3 bar menu

Chapter 94 Part 1

Birthday Party (2) ~Gifts~

「Wow! What a treat!」

「Oh, this is….」

Eimi let out a cry of joy, while Sayaka was at a loss for words.

This was the reaction when Yuu called the two over when all the food was ready and laid out on the table.

It was a standard home-cooked meal, but Yuu was satisfied to see that even Sayaka, who was probably used to having fine dining since she was a daughter of a well-off family, was awed by it.

Though, the decoration-related stuff was all the handiwork of Riko.

Riko, who had a meticulous personality, was probably better suited for this than Yuu, who did not care about the appearance of the food as long as it was tasty.

Rice and consommé soup, and the largish hamburger steak, the main dish, was not asserting its existence since in addition to carrot glace and kofuki imo, pre-chopped cucumber and lettuce were also placed in a single plate to serve as supporting characters, adding color to it.

Since she lived alone, there were no four plates with the same pattern, so they had to settle for two plates each.

In the center of the table was a cake decorated with strawberries and whipped cream. In the center of the cake, there was a sugar candy with ‘’Happy Birthday’’ written in chocolate, which seemed to remind them of their childhood days.

Normally, the dining table had plenty of room for one or two people to use it, but in addition to the cake, four people-worth of food had been laid out on it.

「First, let’s have the two of you blow out the candles.」

Riko lit the two candles standing on the cake and dimmed the lights in the room.

Two small orange-colored lights flickered, creating a somewhat solemn atmosphere.

「One, two, Happy Birthday to you~」

What Eimi began to sing while clapping her hands was that one song that was regularly sung during birthday celebrations.

For the names, she used 「Yuu & Sayaka」.

When she finished the song and gave the two a round of applause, Yuu and Sayaka, who were sitting side by side at the far end of the table, found it embarrassing as expected and looked at each other with a bashful look on their faces.

「Then, without further ado.」

「Yes.」

Reaching out his hand, Yuu took Sayaka’s hand and intertwined their fingers, then moved his face closer to the cake as if inviting her to join him.

「Fuu~」」

With a single breath, the two candles were extinguished and the room was enveloped in applause again.

「Now, let’s eat while the food is still warm, shall we? It’s food specially hand-made by Yuu-kun and Riko, after all!」

「I suppose so.」

◇ ◇ ◇

Speaking of hamburger steak’s seasoning, demi-glace sauce or tomato sauce style with a somewhat large amount of ketchup would probably be the most common.

When Yuu opened the refrigerator and found a daikon radish that had been cut in half, what came into his mind was Japanese-style grated radish.

Soy sauce went surprisingly well with meat dishes.

The hamburger steak with just the right amount of char on it was not as beautifully shaped as the ones served in restaurants, but it was thick and hearty.

If you were not used to making hamburger steaks, you might find cases where not only were they burnt, the heat didn’t reach the inner part, but that was because they were suddenly cooked over high heat.

Before his rebirth, Yuu used to make hamburger steaks in batches according to the recipe he looked up on the Internet, and then froze them and ate them on a later date.

The trick was to cook it slowly over medium to low heat, and if you kept heating it up for a while using the residual heat even after turning off the fire, the heat would definitely reach all the way to the inner part.

Before anything else, when Yuu made a cut on the hamburger steak with his chopsticks just to be sure, juices slowly oozed out and steam rose from within.

He was relieved to find that even when he cut it to the middle part, there was no red part and it was cooked properly.

「Amm… S, so tasty! This is my first time eating such a super tasty hamburger steak! So impressive!」

「Ooh… Not only can you clearly taste the flavor of the meat, you get to taste a refreshing flavor of the soy sauce-covered grated daikon at the same time, what a delightful harmony. If it tastes like this, I feel like I might end up eating as many as there is to it, which is scary.」

「I’ve known hamburger steaks with Japanese sauce, but this is the first time I’ve had it with grated daikon like this. I like it. I guess I’m going to try making it at home next time.」

「Thank goodness. For you guys to like it.」

One by one, Eimi, Sayaka, and Riko showed such a reaction.

It seemed that Japanese-style grated hamburger steak was not very popular in this world.

The grated daikon that he had made because he thought a light Japanese-style seasoning would be easier to eat than a thick sauce seemed to be very well-received, so Yuu felt relieved.

「Not only does the carrot glace have just the right amount of sweetness, both the kofuki imo and the soup are also delicious.」

「Yes. I know because I often have her cook dinner for me when she comes to stay over, but Riko’s cooking is a real deal.」

「I tend to think of the vegetable garnishes as some sort of extras, but as expected, it makes me happy when they taste good!」

「T, thank you…」

Getting praised by everyone, Riko smiled bashfully.

「Umm, Yuu-kun?」

「What’s up? Amy.」

When Eimi, who had been eating with incredible vigor, calmed down a little, she spoke to Yuu sitting in front of her.

「Next time, if you don’t mind, I hope you could teach me how to cook.」

Truthfully speaking, she had the motive of wanting to stand in the kitchen with him, but Yuu welcomed the idea.

「Sure. Let’s start with something simple. But where should I teach you?」

The other day when he told his family about his relationship with the three of them, both Martina and Elena said they wanted to meet them, so he was thinking of inviting them to his home one way or the other. But on the other hand, he felt like he would like to try visiting Eimi’s house, too.

However, it would probably be difficult to suddenly cook there.

「Can’t we just use the home economics room?」

「I see! In that case, as a new student council specialty, Yuu-kun’s cooking class might be a good idea!」

Eimi immediately got on board with Riko’s suggestion.

「In case there is a large number of applicants, shall we use a lottery?」

「Oh my? I believe you should have him teach you, too, Sayaka. We’ll even add a special slot for you.」

「Huh… m, me…?」

Suddenly having the subject thrown to her by Riko, Sayaka showed a flustered look.

「But there will be a need to divide the course, won’t it? And of course, Sayaka should take the beginner course.」

「Huh, you can’t cook at all?」

As she got stared at by Yuu, too, Sayaka broke out in a cold sweat and looked away in a different direction.

「She is the kind of person who would use detergent to wash the rice, so…」

「「Eeh~…」」

Among people who have absolutely no experience in cooking, there are those who take out-of-the-ordinary actions like that, huh; with such a thought in mind, Yuu nodded his head, and then held Sayaka’s hand.

「Don’t worry! Since I’ll give you a thorough teaching.」

「Err, p, please take good care of me, I suppose.」

Getting pressed by Yuu, Sayaka nodded her head in a hopeless manner, which was unusual for her.

Then, Eimi also jumped into the fray. When Riko also said that she wanted to cook with him again, the talk progressed into them holding a cooking and dining party with all members of the student council, including Yuu.

◇ ◇ ◇