Hot Limit - Epilogue 4

[bakemonoremy]

Location: Hot Limit Stage

Niki: I’m baaack~... ☆

Kohaku: Pete’s sake, ya gave me start! Oh, it’s you, Niki-han. When ya say yer back, d’ya mean ya went somewhere?

HiMERU: — From HiMERU’s observations, it appears Shiina periodically vacated the stage and returned a number of times.

After leaving the stage, he would go in and out of various booths on the event grounds, where he must’ve been doing something or other.

It’s difficult to see the area from this vantage point due to the crowd of people in the way, so HiMERU cannot even guess what his reasons for this bizarre behaviour are.

Niki: Could you not call it bizarre behaviour!?

Sheesh — is it just me or have you guys been getting sharper tongues lately, HiMERU-kun and Kohaku-chan? This is definitely all because of Rinne-kun’s bad influence on you!

Rinne: Aah? And who gave you permission to badmouth me, huh? Real impertinent comin’ from you of all people, Niki!

Niki: Oh, Rinne-kun, there you are! What’re you doing over in that corner when you of all people are usually such an attention seeker!

Well, let’s put that aside — Thank you soooo much! This is all thanks to you, Rinne-kun! I can’t thank you enough! I love you, I love you soooo much! Hey, can I kiss you!?

Rinne: No, that’s gonna have to wait ‘til after we’re married.

Niki: I don’t have the slightest intention to marry you, though!

Um, then what am I supposed to do here? How can I express this gratitude I’m feeling!?

Kohaku: Will ya settle down for a minute, Niki-han. What’s gotten inta ya, did someone give ya some kinda weird drug or what?

HiMERU: Or did the summer heat finally get to your head?

Niki: Nope! I’m just super duper happy and overjoyed! Why, did I say something strange!?

Kohaku: Well, it’s fine to be straightforward with yer feelings, but I got a bit uneasy seein’ ya suddenly treat Rinne-han all warmly.

HiMERU: Indeed. We were merely concerned for you, as we feared he may have some dirt on you or something of the sort.

Rinne: You guys are harsh, man…

Niki’s shit at explanations, so I’ll summarize things in his place. What he’s trying to say is that Hot Limit is the best project he could’ve asked for.

Kohaku: In other words?

Niki: Umm. It’s a bit late for me to say this, but to tell the truth, I’ve been super busy with my work as a cook lately.

Kohaku: Eh, fer real? But weren’t ya foolin’ around with us an’ carefreely goin’ about your part-time job this whole time…?

Niki: Yep, in fact this matter is related to that part-time job… So, I was supposed to appear in some kinda national confectionary contest as the representative for ES, or rather, Café Cinnamon.

By accomplishing something in that contest, ES would also gain fame on account of housing Cinnamon.

HiMERU: — Hmm. That seems to be a common occurrence lately. Valkyrie was apparently also ordered to win the championship trophy at that JNLC event.

Kohaku: All in all, ES has only been formed this year, so it’s a force on the rise after all.

Reckon they’re tryna demonstrate their presence an’ strength to the world by acquirin’ all existin’ awards an’ titles in a sweepin’ victory.

Rinne: I’ll bet. The sense of scale is on a whole ‘nother level, but the concept’s similar to when we were tryna form a link with Anzu-chan.

It was about establishin’ a bond to public lawfulness, to someone who has value — in other words, to gain connections.

Connections and money are what makes the world of adults go ‘round, so we’re gonna need those. For humans and organizations alike, it’s the end of the rope when they’re out of friends.

Niki: Yeah. But for various reasons I didn’t want my face and name to get out into the public culinary world. Just… a bunch of stuff happened regarding my dad, y’see.

Kohaku: What d’ya mean, “public culinary world”? Is there also an underground culinary world, or what?

Niki: Fufu. You guys only care about idol stuff so you don’t know this, but there’s more to the culinary world than one might think.

It’s a complicated and mysterious pandemonium. The history of food stretches back to the dawn of humanity’s history itself, y’know?

Kohaku: When ya put it like that it’s mighty persuasive. Well, I reckon song an’ dance have just as long of a history goin’ on. The history of idols is just an extension of that.

HiMERU: — HiMERU believes there’s also a relation to “religion”. In the case of idols, that is.

Niki: Anyway. Because of that, I was kinda at a loss for what to do…

If I entered something like a confectionary contest my lineage might get exposed — which, if anything, would actually become an inconvenience for the store and ES as a whole.

But when someone asks me a favor related to food, I’m the type who just can’t say no…

So I felt like I had no choice but to enter the contest, and figured if I refused to enter it I might really get fired from my part-time job this time around —

But also, I do love making sweets, and under the pretext of sampling their entries I might also get to eat a bunch of sweets the other contestants made…

While I’ve been worrying about what to do, my thoughts have been going in circles like that over and over lately.

Kohaku: Hmmm. You really didn’t look like you were worrying about anythin’ in the slightest to me.

HiMERU: Same here. You seemed like the same Shiina as always.

Niki: Well, making a gloomy face won’t get me anywhere, right? Whatever happens, happens~. Getting all depressed about it would just make me all hungry!

If you’re gonna be all troubled, your time’s better spent looking for edible herbs and the like! Nahaha ♪

Rinne: ...And that’s the kinda guy he is, which is exactly why being with him is such a pain.

You’ll glance at him and think it’s the same ol’ stupid, lively Niki as ever, but then he’ll just collapse in a heap outta nowhere ‘cause he hit his limit.

When you’re strugglin’, tell us that you’re struggling. When you’re worryin’ over something, come and ask us for advice. You’re way too hard to understand, sheesh.

Niki: Nahaha ♪ But I can’t become like my dad and be an inconvenience to the people around me —

‘Cause with my constitution it’s already a win in my book that I’m still alive at all.

I can’t hope for anything more than that. Just getting to eat every day is already bliss to me~ I need to be satisfied with just that.

Rinne: ...There you have it, that’s the curse this guy is under.

No matter how many times I tell him that he’s not inconveniencin’ me, no matter how much I try to convince him that he’s worth as much as other people if not more, it’s no use at all.

I tried all kinds of things, y’know…

I tried explainin’ how it’d be okay for him to cause trouble for me if he married me and we became family, I tried raisin’ his self-esteem by makin’ him a popular idol…

In my own way, as a country bumpkin who was completely ignorant in the ways of the modern world, I really tried everything I possibly could…

But, well, it seems like this curse is rooted real deep, so my only choice is to unravel it bit by bit.

I owe this guy my life. That’s why I’ll grant his wish and make him happy.

And I don’t give a shit if God himself prohibits that, ‘cause I’ll turn even fate on its head if I have to.