A Stomach’s Limits
After continuing to observe Shui, who dominated the eating contest, there’s something I’ve been wondering about.
Whenever she eats a large amount of food, she always wears the same blissful expression. As the one selling the food to her, I’m grateful, but I began to wonder about her stomach— Does it have a limit?
At the contest, she put away over five kilograms of fried meat and five small bottles of cola. And she ate the super-giant crepe just fine, too.
Shui is on the small side, even for a girl, and her stomach has swelled after eating before. That means it’s not just that her gullet is connected to another dimension.
I’ve seen female eating-contest talents on TV back when I lived in Japan, too, and most ate unbelievable amounts. Maybe it’s not a stretch that someone like them exists here.
But still. I’ve given her food many times now, and not once have I ever heard the words “I’m so full” or “I can’t eat another bite” pass through her lips.
And now I’ve started to think that, just once, I want to hear her say personally that she’s full.
“Boxxo, are you sure about this? I can really have all this for free?”
“Welcome.”
Shui plops down on the other side of the table, and after Lammis arranges all the items I provided on it, Shui’s eyes begin to change.
“You better not hit me with the bill afterward!”
“Welcome.”
I hadn’t planned to do anything like that.
We called her out to the tent Lammis and Hulemy were staying in so I could treat her to food.
The two girls seem curious about Shui’s limits as well and gladly provided the space to use.
Hulemy takes a break from her work and looks closely at me. Come to think of it, she said something before. “No human can possibly eat that much and not get fat. She must have a secret. If I can find out how it works, the information will be invaluable for women everywhere,” she’d said, fairly pumped up. Now she has a chart she made ahead of time, apparently planning to write down the results. Her pen is in hand—she’s all set.
The issue is what to give her. I’ll call it quits on the cola for a drink and use tea instead. This is purely about how much she can eat.
First, I give her five kinds of cup ramen—extra-large ones.
Normally, a person could eat two of these and be satisfied, but she’ll easily get past this stage.
After pouring in hot water and waiting three minutes, she first eats the unflavored type.
“Mmm, this pasta is awesome! Whew, and it’s nice and warm, too. Nothin’ like eating good, hot food outside on a cold day!”
Shui really does seem like she’s enjoying herself.
When it comes to heavy eaters, there are some who don’t eat the food so much as devour it like animal feed. In her case, while she eats heartily, she doesn’t do it in a slovenly way. Instead, it whets the appetite of anyone watching.
Her manner of eating at the contest enticed a lot of people, and items started flying off the shelves. If this were Japan, with her cute face, she’d have been hugely popular as a personality on food-related commercials.
While I was thinking about it, she finished all the cup ramen, along with the broth.
“What’s next?” she asks, eyes glittering.
She’s far from having stuffed herself to the brim—I’m not even sure she filled one tenth of the space.
In that case, next up is a duel against a frozen-foods manufacturer’s vending machine, one the Menagerie of Fools loved.
They’re used to it now—since karaage is part of their frozen-foods series—but it actually has quite a few items besides that.
Karaage, yakisoba, fried rice balls, takoyaki, French fries, fried rice, hot dogs, edamame, and even taiyaki (a fish-shaped treat filled with red bean paste) sit behind the glass.
I’ll leave the sweet foods for later, I guess, and give her two other items at a time.
While bringing the food out, Lammis looks very interested at the sight of takoyaki, so I warm up one serving and give it to her.
“I can have some, too? Thank you, Boxxo. Hulemy, let’s eat it together!”
“Sweet, I was just starting to get hungry. Thanks a lot.”
They sit next to each other and dig in to their takoyaki. They’re friendly, as always.
“These round things have sauce on them, and…something I don’t know, but it’s red, white, and really tasty,” says Lammis. “What is this stuff?”
“Feels real interesting in your mouth, huh?”
“Oh, doesn’t it? It’s all chewy and stretchy. It’s delicious!”
The octopus seems to be going over well. Apparently there are places outside Japan where people have an aversion to it, but people in this world eat monsters, too, so they probably wouldn’t be surprised if they found out what it was.
Ah, still, even compared to the monsters here, an octopus is pretty different. If I showed them the real thing, they might refuse to eat it… Maybe I should keep quiet about them.
As they enjoy themselves, Shui finishes eating.
Now that it’s come to this, I’ll give her every food-related product I can provide, one by one, until one of us gives up!
Next is canned goods. First, oden, which has been a great help ever since I first arrived here. For the oddballs, I’ve got cans of chikuzenni (a dish typically eaten around the New Year in Japan, featuring braised chicken and veggies), nikujaga (Japanese-style beef and potatoes), yakitori (chicken skewers), curry rice, and ramen—well, maybe not that. She just ate a lot of cup ramen.
Incidentally, there are numerous varieties of canned noodles, and I have over ten types.
There are several flavors of canned breads, too. All right—with all this, even Shui is sure to be satisfied.
Confident, I look over and see her emptying cans, one after another… I didn’t want to have to learn a new food-related feature. I’ll endure it. I decided I’d use only products I can currently stock for this duel. It would be cowardly to spend points to get different items and features now.
I made light of her, thinking she couldn’t possibly eat it all, but there are only two cans remaining.
Oh. Okay. I see. I… I haven’t lost yet. After preparing some taiyaki from the frozen foods, I decide to go with crepes for everything.
I change into a crepe vending machine mainly found in Kagoshima, then get every single one of the many crepe flavors ready.
These crepes taste amazing, and they’ve got some hefty volume to them. Ten crepes, after eating all that, will sit real heavy in your stomach!
“Oh, sweets! I was just thinking about wanting something sweet!”
Huh? She’s really happy about it.
Now I get the feeling she can finish all these off easily.
“Those look good, huh, Hulemy?”
“Yeah, they look great, huh, Lammis?”
After the two stare hard at the crepes, they turn their pleading gazes toward me, eyes watering. You don’t need to give me that face. You can have some, too, of course.
Girls look happiest when they’re eating sweets. All three hold a hand to their cheeks, smiling as they stuff their faces.
But now isn’t the time to languish at this relaxing scene. Shui is already almost finished eating everything.
Maybe it was too early to move to the dessert course. I can’t exactly go back to the heavy stuff now. What else is sweet? …Got it. I’ll attack with fruit.
I pick out bags of sliced apples and bananas, but…
“Fruit is really refreshing, too!”
She gobbles it all down.
I try giving her some snack foods, too, but they immediately vanish into her stomach.
Ah. I see. I can’t beat her. It seems I still need to ascend to a higher level of foodliness. With that vow in my heart, I’m about to admit defeat, when…
“Boxxo, that’s enough. I’m good.”
Incredibly, Shui says the words I’ve been longing to hear.
She rubs her belly in satisfaction—which protrudes only a little—then leans back against her chair in bliss.
Fu-ha-ha-ha-ha, I’ve done it! I’ve satisfied her stomach! I spent quite a bit doing it, but just knowing her stomach isn’t a bottomless pit is enough for me—
“I’ve been on a diet lately. I gained a little weight at the eating contest, so I’ve been calling it quits when I’m around fifty percent full.”
What…did she just say? Fifty percent?
That took me by surprise, but Lammis’s and Hulemy’s jaws drop to the floor as they stare in awe at Shui.
“That eating contest sure was fun. It would have been better if there was twice the amount of food.”
I get it. I’m sorry. I humbly admit defeat.
I was naive to think I could beat Shui. I’ll get my revenge after I’ve acquired more food-related features.
There are a few food-related vending machines I don’t have yet that I’ve been saving for a rainy day. Once I learn them, I’ll be sure to fill you up.
But for now, I admit my defeat and give her these words.
“I await your next visit.”
Several months later, after rising to food-related heights that could hardly compare to my current state, I would eventually try to get my revenge. The result was—
