CH 24

Chapter 24 – Himeka Grabs Ichiro’s Stomach

The barren struggle between the Urushibara mother and daughter continued for a while, but when the clock struck noon, Urushibara-san realized that the cooking hadn’t started yet, so we hurried to start cooking.

First, let’s start with the sauce for the soft noodles.

The first is a meat sauce.The second is a Chinese bean-jam sauce.

The first role given to me was to fry onions chopped by Urushibara-san in a frying pan.

The onions are kneaded with a wooden spatula so that they are evenly cooked, and Urushibara-san checks the color of the onions from the side while adding seasonings, minced meat and red wine to the frying pan.

After moderately cooked, throw in the whole tomatoes and Worcestershire sauce and simmer over a low heat for a while to complete the meat sauce.

Next, fry the pork belly, bamboo shoots, onions and peppers.

Just with the meat sauce, Urushibara-san added a broth made from seasoning, cooking sake and Chinese soup stock from the side.

After lightly simmering, Urushibara-san checked the taste and added water-soluble potato starch to thicken the sauce.

By this time, Urushibara-san seemed to have returned to normal, and she was cooking with a smile on her face while giving me instructions quickly and efficiently.

There’s a different kind of fun when we’re cooking side by side like this than when we’re chatting.

The sense of pride in being relied on, and seeing the thoughtful expressions on her face when she was tasting the food, made me feel as if I was an equal partner with Urushibara-san, the idol of the school.

As we were doing such things, Urushibara Mama was happily filming us with her smartphone…

After making the sauce for the soft noodles, I moved on to washing the utensils, while Urushibara-san started cooking the thick-cut bacon.

Cuts over 50 mm thick were taken out of the fridge to make three different dishes…

The first is a bacon cutlet cut into bite-size pieces, breaded and deep-fried.

The second is German potatoes fried with lightly boiled potatoes and cheese.

The third is a bacon steak simply cooked in a frying pan.

I was already hungry and the smell and sound of bacon cooking made my mouth water.

Perhaps noticing my appearance, Urushibara-san picked up one of the bacon cutlets and said to me, “Ahn♪”

Having exceeded my hunger limit, I opened my mouth without hesitation and asked Urushibara-san to toss in the bacon cutlet.

Munch, munch, munch.

“Urushibara-san, it’s wonderful. I’ve never tasted bacon cutlet before, but the crispiness of the batter is perfectly matched with the juiciness and crunchiness of the bacon. Urushibara-san, you must be a culinary genius.”

“R-Really!? Ehehe, I’ll put it in your lunchbox next time♪”

“No, I thought we were done with the lunchbox…”

“I hope Monday comes early! Fufufu…”

She’s not listening.

But Urushibara-san’s lunchbox was really good.

It’s risky, but it’s definitely something worth eating. Yup.

“Moriyama-kun, it seems Himeka-chan has already got your stomach. Ufufu…”

The finished dishes were placed on the table and the three of us started eating it straight away…

Me and Urushibara-san sat side by side, and Urushibara Mama sat across from us.

Urushibara-san would lean in close to me every time I took a bite.

“What do you think? Did it taste good?” And “It’s hot, so make sure you don’t burn yourself, okay?” She talked to me and was very excited, unlike when we ate lunch together at school.

Urushibara Mama looked at us and grinned, “You two really get on. You two looked like newlyweds when you were cooking.” She said something terrifying.

“N-Newlyweds you say? If this gets out to the people in school, they’ll start a crusade! Mama-san, please delete the photos you just took right away! The evidence must be destroyed immediately!”

“Mou~! Moriyama-kun, you’re exaggerating again! I’ll enjoy the pictures later!”

Perhaps it’s because we’ve had this exchange so many times today alone, but I find myself a lot more relaxed than when I came in this morning.

I especially liked the soft noodles with Chinese bean paste and the bacon cutlet, and said to myself, “Urushibara-san is a true genius. The school lunch center should hire Urushibara-san immediately!”

After dinner, while drinking tea, we were looking at the photos that Urushibara Mama had taken together, and there was a photo of the two of us eating bacon cutlets while we were cooking. It was very embarrassing, but Urushibara-san looked so happy and the picture was so good that I asked Urushibara Mama to send it to my phone as well.