Actually, the Hungry Gyaru Who Eats a Lot Was Being Cheated On, so I Decided to Win Her Heart (And Stomach) From Her Jerk Boyfriend - 84

Chapter 84: Extra 1: An Unexpected Reward on a Blazing Hot Day

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It was in late July, on the very first Sunday after summer vacation began.

“Haa, haa… agh—damn, it’s hot…!!”

In front of me was a massive stockpot filled with violently boiling tonkotsu broth and a noodle boiler that was constantly bubbling. The stove flames were always turned up to full blast, and on top of that, the kitchen’s air conditioner wasn’t working well today. In that harsh and almost brutal environment, I had been rushing around cooking nearly nonstop for close to two hours. By the time the flow of customers finally started to settle down, I was completely drenched in sweat.

“I need fluids… and salt… or I’m gonna die…! And calories…!”

Ever since the Deluxe Giga Chashu Ramen started trending on social media, we’d gotten way busier compared to before. Especially on Saturdays and Sundays—and holidays, too. Well, the shop was making more money because of it, and my hourly wage had gone up, so I couldn’t complain, but as my shift neared its end, I was seriously starving…!

Maybe once I got used to it, it wouldn’t feel this bad. But right now, the only thing on my mind was what I was going to cook and eat when I got home. Still, when I was this drained, I strongly felt like just throwing together something simple, so all I could think about were easy-to-make dishes.

If it were just me, that’d be fine. My sister… Well, I couldn’t care less about her, but I wanted to make sure Ichika ate something proper. And today was also the day Shizuku was coming over for dinner.

In that case… I can’t exactly slack off.

After that, my shift ended without incident. I changed out of my work T-shirt and into my regular clothes and was about to leave the shop when…

“Hey, Gakuto. Got a minute?”

A burly, muscular giant of a man—the shop owner, Gouda-san—called out to me.

“What is it?”

“Take this. Bring it home.”

He held out a huge plastic container. When I looked inside, it contained two whole logs of the chashu we normally used at the shop.

“…Uh, what’s with the sudden generosity?”

“Yesterday, while I was doing prep, I made some chashu for drinking snacks while I was having a few drinks. But I got drunk and made too much. I can’t finish it all by myself, so help me out. You can easily polish this off, right?”

“Well… if I really go for it, I could finish it in one sitting, and if that’s the case, I’ll gratefully accept it… but seriously, what are you doing, Boss…?”

Even if it was a privately owned shop, he was way too carefree.

And seriously, don’t do prep work while getting drunk.

“Wait, this isn’t meat meant for the shop, right?”

“Nope. I bought it separately for personal use. I got drunk and ordered too much before. I meant to freeze it, but I forgot while drinking and ended up turning it all into chashu.”

…Somehow, I was starting to feel uneasy about working at this place. It was amazing the shop could even stay in business with how sloppy he was. At this rate, wouldn’t he mess something up one day and run this place into the ground?

Well, if that happened, it’d be his problem. So whatever. Anyway, since I got it, I might as well use it to make something for dinner tonight.

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“Ah, Suou-kun! Welcome back! And thanks for having me!”

“Welcome home, Gaku-nii!”

When I entered the living room, Shizuku was sitting side by side with Ichika on the sofa, watching anime. If I remembered right… This was that magical girl anime for little girls that aired on Sunday mornings. Ichika loved it and never missed an episode, so I’d naturally come to recognize it.

“Yeah, I’m back. Huh, Shizuku, you watch stuff like this too? That’s kinda surprising.”

“Well, yeah~. …Though I only started pretty recently. Rinoa’s seriously into this kind of thing, and she kept preaching about it to me nonstop. So I was like, ‘Fine, I’ll just watch one or two episodes,’ and once I did, I totally got hooked too. Isn’t that hilarious?”

“I don’t know about hilarious, but I think it’s nice. My sister got super into it for a while too.”

So it wasn’t strange at all for someone other than little kids to be into it. Still, Suzuki was into magical girl anime, huh. But now that I thought about it, it strangely made sense.

As I was thinking that, Shizuku noticed the plastic bag hanging from my hand and stared at it intently as she asked,

“Hey, hey, Suou-kun. What’s that you’re carrying?”

“This? Chashu. The Boss gave it to me after work.”

“Huh? Wait, is that the chashu!?”

In an instant, Shizuku’s eyes sparkled as she rushed over to me. Wow, what a reaction. But I guess that made sense. She had eaten it before as part of the oversized menu.

“Yeah. It’s probably exactly the chashu you’re thinking of. I was planning to use it for dinner tonight. Is that okay with you?”

“Of course! That stuff was seriously god-tier delicious. I’ve totally been wanting to eat it again~!”

“In that case, wanna try another XL challenge? There’s talk about making a Deluxe Terra Ramen with a total weight of five kilos next time.”

Whether we actually did it would depend on whether the Boss decided it’d be profitable.

“For real!? Yeah, let’s do it! When that happens, Suou-kun, you should eat it with me!”

“Eh… I really don’t feel like going to my workplace on my day off.”

“Then during your break! I’ll go at that time, so that works, right?”

“That somehow sounds even worse…”

“Muu… you always have a comeback for everything. Geez, you’re so stingy, Suou-kun!”

“Call me whatever you want, I’m not going and I’m not doing a challenge during my break either.”

As Shizuku puffed out her cheeks, I let out a small sigh and stored the chashu in the refrigerator.

“But anyway… I’m about to make chilled Chinese noodles, so let’s call it even with that for now.”

“Chilled Chinese noodles!? …F-fine, I guess. …Make it an extra-large portion, okay?”

“Leave it to me. I’ll make it giga-sized.”

With a grin, I got started on the prep work.

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