Chapter 169: Where are the cats?
After he sent Saki back, Shishio returned to Sakurasou, and he wasn't sure how to describe his feeling. He was happy that there was a chance that she might accept his relationship with other girls, but he also felt guilty about using her feelings. However, he knew that if he wanted to have a relationship with many girls, he could only be a bad guy rather than a good guy.
Shishio rubbed his head and knew that there was no turning back, so all he could do was to move forward, making sure that Saki wouldn't regret her decision if she agreed and made sure that she would be happy in this relationship.
"I'm back."
Shishio took off his shoes, then saw Roberta, who came toward him.
"Welcome back, Shishio-sama." Roberta welcomed Shishio.
"....." Shishio looked at Roberta for a moment and had to admit that it felt great to have a maid. "I'm back, Roberta."
"Un." Roberta nodded and said, "I have bought everything that you have asked for before. I have placed it in the living room."
"Thanks." Shishio nodded, but then...
"Shishio, it's unfair!" Misaki suddenly interrupted their moment and came to Shishio.
"What's so unfair?" Shishio asked.
"You have bought Mashiro and Ricchan a doll! How can you not give it to me too?! And why didn't you invite me to play at the arcade?! I want to play too!" Misaki cried out and felt quite jealous of Shiina and Ritsu, who had returned home with a doll, and when she asked where they had gotten it, they told her that they had gotten it on the arcade and Shishio had gotten it for them.
"You're not a member of the literature club, and aren't you busy with your anime? Do you still want to use my portrait as the main character?" Shishio asked since he knew that Misaki wanted to create an anime by using his face as the main character, but he couldn't agree until he saw the script. He knew that Mitaka was the one that made the script, and because of that, he was sure that the script wasn't ready, but he still asked, "Is the script ready?"
"..." Misaki's mood suddenly became low, and she shook her head. "...Not yet." When she thought about Mitaka, who was writing her script at that moment, she wasn't sure, but she felt quite unconfident about the result.
Shishio looked at Misaki and saw her breasts became smaller. He then patted her shoulder and said, "What do you want to eat? I'll cook you anything?"
"Eh? Really?" Misaki's mood quickly became happy.
"Un, Roberta has bought me a lot of ingredients before, after all." Looking at Misaki's happy smile, Shishio felt that this girl was either simple or good at faking her expression, either way, he was sure that eating good food would make her mood better.
Shishio had asked Roberta to buy many ingredients before since his ingredients were almost emptied being eaten by everyone. He also had asked her to buy him various things, and he wanted to check them first.
"Then I'll change my clothes first," Shishio said and walked to his room.
Roberta and Misaki nodded, then returned to the living room together, waiting for him there.
---
Shishio came to the living room, and there was already Shiina and Ritsu there, including him, Misaki, and Roberta. So there were five people there.
"Shishio, have you sent Saki back?" Shiina asked.
"Un." Shishio nodded then walked to the table where there were various things that he had asked Roberta to buy.
Looking at Shishio, who placed various bottles of oil on the table and took out a strange machine from the cardboard, Misaki couldn't help but ask, "Shishio, what is that?"
"Well, it is an ingredient for a pomade and a coffee machine," Shishio said while checking the quality of the various things that had been bought by Roberta.
"Pomade? Coffee machine?" Misaki and Ritsu were dumbfounded.
Shiina stood silently on the side, observing the things which Shishio bought.
"Well, I'll take care of it later. Do you want to eat something?" Shishio asked while looking at everyone.
"....." When they were asked, they couldn't answer him since they knew whatever he cooked would be very delicious and there was too much choice of food, which made them confused somehow.
"Hmm... Shishio, I'll leave it to you," Misaki said without hesitation.
"....." Shishio looked at Misaki for a while, then looked at everyone, who also gave the nod since they weren't sure what to eat. He suddenly thought about the feelings of housewives who were told to cook whatever by their husbands, and somehow he could feel their feelings at this moment. Leaving it to him, even though these words were very simple, it was the most troublesome of all.
Shishio looked at the ingredients that Roberta had bought then said, "Then how about an ochazuke?"
"Ochazuke?" They titled their heads at the same time, but then they nodded. After all, they knew that it would be delicious without a doubt.
"Well, wait a minute. It'll be ready soon." Shishio then walked to the kitchen while bringing various ingredients that he had asked Roberta to buy. Still, he felt that he should buy it himself in the future since even though he knew that Roberta might buy the ingredients that were quite expensive at price, he could see that the quality of those ingredients wasn't that much different from the ones he usually bought in the shopping district.
Ochazuke is a simple Japanese dish made by pouring green tea, dashi, or hot water over cooked rice.
If it was just like that, then it was too simple, which was why Shishio was going to create various toppings for this ochazuke.
The first thing that Shishio cooked was the rice since it would take quite a long time to be ready, then the next thing was the dashi broth. Even though the taste of ochazuke with either green tea or hot water wasn't that bad, he loved something with a strong taste, so he used a dashi broth directly.
Shishio took the dashi broth that he had made previously, then added the taste by adding soy sauce, salt, and mirin, then he boiled them just about to boil.
Everyone who was watching Shishio who cooked had to admit that no matter how many times they had seen it, they had to admit that his skill was amazing.
"Hey, Shishio, what did you cook for dinner?" Mayumi suddenly joined everyone.
"Ochazuke," Shishio said.
"Don't forget mine too!" Mayumi said without hesitation since Shishio's food was just a reward for her hard work. Her job was hard, her colleague talked about romance and relationships while she was still single, and she also hadn't found someone who would marry her. She felt that life was so heavy and bleak, but even if her life was like that, there was still something that made her happy, and that was the food that Shishio cooked.
Looking at his handsome figure cooking dinner for her, Mayumi couldn't help but imagine a happy life where she married him.
Shishio wasn't sure what Mayumi was thinking, but well, he decided to ignore it.
"Ugh... so tired..." Chihiro also entered the living room, where everyone was while rubbing her shoulders. She felt quite tired, especially when she needed to prepare for an exam that would be held after Golden Week later.
"Welcome back, Chihiro-nee," Shishio said with a smile.
"Um, I'm back." Chihiro nodded and sat down with everyone. "Don't forget mine too." Looking at Shishio's smile, somehow, she understood how good it was to have a nephew that would take care of her and when that smile greeted her, she felt all fatigue on her body disappeared.
"....." Shishio realized that he had become the cook in this place, and he felt that he needed to change this position since he didn't want to get stuck in this position and he wasn't a servant, but he could do that later. He continued his preparation by grilling the salmon before smashing it into small pieces, then preparing several toppings such as ginger, myoga, and cucumber.
Unlike ginger and myoga, cucumber needed special preparation by soaking it in salt water for a while so the natural sugar inside would be defused on the water. After that, he squeezed the cucumber with a paper towel before he put it on the water again to control the moisture level of the cucumber.
Shishio had to admit that this process was pretty much complicated, and it was very troublesome, but to achieve the best taste, everything was worth it. He then served the ochazuke on the table for everyone, and they couldn't help but marvel at the presentation of their dinner.
If they had to describe their feelings, it felt like they were eating at a three-star restaurant with a long history or something.
"Bits of salmon, myoga, ginger, salted konbu, and miso have been prepared for you. Add whatever you want, then lastly, pour the broth into your bowl," Shishio said.
They nodded and did what was told by Shishio. Then, gently putting the toppings into their bowls, they poured the broth until half-full before they started to eat it.
*Slurp!*
The sound of the soup entered their mouths, and the moment they gulped it down, they felt that their entire bodies were warm, like they were covered by a warm blanket while snuggling into the hands of their lovers.
"Delicious..."
The taste of the ochazuke might be quite strong, but it was so gentle that it made them feel very comfortable.
Shishio also ate his food quietly until he noticed that the number of cats on the Sakurasou had decreased. Usually, he would hear the sound of cats from time to time, and some of them even rubbed on his feet, asking him to give them food, but this time, he hadn't seen them for a while, then it was at this moment, Sorata entered the living room and looked at everyone who was eating dinner together.
No one except for Shishio noticed Sorata since the food on their hands was more important, but Shishio noticed him and asked, "Kanda-kun, where are the cats?"
Sorata looked at everyone who was eating a dinner cooked by Shishio and couldn't help but gulp his saliva since he could see that it was so delicious. However, there was no way for him to ask Shishio to cook for him unless he had thick skin. He then looked at Shishio, who asked him a question, and somehow felt quite complex, especially when he thought about what had happened in the morning. Still, looking at Shishio, who showed a normal expression on him, he also couldn't show his annoyance and said, "They have been adopted..." In truth, he felt quite complex since he knew all it was because Shishio that six out of seven cats that he had picked up had been adopted. However, he was quite jealous since those who adopted those cats were all girls, and they asked the same question to him.
'Where's Shishio?'
Sorata could only answer awkwardly that he didn't know or Shishio hadn't gone home yet, which somehow made him tired and jealous.
"All of them?" Shishio asked.
"...Not yet, Hikari (Sorata's cat) is still here..." When Sorata mentioned Hikari, he felt awkward and some guilt, since, in truth, someone also wanted to adopt Hikari. Still, he couldn't give Hikari that easily, or rather, he pretended that someone had picked Hikari. His feelings were very contradictory, even though he wanted to get out from Sakurasou, but he hesitated whether he should get out or not when it was time.
"Well, I know someone who will adopt Hikari, so you don't need to worry about it," Shishio said simply.
"...Um, thank you." Sorata lowered his head slightly, and his expression was quite ugly at that moment.
"Right, have you made up with Aoyama-san?" Shishio suddenly asked.
"What's wrong, Kanda? Have you fought with someone?" Chihiro asked.
Everyone was also looking at Sorata curiously since they didn't see him who lashed out toward Nanami before and it was also their first time to hear that Sorata had a close relationship with a girl before.
"Yeah... you don't need to worry..." Sorata nodded, and his expression was better when Shishio mentioned Nanami since he knew that after he had apologized before, the relationship between them should return to how it used to be. He also didn't think that Nanami would be interested in Shishio, considering Shishio's relationship with Nana. It was also the reason why his mood was pretty good, forgetting the fact that he didn't really apologize to Nanami.
"Kouhai-kun, Aoyama-san is your girlfriend?" Misaki asked casually.
"Eh? Gi - Girlfriend?!" Sorata blushed, then quickly shook his head and said, "No, no, she isn't my girlfriend!" He quickly glanced at Shiina and saw her, eating her dinner slowly, which somehow made him feel relief since she didn't seem to misunderstand, but he also felt lost since she didn't seem to care about him.
"Hmm..." Misaki nodded and didn't ask much since she felt the food in front of her was more important than Sorata.
As for sharing their food with Sorata? No one thought about it at this moment since the taste of the food was very delicious, and it had very low calories based on Shishio's words, which made them even more excited about this food.
Shishio, who had eaten his dinner, picked up all the pomade ingredients and said, "Well, I'll return to my room first." There were a lot of things that he needed to do after all, as for Sorata? He didn't care much since it was only a time before Sorata would leave Sakurasou. As for Sorata's relationship with Nanami, he felt that Sorata was eating hallucinogenic mushrooms at this moment since he knew very well how Nanami was feeling toward Sorata now.
The rest also followed and returned to their own room. Roberta also followed Shiina since she had been tasked to take care of Shiina by Shishio.
As for Sorata, he wondered why he didn't come out earlier so he could join everyone at the dinner.
---
Sitting on the chair, Shishio was in his room at the time, preparing his pomade while accepting his reward since he hadn't accepted it before.
'Let's see what kind of rewards that I get.'