Volume 1 - CH 11

Eleventh day of confinement

Translated by SoundDestiny

Edited by Kaepinned

As promised, I am drawing manga for her again today.

At first, I drew non-fiction daily life stories, as I did yesterday but I was getting tired of it. Then I started thinking about fantasy names but I wanted to flirt with science fiction and xenobattle and I just couldn’t get it right.

As I was absorbed in my work, dinner time came in no time at all.

At last the moment has arrived when the girl’s home-cooked meal is to be presented.

A ceramic plate and fork are brought out on the usual tray.

She often stays outside of this room during my meals.

But today she is sitting in front of the cardboard and staring at me.

I know how she feels.

I’m sure she feels the same way as I did the last time I showed her my rehabilitation manga.

I’m ready to face her food.

‘What is this……?If we talk about Japanese, Western and Chinese, maybe it’s Western…?’

I can’t say for sure.

For now, the staple food is two pancakes.

However, they are so burnt that they are almost mistaken for grilled rice balls for a moment.

The side dish is something that looks like scrambled eggs.

There is a reason why I can only say 『something that looks like』.

On top of the scrambled eggs, ketchup was poured so thickly that it looks like a murder scene.

It is no longer clear whether the ketchup is the main ingredient or the egg underneath.

If she had made normal scrambled eggs, this would not have happened.

When one tries to make an omelette or a fried egg and fails, they will realize that they have made a mess and pour ketchup on it to cover it up.

That’s the atmosphere.

Finally, there is an apple for dessert.

This is, without question, just an apple.

However, it has a bizarre shape, like an anaspidea or a Cthulhu-like evil god.

[ED: Anaspidea is a gastropod mollusc known as ‘sea hares’. Well, basically he just wants to say that the shape is so messed up, lol]

I assume that she probably wanted it to be rabbit-shaped, but it doesn’t look very rabbit-like.

If it is a rabbit, it must be a zombie rabbit.

The dishes are probably British or some other branded-looking china, which makes the awful appearance of the food even more noticeable.

“I shall eat it now.”

“I.”

The girl restrains me as I reach for my fork.

“Are you going to feed me? No, indeed, not like such a toddler……”

“I have a manufacturer’s liability.”

She says this unilaterally and grabs the fork from me.

She thrusts it straight into the pancake and holds it straight up to my mouth.

The sleeves of her uniform give a glimpse of her arms and armpits.

To be honest, I make no secret of the fact that I think that it looks better than the pancakes.

“Well, then, I’ll take your word for it.”

I open my mouth.

The girl grips my chin with her left hand and pushes the pancake into my mouth.

…… sweet and salty.

No, a bit too salty.

But if I think of it as something like a salted sweet, I can just barely eat it.

“──Next, we’ll have the eggs.”

She says, pointing to what looks like scrambled eggs.

Nine out of ten, I think the name of that dish is scrambled eggs. But if it’s not, calling it scrambled eggs will be disrespectful to her, so I call it eggs since I’m 100% sure it’s eggs.

“Okay.”

The girl puts the  scrambled egg (tentatively) on the belly of her fork and shoves it into my mouth.

Its taste can be described as antsy or pearly.

Ketchup is delicious to begin with, so whatever the state of the egg underneath, the quality is there to eat.

The eggshell-like contaminant is a bit jarring, but it’s nothing compared to pineapple skin.

It’s totally edible.

The pancakes and the scrambled eggs (explosion) are alternately taken into the mouth and the plate is emptied.

She grabbed the remaining dessert apple with her hand and stuffed it into my mouth.

There is nothing special to say about its taste.

It simply tastes like apples.

It’s good in general.

I finished the meal without incident.

Overall, I will rate the girl’s home-cooked food…

“It’s delicious.”

I mutter to myself.

I’m trying to create as much of a poker face as I can, but I’m worried she’ll notice.

“Yeah. Delicious. Thank you.”

She stares at me intently and I repeat my compliments once more as I finish my meal.

It would be disappointing if she was discouraged from cooking just because I gave her a negative  comment.

In fact, I think it’s a good performance for the first dish she made.

If this were to come out every day, it would be tough, frankly. But compared to yesterday’s pineapple, she has surely improved..

I believe in her ambition.

“Osomatsusama.”

The girl wipes the ketchup from my lips with her index finger, with the usual canned phrase.

Then she leaves a little gap in the mask and licks her fingertips.

It is humiliating to be treated like an infant, but the red tongue that was visible for a moment was strangely glamorous.

The girl stands up with the tray as if nothing had happened and turns on her heel.

“’Ah. So, the price for today, I haven’t finished the manga yet…..”

I say apologetically.

“Don’t worry about the compensation. I’ve already received it.”

The girl says in a flat voice with her back to me.

Despite her tone, her steps are light.