The whirring of a mixer, the bubbling inside a pot, the slow ticking of a timer. All those things are common place with Nino, and her many employees. "Table number 3 is ready, get it out there!" She yells as she cracks a few eggs onto a flat top grill. The commotion in the kitchen almost makes her wish she had more hands around to help, almost; her pride had waned every time they hired anyone new. It was packed again today, and for good reason. "Nino! Table 7 wants dessert. Have you finished the cake yet!" A familiar voice yells, coming from a man in his waiter's uniform. "Sous! Take care of table 6's Croque Madame." She passes by her sous-chef and heads for the mixer. This is the life she chose.


"What? You want everything to be made in house?" Fuutarou asks as they sit in what would be the most popular restaurant in the prefecture. "Yeah, it shouldn't be that hard! We already had everything we need installed." Nino says, looking at the menu consisting of around 25 items; a far cry from the 130 items they would serve in just a few years. "Are you sure about this? We could contact our old manager and work with Revival. At least then, we wouldn't have to worry about as many desserts." He tries to reason with her. "Fuu-kun. Don't you remember what you said when you proposed?" Nino turns to him. He's busy looking at the approximated budget of running this place. "I'll always support you, no matter how wild the ride is. If you're going at it with all you've got, then I will too." He smiles.

"You really bring that up a lot, like when we went out shopping for new clothes." He teases her, causing her to blush. "And when you wanted to go surfing with sharks. And when you wanted to go to the Bahamas for our honeymoon, even after there was an earthquake there." He continues to list them off. "Shut up already, I get it! Still, thank you." She pecks him on the cheek.


The restaurant closes as the lights outside the windows shut off one by one. "You done yet Fuu-kun?" Nino yells from the kitchen. "Yeah! The shipments will arrive tomorrow. Everything in the walk-in is still good too." The two of them sit at one of the tables. "What's this?" He asks as Nino lays a plate down between them. "A floating island. Normally the caramel would just be drizzled on top, but I wanted to challenge myself." Nino's spoon cracks a amber cage of caramel that traps a mound of meringue resting on a small pool of crème anglaise with sliced almond slivers acting like small boats. "Want to add it to the menu?" He asks, Nino pressing her spoon against his lips. He just smiles as he shakes his head, letting her feed him.

"Aren't you pushing yourself a bit too hard?" He asks as they share Nino's latest dish. "No. I'm fine." She scoots her chair closer to his, resting her head on his chest. "Still, you're doing a lot of work here. You should rest." He puts his arm around her, his hand resting on her enlarged belly. "No matter how wild, right?" She smirks, overlapping her hand on his. Their eyes both go wide when they feel something. "Was that...a kick?"