Chapter 1
part 2
Seihokami Cafeteria, a 20 feet wide food court, placed at the middle upper area (using north as reference) of the Seihokami park. The cafeteria itself had two entrances, west gate and east gate respectively. Various food stalls occupied the middle area while tables and chairs were lined neatly encircling them.
The cafeteria here used a food coupons system, where you could buy the coupons for the food you wanted at the coupons booth, and then trade it at the stalls. They had a wide variety of food like Japanese food (ain't that obvious?), Chinese food, burgers, hotdogs and a whole lot more.
For the drinks, you could buy some using the coupons too. But if you wanted the old school vending machine, there's a line of vending machines at the west entrance selling tea, juice and even experimental drinks like the dreaded Guava Coffee or Peppermint green juice that tasted like a spicy bunch of grass blended together.
"Tadaa!! Oimikado Yukino's special bento!!"
Yukino produced a large laquered bento box from her tote bag (so that's why her bag looked oddly square). Then she put the 20x20 cm large bento box in front of me.
Seriously? I dare say the line 'I made too much' she said earlier was totally an understatement...
"..." I held my breath as she open the bento box.
Lined in perfect order from the upper left corner: eight 3cm x 3cm square shaped chunks of black meat (?), nicely cut green omelettes (??), blue fried mushrooms (!!??), oddly colored vegetables as a side dish (I can't even put it into words) and white rice at the bottom (THANK GOD!!!).
I could only describe her cooking as: out of this world. I mean, how the heck did she make meat balls, no, scratch that, meat 'cubes' go black? And green omelette? What the hell did she mix the eggs with? Not to mention that blue mushrooms... is it poisonous? And this... this... uhh... camo-veggies? It's a perfect combo of black, brown and green lining on top of each other like an army camouflage pattern. How'd she manage to do that?? I’m really thankful that she made the rice normal though.
Why did she cook such abomination you ask? I truly had no idea.
"Something wrong Seiji?"
"N-no, the food looked... *gulp* uhh... delicious?"
"Really? I wonder if I made the taste right for you. Here," she hands over a pair of disposable chopsticks with an angelic smile. Or maybe that of a demon?
Ugh... No backing down now... gotta man up and eat the whole thing, even if it cost me my life... I could clearly see the newspaper headline for tomorrow, 'College kid died of food poisoning' with a black and white photo of me on the side.
I split the disposable chopsticks witha a small crack sound and took one of the meat cube. Analyzed it for a few seconds. And as my slow accumulating bravery had reached the required amount to eat the mysterious food, I lift it up to my mouth.
"I-itadakimasu..."
*chew*
"!!??"
The moment I sink my teeth to the meat cube, a perfect combination of sweet and salty taste quickly assaulted my mouth. And the chewiness of the meat is perfect, as if its melting in my mouth. Though the form was quite dreadful, this meat cubes were pretty good! No, it's awesome!
How did her cooking improve so much?? The last time I ate one of her cooking it was... well, let's just say the word sweet, salty, bland, bitter, spicy, and even poison had failed me. It was a blank, literally. The next thing I know, I was lying in bed at the nurse office, the nurse in charge informed me that I had a severe case of food poisoning.
"Thi-this... this is!!?"
"How is it? Is it too salty? Or maybe too sweet? Or is it sour?"
"It's delicious! The seasonings was perfect! You're going to be a great wife someday Yuki!!"
But you really need to fix the outer appearance of the food you make. Or the lucky guy won't feel so lucky anymore.
"T-th-thanks..."
Her face gradually turned red from the neck up as if she was a soda pitcher getting a refill. Another sun-stroke symptoms?
Then I realize the only bento box present was right in front of me, where's hers?
"Yuki?"
"Yes?"
"You're not eating? I thought you say you wanted to eat together?"
"Eh? err... I..." she hesitated for a bit, while her eyes darted around.
"…I'm on a diet? Ah, yes, I'm on a diet! Ahahaha."
"Diet? Did you gain some weight?"
I craned my neck to the side, looking at her from top to bottom, but I can’t find any obvious reason that would make her go on a diet.
"Wha-? What are you looking at??"
Noticing my eyes went to 'scanner mode', she quickly covered her waist with her left arm and pushed my face away. Ack! Don’t poke my eyes!
“Really, how rude could you be…” she puffed her cheeks again while crossing her arms on her waist.
“Well, sorry, could you blame me if I’m curious?”
With a loud ‘humph!’ she turns away quickly.
“But not eating anything for the sake of diet is bad for your health you know?”
“I-I know that… “
She slowly turns back her head facing me while mumbling something I can't hear.
“Here,” I took the small meat cube from the bento and lift it to the same height of her mouth.
“Huh???”
"Eat up, and I won't take a no or diet as a reason."
"Eh, but-but that's..." she points at the chopsticks.
What's with the chopsticks? Is it dirty?
Yukino silently stared at the chopsticks like she had found the very weapon used by her evil arch-nemesis to kill her father.
No, her father's very much alive, he's probably cutting the leaf from his bonsai trees at the Hoshiyume temple grounds right now, saying "ah, what a beautiful day" like what he always do.
"Come on, just one bite, what's the harm of that?"
"O-okay... Itadakimasu!"
With a low chomp sound, the meat cube had successfully entered her mouth.
And the scene froze....
...
For around 30 seconds...
"Uhh... Yuki? You could let go of the chopsticks now..."
"!!???"
With a complicated look on her face she retracted her head and quickly covered her cheeks with her hands.
"Yukicchi?"
A soft voice resounds from across the cafeteria. I put the voice at my brain's voice recognition system but it had no match to anyone, so I decided to ignore it.
"Yukicchiiiii!!!" the voice called again, but this time even the stupid me could hear it moving straight at us at incredible speed.
As I wanted to turn my head toward the voice's source, *gasha!* two slender hands suddenly slid under Yukino's armpits with incredible speed and hugged her from behind. From the corner of my eyes, I could see someone with a flowing green hair behind Yukino. A girl?
"Eh?"
“I miss you Yukicchi!!!” said the girl.
"Hu-ugk!!??"
An odd sound that’s different from her usual cheery tone exits her mouth. Then she suddenly hit her chest numerous time like a gorilla on a rampage, her face turned from white to pale red and then dark blue.
“Eh? Yukicchi??”
Even the green haired girl behind her knew something was wrong as she quickly released her hug.
"O-oi, don't tell me you somehow choked that meat earlier??"
“%@&*!%##)$” She nodded furiously while still hitting her chest.
Ugh, this is bad! I quickly took a canned juice that we had bought from the vending machine earlier, popped it open and gave it to her as fast as I can.
*Gulp* *gulp* *gulp*
She drained the whole 300ml juice in one go. While the mysterious green haired girl rubbed her back.
"Buhaaaa!! *cough!* *cough!* I thought I was going to die a horrible death... *cough* "
True, died by choking on her own cooking would be... awkward.
"Take it easy Yukicchi, take a deep breath, and release, take a deep breath, and release," said the green haired girl.
"I'm okay, I'm okay," Yukino waved her left hand like a drunkard before she turned toward the green haired girl.
"You almost kill me Nanase-senpai!"
"Hehe, sorry about that," she grinned innocently.
The girl Yuki called Nanase-senpai then noticed me,
“Ara? Who is this guy Yukicchi?”
“Ah, umm, let me introduce you."
"Seiji, this is Nanase-senpai, she's one year above me in the education majors. And Nanase-senpai, this is Seiji, my friend from highschool."
"I'm Akuno Seiji, nice to meet you," I stood up and extends my right arm for a formal handshake.
"Hello, I'm Koneko Nanase, it's nice to meet you too," she gave me a light handshake accompanied by an ojou-sama smile.
Koneko-senpai had a shoulder length wavy hair that's oddly green, and on top of her head was a knitted hat in the shape of cat's ears.
"Ara? Wait a second, Akuno Seiji... that name sounded very familiar..." she pushed her oval rimmed glasses with a serious look.
"Hmm... Akuno… Seiji… Seijii… uh… Sei…ji… Oh? Ohh!!! You're Yukicchi's boyf- mmpphhh!!??" before she could finish her sentence, Yukino had somehow teleported herself to Koneko-senpai's side and covered her mouth.
"NO HE'S NOT!!! not yet, at least..."
"I'm your what?" I didn't quite catch the last part.
"N-Nothing!! Please forget about what she said, ahahaha," Yukino gave me a nervous smile.
Hmm, I smell something fishy around here...
Oh, wait, there's someone eating Tazukuri[1] on the table beside me, that explains the fishy smell.
"Nee, Yukicchi..."
"Y-yes?"
Koneko-senpai whipered something to Yukino, who quickly turned beet red. Okay, that's it, I'm seriously taking her to the doctor after this.
"N-no, umm, it's still a one-way..." Yukino fiddled with her fingers while stealing glances to me.
"Hee? Really? I see..." Koneko-senpai nodded, stared at me for a second and turned her attention back to Yukino, "but lunch is a good start, keep it up Yukicchi!"
"Uhn."
Though it really makes me curious, I don't want to be considered rude and butt in on their girl's talk. Besides, from what I heard so far, I concluded that they're planning to have lunch at some restaurant at a one way street. And seeing how they occasionally glanced at me, it's obvious that they don't want me to know where it is.
*nyanya-nyan-nyanyaa-nyan-nyanyanyan* a meowing ringtone suddenly breaks into the scene.
Eh? A nyan-cat ringtone?
"Ah! Excuse me," Koneko-senpai raised her index finger signalling Yukino to wait.
She took a green phone —almost the same shade of green like her hair— with a small ornament that looks like a cat’s ear on top of it from her pocket. She must've really loved cats.
“Moshi-moshi, Koneko Nanase speaking. Oh, Homu-nyan, is there a problem? ... eh? I'm still in campus... what? …you mean right now? But... uhn, okay, I'll be there in a moment... yes... yes, I will... okay, bye."
She turned off her phone with a sigh.
"Is there a problem Nanase-senpai?"
"Aiya? Oh, it's nothing for you guys to worry about. Umm, I really need to go now, there's some Student Council stuff that I need to take care."
"Yukicchi," she hugged Yukino again from the back, "I expect a full report later, ‘kay?"
“Ah, uhn," Yukino nodded sheepishly.
"And Sei-yan, it's a pleasure to meet you," Koneko-senpai flashed a smile toward me.
"The pleasure is mine, Koneko-sen-... wait... Sei-yan??"
"Well then, I guess I'll be going now, or Homu-nyan will go ballistics on me. I'll see you two later!"
Nanase waved goodbye and moved her legs with such speed that it looks like she was floating towards the eastern exit of the park, and vanished at the area between building C and D.
"Hey Yuki..."
"Hmm?"
"Is it just me, or did she just call me Sei-yan?"
"Aaa, don't worry, she just had this odd way to call everyone she knew."
"Like how she call you Yukicchi?"
"... *sigh* yes, just like 'Yukicchi'. But please don't call me that..."
"I see..."
I nodded at her answer and continued to wolf down the food that's thankfully not as bad as the appearance.
The blue mushrooms was deep fried, making it crunchy inside out and it doesn't feel oily at all. While the green omelettes were (from my experience cooking) a combination of nori[2] and a dash of green tea, which pretty much explains the color. Though the taste was... err... sweet? Too sweet perhaps, I might get a diabetes if I continue eating this omelette.
Last but not least, the camo-veggies... To tell you the truth, I had no intentions to eat it, but it would be bad manners to throw away the food someone had made for you. Especially if that person is right there watching you...
Okay, back to topic, camo-veggies... *chomp* Hmmm, not so bad... I couldn't recognize the vegetables she used, but the taste was equivalent with a garden salad, a little bit bitter though.
"Umm, Seiji? Do you happen to have some time after this?"
"Hmm?"
I took a glance at the large analog clock at the center of the cafeteria (just above the food stalls) to check on the time. It was 11:54am.
"Yup, but I need to fix my bike at the bike shop and go to work after that, so I have around an hour at best. Is that okay?"
"Uhn, that's plenty."
"So? What do you have in mind?"
Her expression suddenly turned serious and said,
"I need your help concerning 'that'."
[1] Tazukuri : dried sardines cooked in soy sauce, sometimes sprinkled with sesame seeds. One of Osechi-ryōri (御節料理 or お節料理) or traditional Japanese New Year foods.
[2] Nori (海苔?) is the Japanese name for edible seaweed.
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