person.

But due to my usual efforts to avoid using the power gained in the dungeon outside of it and the anxiety of "what if the opponent is also an ability user like me," hesitation arose, and I couldn't act immediately.

That's right. If the opponent is also someone who gained power and skills in the dungeon, it would be too dangerous to rush in defenselessly. If the opponent were to resist with the power I gained in desperation, I would have no choice but to go all out. And... if by any chance, the opponent was also a user of [Acid] like me, without the Mushiou suit, it would likely end up in a mutual defeat. Yeah, that person could defeat me.

"Well then, shall we go? Master's house."

"Yeah, sure..."

I put the large Boston bag on Serai-san's back and slowly started the bike with mixed feelings.

.....

"Alright, we've arrived."

"This is... your master's house? But isn't this a public bath?"

"Yeah, it's a public bath. My bathroom is small, so let's take a bath here before going home."

"Oh, I see. Thank you for considering me. I appreciate it."

On the way back, instead of going straight to my place, we stopped at a public bath. That's because being hugged from behind by Serai-san had an incredible effect, and it was distracting me.

There were many things to consider, such as the suspicious person I saw and covering up the information about Serai-san coming to my home. However, I couldn't concentrate while riding my motorcycle with Serai-san sitting behind me.

I wanted time to think carefully before returning home, and there was another reason for stopping at the public bath.

At night, a man and a woman under the same roof, take turns to bathe. It was thrilling when there was a chance of accidentally witnessing each other naked. 

However, if such a situation were to occur to me, I had no social skills to handle the awkwardness that would follow. That was the main reason for stopping at the public bath.

Well, my apartment has a unit bath, where the toilet and bathroom are fused, so the bath is indeed small.

[Kapoon]

(When I get back home, I should do this. I should do it like that.)

As I soaked in the bathtub, I desperately tried to think about how to protect my secret.

.....

We arrived at my apartment, which is my home.

"This is... master's house?"

When I informed Serai-san that this was my apartment, she blinked in surprise. It seemed like she was comparing it to her place and finding the exterior several levels below her expectations. However, nothing I could do about it now, as I had been living in this apartment for several years and had no choice but to accept it.

"There's a ramen shop on the street just before turning into this alley. How about having dinner there? I'll leave my bag in the room and join you."

"O-Okay..."

Deciding on that rather forcefully, I took Serai-san's bag and headed to my room alone.

(Preparation... start!)

Now, it's my turn to get ready in 40 seconds.

I quickly removed the external HDD that was filled with recorded anime from the TV, and to overcome any difficulties, I unplugged the computer from its cords and relocated them to the dungeon entrance. After all, my computer's desktop is filled with shortcuts to eroge games.

By doing this, the computer desk ended up  suspiciously with only the monitor placed on it, but I could just say, "My computer is currently being repaired." I already moved all my otaku goods to the dungeon's entrance. I'm glad I moved them.

Thus, I disguised my room, which belonged to a hobbyless and plain guy, as my room. The problematic refrigerator was sealed with duct tape. I named it the "Operation: 'The refrigerator downstairs is broken and doesn't work, so I'm taping it shut because the door keeps opening by itself'" strategy. This disguise is quite far-fetched.

But this was the limit for a disguise that I could do in a short amount of time.

If I got any later, Serai-san might think, "Oh, master is desperately hiding erotic books and stuff for my sake."

"Please don't let Serai-san discover it..."

I tapped the top of the refrigerator and hastily went to the ramen shop.

.....

And we arrived at our favorite ramen chain shop.

Through the large window, I could see inside the restaurant, and Serai-san was sitting at a table, leaning forward and looking at the menu. Her ample bosom rested on the table, quite prominently, I must say.

"Sorry for the wait. Have you already placed your order?"

I entered the shop and sat across from Serai-san.

"Nah, I was waiting for you. Plus, I wanted to hear your recommendation."

"Recommendation, huh? My usual choices are garlic ramen and garlic chives dumplings, something with stamina. How about a vegetable-rich tantanmen for a girl like you?"

"I see. So, what will you have today, master?"

"Hmm, let me think. Since I assume you wouldn't want to be around someone who smells like garlic in the room, I'll go with miso ramen and a Chinese-style rice bowl."

"It's fine. You don't have to worry about that. I'm also curious about what you usually eat, master, so I'll order the same."

"Hmm... In that case, it would be garlic ramen, garlic chives dumplings, and stir-fried garlic chives with liver. Is that okay?"

"That's fine. Let's both embrace the garlic aroma."

(Guhh!... If I didn't know Serai-san's personality. I'd probably fall for it. But she won't fool me.)

"All right, be prepared for the garlic scent."

"Yes!"

.....

"Here you go. Garlic ramen, garlic chives dumplings, and stir-fried garlic chives with the liver."

"Wow!"

Seiki-san's eyes widened as the garlic ramen arrived.

Well, it's understandable. This garlic ramen is topped with a mound of grated garlic in the center, about the size of one garlic bulb.

"It's... amazing..."

"Yeah. The grated garlic is soaked in the ramen broth and cooked to mellow out the flavor. Otherwise, the garlic's components would be too strong and upset your stomach."

"What?! Is that some dangerous food?"

"Well, this amount of garlic can be dangerous for beginners. Serai-san, it's better to leave only the amount you think you can handle and transfer the rest to my bowl."

"Okay, I'll do that..."

Even Serai-san, as composed as she is, seemed taken aback by the amount of garlic, carefully moving the garlic using her chopsticks.

"SlurpSlurpSlurp! (Munch) SlurpSlurpSlurp!!"

"SlurpSlurp! (Munch) SlurpSlurpSlurp!!"

And so Serai-san and I enjoyed our garlic ramen, sweating on our foreheads.

Occasionally, we would take a break and eat dumplings or stir-fried garlic chives with liver, then return to the garlic ramen. Serai-san's eating style was quite wild today, perhaps influenced by my presence.

And the familiar staff members of this restaurant, who were used to seeing me dine alone, observed us with an oddly mischievous smile as we, a cute girl and I enjoyed garlic ramen together.