Chapter 46: He Can’t Finish All of That... Right?
He Can’t Finish All of That.. Right?
The end of the third period marked the start of the Lunch break for the freshers.
’... Heh.’ Mike had to stifle a chuckle when he saw his fellow students dragging themselves towards the building where the cafeteria was. Most of them looked a bit worse for wear, and he was pretty sure these rich kids weren’t handling the intensity of their classes well.
From people like him who picked combat-oriented Pathways looked banged up one way or another, to those people choosing Pathways that were more in the camp of expending mental energy constantly massaging their temples or blinking a concerning amount.
Not that Mike looked great either, but by now, most of the bruises he had from his fight against the hologram had faded, and the Martial Forms of the World weren’t exactly physically taxing seeing as he didn’t know any.
He would admit that he did feel a bit of throbbing in the back of his skull due to the intense concentration that went into using his aura during his last class. But honestly, it wasn’t that bad. And going by what the system said...
’I should be able to eat enough to regain any lost energy. Hopefully.’ He thought as he neared the cafeteria building.
There were multiple, probably one for each year, and the teachers, with the one Mike and his fellow students went to being the one for freshers.
Due to where his Aura class had been, it took him a bit longer to arrive at the building, so when he entered, the place was already decently full.
The cafeteria was, unsurprisingly, a large building. It stretched on for over a hundred meters in each direction, with seats and tables scattered about, allowing for sizeable groups to sit at each table.
Off to the side, there were windows with different servers giving out food, with lines of differing lengths at each window, and above each window was a list of what was being served. The lines got shorter the further one went, and Mike remembered something Theresa told him.
’While all the food the school gives out is good, there’s good food, and there’s great food. When you enter the cafeteria, there will be certain windows where you will need to pay credits for high-quality food made from powerful beasts and expensive crops.’
He remembered the explanation and nodded to himself, and then he paused as he felt his stomach grumble. His gaze was fixed on the last three windows as he felt his mouth start to salivate, forcing him to swallow.
His enhanced senses easily picked up on the tantalizing aromas coming from there, but it wasn’t just hunger, as his instincts let him know that whatever was being served there was the good stuff.
’Goodness... we must stay focused.’ He lightly slapped his cheeks to snap himself out of his daze. He knew that the food there would be incredibly expensive, and he didn’t intend to burn holes in his pockets on the first day.
He looked around some more, and he went to one of the windows near the back which had a longer line, but luckily, the ones serving the food were quite swift, so it didn’t take long for it to be his turn.
Mike made sure to read through the holographic list and, to be honest, he didn’t recognize half of what was being served, but he didn’t think it mattered much, so he just decided to pick whatever sounded nice.
"What can I get you dear?" An older woman with dark skin and a warm smile said to Mike, and he returned the smile.
’She seems nice.’ He thought as he replied. "Hi, and before anything else, what’s the cap on what I can order from this particular window?" Hearing this, the woman seemed a bit surprised but answered anyway.
"As much as your little stomach can handle. You plan on eatin’ a lot?" She asked, and Mike nodded
"Then that’s not a problem. Just say what you want, and we’ll give you what you want. But make sure you finish what ya order. Wasting food means you’ll need to pay credits." She explained patiently, and Mike nodded. That sounded fair.
"In that case, can I get 4 servings of the Crimson-Eyed Pea Rice with the Jorio Beef Brisket Sauce along with..." Mike then proceeded to list out everything that sounded nice, not noticing how the expression of the woman progressively got stranger, and the people lined up behind him started arching their heads with confused expressions as the small boy casually listed out numerous different dishes, enough to feed numerous people like them. Which was saying a lot, considering that ability users already had higher-than-normal appetites.
When he finished, the woman stared at him for a few seconds before asking tentatively.
"Are you sure you can finish everything you ordered?" Mike blinked and nodded.
"Yeah."
"And you know what happens if you can’t?"
"Mhm."
"I see..." She sighed and shook her head.
"I won’t refuse, but I sincerely hope you don’t bite off more than you can chew." She said and went back to start serving.
Mike just shrugged.
’Hopefully it’s enough. I’m pretty hungry...’
***
Theresa sat by herself at a corner table calmly eating her food as she thought about the lessons she had just gone through. She looked a bit disheveled, but otherwise seemed fine. Her single red braids had multiple strands sticking out, but it wasn’t anything bad.
As her mind wandered, her thoughts drifted elsewhere.
’I wonder where Mike is.’ She mused, wondering how the endearing boy was doing. He shouldn’t have gotten himself into that much trouble yet, right?
It was weird, but Theresa felt oddly responsible for him. She knew it made no sense, but she couldn’t help it. Outside of their spars and sometimes introspective conversations, she couldn’t help but see him as just a clueless kid who needed to be guided.
She shook her head with a slightly self-mocking chuckle.
’Yeah right. I’m not his guardian. Who am I to think that way?’ She thought and sighed. She looked at the empty seats around her table and felt a bit empty, but then she shrugged. She was used to stuff like this.
She was broken out of her thoughts when a sudden commotion caught her attention. Confused and slightly curious, she looked up at the source of the sound, and her eyes widened.
’What... is he doing?!’ She exclaimed as a familiar tuft of white hair could barely be seen over what could only be described as a concerningly large amount of food. It looked enough to feed a large family, but only a single person carried it.
And they were heading straight for her.
Theresa felt like hiding in a hole somewhere, her thoughts of feeling responsible for him vanishing like smoke.
’Don’t come here, don’t come here, don’t...’ She tried to make herself seem inconspicuous, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
"Hey Theresa!" Mike said cheerfully as he dropped the massive tray of excessive food, the weight causing the entire table to shudder.
’Goddammit!’ She cursed inwardly and said with a hiss. "What are you doing?!" The severity of her tone flew right over his head as he shrugged.
"Well, the lady at the window said I can get as much food as I want, and I’m pretty hungry after all the work today, so I thought I’d treat myself." He shrugged, and Theresa resisted the urge to cover her face out of sheer embarrassment. She was used to people giving her derogatory looks, but having virtually the entire cafeteria staring at them with the same exasperation made even her feel uncomfortable.
Mike, however, was as oblivious as ever as he carefully arranged everything he ordered on the table, filling out half of it.
"You... You don’t seriously intend to eat all of that, right?" She said incredulously as Mike stared at all the food, his pupils visibly dilating as he bit his fingernail with what seemed to be uncertainty about where to start first.
"I should probably start with the meat first right? But I like saving the best for last. Hm.." He mumbled to himself as he seemed on the verge of drooling.
’No way, does he seriously intend to eat all of that???’ Theresa’s brain nearly short-circuited as she saw Mike pick up a spoon and begin to attack a few bowls of rice first.
Her jaw went slack as she saw him scarf down the entire bowl in seconds, and without hesitating, he picked up the next one and scarfed it down with similar efficiency.
Plate after plate was utterly destroyed as Mike looked like he was fighting some terrible battle, his expression set as he ate everything his hands touched.
However, even with his speed, the food was truly a lot, and he’d barely made any progress despite his speed, so he had to reach his limit soon, right?
... Right?