Chapter 18: Volume 1 - CH 18

Himekawa and I walk down the darkening street toward the shopping district.

The smell of dinner being prepared wafts from every house we pass.

Oh, this is curry, this is grilled fish.

“Now, what shall we have today?”

I asked Himekawa, who was walking next to me.

She said she didn’t have any likes or dislikes, but I think she has a favorite dish.

“Hmmm, by the way, what is your specialty, Tendo-kun?”

“I’m good at… Hmm, Nikujaga, I think.” [TLN: Meat and potato stew]

Himekawa, who is walking with her hands folded behind her back, suddenly looks into my face.

“What is it?”

“That’s very homely”

When Himekawa tells me I am homely, for some reason I feel embarrassed.

“Who wouldn’t want to eat meat and potatoes?”

And I immediately stopped talking.

Maybe Himekawa can’t make meat and potatoes, my sixth sense tells me.

“Uh, shall we have meat and potatoes today?’

“I would love that! Let’s make it meat and potatoes!”

The two of us went into the shopping district and finished our shopping, focusing on groceries at the grocery store, butcher shop, fruit shop, and so on.

I was slightly nervous because it was daytime, but this time nothing happened.

Funny, I thought for sure something would happen.

After the shopping was over, we returned to our two lodgings.

We finished washing our hands, of course, and both of us stood in the kitchen.

After shopping, we returned to the boarding house.

“I’ll cook the rice first, so you cook three cups first.”

“Okay!”

Himekawa answered cheerfully and for some reason looked very happy.

Besides, her white frilly apron suits her too well.

While Himekawa prepares the rice, I throw the ingredients I bought into the refrigerator.

Radishes, carrots, mushrooms, and thin Kondo-kun. [TLN: Raws literally said Kondo-kun]

Hey, what’s this? Why is this stuff in my shopping bag!

On the box, it was written with a magic marker.

『Fight Ippaatsu!』[TLN: Maybe lost in translation]]

What’s with the 『Fight Ippaatsu!』? Is it the grocery store owner who did this?

I fearfully turn my eyes gently toward Himekawa.

Himekawa is seriously washing rice. With a whisk.

Hey! No, it’s certainly not impossible, but where did she get that thing from?

I put the purple box in my hand back in the bag and ran up next to Himekawa.

“Where did that item come from?”

“I bought it earlier. It’s an absolutely necessary tool, isn’t it?”

Himekawa looked at me with a big smile on her face, and I felt myself losing some of my energy to reply.

I finished washing the rice, rinsed it, filled it with water, and set it in the rice cooker.

Now I could (and should) eat delicious rice.

“Okay, now let’s make the main dish of meat and potatoes while I make the soup.”

“Now we’re doing two things at the same time!”

“We’ve got two stoves, so that shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“Surely there are two of them. Let’s do it!”

I felt a little out of the loop. It’s normal to cook at the same time, right?

I peel the vegetables and place them on the cutting board.

I put a little kelp in a pot of water to make broth.

“Then cut up these vegetables for the miso soup. I’ll peel the potatoes while you do that.”

With a serious look on her face, Himekawa cuts vegetables on the chopping board, while making a nice sound with her knife.

With a light sound, the vegetables are cut one after another and then connected together.

Yes, they are not cut all the way to the end. They are all connected.

Then, Himekawa picks up the sliced vegetables with one hand and moves them to the pot with the other.

Hm? What on earth are you doing?

Himekawa then uses her other hand to drop the cut vegetables one by one into the pot.

Yeah, this is a little strange too. Himekawa’s face has a look of accomplishment on it when she finishes putting everything into the pot.

Certainly, from the result, the vegetables cut into small pieces went into the pot. There is no problem there.

But that’s not right, is it?

“Which one do you want me to cut for you?”

Knock, knock. I use the knife to cut the vegetables on the cutting board.

After everything is cut cleanly, I take the cutting board to the pot and use the knife to put the vegetables into the pot.

Yeah, I knew it would be like this, right?

Himekawa looks as if she can hear the sound effect of thudding from behind her.

“Try it again”

She takes the knife from me and tries again.

“It doesn’t matter how slow you cut, just make sure you do it right. When you get used to it, you can increase the speed.

“Slowly and surely ……, right?”

It doesn’t sound as light as before, but this time it seems to be cutting well.

Himekawa puts vegetables into the pot with a smile. I’m sure she’s going to get better at this.

I hope so.

The two of us stood in the kitchen for several minutes.

Himekawa and I checked the seasonings we would be using, the quantities, and the order in which they would be added.

And then…

“Itadakimasu.”

We made it to dinner without incident.

“Himekawa’s Nikujaga. How does it taste?”

Himekawa elegantly brings the newly finished meat and potatoes to her mouth.

Shee munched for a while and swallowed firmly.

“Oh, it’s delicious!　I always enjoy the food I make myself!”

“Oh, it’s delicious! I can make my own food, and it usually tastes good!”

“That’s good to hear. I guess now your specialty is Nikujaga, huh?”

“Yes, that’s right. Just like you, Tendo-kun”

Will the first dish we cook together become Himekawa’s specialty?

We spent our first dinner together, wondering if Himekawa’s cooking would improve in the future.