Kit didn’t manage to wiggle out of Snickers clutches the whole way to his restaurant. Laughter followed him to the front door, he was bright red by the time Snickers finally released him. “You get in the kitchen and don’t come out until the dinner rush is over!” A finger stabbed his chest with each word.

Furious eyes were narrowed at him. A shudder run down his spine, he knew if he refused, Snickers would blow her top. He had no clue what had happened while he was away, but whatever it was it had caused Snickers to become enraged.

He didn’t want to upset her further, so obediently walked into the kitchen. Kit eyes went wide when he saw his employees frantically racing around. Normally his kitchen was a calm cheerful place, right now faces looked grim and a sombre atmosphere hung heavily like rain clouds. Kit stopped Crackers in her steps to see what he could help with. “Crackers, what do you need me to do?”

Crackers froze at his voice, her eyes locked with his, then she started to cry. Kit started to panic immediately. What the hell was going on? Crackers was not an emotional person. “K-Kit than’ god you be back. S-she is a demon!”

Cupcake and Bree had stopped what they were doing and were staring at Kit like he was their saviour. Seriously what the hell happened while he was away? Right now he needed to comfort Crackers, then he could find out what happened. Kit gave Crackers a reassuring hug and let her have a good cry. He had a wet patch on his shirt by the time she was done.

Kit thought he was done comforting his staff when Cupcake came over and started to squeeze the life out of him in a bear hug. “Kit no leave!” Kit started to feel his bones creak from the force, if Cupcake didn’t let him go soon he would have some broken ribs.

Damn it, he was going to avoid hugs in the future! This was twice today he almost got squeezed to death. Cupcake finally released his body, Kit almost slid to the ground from the lack of oxygen. He steadied himself, then before he could ask what was going on Dove ran into the kitchen.

“Kit please hurry to get some food out! Snickers is going to fight with the customers again otherwise.” Dove ran straight back out into the dining area after he spoke. Kit gazed over to the time freeze storage shelf to see that it was bare.

He quickly took out the magic multiplier plates from his storage, he kept the faulty one for himself to use and handed the other over to Cupcake. “Let’s fill the time freeze storage shelves, then you guys can catch me up on what happened while I was away.”

Three heads nodded at his words and soon Kit got lost in his cooking. The dinner rush went by in a flash, soon all that was left was to clean up the mess left behind, as Kit was about to suggest a short break before cleaning, small wings flew past his face.

In what felt like a blink of his eyes his kitchen was spotless. One of the clean sprites flew over to him and was happily chattering to his face. “Thanks! The kitchen looks great.” The praise must have been what the clean sprite was after, as soon as Kit finished speaking it flew off into the dining area.

“Kit I really be happy you have returned. It be one hell of a week without you here. Next time you leave can ya at least leave behind the magic multiplier plate. It be too hard to keep up with demand without one.” Crackers looked absolutely exhausted, she was half slumped over the bench talking to him.

His gaze travelled to Cupcake to see the large man hugging the magic multiplier plate like it was a precious gem. He had a feeling if he tried to take it away from Cupcake right now, he would get a punch to the face. “I apologise everyone.” Kit formally bowed to his staff. “It was not my intention to leave for so long. The good news is that the magic multiplier plate Cupcake is holding will now permanently stay in the restaurant. I received another one on my visit to the culinary guild.”

“Why did you not start with that when I first saw you!” Kit jumped in fright as Snickers spoke up behind him. He turned around to see the rest of his staff entering the kitchen, each of them looked like they hadn’t slept in days.

Black bags hung under their eyes, some of them even had bloodshot eyes. Kit felt terrible at the sight of his employees, it was time he found out what exactly happened while he was away. “Why on earth do you all look sleep deprived? What exactly happen over the past couple of days?”

Snickers hands went to her hips and a glare shot out of her eyes. “This is all your fault! Who leaves their busy restaurant without the essential equipment needed for it to function properly. We had to close the takeaway section and could only open for dinner service. Not only that we ran out of supplies!” Snickers was starting to leak a murderous aura once again.

Kit gulped at her furious expression. “Snickers, I promise I didn’t mean to die in the monster run.” Before he could explain further he was interrupted by a poke to his chest from the green haired monster.

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“WHAT SHIT ARE YOU SPROUTING! DID NOT MEAN TO DIE! YOU FUCKING EXPLODED YOURSELF ON PURPOSE!” Kit could only swallow his words, Snickers was right but he had done it to save the monster run. Frustration filled him, he had done the right thing and now he was getting yelled at!

An unlikely ally popped up to speak up for him. “Snoo, Snoo I told you not to scold Kit for that. He did the right thing exploding himself. If it were not for him the whole monster run could have been a disaster.” Leonard walked into the kitchen and gave Kit a nod of acknowledgement.

Surprise flittered through him at Leonard speaking for him. He retuned Leonard’s nod with a small smile. Then he wondered how Snickers even knew about his death, Kit looked over to Dove to see the man winking at him. Well at least he now knew how she got hold of that information.

Kit decided he should apologise once again. It looked like all of his staff had been worked to death while he was gone. “I’m very sorry everyone, I do have some news that I hope will make you all feel better.” He hoped it was enough to get him out of the dog house with Snickers at least anyway. He had a feeling the others would forgive him a lot more easily than she would.

“It better be fucking awesome news Kit!” He could tell she couldn’t help taking a stab at him, her anger was plain as day on her delicate face.

He hoped it would be awesome and it would quell her anger. “When I died, I respawned in a village not far from a culinary guild so instead of heading straight back I decided to head there first. The good news is I managed to raise my chef tier, open a culinary mystery box and complete a chef challenge.”

Silence greeted his words, blank eyes blinked at him. Was this because they were all sleep deprived? Did they not understand what he was saying? He decided to go into more detail, he explained what happened to him in Fairweather town and the rewards he received. He left out the getting attacked part.

Snickers came over to him after he had finished and held out her hand. Now it was Kit’s turn to be puzzled, what did she want? She didn’t leave him waiting long to find out. “Hand the blueprints over, then get out!”

Kit made an oh face then retrieved the blueprints. Anticipation hummed through his body, he couldn’t wait to see what the changes would look like after they were completed. He quickly ushered all of his employees out the door.

Snickers was the last to saunter out, she turned to Kit with a gleeful expression. Kit had a bad feeling seeing her so happy. “Oh Kitty, as a punishment, you can’t enter the restaurant until tomorrow. Have fun sleeping tonight.” She flicked her hair and gave him a shit eating grin.

Kit could only stand there and gap at her, how could he wait until tomorrow to see the new improvements to his restaurant. Kit instantly started to think of way to get her to change her mind. “Snickers, don’t you think that punishment is a bit harsh. I mean it is my restaurant after all, making me wait to see the new additions would kill me. Can’t I make it up to you another way?”

Snickers snorted at his reply. “Not a chance in hell! Even if you offered to give me an unlimited supply of alcohol, my answer would still be no.” Snickers stuck out her tongue, then turned around to ignore him.

A long sigh escaped from his mouth. He was not willing to do anything to make her flair up again, so he reluctantly accepted the fact that he wouldn’t be seeing the new additions to his restaurant tonight.

Snickers was spot on with his punishment, Kit knew he wouldn’t get an ounce of sleep thinking about his restaurant. Kit cried internally at his bad luck, why did he put up with his petty restaurant manager again?

He looked at her delicate frame and all the reasons why he wasn’t exerting his authority as the owner of the restaurant flashed past in his mind, Snickers was a god send when she was not angry. At least his punishment should get him out of trouble by tomorrow morning, he was glad she didn’t hold onto grudges once she was satisfied.

With a sad expression Kit turned around to head to the boarding house, at least Snowball would be there to keep him company tonight. The thought of seeing his fluffy companion automatically swept away his frown. As he went to head back to the boarding house he remembered that they would have a new addition to the house tonight.

“Oh no, I forgot all about Pretzel!” Kit glanced around to see if Peaches had brought Pretzel over, he became flustered when he couldn’t see the young boy. He was supposed to be taking care of the youth, but he had just ditched him at the drop of a hat!

Mud trudged over “Kit, did you make a new dish?” Kit was confused why Mud was asking that, then he remembered what he had just said.

“What? Oh no Pretzel is the young boy I brought back from Fairweather town.” Kit absentmindedly grabbed Muds hand and dragged him towards the boarding house. As they walked Kit was hopeful Peaches had taken him there.

They burst through the door and Kit ran into the kitchen, relief spread through him when he saw Mars, Twix, Peaches and Pretzel sitting at the dining table. “Kit I’m so happy to see you.” Twix headed towards him with outstretched arms.

Kit wasn’t going to fall into a hug trap again and dogged to the side. “No more hugging today! I have almost been squeezed to death twice today.”

Twix arms fell to his side and a pout formed on his lips. “Why do other people get a hug and not me?”

Kit stared at Twix aggrieved expression and sighed. “Whatever, just get it over with.” Steel bands pushed the air out of his lungs, why do all his friends have such strong arms? For that matter why are they all huggers?

Air filled his lungs once again as he was released, now Twix was happy he sat back down at the table, Kit and Mud followed to take a seat at the table. The reason Kit had dragged Mud with him was that Pretzel and the elf were going to have to share a room, he hoped the pair would get along fine.

He did the introductions and to Kit’s delight Mud took to the young boy with gusto. “This is great! I was worried I would end up sharing a room with Crackers in the future.” As a visible shudder went down the small man’s spine. He then turned to Pretzel and dragged him off to show him his new room.

Kit looked at the disappearing pair and smiled, at least he wouldn’t have to worry about Pretzel fitting in with the others.