As the saying goes, a day's plan starts in the morning.
Shu's nose itched. He felt that he could say something this early in the morning, but after his mouth trembled a bit, he ended up not saying anything.
After realizing that his sleep time might be insufficient, Shu deliberately extended his sleep time for the next few days. Not to mention anything else, Shu felt that his mental state had indeed recovered.
At least when he woke up in the morning, he did feel a little energetic to do other things.
...how about a bowl of noodles? It seems like I haven't had breakfast in a long time.
He hadn't had the habit of eating breakfast since he was on the train. However, he would sit with Kiana and the others for a while for lunch and dinner, just to eat a mouthful or two.
The current Shu could hardly feel hunger. Even the idea of making a bowl of noodles this time came from a craving for taste.
Hmm, if he was craving something, he should probably add more ingredients.
Shu pondered, then added double the amount of MSG and soy sauce to the clear soup with kombu. Then he learned from Mei's example and added some tofu and a small amount of spices.
After simmering it for a few minutes, Shu scooped a little soup with a spoon, blew on it to cool it down, and tasted it. Then he silently took out the miso paste and added a dollop to the soup.
As expected, professional matters should be left to the professionals. His miso soup was just kombu bathwater. It was better to dip his chopsticks in some soy sauce and eat it than to drink this to satisfy his craving.
Turning the stove to low heat, Shu turned to get the noodles.
For a moment, only the sound of the miso soup bubbling in the pot was left in the kitchen.
And amidst this series of gurgling sounds, like the sun rising from the horizon, a white, crescent-shaped ahoge, showing a clear personality and an unyielding will, slowly rose from the stove.
The ahoge seemed to have eyes. It straightened its back and looked around arrogantly and cautiously for a while, then called its friend—a small hand that had been itching to move for a long time.
The hand, with its fingers spread, reached for the soup ladle leaning against the pot, grabbed it, and with lightning speed, scooped a spoonful of soup with tofu, and then brought it back under the stove without spilling a single drop with extremely superb technique.
"Phew phew—slurp~"
Ahoge evolved—White-haired Tuna!!
Kiana's eyes were full of stars as she popped out from under the stove, with a drop of sparkling soup residue at the corner of her mouth.
"Mmm! It's so delicious! But it tastes completely different from what Mei makes!"
"...Hmm, concentrated miso soup paste, want some?"
"?" Why was there a response to her monologue?
Kiana was stunned for a moment, then turned her head abruptly and saw Shu bending over, with a dead fish face, holding a pack of concentrated soup paste between the two of them.
"Pre-made food, you can do it too," Shu shook the pack of concentrated soup paste, his tone steady without a single inflection, just like a robot. "Oh, it's also the Homu brand."
"Ahem!" Kiana coughed violently, her eyes wandering as if she wanted to say something, but saw Shu's other hand already reaching out as if he had expected it. Kiana took a closer look and saw that it was a cup of water.
That's not right. There was definitely no cup of water in the kitchen just now. Did Shu get it when he went out just now?
As if to answer Kiana's thoughts, Shu said faintly, "I knew you would cough. Take a sip first, and then speak slowly."
"Cough... mmm..." Kiana subconsciously wanted to cough again, but immediately covered her mouth and shook her head at Shu. "Actually, I... I came to call you for breakfast!"
"Oh..." Shu nodded slowly, then slowly turned to look at his open room. Kiana also followed his gaze and looked at his room.
From their angle, they could see the open window of Shu's room at a glance.
Kiana instantly understood what Shu was implying, and her face flushed with embarrassment from having her little trick exposed.
"I really came to find you to have breakfast with us!" This time, Kiana turned back first, wanting to explain. What she saw was still that pack of concentrated soup paste, with the Homu logo on it smiling mockingly. Kiana felt a great sense of irony.
"Oh!" Her face flushed even more as she snatched the bag of concentrated soup paste and hugged it in her arms. Shu's face was revealed from behind the soup paste, looking at Kiana with a speechless expression.
"Just say if you're coming or not!"
"..." Shu was silent. After thinking for a moment, his face twitched slightly as he shook his head. "I was already preparing to cook the noodles... the soup is already..."
"Mei just so happens to have not made the soup yet!" Kiana said quickly. Shu closed his mouth, the corner of his eye twitching.
The breakfast Mei had prepared was still very rich. Although it was not as exaggerated as the morning tea, it was very common to have soup and dishes.
But looking at the noodles he had already opened, Shu still wanted to refuse Kiana's invitation.
Hmm, he had to change his shoes to go out, which was too troublesome. It was definitely not because he was afraid that Kiana and the others might have invited a lot of people...
Definitely not.
Hmm?
Shu suddenly noticed something. He looked up, and the pot on the stove had disappeared. And the induction cooker, detecting that there was no pot on it, issued an anti-scalding alarm.
He turned his head and saw, as expected, Kiana holding the pack of Homu miso soup paste in her mouth, carrying the soup pot with both hands, had already run out of the kitchen and was running towards Shu's room. As she ran, she made a series of "wuwu" sounds.
Shu didn't need to listen carefully to know that Kiana was telling him to hurry up and go over.
Then Shu watched as Kiana jumped out of the window with his pot and landed in her room with great familiarity.
Seeing that not a drop of soup had been spilled, Shu was completely silent.
He put down the cup of water he was holding, walked to his room, and stood in front of the window, looking at Kiana who had put the pot on the floor and was shaking her hands vigorously to cool them down.
It was obvious that she hadn't held the handle just now, but had run with the pot in her arms.
"So hot, so hot... phew phew~" As she was puffing out her cheeks and blowing on her hands, something was suddenly thrown in front of her.
It was a cold fever patch! And a pair of oven gloves!
"Mmm! Thank you, Shu!" Holding the fever patch was like holding a life-saving straw. Kiana thanked Shu with a pained expression. Shu just showed a look of disgust at her from the window, then turned and left the window.
In the end, he didn't jump over from the window like Kiana. The only times he had jumped out of a window in his life were when he had followed Kiana through Nagazora City. Under non-essential circumstances, he was still very concerned about his image.
He'd better change his shoes... otherwise, with the pot for the noodles gone, what could he do?