Volume 5 Chapter 6.3

Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes

「Well, anything past this is unnecessary, so let’s move on.」

「Mm.」

「What’s for dinner today？」

「Tatsuya-san says it would be nice to have a menu that goes with alcohol every so often, so I’m a bit conflicted.」

Hearing the term “goes with alcohol”, Makoto’s eyes lit up. Haruna grimaced a little as she saw this.

「I’m trying to figure out what exactly would be easy for Fum-chan and Lime-chan to eat that is also something you might find at an izakaya.」

「Maybe yakitori？」

「I already have that planned. Then I’ll probably broil some vegetables, but I was also told I should compromise a bit more…」

「What about offal stew？」

「Mm～、sure I’m fine with that……」

Haruna made a slightly worried face at Makoto’s suggestion. When she noticed this, Makoto suddenly realized.

「Is it because Hiroshi hates it or something？」

「Not just Hiroshi-kun. Mio-chan also says she doesn’t do too well with entrails or offal. Layla-san also said that it’s edible but she just can’t bring herself to like such a taste, so I’m really torn on this.」

「I see, so that’s why you haven’t made much offal stew. Wow, I guess we have quite a few people here who don’t like entrails.」

「Yeah, for real.」

People generally had some likes and dislikes when it came to ingredients and cuisine, and intestines were especially split with the like and dislike ratio amongst the meats. There were also many degrees of dislike, such as feeling a sense of disgust from thinking about organs, eating the food several times and still disliking the taste/texture, or eating something not properly prepared and scarred by how gross it was, or even getting food poisoning as a result. There really were many reasons for this.

Incidentally, in Layla’s case, it wasn’t just the texture, but also an unpleasant experience with nearly getting food poisoning back in the slums. Needless to say, this was of course food that had not been properly prepared. Still, the fact that Layla could still say she found intestines edible despite that experience probably demonstrated just how tough a woman she was.

「Hiroshi did say before that he didn’t like liver, so that part I can kinda understand, but Mio? I didn’t really expect that, or I guess I should say it’s peculiar.」

「No, believe it or not, Mio-chan has quite a few dishes she’s not fond of. She’s fine with bell peppers and carrots, but then with chili peppers you can’t just cook them for her to like them.」

「Really…Wait, doesn’t that mean she has a child’s sense of taste？」

「I don’t think it’s that severe？ Well, Mio-chan tends not to like yams, fermented soybeans, and anything in that category where if you don’t eat it no one will especially get angry.」

「Wow. Well, it would be one thing if we were forced into a situation where only intestines are available, but since that’s not the case, this particular kind of food is one of those things that no one really cares much about.」

Haruna nodded at Makoto’s conclusion. Still, this didn’t exactly resolve the problem.

「Mm～、eh whatever. We can just prepare doteni (beef sinew stewed in miso and mirin) and have everyone take whatever they want.」

「Isn’t that work though？」

「Not really. The preparations are more or less the same, and after I finish processing, dashi seasoning, and stewing the food, I just leave it sitting there for the most part. It’ll be fine. Besides, the entrails I gave to Makoto-san and Tatsuya-san are still there, so if I pour that in, it wouldn’t be hard at all to make dashi.」

「Well okay, if you say so.」

Makoto felt humbled by how Haruna was increasing the amount of dishes suited to everyone’s tastes. Haruna herself enjoyed the process, but still, she was cooking practically every single day, not to mention she was one of the busier members of the group. Despite being in such a situation, Haruna never once let up on her work, constantly thinking of everyone’s preferences and conditions and ensuring the nutritional balance was perfectly kept, so Makoto didn’t even feel a sense of defeat in that regard. Still, it was a bit painful to just eat and drink without helping out.

It is often said that true femininity is displayed in situations like these, and Makoto found herself in high agreement with whoever thought that. Then again, Makoto wasn’t evaluating Haruna’s femininity in terms of whether she could cook or not, but rather how she paid attention to all the small details.

「Oh, so you not being able to sell the entrails was because Hiroshi doesn’t enjoy it？」

「At first it was curry bread and skewer katsu, so as I continued to fret over the combination, I essentially lost the proper timing to bring out the food at the stall.」

「Ah～……」

Katsu skewer was one thing, but Makoto definitely had to agree that curry bread and entrails were a questionable combination, not to mention even katsu skewer in this case would be better replaced by corn dogs, and she certainly felt a bit of doubt at combining it with entrails, which were usually the go-to with liquor.

「Then wouldn’t it have been better to do it in Stiren？」

「About that…I kinda get the feeling that would have resulted in a catastrophe……」

When Makoto pointed this out, Haruna responded with a somewhat faraway look in her eyes. This could not be denied.

「Well, I’ll do something about dinner, so just sit back and relax.」

「Mm, okay.」

「And also, there’s a tart I kinda made impulsively as I was looking at the fruit in storage. I put a little too many different fruits in it and now the tart is rather large in volume. Also, I made too much of it, so without a good amount of fighting spirit, it would be difficult to finish eating it. So with that in mind, Makoto-san, would you mind helping out？」

「Of course I will！」

「Great. With the tart being such a large dessert to eat, I hesitated to serve it. I’ll call over Elle-chan real quick and if she’s able to come then it’ll be snack time.」

Haruna said as she called over the octogals, asking them to convey the message to Aearis. The octogals generally never demanded a fee when it came to Aearis.

「Haruna-sama, is it true that there are delicious treats here！？」

「Haru, since when have you been making these mega mass tarts？」

Ten minutes after having the octogals convey the message, Aearis and Mio entered the Japanese-style room.

「I think it was when Mio-chan was instructing Geno-kun to the best of her ability in preliminary arrangements？I had a little time on my hands and it just happened impulsively.」

Haruna said, taking out the fruit tart saved in the food storage in the bag next to her and showing it. With a diameter of 30 centimeters and a height of 20 centimeters for the mountain of fruit atop it, this fruit tart certainly did boast the imposing appearance of what you would call a mega mass tart. From what one could see upfront, there were twenty different varieties, and including the overlapping portions, this tart had a total of thirty different varieties of fruits or possibly even more incorporated, with a beautiful balance in appearance and hue.