The Buggiest System 104 Spoon Switch

Upon seeing this, Lin Guiying rolled her eyes. She got the reference... It was from Episode 10 of 'What Are You Doing, Saki-kun?![1]'...

The scent of Zhou Lei's lunch box leaked out as he lifted the cover off the container.

With the wind from the window blowing inside the room, the scent spread quickly, entering the noses of various people. All of them felt the need to breathe in as much of that air as possible.

Lin Guiying, who was—aside from Zhou Lei—the nearest, sniffed the fragrance of the perfectly cooked rice and hotdogs...

'No, this isn't perfect... That's underestimating this dis.h.!.+ This is better than perfect!' Her eyes lit up upon breathing in the aroma of her friend's meal.

"Lei, what's that? It smells so good!" Lin Guiying drooled as she spoke, clasping her hands together.

"Huh? It's a hotdog." Zhou Lei shrugged as he kept eating with an indifferent expression.

Seeing his face, Lin Guiying raised her eyebrow. 'Doesn't it taste good? Well, his face is saying it tastes normal... but with that scent, I don't think so!'

"Want one?" Zhou Lei noticed his friend's continuous staring at his hotdog.

This irked Lin Guiying, whose face twitched for a split second. "Eh? Me? But it's just some hotdogs... Anyway, aren't you embarra.s.sed, even a little bit?"

"Huh? Why would I be embarra.s.sed to offer you this? Like you said, it's just some hotdogs..." Zhou Lei had a smug smirk on his face.

"...Fine." Lin Guiying took her fork out of her mouth, stabbed a hotdog, and lifted it close to her nose to get a better smell.

As she inhaled, more and more of the divine scent, making her drool even more than before.

Her face turned red from ecstasy, just from sniffing it! Lin Guiying got excited to put the hotdog in her mouth and chew it!

She licked her lips and opened her mouth. A small part of the hotdog entered her mouth before her white teeth bit on it. The juices spilled out, touching her tongue. "...!"

Everyone in the cla.s.sroom watched as the transfer student ate the prince's hotdogs! Her eyes widened as if she just tasted the most delicious thing in the world!

And yes, their a.s.sumption was correct. Chaos reigned in Lin Guiying's mind as she tried to comprehend how this hotdog could taste so good!

'Is it the preparation? The cooking method? The presentation? What is it?' Her face turned from ecstatic to dumbfounded.

She herself couldn't cook, but she considered herself a connoisseur when it came to food.

When she was invited as a judge in a cooking compet.i.tion, she tried to act all professional, although she failed pretty badly. That was how she got the t.i.tle 'Self-Proclaimed Master of Food'!

To most people, this would sound like an insult to someone that acted like an expert while not being one.

However, she treasured this nickname her fans gave her as it motivated her to learn more about the wonderful world of cooking!

Over the past years that she received that t.i.tle, she had gotten leaps and bounds of progress in this world. However, even her current self couldn't figure out why this hotdog was so delicious!

'...Wait! Is... is it the ingredients?' Lin Guiying came to a conclusion that satisfied herself.

"Hmm, hmm. I see." With a wide grin on her face, she kept jerking her eyebrows up and down.

Zhou Lei felt unsettled by what was happening in front of him. "Eh... uh... what are you doing?"

Suddenly, a hand placed itself on his shoulder. The owner of said hand nodded. "You were trying to impress me with exotic ingredients, eh?"

Feeling bewildered by his friend, Zhou Lei shook his head. "It's just a regular hotdog... What are you talking about?"

Lin Guiying froze on the spot. "...Huh? What do you mean, regular hotdog?"

"Like I said. I bought this at the local supermarket. It's the popular brand, Tender Juices..." Zhou Lei felt like he didn't have to explain it.

"T- T- T- Tender Juices? That brand?"

Even though Zhou Lei was confused, Lin Guiying was even more so. After all, she didn't expect this extremely delicious, heaven-defying, out-of-this-world hotdog to be that one brand she despised the most!

'Why would their hotdogs taste this good? What in the actual f.u.c.k?' She felt her worldview being distorted from its very foundations.

Eventually, Zhou Lei understood her confusion. 'Oh, that's right! Supposedly, my dishes taste really good!'

This time, it was Zhou Lei's turn to act smug in front of the confused Lin Hanying. His eyes narrowed as the corners of his lips curled up. "You want another one?"

Lin Guiying felt flushed when she saw her friend's expression. He kept looking at the hotdog then looking back at her...

"...Yes."

Laughter roared inside Zhou Lei. He scooped up one hotdog and some rice on the side, bringing it close to Lin Hanying's face. "Here. Say 'ahh'."

Feeling indignant by her friend's actions, Lin Guiying gazed angrily at Zhou Lei, but he seemed to ignore that. However, the scent of the food in front of her was too alluring...

Eventually, her mouth opened, allowing Zhou Lei's spoon to go inside.

The girls in the cla.s.sroom who was observing Zhou Lei all freaked out.

That spoon... he put it in his mouth, right?! And now he was using it to feed someone else! What's worse, that someone else is a girl!

But both of them acted like it was just normal banter between friends!

Lu Xi's lips bled as her teeth bit even tighter. Ye Muqi's hands trembled as she struggled to maintain her composure. Fan Xinyue's eyes squinted so much that she couldn't see anything!

The three women were getting blinded by jealousy! How could they not be? Their prince got s.n.a.t.c.hed by another girl behind their backs! And this girl was a transfer student at that!

Wait, come to think of it, this prince was also a transfer student, right? Then... it wouldn't be weird if they had any prior relations.h.i.+p...

Ah, so we were just too late then.

All of the girls who had a crush on Zhou Lei felt a tear flow down their eye.

Meanwhile, the two main perpetrators of their tears didn't give a single care about their troubles.

As soon as the food went inside Lin Guiying's mouth, she felt her mind overcome with pleasure...

'At this rate, it won't be long until my clothes explode![2]'

Not to mention the hotdog, even the taste of the rice was beyond perfect. How could there be such a food?!

Lin Guiying savored every last bit of the food, so much so that she licked the spoon all over.

"Ying..." Zhou Lei felt dumbfounded. "...I still need to use that spoon..."

However, she was out of her mind right now, so she didn't hear anything that he said.

"Ying... h.e.l.lo?"

A hand waved in front of Lin Guiying, trying to incite a response from her, but to no avail.

Lin Guiying snapped out of her daze. She saw Zhou Lei cover his mouth to simulate a m.u.f.fled voice. "Earth to Lin Hanying. Earth to Lin Hanying."

"I- I'm here." Realizing what she had just done, the girl's face turned red before she stood up to head to the bathroom. "I'll go wash this for a second..."

Bringing his spoon with her, Zhou Lei had no choice but to wait for her to come back to resume eating. Well, until he got an ingenious idea...

'Well, she already used my spoon anyway, might as well use hers.' And so, Zhou Lei took the spoon buried under the rice in his friend's lunch.

He continued eating. One would not expect that Lin Hanying's expressions were all genuine when compared to Zhou Lei, who was eating the meal she praised to the heavens, with an expression that didn't exhibit any joy and even had a sense of disgust.

Eventually, Lin Guiying returned with a rinsed spoon. As she entered the room, she was met with disdainful gazes from all around.

She shrugged them all off as she walked back to her seat, where Zhou Lei ate peacefully.

'...Huh? Ate peacefully? But I have his spoon right here, where did he get...'

Lin Guiying saw that her own lunch box lacked a spoon. Put two and two together, and you get...

She angrily walked back to Zhou Lei.

"Lei!"

"Eh? What?"

Seeing that he still had that stupid grin on his face, Lin Guiying got more irritated. "Why are you using my spoon!"

"Well, you already used mine, so I thought 'might as well'." Zhou Lei thought that it was no big deal.

However, the girl in front of him thought otherwise. "But... I already used that spoon!"

"But I already used mine too, but you didn't think twice when licking it all over..." Zhou Lei felt injustice.

Seeing her friend's helpless expression, she just sighed. 'It seems like he really doesn't understand the gravity of the situation.'

"Okay, fine, we can switch spoons for now." Lin Guiying shook her head.

[1] If you want to look for this, don't bother. I made it up.

[2] Shokugeki no Soma (Food Wars) reference.