join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr
Asagumo Chihaya's cooking skills were quite good.
The tamagoyaki wasn't just simply rolled fried eggs; she first simmered bonito flakes, mirin, and soy sauce to create a broth-like substance, which she said was yakisoba sauce, and using it instead of proper dashi in tamagoyaki would make it taste great.
There was also pork miso soup cooked in the sukiyaki style and miso-stewed mackerel.
While there might be a slight gap compared to an average housewife, that was only due to a lack of accumulated experience. The skill she displayed would at least earn her an excellent grade in a home economics class without any problems.
Of course, Asakura was also quite satisfied with his own vegetable salad. Although he added a bit too much mayonnaise, the cabbage was cut into strange shapes, the corn added for sweetness and texture somehow clumped together, and he forgot to remove the stems from a few cherry tomatoes... it was absolutely perfect!
"However, cooking rice in this kind of lunchbox cooker, I haven't tried it since participating in a forest camp when I was an elementary school student," the girl said, wearing thick baking gloves, as she took the iron box off the stove and placed it on a heat-resistant mat before opening it.
Asakura had bought this box for camping previously. Don't ask him how he ate for the past six months before that; the answer is that noodles and steamed buns can also fill you up...
He opened the box, revealing the well-cooked rice inside.
Although the heat control wasn't perfect due to lack of experience, at least it wasn't undercooked. Asakura even found crispy scorched rice at the bottom of the lunchbox.
Asakura hadn't asked the girl if she had already eaten dinner, but judging by the fact that almost all the dishes were double portions, she probably hadn't eaten yet—the 'almost' is because the lettuce salad Asakura made was a bit too much. While mixing the salad dressing and lettuce, he fell into a 'add more flour if too much water, add more water if too much flour' paradox, causing the salad to abnormally proliferate. By the time he noticed, it had already become enough to half-fill Yanami.
"Is this much salad okay?" Asagumo Chihaya asked with some concern, looking at the salad that almost required a basin as a unit of measurement.
"I'll put it in the fridge and enjoy it slowly," Asakura replied.
However, speaking of which, he hadn't eaten so late because he had gone to a Livehouse to watch a performance. STARRY should be considered quite well-managed for a Livehouse of its size, so the performance duration wasn't short. By the time he finished watching and returned home, it was quite late.
But Asagumo Chihaya hadn't even had dinner yet, which surprised and touched Asakura. She must have wanted to eat with him.
As for why she could visit so precisely after he returned home, such small matters shouldn't be dwelled upon...
After enjoying a delicious dinner, Asakura took over the dishwashing and kitchen cleaning. At the same time, he was troubled by the almost untouched bowl of lettuce salad.
Should he pack it up and bring it to Yanami tomorrow? But what if Hiratsuka Shizuka found out he was feeding such things to a classmate? He might be considered to be bullying her...
"Takuma-kun... are you still researching urban legends?" When Asakura placed the last plate on the drying rack and walked into the bedroom, wiping his hands, Asagumo Chihaya, who was sitting on a soft cushion on the tatami in the bedroom, suddenly asked.
Asakura was startled. He then realized that his phone screen had lit up because it received a message from his desktop computer. Ryunosuke's app had directly woken up the phone in the background, and now information organized by AI was constantly popping up.
Compared to the initial urban legends, most of which were obviously fake at a glance, many of the rigorously selected pieces of information now seemed somewhat plausible.
...At least by common sense, the possibility seemed higher than the truthfulness of the Yamanokemono urban legend.
"Well, after all, I'm a Magic-user," Asakura said vaguely.
"Although I'm not clear about the responsibilities of a Magic-user... but for Takuma-kun, won't this be a bit too heavy?" Asagumo Chihaya said in a low voice. "I'm not blaming Takuma-kun, after all, even I was saved by Takuma-kun..."
The girl's voice trembled slightly. "But, seeing Takuma-kun like that, I really can't confidently say 'leave everything to Takuma-kun'...".
Asakura was stunned, then remembered that his two experiences in front of Asagumo Chihaya had indeed been somewhat embarrassing.
When the girl's Magic went out of control, his arm was severed, and blood splattered all over her... Although the Essence of Dittany later healed his severed arm, honestly, after facing such a scene, it's understandable if Chihaya has some psychological trauma.
The situation during the Yamanokemono incident was much better, but he also ended up collapsing due to recklessly letting his Magic run wild. Asakura didn't ask how he recovered later, but he had some guesses, though he wasn't ready to confront them yet.
"Even for me... and for everyone in the Magic Club, Takuma-kun, can you please not do such dangerous things?" Asagumo Chihaya asked softly.
"Don't worry, Chihaya, I'm super amazing." Asakura gently shook his head.
"How can I not worry...? At first, I thought Takuma-kun was the kind of soft-hearted person who would throw himself into danger for others, but after getting to know him, I found that wasn't the case... Takuma-kun does these things not purely out of 'kindness,' but for some other reason..." The girl said, "I don't want to pry into Takuma-kun's secrets, but rushing headfirst into dangerous situations like that, I still can't easily accept it..."
"I'm sorry, Chihaya..." Asakura was somewhat silent. In fact, even he himself often didn't know why he made such choices. In the past, he might have thought, 'Perhaps all these disasters were brought by me to this peaceful world,' but later he found that it didn't seem to be the case.
But even so, he had no intention of stopping.
Like someone obsessed with adventure, he didn't know if he was doing it for the thrill, the rewards after the adventure, or just out of habit, but he just felt that he couldn't stop there.
"Takuma-kun doesn't need to apologize... After all, as I just said, even I survived because of Takuma-kun's 'meddling'." The girl said softly, "Actually, I can guess that Takuma-kun won't give up just because of a few inexplicable words from me... I don't know what kind of responsibility Takuma bears... But if you absolutely have to do it, then please rely on me a little."
The girl wiped the corners of her eyes and said seriously, "Even if I can't do anything else, if I can just make you a meal, let you rest well, and have better spirits to face everything... then I'll be very satisfied."
"Thank you, Chihaya."
"That's great! I thought Takuma-kun would be more... tsundere? Anyway, not so easy to accept my help."
"Thank you, O-chan."
"Who's that...?"
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr