Chapitre 12: Chapter 11: Don't Be A Danny RPG (Seriously)

I open my eyes and let out a yawn. I get off the bed that Samson bought for me. I'm still a bit weirded out from that AMA, but I feel better than I did yesterday. I could go for a cup of coffee to make the day more pleasant, except they don't have any in this place. I kinda wonder when are we going to get the Food Soul Coffee. Or, maybe even go to Satan's Coffee House, assuming that place still exists. It's really weird how even though the origin of coffee is traced back to Ethiopia from who-knows-when, it's considered to be nicknamed "the demon's drink", according to his story in-game and in the wiki. And, of course, the longest I've been without coffee is about a week, so the withdrawal didn't affect me except for when I woke up at the start of the second chapter.

I head downstairs to the second floor and come across Milk and Black Tea, who had just come out of their room. Milk greeted, "Good morning, Danny RPG. Did you sleep well?" I nod with the corners of mouth tugging into a smile. I crouch and leap upwards to Black Tea's shoulder. She got startled by this, but she quickly regains her composure. I perch onto the shoulders of the Food Soul. Neither characters seem to mind; in fact, they are mildly amused by my action. Black Tea said, "Next time, ask before you do that." The Food Souls walk downstairs to the living room. A familiar rumbling occurs from the summoning room. Looks like we might be getting Coffee after all.

We head downstairs and hear a rumble. It's the same rumble from summoning a Food Soul. Out of curiosity, we step through the doorway under the stairs and walk to the summoning room. Disappointingly, it's not Coffee. Actually, it's bad news: We got Sweet Tofu. Eyes widened, I thought, Oh, shit…. Sweet chuckled,"Oh, hello~ Who might you be? And what is that strange thing on your shoulder? Looks kinda cute~" Sweet Tofu is a pretty bizarre but dangerous guy. I read his story once; it was really weird, but I do know that he killed his Master Attendant, and that his brothers are Salty Tofu and (strangely enough) Boston Lobster. This guy is exceedingly unpleasant and creepy as fuck, but not as much as other Food Souls such as Whiskey, Fruit Tart, Spaghetti, and Green Curry. (Maybe a couple of others too, but I'm not that great with names.) He does love rock n' roll, though, I'll give him that. But, frankly, the cons outweigh the pros, and the taste in rock n' roll is the only pro he has.

I cringe at the remark. At least Salty Tofu has more sanity and is less dangerous, but is still as quirky as his older twin counterpart. If I had to choose between Sweet and Salty, it's very obvious who I'm going to pick. Samson answered, "She's Black Tea, Milk, and the dragon on her shoulder is Danny RPG." That's odd, Black Tea and Sweet are supposed to know each other. I think these Food Souls are not the same as the ones from their bios, otherwise things would have gotten worse. Black Tea doesn't look like she knows him, and neither does Milk. Sweet doesn't seem to know these Food Souls either. "Who are you?" Black Tea asked. Sweet smiles warmly. "I'm Sweet Tofu, it's nice to meet you. And mind if I take a closer look at the dragon?" She hesitates for a second, but then said, "Sure." I feel kinda relieved that the Food Souls here aren't the same as the ones from the game's stories. Still, I keep my guard up.

As his hand get close to me, I let out an uncomfortable growl. "Aw, it's purring~" Milk, who appears to be slightly worried, replied, "I think that is that is growl." Regardless, Sweet picks me up as though I'm a cat. I let out an annoyed sigh and refrain from hissing. I'm so, so salty today from this. (Plus, I still haven't had coffee, so withdrawal is playing a role in my bitterness.) He doesn't seem to be aware that I'm sapient. At least, not yet. He remarked, "This is the most unusual pet I've seen." I roll my eyes.

Sweet Tofu is an SR-rank Support Soul. In case if you forget, SR stands for 'Super Rare', even though they're not that rare, ironically enough. Lemme clarify what I mean: Rares are common, Super Rares and Managers (the M-rank Souls) are uncommon, and Ultra Rares are actually the ones that rare. Hope this makes sense. Anyway, Sweet is wearing a strange black and white outfit, and he has a one of those piercings on his belly button. His boots stretch all the way up to his knees. His hair is white, but his bangs are brown. His eyes are heterochromatic, meaning his right eye is magenta and his right eye is white. Quite an unusual color scheme, admittedly, but seeing them up close is actually pretty cool. His breath stinks, though.

Samson said, "I've got to summon another Food Soul, so you guys may want to stand back." He pulls the switch, causing the rings on the platform to spin rapidly. Sweet and I get knocked by the wind, causing him to fall on his back and causing me to fall on him. Milk, Samson, and Black Tea are somehow still standing despite how strong the gust is. Finally the wind dies down. I get off of Sweet. I've been close to that guy long enough. I think I'll see the new Food Soul up on the platform later.

I leave the room and meet with Brownie, Hawthorne Ball, and Bamboo Rice in the living room. Brownie greeted, "Good morning, Danny RPG. Who are the new Food Souls that are in the other room?" I approach him and write {Sweet Tofu and some other guy. I haven't seen the latter yet because spending five minutes with the former is more than enough enough for me to know him. Although, I did pick a familiar aroma on the way here, so I might have a feeling who the second Food Soul may be just by smelling them, even if I haven't met them before.} Meanwhile, I can hear some unfamiliar chatter in the dining area, so the rest of the Food Souls may have started working already. I reckon Rice is the restaurant's supervisor in this game. Usually, in my account, Toast is the supervisor, though I'm not sure what the purpose of the supervisor is.

The characters in the summoning room walk into this room, and my guess on who the second Food Soul is is correct. A gentle, blonde-haired Food Soul with fine-looking shades. He appears to be a businessman, as he wears a suit and tie. This guy is none other than Coffee. That bittersweet aroma he's emanating fills my nostrils and all of my worries seem to melt away in an instant … until Sweet appears again. Regardless, I hold back the urge to just run and hug Coffee. Not because everyone in the fandom loves him (myself included), but because someone can finally brew the Ethiopian drink in this place. Hopefully.

We begin introducing ourselves to the new Food Souls. When Coffee approaches Brownie, he greeted, "Good morning, sir, I am Coffee. You must be butler. Am I correct?" Brownie nodded. "Yes, My name is Brownie. The dragon next to me is Danny RPG; she seems very interested in you." I let out a friendly meow, "Hello." Coffee remarked, "A dragon? How interesting. I've read about them in a fantasy book once, but I've never actually seen one before. I've always imagined that the dragon would much bigger, though." Bambri added, "I've imagined the same thing until I met her. I never knew that dragons can can be the size of cats. She doesn't seem to act like one, though."

"Is that so? Well, then, that makes the dragon an even more unusual creature compared to what I've read in that book."

"Anyway, I'm Bamboo Rice, and this is Big Ah and Little Ah." He briefly points to the bamboo rats on his shoulders.

Hawthorne piped up, "I'm Hawthorne Ball, and the others are working in the kitchen and front of the restaurant right now." Sweet asked, "Aside from cooking and serving these customers, what else do you do?" Samson replied, "We do different jobs every day; some Food Souls work in the kitchen and some work in the dining area. After a while, they switch roles or have another Food Soul take their place if the other runs out of stamina."

"So, depending on their skills, the Food Souls volunteer to do different jobs in the restaurant, then do a different job in the next day, while making sure that the roles stay consistent?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"You're a strange man, but I don't mind~"

"Look who's talking," I retorted. Unfortunately, despite the sharp remark, no one understood what I said. So, they glance at me, but then focus their attention back towards Master Attendant, Coffee, and Sweet. "Nevermind," I mumbled. Why do I even bother when I have a one-sided language barrier? After a few more greets, Vodka appears, saying, "Hawthorne, you are needed in the front of the restaurant. Bamboo Rice, you are needed in the kitchen." Tom Yum and Spicy Gluten enter the living room fatigued from their work. Hey, working in a restaurant is not an easy job; I've watched enough episodes of Kitchen Nightmares and Cutthroat Kitchen as an example of how difficult and stressful it can and will be. Plus, I'm sure you guys still remember Chapter 2, right? Yeah, I'm definitely not doing that again for obvious reasons.

Wait, you actually forgot that? Alright then, let's recap: Rice snuck out early to get some ingredients, which is what happened in Food Fantasy's main story. Master Attendant Samson and the Food Souls (minus the M-rank ones) went out to find her. While they're gone, the M-rank Souls and I thought it was a good idea to impress Samson by running the restaurant on our own, which didn't end so well. That's why it's titled A Recipe For Disaster as a reference to One Little Slip by the Barenaked Ladies (no, I'm not joking). On the bright side, we got help from an otaku and a girl who seemed to suspiciously know a few things about Food Souls. When the group came back with Rice and a bunch of ingredients for food, the pair leaves and Samson gaves the M-rank Souls and I a pretty stern talk. And that's the end of Chapter 2.

Huh? Why did consider the otaku and the girl suspicious? Their knowledge and experience with Food Souls and running a restaurant, of course. The only possibility of having that knowledge aside from being experienced Master Attendants is that they're secretly members of the Chef's Guild. But hey, that's just a theory, a Game Theory! (Actually, these characters only appeared as ordinary NPCs in the game, but you get the idea. And no, I'm not associated with The Game Theorists in any way possible. I am a fan, though. Hence why this is a fanfiction, eh?)

Ahem, moving on to Chapter 11: The day has been pretty normal, and Coffee has gladly been helping Samson and Rice with his strong leadership skills, and with Brownie on keeping the restaurant peaceful and spotless. Work seems to have run a lot more smoothly for Brownie since Coffee got summoned. It's a good thing because, personally, I don't think Brownie has been looking good lately. As hard as he tries to hide it, Brownie recently developed some bags under his eyes due to a lack of proper rest. I noticed a few days ago that Sandwich and Milk offered to help him with cleaning the place (even if it's dusting that bookshelf in the living room), but Brownie stubbornly insisted that he can take care because he's a solemn and very modest butler. Yeah, right, man. Have you looked into one of the bathroom mirrors recently, Brownie?

Of course, when I said that the day has been normal, it's because Sweet went out and borrowed some money to buy some records and probably a jukebox as far as I know. I know this is the twenty-first century and we have online streaming and CDs, but hey, even Texas Roadhouse has a jukebox. Though, instead of vinyl records, it has a screen to pick a song, and it only plays country music, which is a bummer, because some ZZ Top would be nice. So, yeah, without Sweet around, Glorywest Grill remained pretty easygoing and peaceful, and even more so with the lack of Dine-and-Dashers. Still, we musn't let out guard down; who knows if this is nothing more than the calm before the –

An angry customer starts complaining about the bill and the food. Ungrateful wretch – they didn't even let me finish my sentence! Looks like we got another Dine-and-Dasher. Sandwich is talking to the customer, trying to calm him down and reason things out, but the asshole is verbally attacking him. As it quickly escalated, the Dine-and-Dash customer stands up and grabs Sandwich by the collar of the shirt. Oh, shit, it looks like the enemy has a knife! I must do something! Being someone who strongly hates getting my friends hurt, I jump up to the table and breathe fire onto the customer's face, which isn't hot enough to really burn him, but it's enough to get his face completely singed as if this is a cartoon. As I burn him, he lets go of Sandwich and shrieks in pain. Suck it up, you prick; it's not even that strong.

Still, everyone's eyes widen and their jaws drop. It was like when Monkey D. Luffy insulted Alvida when they first met before she ate that Slip-Slip fruit. That's how dramatic everyone's reactions are when I burned the idiot's face. I remarked, "You're talking out of your rear and you've hurt my friend. So, shut the fuck up, pay the bill, and leave." The customer, who turns out to be a malicious bandit, growled, "You little bitch, I'm going to kill you!" He unholsters his knife and tries to stab me, only to stab table because I dodged off of it. The other patrons grow terrified while Sweet Tofu comes back with a box full of records and CDs. "I'm back~ Did I miss – oh, my." Upon witnessing the fiasco, he calmly joked, "Hey, look. It's lunch and a show." "Now's not the time for jokes, Sweet!" I roared. Meanwhile, the enemy keeps throwing daggers from seemingly nowhere, scaring the customers away while I'm using a table that I've uplifted as a shield from the throwable weapons.

BANG!

Black Tea fires her pistols and knocks the bandit's next two knives, thus disarming him for a few seconds. Samson runs to him and punches the bandit in the face, knocking back and stumbling to another table. The bandit nearly falls, but quickly gains his balance. However, Crepe summons a powerful gust that sends him flying to the wall on the far end of the restaurant, narrowly missing Sweet and his box. He puts down the box, grabs the bandit by the back of the shirt and shoves him right far out the door. "AND STAY OUT!" he yelled angrily. Damn, I'm impressed he can be that loud. And angry; that guy always has a weird calm smile on his face.

"That was really reckless, Danny RPG," Black Tea said sternly. "You could have been taken away or worse, killed." Samson added, "Yeah, do you have any idea how stupid it was to set him on fire? You could've also burned down the restaurant!"

"Actually, her fire is very weak, Master Attendant, even if she did breathe fire on the restaurant, the wood wouldn't even be burning. But, still. Don't do that again, is that clear?" I nod regretfully. Sandwich said, "As good as your intentions were, Black Tea and Master Attendant have a point. The other Food Souls could've dealt with the problem, and the dining room wouldn't have gotten this badly trashed." I put the side of my right hand in front of my forehead as I lower my head with a small bow. It's a gesture used to apologize to someone. At least, that's what I saw in Nioh…. I've always had a chill yet fiery temper, which I inherited from my dad, and I worry a lot. So, I often snapped and/or panicked when I get stressed pretty badly. Now, it's coming back to bite me. Samson answered, "Your apology is accepted. Now, let's clean up this place. Danny, we'll keep talking later." I nod.

Setting that stern conversation aside, Sandwich is right, the front of the restaurant is badly trashed. Still, we sweep up the debris from shattered glasses and plates. The wood from the tables have been chipped and have gashes from the knives that were thrown. Samson and Brownie put the daggers themselves away to his office, so I'm guessing there's a safe or something that'll put the weapons away for safekeeping. Everything else remained intact except for one chair that broke from Crepe's gust. An hour later, the dining room is fully cleaned and they start cooking some dinner. However, while they're doing that, I sneak to the attic, reluctant to eat anything. Even if the place smells really good from whatever it is they're cooking, I decide to stay up here and sleep on the animal bed Samson bought for me.

The kitchen is filled with the aroma of Gloriville recipes that have been prepared by Hawthorne, Rice, Bamboo Rice, and Sweet Tofu. When they finish cooking, Sweet Tofu announced, "Hey~ The food is ready, hee hee." They hand the food out to the other members of the staff, and they start eating. Such a strange thing to do for Food Souls; even if it's unnecessary, Master Attendant Samson makes sure that they've had a healthy and proper meal at least once a day. But, there is someone that Samson and possibly a few Food Souls have noticed they're missing.

"Hey, guys," Samson asked, "have you seen Danny RPG?" Most of the Food Souls said simple scattered responses such as "No" and "Nope, sorry." Vodka said something like "Not a clue," and the rest either suddenly realize that the dragon isn't here or they simply shake their heads briefly before continuing to eat. However, Rice answered, "I think … I saw, her, going up the … attic. She seemed … ashamed, and regretful … about what happened…."

Jeez … I try to help a friend who needed help, and I screw it up for being so reckless. Being cranky from the lack of caffeine definitely won't be an excuse for this mess. Then, I wonder, what if this is going to be an elephant in the room that repeats itself? What if I become a liability from being a fire-breathing dragon. Hell, what if I lose control and really injure or even kill someone? Will I be kicked out? Have I become a liability because of the incident? Is Spicy Gluten going to punish me forever with her whip? I think I prefer that over getting kicked out of the restaurant.

Someone knocks on the door and gently opens it. It's Samson. He asked, "Hey, can we talk?" I avoid looking at him and pretend to sleep. He closes the door, turns on the light in the room, and walks to me. He sits down next to me. "Listen, you're probably asleep by now, but I just want to tell you that we're not mad you. We just didn't know how to react to what you did." I open my eyes and look at him. He went on, "I'm not sure if some of the Food Souls have or haven't forgiven you, but I have. Danny, why did you set that guy's face on fire?" I hesitate for a second, but my notepad glitches into existence in my hand along with the pen. I write {I've always had a short temper, but I try as much as I can to keep under control by maintaining a cool mentality. Some time ago, I promised myself that the next time I see a friend get hurt by some wretch, I would find that person who caused them pain, and get back at them. I would've interfered by insulting the bandit and distract him from hurting Sandwich any further so I can kick the bandit out, but when I noticed the dagger in his holster, I knew I had to think fast immediately and go with my instincts. Of course, it obviously didn't end well, and my instincts are not that great.} It took like, five minutes to write all of this in a notepad.

When I finish writing my explanation, I show it to Samson. He responded, "Well, I wouldn't say that it didn't end well. Even though the front of the restaurant got trashed again, no one really got hurt. Including Sandwich. I know you want to help others, and you have good intentions when you act like that. But, I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't cool what you did. I'd just ask that you would be more mindful of what you're doing and try not to act as much on impulse, okay?" I nod in agreement. I write {Okay.} "Now, come on," Samson went on, "Let's head downstairs. I figured you could use something to eat." I thought about it for a second, then I nodded. "Sure."