Tokyo, Fog House Japanese Restaurant.
Watching the three girls' curious, probing expressions, Sogo Doma: #^_^
The more complicated a lie was, the more details it needed to cover it up. So wasn't it enough for them to know that he had lost a Shokugeki and been expelled from Totsuki? Why did they need to ask so much? No, he had to change the subject—and make them think they had made a terrible mistake. Time to perform.
"Ahem, Umaru, that's not okay. Onii-chan doesn't remember teaching you to act like that. Things like losing a Shokugeki are, to 'ordinary people,' painful experiences—wounds that must not be reopened. When faced with someone else's pain, what should we do?" He appeared to be lecturing Umaru, but the other two were caught in the blast as well.
This move was called waving a banner and slapping on a label. Although Shokugeki were public events, if he, the person involved, did not want to talk about it, they could not just keep pressing him, could they? Besides, reopening someone's wounds sounded like something excessively cruel to do.
Sure enough.
Utaha Kasumigaoka was the first: (⊙⊙)
O-Oh no. She had been so focused on making Sogo-kun understand that she was not coveting his bento that she had overlooked how he felt as the person involved. What was she doing? She, she...
Hinako Inui was next: -_----
Had she done something wrong? Although Doma-kun had always been monstrously gifted, people like that were actually more fragile inside.
Finally, Umaru: (￣︶￣)
"I remember Onii-chan saying that if you tell everyone about the things that make you sad and make them laugh, then your pain has fulfilled someone else's happiness, so you won't feel as sad anymore..."
Utaha Kasumigaoka: (￢_￢)
That guy, Sogo-kun...
Hinako Inui: ^_^
She took that