"Alright, let's move to a new spot."

Ryohei clapped his hands, getting Yurine's and Jashin-chan's attention. After the Ghoul incident, the park was no longer a suitable place to run their stall for the rest of the night. They still had plenty of the specialty beef onigiri left, and a lot of the classic ones, too. They needed to find a new place to continue selling.

"Okay. Where to?" Yurine asked.

Ryohei put a hand on his chin, thinking for a moment. "Let's go to that night market we saw yesterday." It had a lot of foot traffic and was zoned for stalls. It was the first place that came to mind. The only reason he hadn't gone there first was because the park was closer.

"Good idea. The foot traffic there is great," Yurine agreed, then looked pointedly at Jashin-chan.

"Hmph!" Without needing to be told, Jashin-chan resentfully moved to pull the cart.

Initially, she had refused, asking Yurine, "Why don't you pull it?" Yurine's simple reply was, "I'm a girl." This had rendered Jashin-chan speechless with rage. Am I not a girl, too?! she had thought.

Ryohei hadn't intended for Jashin-chan to pull the cart, either. In her normal state, Jashin-chan was a petite girl from the waist up. Making her pull the cart while he walked alongside felt a bit wrong. Plus, she was helping out, not working for him. He had offered to do it himself, but for some reason, Yurine had insisted, "Let Jashin-chan do it." Since Ryohei was living under her roof, he hadn't argued, simply resolving to give Jashin-chan a bigger cut of the profits for her labor.

Night had fallen completely. The streets of Tokyo were a dazzling spectacle of wine and lights, the flashing neon signs transforming the city into a dreamscape that never slept. The streets were filled with endless streams of cars and pedestrians, a vibrant, woven tapestry of urban life.

A group of intelligent, elegant office ladies, carrying stylish handbags, emerged from a restaurant, chattering happily about where to go for their after-party.

Just then, the evening breeze brought with it a rich, impossibly tempting aroma that made them all stop and look in the same direction.

Their eyes landed on a food stall on wheels, currently on the move.

"That smells amazing!"

"What is that smell? It's so good! I just finished dinner, but it's making my mouth water all over again!"

"Should we go see?"

"Let's go, let's go!"

The women eagerly quickened their pace, catching up to the strange trio ahead of them: a handsome young chef, a petite and cute girl in a gothic lolita dress and an eyepatch, and another equally cute girl who seemed to be cosplaying as a snake-girl… and an exhibitionist?

Are all food stall vendors this unique these days? the women wondered, though they had to admit, the group was certainly eye-catching.

One of the women, who had a chic bob cut and sparkling earrings, spoke up first.

"Excuse me, what are you selling? It smells incredible!" she said, her eyes curiously fixed on the large, insulated containers on the cart.

"Onigiri," Ryohei replied, seeing more fat sheep arrive. He greeted them with a warm, professional smile. "Classic fillings are 150 yen. But the house specialty, the Glowing Onigiri, is 1,000 yen."

Before the women could even react to the outrageous price, he preemptively opened one of the containers.

A soft, gentle light spilled out, and through the swirling steam, the glowing onigiri within looked mysterious and magical. The women, who had been about to complain about the cost, were stunned into silence. Their eyes went wide, their pretty faces filled with pure shock.

"It's glowing!" one of them gasped.

"Is this… for real? Is that even possible?" Katori Chion, one of the office ladies, was dumbstruck. She leaned in closer, looking from the left, then the right, finally confirming that the light was indeed coming from the food itself. She was completely floored.

"Sugoi!"

"Young man, how do you do that? Can you tell us?" another woman with a beauty mark by her eye and a generous chest asked, looking at Ryohei with intense curiosity. The others all turned their gazes to him as well.

"Well, one day, it was like I had an epiphany, and my cooking skills improved on a fundamental level," Ryohei said, holding up one finger and giving his now-practiced explanation. "After that, I found that the food I made started to glow."

"Ehh, is that right?" The women found the story bizarre and eyed him with suspicion.

"It's the truth," Ryohei said with a nonchalant shrug. "So, would you like to try one?"

"Of course! I'll take one of the glowing ones!" Katori Chion declared. Her friends, intrigued, all decided to buy one as well.

Yurine efficiently took their money as Ryohei bagged the orders. And then, as expected, all the office ladies were conquered.

One by one, they stood right there on the street, their faces melting into expressions of pure bliss, loudly praising the food and attracting the attention of other passersby. When the newcomers saw the glowing onigiri for themselves, they were also shocked and immediately swarmed the cart. The second wave of sales had begun.

It was like a snowball effect. More and more people gathered, crowding around the stall. Ryohei decided to just set up shop right where they were; they were near the night market area anyway. He had Jashin-chan move the cart to the side of the road and asked the new customers to please form a line.

The new round of sales began. The specialty beef onigiri, of which there were already few left, sold out first. The classic fillings didn't last much longer. After apologizing to the disappointed customers who missed out and promising to be back the next day, Ryohei happily packed up with Yurine and Jashin-chan and headed home.

Meanwhile, Sota Terashima, having taken a long detour, finally arrived at Banjo Kazuichi's home. After receiving his rations for the month, he hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"Banjo-san, I saw something really strange today."

"What is it?" Banjo asked casually as he brewed some coffee.

"On my way here tonight, I saw a food stall in the park… they were selling food that glows. And…" Recalling the aroma, Sota felt his mouth start to water again. He swallowed hard. "I felt like that glowing food would be really delicious. It made me so hungry my kakugan activated, and someone saw me…"

"But don't worry!" he added quickly. "I took a different route here and even changed my clothes. I won't bring any trouble to you!"

"..." Banjo's movements stopped. He looked up at Sota with a frown. Just as Sota was starting to feel uneasy under his gaze, Banjo's face took on a look of suspicion. "Are you sure you weren't dreaming? Or are you just messing with me?"

Glowing food? Since when did such a thing exist? Besides, Ghouls couldn't eat human food, except for coffee.

"I'm not lying, Banjo-san, it's true!" Sota said, relieved and earnest.

"Hmm…" Banjo could see that he wasn't lying. He thought for a moment, then walked out of his open kitchen holding two cups of coffee. He handed one to Sota. "Which park? Where was the stall? I'm going to go check it out."

"Huh? M-Maybe you shouldn't! The Doves are probably around there by now, it's too dangerous! And the stall owner probably ran off anyway." Sota instantly regretted bringing it up. He didn't want his big brother to take such a risk.

"It's fine," Banjo said, his voice calm and steady. "I'll just watch from a distance."