"Don't tell me, don't tell me—you didn't seriously think Totsuki was that generous, did you?" Looking at the utterly bewildered members of Muse, Sogo Doma smiled sinisterly. "There's no such thing as a free lunch..."
"Eh!?" As someone dirt-poor, Nico Yazawa reacted far faster than the others. It couldn't be helped—she was still holding premium ingredients practically worth their weight in cash. Before Sogo Doma had even finished speaking, her expression changed dramatically. "D-Don't tell me these foods aren't free? B-But that waiter just said we could help ourselves..."
Muse: "..."
Surely the tragic part he meant wasn't this, right? After all, no matter how they looked at it, Nico-senpai was the only one who would suffer because of that, wasn't she?
Just as they were inwardly griping, Sogo Doma said, "The food is free, but it isn't entirely free either..."
"Eh?" This time, it wasn't just Nico Yazawa. Even Honoka Kosaka and the others couldn't sit still. What did he mean, free but not entirely free?
EMMM...
After glancing at the pile of premium ingredients in Nico Yazawa's hands, they seemed to understand why he had said it was free, yet not entirely free. After all, the Cooking Nico-senpai had picked out was anything but cheap!
Since everyone else had realized that, Nico Yazawa, as someone dirt-poor, naturally realized it too. "B-But wasn't all this food laid out on the table for people to choose from? If we had to pay for it, then it should've been placed..."
"Wait a minute..." Sogo Doma finally understood why she had been so cooperative. However, the tragic outcome he was talking about wasn't as simple as paying money. "I'm not saying the food costs money. Rather..."
"Phew..." Before he could finish, Nico Yazawa let out a sigh of relief. "So it's not