Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Where Am I?
"*sigh* That was exhausting. Finally finished this sloppy ass game of mine. I hope that this game will at least have some players."
I am [REDACTED]. I'm a rookie programmer that just entered the industry two months ago. I am an all-rounder and is specially talented in plot design and art.
I just finished the first game I made. It's a good game as my colleagues said, but it's not yet up to my standard. I want a game that will be a hit. When I was still in college, I wrote a few novels but only two of them at least got 100k views. I worked as a portrait artist by the beach for tourists as a part-time job while in college. So it was relatively easier for me to design a plot and art for my game while letting two colleagues of mine help in coding and music.
Back to present, I just finished my game, as I've said. Now, I'm on my way home in my car, thinking of what I'll eat tonight for dinner. As I am driving, I saw a child pass the pedestrian lane while the traffic light is still on green. I hurriedly steered my car to the left to avoid hitting the child. My car crashed to an overpass. Without having any sense of relief, the cement overpass collapsed and damaged my car greatly. Smelling the gas leakage, I tried to push the door to exit but the rubble blocked my escape.
Outside the car, after the collapse of the overpass, an electric pole was included and it fell with damaged wires dangling. Gas leaked out the car and touched the damaged wire with sparks causing it to be caught on fire. Seconds later, the car inside the rubble exploded causing the man inside to die.
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Opening his eyes, he was greeted by a white ceiling. It seems that he somehow got into a bed. He got up and looked around the room. The room was a girls room based on the things inside like a doll, teddie bear, etc. The room was quite luxurious based on it's overall design.
"Where am I?" a cute childish high pitched voice sounded as he asked this question.
"My voice... Why is my voice so weird?"
He got up and left the bed to look at the full body mirror by the bedside. Looking at the mirror, he saw a little girl with ash blonde hair and emerald green eyes looking at him. She was wearing a cute pink bunny pajama. He stretched his hand forward to touch mirror and the girl also stretched out her hand.
While he was wondering about what was happening in a daze, he was suddenly assaulted by a sudden headache. It felt like his- no, her head was being split open. She was remembering everything from her past life and her current life playing like a movie in her head, causing her to get confused at the mishmash of memories.
After a few seconds, the pain subsided. She looked at the mirror again but now with clearer eyes. She got her memories of her previous life back but she didn't change much. Although she was feeling fascination that she was now in a world where anime characters are real, making her feel complex emotions.
While she was still in deep thoughts, the door was suddenly slammed open and a girl with silver blonde hair and crimson red eyes came in followed by a girl with honey blonde hair and purple eyes. The silver blonde haired girl strutted to her direction with joy apparent in her face.
"Joanna! Come with us, grandpa said that the cake you asked is here!" said the silver haired girl while dragging Joannah out.
"Is it true, Alice?!" Joanna suddenly shouted excitedly leaking her inner thoughts. After shouting, she realized that she still had Joanna's personality. It seems that she treated the memories of her past life as the matters of the past.
"You two are so loud. Can you not shout?" the honey blonde haired girl said in an irritated tone.
"You don't get it, Erina. That's because the cake will definitely be delicious if grandpa chose it! Right, Joanna?"
I nodded at her question and Erina just harrumphed at us.
While walking to the dining hall, a bell ringed in my mind and a transparent panel appeared in front of me. It has something written on it as the bell sound continued to prompt.
[Nakiri Joanna has been bound to the Multiversal Title System]
[The "Starter Gift Pack" has been stored in your inventory]
[You got "God's Tongue" for your first activation of the System]
[Rare Mission: "Say the ingredients used to make the cake in front of everyone including the mistakes in the procedure of some dishes at the dining hall"
Reward: Acute Sense of Smell Title:???]
Seeing these in front of her, she stopped walking and looked at it in a daze. Noticing that Joanna stopped walking, Alice nudged her using her elbow and said:
"What are standing in a daze there for? Don't let grandpa to keep waiting."
I nodded at her and continued walking, while reading the things written in the transparent panel.
Not long after, we arrived at the dining hall to see grandpa Sanzaemon, Mom, Dad, and Aunt Leonora. At the dining table you can see a dark chocolate molten lava cake. That was the cake I requested to grandpa, a bitter sweet cacao chocolate cake with chocolate fillings and strawberry toppings.
It seems that I still have the same palate where I love to snack on bittersweet chocolate. Imagine a whole cake of it. With just the right amount of bitterness and sweetness. Due to me only thinking of how good will the cake taste, I gradually forgot that I got God's Tongue and the mission that the system said.
"Joanna, I bought you what I promised!" Grandpa Sanzaemon said proudly.
Knowing that he's waiting for a praise, I run up to him and hugged his knees while saying with a smile: "Grandpa is the best!"
"Hahaha! Okay, sit beside me and I'll give you a slice. This is for you."
After saying that, grandpa took a slice off the cake and served it to me in a plate. Because the cake was pretty big, I thought that grandpa and the others need to eat it too. So I looked at them meaningfully.
"You eat it first. We'll have some after you taste it."
I nodded after hearing him and took the spoon to begin eating. I slice a small part off and some of the dark chocolate fillings overflowed. I closed my eyes and ate the cake planning to savor the deliciousness that was approaching.
Alas, as I chewed the cake inside my mouth, I tasted incredible bitterness overpowering the sweetness of the chocolate. The cake also had a rough texture unlike the fluffiness of the cakes I tasted last month.
My face immediately contorted into displeasure as the bitterness and the rough texture of the cake overwhelmed me. Seeing my reaction got grandpa, Alice, Erina and the others to worry about me.
"Joanna! Is there something wrong?"
My grandfather asked worriedly. After eating just a bite, I immediately knew the procedures and ingredients this cake had, reminding me that I got God's Tongue as a first day activation reward. I took the glass of water beside me and drunk to wash the uncomfortable bitterness off my mouth.
"So bad! This cake is bad! I don't want to eat it."
"What do you mean, Joanna?" asked grandfather with a frown. He took a bite and frowned even more deeply. Seeing this, the others also took a bite including Erina before they could stop her. After eating it, Erina's face also became displeasured.
"See! Erina also thinks it's too bitter. The one who made this clearly don't know what he's doing. The way he made the dark chocolate filling made it extra bitter! You almost couldn't taste the sweetness because it has too much cacao powder mixed in, not to mention the rough texture that destroys the harmony between the ingredients. And...."
After my outburst that lasted two minutes ended. Erina, grandpa and the others had were shocked speechless. Just as I was panicking internally about how I'm going to explain it, the system ringed and the transparent panel appeared in front of me.
[Ding! Mission Complete! Reward: Acute Sense of Smell]
[Title: "Food Critique"— Silver Gacha Ticket +1 , DEX + 5 UNLOCKED]
"Jenny, Hiyashi, are you hiding something from us? Is it possible that Joanna have God's Tongue." After waking up from his daze, grandpa immediately questioned mother and father.
"Father, we don't know. You know that Joanna was never picky with her food. Even when she was an infant she still drank breast milk from me." Jenny, Joanna's mother said.
"Joanna, does the cake taste good or is it awful?" Grandpa switched his attention to me and asked.
(Wha- What to do?! Whatever, I'll just bluff my way through.)
"It taste good, but not good enough like last time." I said as I remembered the cake last month. That was very tasty, but that was when I still didn't have God's Tongue. Maybe, it will not taste good that much now.
"Erina, is what she said earlier all right?" Grandpa asked Erina, still at doubt if I have God's Tongue.
"Well... She was mostly right as the Dark Chocolate Molten Lava Cake is too bitter and other stuff. But she didn't say that the sweetness of the dried strawberry weakened the bitter taste although only slightly."
"Hmm... Let's not talk about this now. It seems that it was a false alarm. You three can go back to your rooms." Sanzaemon said to Erina, Alice, and Joanna.
Hearing their grandpa, they left together and went to Joanna's room. Leaving the adults discuss about it in the dining hall.
"What do you think? Maybe she also have God's Tongue. It is quite plausible as it was not until the age of four did Erina became adept to it." Azami, father of Erina, said according to his analysis.
He has already planned the education he will give to Erina after they leave for Philippines and Denmark respectively. He didn't expect to see Joanna also being a possible owner of God's Tongue. Regardless, his plans will never change. It was all for his envisioned food gourmet world.
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Total Word Count 1875
A/N: Hmm... if you are questioning the timeline of things, let me clarify. Right now is April, a month after Erina's birthday, when Erina said that Alice's cake is terrible. It was also the day she decided to go to Denmark with his dad to study Molecular Gastronomy. But her father said she needed to be five before going to Denmark. The family knew this so Azami of course knew it so he timed Erina's education to the day where almost everybody of the Nakiri family is gone.
If you ever read my other fanfic, "Steins;Gate FF", I will say that I will update the chaps when my brain juice is enough for a chapter. It was after all just a hobby.
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