Chapter 24: Not the same favor from before
"Oh, it"s you Shishio."
"Good morning, Chihiro-nee."
Shishio watched Chihiro who came to the kitchen with a dazed expression and from her expression, he could tell that she had just woken up.
Chihiro smelled a very delicious smell and looked at Shishio who prepared breakfast. She then sat down and looked at Shishio"s back in a daze.
Shishio blanched spinach then put it into ice water before putting it in a bowl and dripping it with dashi.
Chihiro wasn"t sure, but she felt that this scene seemed to be very warm and she also started to get hungry.
"Chihiro-nee, do you want me to make your portion of breakfast?" Shishio asked.
"Is that alright?" Chihiro asked.
"Why not? Wait a moment."
Shishio then prepared another portion for Chihiro. He put the salmon fillet on the grill and the aroma of the grilled fish permeated through the room.
Chihiro held her stomach and gulped.
"Chihiro-nee, do you want natto?"
"Yes," Chihiro answered absentmindedly.
Natto had always been part of j.a.panese breakfast. It might be weird for someone who had never tasted it, but after you had gotten used to the taste, it surprisingly had a peculiar taste.
Well, Shishio couldn"t blame someone if they hated natto since even for some j.a.panese, they also didn"t really like it
Shishio"s cooking speed was very fast and Chihiro who watched from the counter seat opened her mouth wide, wondering why some of the foods that were cooked by Shishio were shining brightly. She quickly wiped her eyes and saw that light had disappeared, wondering whether it was an illusion. She was dumbfounded until she heard his voice.
"Please enjoy, Chihiro-nee."
In front of her, there was a typical j.a.panese breakfast.
There was rice, spinach salad with dressing, grilled salmon, j.a.panese omelet, miso soup, and natto.
The aroma alone made Chihiro"s appet.i.te increase since it had been a while since she had home-cooked food and somehow it made her want to cry for some reason.
"Hurry up and eat, Chihiro-nee," Shishio said.
"Oh... Oh..."
Chihiro nodded and took her chopsticks, stirring her natto until it was sticky before pouring it on the top of her ice.
Shishio also did the same thing.
Then both of them started to eat after doing a custom before someone ate in this country.
Chihiro took a bowl of miso soup and sipped it slowly. She felt that her stomach and heart were very warm at that moment, and suddenly tears dripped from her eyes.
Shishio, who was eating had to admit that his food tasted very good, however, he was dumbfounded when he saw Chihiro was crying.
"Huh? Chihiro-nee, are you alright? Why are you crying?"
Shishio quickly took a tissue and wanted to wipe her tears.
When her tears were wiped by Shishio, she woke up and quickly shook her head.
"I am... I am alright, you don"t need to worry since I feel like I want to go home for a bit."
In truth, Chihiro didn"t tell the truth since when she tasted that miso soup, she felt that she had seen her future family. She was blessed with children and a good husband, having a nice breakfast, but she knew that it was an illusion that made her sad for some reason.
"Really? Chihiro-nee, if you meet a b.a.s.t.a.r.d, then tell me, I will beat him up."
Shishio looked at Chihiro with a worried expression, wondering whether she was really alright.
"You don"t need to think too much, let"s eat quickly."
Chihiro waved her hand and smiled gently.
"Un."
Looking at her smile, Shishio nodded and didn"t force her to talk, but inwardly, he was wondering why his aunt was crying.
Chihiro then tasted the other food and somehow her body was very relaxed at that moment.
As a woman in her 30, Chihiro had a lot of problems, especially in her love life since she was very desperate at this moment. Most of her friends had married and her big sister also had such a big son, however, she was still single until now.
Chihiro also wanted to marry someone, but...
Chihiro then glanced at her nephew who was eating the breakfast with gusto, but calmly. She smiled and felt somehow happy when he was here.
In truth, there was something that she hadn"t told him.
In her illusion before, she had married someone, but the one that she married was...
"Delicious!"
Chihiro had to admit that the food in front of her was the best food that she had eaten in the past few years. Even the food that was cooked by the chef in a three-star Michelin restaurant lost to the food that was cooked by her nephew.
Chihiro was completely shocked by Shishio"s j.a.panese breakfast set and without doubt, she really loved it.
"Is it good, Chihiro-nee?"
Shishio smiled when he saw her smile when she ate the food that he cooked.
"It"s very good."
Chihiro nodded and said with a sigh, "If possible, I want to eat it every day." When she thought about her daily life, she mostly ate instant noodles, she really wanted to eat the food that was cooked by her nephew.
"If you want then I will cook for you," Shishio said.
"Really? You"re not troubled by it?" Chihiro was dumb if she refused it.
"Yes, if I am not busy, then I will cook for you every day," Shishio said without hesitation since he could tell that this woman was very sloppy.
"Good! Then I am not polite!"
Chihiro felt that the best thing that she had ever done was to agree with her big sister"s request to help her nephew enter high school in Tokyo. She looked at the time and wondered when the announcement of his entrance exam result would be published since she wanted to know as soon as possible. She thought for a while and said, "By the way, Shishio, can you do me a favor?"
"What"s wrong, Chihiro-nee?"
Shishio"s expression was a bit unnatural when heard the "can you do me a favor?" sentence, but he quickly returned to normal.
"When I returned last night, I noticed that the sign of Sakurasou in front of the entrance door was a bit loose. Can you fix it for me? There"s a toolbox inside the equipment room. You can get your tools there."
"It"s alright, I will do it."
Shishio was about to clean up his dishes, but he stopped.
"Wait! Let me clean the dishes for you." Chihiro quickly stopped Shishio who was about to clean up the dishes and said, "You should go and fix the sign of Sakurasou."
Shishio looked at Chihiro and nodded. "Thank you, Chihiro-nee."
"Go."
Waving her hand, Chihiro watched Shishio walk out and shake her head. It would be great if he was born 15 years earlier and he wasn"t her nephew, but a stranger so she could...
---
Shishio walked to the equipment room that was mentioned by Chihiro before. It was dark before so he couldn"t see it clearly, but when he entered this room, he could see that the room was about 10 square meters. On both sides were shelves with various tools that were used for various purposes.
Shishio noticed that there was a planting tool and wondered whether he should make a small garden to plant a herb and some vegetables such as tomato?
However, he wasn"t in a hurry and could do it later.
Shishio looked at the planting tools and found out that there was no problem if he wanted to plant something later, however, the first thing he needed to do was grab the toolbox inside this room to fix the sign of Sakurasou.
"It should be this one."
Shishio found a blue toolbox on the cabinet on the right, and there was also a "toolbox" with words written on it. Then without hesitation, he grabbed it and walked to the entrance of Sakurasou.
---
Shishio took a chair and placed it right on the entrance. He had to admit that the scenery around Sakurasou was quite good since there were a lot of beautiful housewives who seemed to walk back from shopping or just talked to each other since they were bored at home.
"Good morning."
"Ah... good morning!"
The housewives seemed stunned and their eyes wide open when they saw Shishio"s face and body.
Shishio had to admit that he was quite handsome (his face was like Lancelot on Fate Series) and his body was quite powerful. He was sure that if he wanted, he could become a little boyfriend of those rich older women.
Shishio then put the chair in front and fixed the sign of Sakurasou, ignoring the gazes of a group of housewives and some girls that were walking in front of Sakurasou. If he turned around, then he might realize that there was some drool dripped from the corner of the mouths of those group of housewives.
Luckily, Shishio didn"t do that and fixed the wooden board sign of Sakurasou since there was a missing nail on the top corner. He could see that there was a cat that was sitting lazily on the top of the wall on Sakurasou, staring at him curiously.
When Shishio was hammering the nail, he felt that he had remembered this situation somewhere, but he didn"t think too much.
"Hey, look, this is Sakurasou!"
"Really, this is the legendary Sakurasou where various problem characters have gathered together?"
"Yes, yes, I have heard that this is a gathering place for weirdos."
Shishio, who heard their conversation, didn"t think that it was wrong since this place was really full of weirdos and he didn"t care much.
Usually, it would be a female who loved to gossip, but it seemed that this time, it was a male, who gossiped about Sakurasou since most of the females in this place were staring intently at Shishio, who was hammering the wooden board sign of Sakurosou, gulping their salivas and staring at his body intently.
Those females felt that it would be great if they were hugged by those powerful arms.
It was then that the second-floor window was suddenly opened.
*Baam!*