Chikage Utsuki/His Impenetrable Domain

Apology Gift

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2Part 3

Itaru	Blew up again...! Shit, it’s been 60 times now.... Well, guess this is it, it’s all up to you my last 10k yen...
Tsuzuru	Itaru, are you pulling gacha again?
Chikage	....
Sakuya	Huh? Are you playing games too, Chikage?
Citron	What a rare sight! What game is it?
Chikage	No, I was just looking to see if any new curry shops have opened.
Tsuzuru	Wow, you really like curry, don’t you, Chikage?
Chikage	I eat a lot of curry, but honestly I just like all spicy foods.
Itaru	Oh, in contrast, the director eats lots of curry because she just likes curry.
Izumi	Let me know if you happen to find a good restaurant.
Chikage	I will when I find it. I have pretty much gone to every restaurant so far.... So for the others, guess I will need to go on an adventure.
Sakuya	Adventure!?
Tsuzuru	You mean you would travel to a completely different region just to eat something new!?
Chikage	That’s right. You could have guessed, but for me it only takes a good review for me to want to go to a particular restaurant.
Izumi	Same!
Itaru	Same, she said... Yea, that’s our curry alien.
Citron	There are delicious curry restaurants in my country!
Chikage	Citron’s country is a little far. However, I will take note.
Tsuzuru	This is starting to become quite the global adventure....
Chikage	Chigasaki, are you on lunch break now?
Itaru	Yea, you too?
Chikage	Yes. I finally paid the processing fee for those tickets I had been putting off.
Itaru	Oh, you mean when you treated me to lunch? I thought you had forgotten about that.
Chikage	Well, you did help me a lot in the troupe.
Itaru	....By the way, what are we going to eat?
Chikage	I found a good curry shop that I wanted to go to.
Itaru	Of course it’s curry. But you had curry for dinner last night and for breakfast this morning.
Chikage	Is there a problem with that?
Itaru	Please don’t be like that curry alien. I wish you would lay off the curry for just one day.
Chikage	What a pity.
Itaru	.... Hey, don’t make that face at me.
Izumi	(Lunch time already? The meeting dragged on longer than expected. I wonder where I could get something to eat.)
Chikage	.....
Izumi	... Huh? Chikage?
Chikage	Director? I don’t see you here often.
Izumi	Oh, this place was close to where i was just having my meeting and doing some things for the troupe.
	Is your office near here?
Chikage	Yes, just over there. It’s lunch break so I came out to grab some food.
Izumi	Ohh~ good timing. Do you know of any good restaurants nearby?
Chikage	Good timing for me too. There was a curry shop nearby that I am interested in.
Izumi	Take me!
	Oh, I’ve read reviews for this place! It caught my eye too~
Chikage	It’s a place only a few people know about.
Izumi	I heard even their normal curry is delicious.
	Hey look, they have a limited curry for couples, it’s pink. It’s been trending recently.
Chikage	Couple exclusive you say?
Izumi	I have never been able to go with a partner so sadly I couldn’t try it,
Chikage	Couldn’t someone from the troupe act as your boyfriend?
Izumi	Well, it’s just when I mention curry it seems like everyone just stares at me with a blank face....
Chikage	.... I am sorry for your loss.
	How about you go with me?
Izumi	HUH!? REALLY?!
Chikage	I wanna try a lot of different curry so of course I want to try this pink curry.
Izumi	GREAT! So then, let’s-- Wait, do we have a plan on how we are gonna do this?
Chikage	Why do we need one?
Izumi	I am an awful liar.
Chikage	How sad. Even though we like the same curry. They say yesterday’s enemy is today’s friend.
Izumi	Well, I guess...
Chikage	Work hard on your girlfriend act.
Izumi	(I’m trying not to laugh, but I really wanna try that pink curry!)
	So then, let’s go!

Izumi	!?
	W-Why are you holding my hand?
Chikage	Well, we’re dating after all.
Izumi	Huh!?
Shop Staff	Welcome, how many--
Chikage	Table for two.
Shop Staff	Yes, a table for two. This way please.
Izumi	Y-You know we don’t have to hold hands.....
Chikage	But if we let go we may not be able to eat the pink curry. You wouldn’t want that, would you?
Izumi	Well I-!
Chikage	And on top of that, I would never want to show anything but my best performance in front of Ms. Director.
Izumi	Ack--
Chikage	Two pink curries, please.
Shop Staff	Coming right up.
Izumi	(Anyway I am glad we were able to order without a problem...)
Chikage	What sort of lovey-dovey thing should we do?
Izumi	Well I don’t really...
Chikage	Please take the lead, Ms, Director.
Izumi	Uhh...
CHOICE 1: How about we take a couple selfie? [+] Izumi How about we take a selfie together for instablam? Chikage Alright. Let’s see, how about something like this... Izumi H-Hey, aren’t you a little close...!? Chikage Okay, smile. Izumi -- Chikage Hmmm, looks like the camera caught your dazzling smile, Ms. Director.
CHOICE 2: How about we flirt? [+] Izumi How about we flirt? Chikage Alright then. How is this? Izumi W-Why are you holding my hand like...!? Chikage I thought this is what lovers did? Izumi This feels inappropriate! Chikage My apologies.
Izumi	(How did it end up like this even though this was my idea ...?)
Shop Staff	Thank you for waiting. Two pink curries.
Izumi	Wow~ It is really pink!
Chikage	It’s even more impressive seeing it in person.
	So then-- have some.
Izumi	What?
Chikage	Have some.
Izumi	WHAT!?
Chikage	We are a couple, aren’t we?
Izumi	.....
Chikage	Eat it before it gets cold.
Izumi	(Now he’s just bullshitting me...! But I know Chikage is just waiting for me give up and blow our cover....)
	-- Nom....
	Nom nom...
Chikage	Is it good?
Izumi	Honestly, I can’t really say what I think about the taste yet.
Chikage	Oh, the precious moment when Ms. Director does not know what to think of a new curry flavour.
Izumi	(He seems happy....)
	Hmmm...
Chikage	That was pretty good. Let’s eat curry together again some time.
Izumi	It really wasn’t that great....
Chikage	What a pity.
Izumi	....And who’s fault do you think that is?
Chikage	When it comes to acting I must go all in, no shortcuts.
Izumi	..... If that’s your reason, I guess I can’t really argue.
Chikage	haha.
	...

Izumi	I’m back.
	(Hm? Something smells spicy, I wonder what it is...)
Chikage	Good timing. Please take a seat over here, director.
Izumi	?
Chikage	-- Here you are.
Izumi	Huh!? Pink curry!?
Chikage	I got take out since you said earlier that it was my fault that you did not like the pink curry when we had it for lunch.
Izumi	.... That restaurant does take out...?
	(If that was the case then we could have just...)
Chikage	I don’t think they normally offer take out, but this time they made an exception.
Izumi	An exception... Just what did you....
Chikage	Oh? That is a trade secret.
Izumi	(Wow, so mysterious...)
Chikage	Eat it before it gets cold.
Izumi	.... Alright, thank you.
	--- mmm, it’s delicious!
	The taste is so unique, there is a hint of sweetness under all the spice, wow!
	I didn’t even notice this when I had it before.
Chikage	There is still more left so help yourself to seconds.
Izumi	Did you really buy that much?
Chikage	Well we have quite a lot of mouths to feed here. I wasn’t sure how much to get, so I just bought as much as I could carry.
Izumi	Everyone will be happy!
	(Even though Chikage seemed pretty closed off when he first moved in, he has since opened up and integrated himself into our everyday dorm life.)
	Fufu.
Chikage	...What is it?
Izumi	Oh nothing.
	Let’s go get curry together again some time! There are many other shops I am interested in.
Chikage	Oh, are you sure you want to let your guard down around me again?
Izumi	Yesterday’s enemy is today’s friend, right? Well, I never thought of you as my enemy.
	Chikage --
	.... You have quite the kind heart.
	Thank you very much.
Chikage	I am not patronising you.
Tsuzuru	I’m back.
Taichi	I’m hungry!
Citron	Welcome back!
Izumi	Oh, good timing! Chikage bought some pink curry for everyone!
	This curry is only available to couples, so it is pretty exclusive! Have a taste, it is quite special!
Taichi	Wow, pink curry!
Tsuzuru	Curry again....
Citron	Oh, but I wanted today to be a no spice day....
Chikage	Well I am the opposite, I think there is always room for more spice.
Tsuzuru	It’s because of all this curry mania that we end up eating curry more often...

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