Peaceful Life System: I only need to live peacefully-Chapter 178: Chilling with the Gang (2)

Sherry watched, a smirk playing on her lips. "Are you making bread, or a new kind of brick?"

"It just needs more work!" Lila insisted, her face now dusted with flour. She tried to stretch the dough. It refused to yield. She pounded it on the table. It bounced.

Lysaria peered at the dense, sad lump. "Perhaps the flour was overdeveloped due to excessive mechanical agitation," she offered, her advice technically correct but utterly unhelpful.

Lila let out a groan of pure frustration, slumping over the table. "It’s ruined!"

"Fascinating," Clara’s voice whispered in Riku’s mind. "She can even fail at making simple bread. Your village girl is... spirited. It is best that you make my Elara number one."

"Aunt Clara!! Stop that."

Riku stepped forward, trying to suppress a chuckle. He poked the solid mass of dough. It was hopeless. Their grand pizza plan had failed before it had even begun.

He looked at Lila’s dejected, flour-streaked face. Then he looked at the mess.

A slow, thoughtful smile spread across his face.

"Don’t worry," he said, his eyes twinkling. "I have a secret."

Riku looked at the dense, sad lump of dough on the table. Then he looked at Lila’s dejected, flour-streaked face.

"It’s not ruined," he said, a gentle smile on his face. "It’s just... stubborn. Like its maker."

He stepped up behind her, his presence warm and close. "Here, let me show you." He placed his hands over hers on the dough, his fingers gently guiding her own.

Lila’s breath hitched at the sudden proximity. A faint warmth, entirely unrelated to the kitchen’s heat, rushed to her cheeks.

"You’re using too much force," Riku murmured, his voice low and close to her ear. "You’re fighting it. Dough isn’t an enemy to be beaten into submission. It’s a partner. You have to coax it."

He guided her hands in a slow, rhythmic motion. Pushing gently with the heels of their palms, folding the dough over itself, turning it. "See? Gentle pressure. You’re not trying to flatten it; you’re convincing the threads inside to stretch and align."

Under his guidance, the dough began to transform. The lumpy, resistant brick slowly became smooth, elastic, and yielding. Lila followed his lead, her earlier frustration melting away, replaced by a focused fascination with the feeling of the dough coming to life under their combined touch.

After a few more moments, Riku stepped back. "There," he said. "Now you try."

Lila, her face still slightly flushed, continued the motion on her own. The dough responded perfectly now, stretching and folding with a satisfying, pillowy texture. She looked up at him, a brilliant, triumphant smile on her face. "I did it!"

"You did," Riku confirmed, grinning back.

Impulsively, filled with a rush of pride and affection, Lila leaned forward, stood on her tiptoes, and planted a quick, flour-dusted peck on his cheek.

"Thank you," she whispered, before turning back to the dough, her face now a brighter shade of red.

Riku touched his cheek, a surprised but happy laugh escaping him. He looked at Lila, who shyly glanced back at him.

For a moment, the bustling kitchen faded away. They were lost in their own small world, a silent, sweet understanding passing between them.

However, a sharp cough cut through the moment.

"Are you two quite finished?" Elara asked, her tone dry as a bone. She tapped her foot impatiently on the floor. "Some of us are still waiting for this legendary ’pizza’." Lysaria, Sherry, and Seraphina were looking at them with deadpan expressions as well.

Riku and Lila both jumped, their faces flushing. They quickly looked away from each other, suddenly very interested in the flour on the table.

"Right! Of course!" Riku announced, his voice a little too loud as he tried to sound professional despite the warmth spreading from his cheek. "The sauce! And the toppings!"

They worked together, the earlier frustration replaced by a new, creative energy. Riku showed them how to crush the tomatoes and herbs into a rich, fragrant sauce. Then, the toppings were laid out.

"This," Riku said, holding up the finished, uncooked pizza, "needs a special kind of heat. A normal hearth won’t do. The fire needs to be very hot, and it needs to surround the pizza completely."

Lila frowned. "But how will we do that?"

"No," Riku agreed. "Not here."

He looked at each of them, his expression turning serious. "I’m about to show you all something. My biggest secret. I need you to trust me. Hold hands, and don’t let go, no matter what."

They looked at each other, confused but intrigued. Seraphina, still standing by the doorway, raised a single, skeptical eyebrow. Hesitantly, they formed a small circle, their hands clasped together.

Riku closed his eyes. He focused on the small, warm seed in his pocket.

Enter.

The world dissolved.

The familiar sights and sounds of the kitchen vanished in a flash of white light. The smell of woodsmoke and flour was gone, replaced by the scent of clean earth and fresh air.

They were standing in a field of lush, green grass that stretched to an endless horizon. Above them, a brilliant sun shone in a clear blue sky, dotted with a few lazy, white clouds. A gentle breeze rustled the grass. In the center of their small, accessible world stood a single, beautiful cherry blossom tree, its pink petals drifting softly in the wind.

"Riku..." Lila spoke slowly, her eyes wide with pure, unadulterated awe. "Where... where are we?"

"This is impossible," Lysaria whispered, her usual composure gone. She looked up at the perfect blue sky, then down at the clear and green grass. "This is a divine realm."

Sherry was speechless. She simply stared, her cynical mask completely gone, replaced by a look of profound wonder. Even Seraphina, the stoic Grand Luminar, looked stunned, her eyes wide as she took in the impossible landscape.

"This," Riku said, a slow, proud smile on his face, "is my secret. My own little world."

The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr(e)𝒆novelkiss