He groaned. "My whole body is sore."
I never imagined I'd end up sleeping while hugging all day.
As I massaged my stiff back and got out of bed, the first thing I saw was none other than a camera.
"Ah... right, I set up the cameras last evening. I almost forgot."
I was startled for a moment and checked the clothes I was wearing.
"Fortunately, these clothes are decent enough to be on broadcast."
Sometimes Ai would undress me in her sleep, so I was a bit worried it might have happened again, but luckily, it seemed she hadn't touched my clothes this time.
"As for Ai... I'll let her sleep. There's still plenty of time before the schedule."
As per the main PD and writer's request to talk to myself as much as possible, I planned to do so while going about my actions.
The cameras were set up in four areas: roughly the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and my and Ai's room.
Upon checking, the spacious living room had the most cameras, and even excluding that, there were quite a number of cameras.
"Hmm..."
Well, in the end, it's just my usual daily routine with a bit of added self-talk.
First things first, I needed to check if I had done the grocery shopping yesterday, so I hurriedly opened the fridge to see.
"No vegetables at all, only meat..."
Well, originally, our household diet always starts and ends with meat. But I never thought there'd be no vegetables... Wait a minute?
I distinctly remember there were vegetables in the fridge yesterday... Come to think of it, when Aqua left yesterday, he had a large icebox...
"Ai, it was you again, wasn't it..."
I marveled at Ai's initiative and decided to take out the meat from the fridge to thaw it.
"I'll wash up first while it thaws."
Thinking it would be somewhat thawed by the time I finished washing, I headed to the shower, and upon arriving,
"Fortunately, they didn't install cameras inside."
Grateful for the consideration of only setting up cameras up to the changing area, I undressed and entered the bathroom to shower.
"Phew..."
After showering, I came out wearing my usual shorts and a dress shirt, not even bothering to button it up, and headed to the living room.
"Huh? Small cameras?"
On the living room table, there were two vlog-style cameras, the kind YouTubers use for one-handed filming, which I hadn't noticed yesterday.
Apparently, one was for me and one for Ai, making two in total.
"No need to carry them around the house, I suppose."
Deciding to take them when we go out later, I headed to the kitchen to check how much the meat had thawed.
"Hmm, it's thawed enough. But with only meat left, how should I prepare breakfast...?"
The most important thing now wasn't the filming, but the breakfast I had to eat with Ai.
If there had been vegetables, I planned to make a light steak-style breakfast with salad, but with no vegetables left, the only vegetable available was
[Kimchi].
For those who might not know, in my past life, I was Korean. Therefore, I believe that rice and kimchi are essential, so I make kimchi every year during kimjang season.
Aqua, Ruby, and even Ai don't particularly like it, but I do, and when I occasionally make fried rice, they eat it happily.
"No choice. Let's have beef fried rice for breakfast today."
First, since it's for me and Ai to eat, how much rice is left in the rice cooker?
"Ah, this much should be enough for me and Ai."
Actually, the rice was a bit short, but I planned to make up for it by grilling some beef for myself, so no big deal.
"Then, let's mince the beef first."
Using the appropriate tool—my hands—with plastic gloves on, I slowly started mincing the beef.
After pounding it for about five minutes, the beef became much softer. I cut it into appropriate sizes and prepared the minced garlic I had taken out earlier from the fridge.
Of course, I also prepared the necessary seasonings in advance: sugar, soy sauce, cooking wine, and pepper.
"The rice is lukewarm, so it should be fine to stir-fry it as is."
I first coated the frying pan with oil and kept it on low heat, then decided to make the seasoning sauce beforehand.
"One spoon of sugar, two tablespoons of soy sauce... and one tablespoon of cooking wine with a bit of pepper, mix it, and the seasoning is ready!"
The method for making the seasoning was simpler than I thought.
"Next, add the minced beef to the seasoning... Ah, can't forget the minced garlic."
Marinating it like this beforehand ensures that when stir-fried, the flavors blend well, making the fried rice even more delicious.
"Since there are no vegetables left, I'll skip them."
Thinking I should take Ai grocery shopping tonight, and with a slight regret that perilla leaves should have been included,
I started stir-frying the seasoned beef in the adequately heated pan.
The key tip when stir-frying beef is to avoid letting it clump together.
"Is it cooked enough like this?"
I took a bite of the properly grilled beef with a spoon.
"Mmm! It's cooked well. Then, add the prepared rice."
With the sizzling sound, I watched the rice stir-fry and decided to add the remaining seasoning to it.
The reason for adding the remaining seasoning is in case the rice doesn't absorb enough flavor from the marinade.
The next step was to add perilla leaves, but as mentioned earlier, there aren't any, so skip that. After stir-frying until the rice is properly cooked, add a bit of pepper as a finishing touch.
"Great! The beef fried rice is complete."
Oh, right, right... I almost forgot the fried eggs.
I hurriedly took two eggs from the fridge, made half-boiled fried eggs, and to prevent the heat from escaping the fried rice, I covered it with a lid.
"Next, I need to make the beef steak."
I knew that Ai would probably come out on her own when she smelled the beef grilling, so I didn't go to wake her up, but just in case, if she didn't come out even after grilling the steak, I'd have to go get her myself.
As it turned out, Ai didn't come out even when I was grilling the steak or after it was done, so I ended up having to go to her room.
"Ai~ It's morning. How long are you going to sleep? Hurry up, eat breakfast, get your makeup done at the shop, and go to the schedule."
She made a groaning sound.
"Sigh..."
Fortunately, Ai had her eyes open but was whining like a child who didn't want to get up.
"Ai, breakfast is ready. Let's go eat, okay?"
"I don't wanna~ I don't want to get up~"
"Ai..."
Watching Aqua grow more sensible, Ai hadn't changed at all. Whether that's good or bad...
"Come on, get up quickly."
She let out a squeal.
I ended up carrying Ai in a princess carry to the kitchen, and Ai, as if she had planned this, was just smiling brightly.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
"Hehe... Yume, I can't fool you."
"Well, how long have I been with you?"
After carrying her to the kitchen, Ai and I started breakfast.
Unlike me, Ai eats a bit slower, so after finishing my meal first, I explained today's schedule.
"Ai, as you know, today's schedule is one radio show. After that, as you know, we have to exercise at our company's training center, right?"
"Ehh~? I have to do that hard thing?"
"Of course. Exercise is like life itself. Got it?"
"Isn't that just you, Yume...?"
"Hey!"
She made a playful noise.
Although reluctant, Ai listens well to what I say, so I patted her head and then,
"After you finish eating, put them in the sink. I need to do the dishes."
"Okay~"
After watching Ai start eating again, I sat in the living room and began reading news on my laptop as usual. Coincidentally, there was an email from the company, so I checked it.
"Hmm... There's a regular meeting coming up. Next weekend..."
I was planning to have a family picnic next weekend... Sadly, the picnic will have to be postponed.
"Yume~!! I finished eating~!!!!"
"Then, as I said, put them in the sink and you go wash up!! We need to leave!"
"Okay~"
After checking all important emails, I finished washing the dishes in the kitchen. By then, Ai had finished showering and, luckily, came out in normal clothes. I breathed a sigh of relief and,
"Get ready lightly and come out, then we'll leave immediately."
"Okay~"
For reference, the makeup shop is at our company. In many ways, our company seems to do a really wide variety of things.
"Here, before we go out, hold this first."
"Huh? What's this? A camera?"
Ai looked at the small camera, an action cam, that I handed her, turning it over and over.
"It's an action cam. As you know, for the next two days, if we go outside, this is something we have to carry around."
"Ehh~? That's bothersome."
I didn't think she would have read it, but when alone, she at least does everything, but when with me, she acts like a child like this. It makes me think she's too dependent... No, I'm probably overthinking it.
"Anyway, with the camera in hand, let's head out. We need to leave now to get makeup done and have enough time to go to the radio show."
"Okay~"
With the action cam in hand, Ai and I left the house, got in the car, and headed to the company for Ai's makeup.