24 “So good!” “Delicious!” After tasting the fruit juice, the next things they tried were, naturally, the four dishes.
No matter which dish it was, the incredible taste left Yuzuru Nishimiya and Yaeko Nishimiya completely enchanted.
In fact, after eating Fūju’s cooking, Yuzuru Nishimiya started feeling a little…
disappointed with the dinner her own mother had cooked.
It wasn’t just Yuzuru Nishimiya either—even Yaeko Nishimiya herself felt a bit unsatisfied with her own cooking.
The portions of the four dishes weren’t too big nor too small, just right for two people.
Because of how delicious it was, it didn’t take long for Yaeko Nishimiya and Yuzuru Nishimiya to polish off all four dishes.
Meanwhile, their own homemade dinner was pushed to the side, virtually untouched.
After finishing off the four dishes Fūju had sent over through Shoko Nishimiya, Yaeko Nishimiya found herself in a bit of a dilemma.
Originally, she had planned to cook a few dishes tomorrow as a return gesture for Fūju.
However, after tasting Fūju’s food, she felt embarrassed to show off her own mediocre skills.
It wasn’t that her cooking tasted bad—it was actually pretty good—but compared to the food Fūju made with such meticulous care, hers fell way short.
Because of that, Yaeko Nishimiya was at a complete loss!
How was she supposed to give a return gift to Fūju now?
As if noticing her mother’s dilemma, Shoko Nishimiya suddenly signed.
“Mom, could you teach me how to make a nice bento?” Yaeko Nishimiya, who was feeling lost just a moment ago, was caught off guard by Shoko Nishimiya’s sudden sign language.
Furthermore, once she processed the meaning of her daughter’s signs, her curiosity grew even stronger.
“Why do you suddenly want to make a bento?” Yaeko Nishimiya asked curiously.
“Fūju said he doesn’t need money or return gifts to say thanks.” “He said if I really want to thank him, I should just make him a homemade bento!” “So, I want to make a bento for Fūju myself.” “But I don’t know how to make a bento that’s delicious and special!” Shoko Nishimiya continued signing.
“I see!” Yaeko Nishimiya nodded while signing back.
After hearing Shoko Nishimiya’s explanation, Yaeko Nishimiya’s confusion vanished instantly.
Hadn’t Fūju already told Shoko what he wanted?
Thinking about that, a small smile formed at the corner of Yaeko Nishimiya’s lips.
“Alright then.
After taking a short rest and a bath, go straight to sleep.” “We’ll get up early tomorrow!” “I’ll teach you a special bento recipe I just learned recently.
You can learn it and make it for Fūju as our way of showing thanks.” Yaeko Nishimiya signed with a gentle smile.
“Mm, mm!” “Thank you, Mom!” Shoko Nishimiya nodded happily while signing back.
“Looks like Fūju is really lucky!” “He gets to eat a ‘bento filled with love’ made directly by Sister, when even we haven’t had that kind of luck!” Yuzuru Nishimiya seized the perfect moment to tease her sister, Shoko Nishimiya, once again.
On the words “bento filled with love,” she put special emphasis on her hand gestures and repeated them again with her mouth movements.
“Yuzuru, you’re being mischievous again!” Shoko Nishimiya signed those gestures quickly, then immediately pounced on Yuzuru Nishimiya to mess around with her.
Tonight, the Nishimiya household was once again filled with laughter and warmth.
…
Fūju’s Residence!
After seeing Shoko Nishimiya off, Fūju didn’t go back to typing up manuscripts like yesterday.
The manuscripts for 5 Centimeters per Second and Your Name were already fully typed and proofread.
If he wanted to type more manuscripts later, it would be the turn for The Garden of Words and Weathering with You.
There was no rush for that.
Besides, he still had other matters to attend to.
First: Notify his “veteran employee,” Sakaki Shizuka, so she could mentally prepare and be ready to come to work whenever needed; Second: Develop and build a website for his diner, Chūka Shōchiku.
Clack, clack, clack, clack…
Fūju’s fingers flew across his phone screen, putting together information regarding the reopening preparations for Chūka Shōchiku as well as a job offer for Sakaki Shizuka.
Before long, the message intended for Sakaki Shizuka was finished and sent out immediately.
Meanwhile, Sakaki Shizuka’s end gave a quick response.
The message sent by Fūju in the LINE chat window already showed a “Read” status.
This indicated that Sakaki Shizuka had read the message and was currently typing or thinking about how to reply.
LINE was the most common messaging app used in Japan, similar to QQ or WeChat in China.
However, compared to QQ and WeChat, LINE’s feature set was remarkably basic, making Fūju—who was used to those two platforms—feel a bit unaccustomed to it.
He had even wondered if he should just build a QQ or WeChat equivalent app himself to replace LINE.
An app like that wouldn’t even need to be released publicly—just keeping it for himself and the people around him to use would be enough.
Ding-dong…
Along with the notification chime, a new message from Sakaki Shizuka came through on Fūju’s LINE account.
[Sakaki Shizuka]: “Boss, is this for real?
Is Chūka Shōchiku really reopening?” “Can I really come back to work there?” “…” Just like Nanami Aoyama’s reaction when Fūju told her Chūka Shōchiku was reopening and invited her back, Sakaki Shizuka immediately shot back several questions after reading Fūju’s message.
Even without seeing Sakaki Shizuka’s face through the phone screen, it was easy to guess that she was probably wearing an overjoyed expression and cheering happily right now.
Looks like Nanami hasn’t had the chance to tell Shizuka yet.
Seeing Sakaki Shizuka’s reply, Fūju smiled and thought to himself.
Then, both of his hands typed rapidly across the phone screen once more to reply to Sakaki Shizuka.
[Fūju]: “Of course it’s real!” “The day after tomorrow, which is Saturday, Chūka Shōchiku will be reopening.” “As for Nanami, I met up with her earlier this afternoon.
I told her about it and invited her back, and Nanami agreed too.” “Chances are Nanami is still working right now and hasn’t had time to tell you yet.
She’ll definitely give you a heads-up later.” “I already gave the keys to Chūka Shōchiku to Nanami so she can clean up the place tomorrow afternoon if she has free time.” “If you want to come back to work too, you can coordinate a time with Nanami tomorrow afternoon to clean the shop, and then we’ll officially reopen on Saturday.” “…” Fūju sent a barrage of messages directly to Sakaki Shizuka on the other end.
[Sakaki Shizuka]: “No problem at all!” “Since Boss needs help, of course I’m coming back.” “I’ll contact Nanami directly later to confirm things with her.” Sakaki Shizuka’s reply came back immediately, accepting Fūju’s invitation without hesitation.
[Fūju]: “By the way!” “Shizuka, I heard the Izakaya you were working at went bankrupt again?” After Sakaki Shizuka agreed to return, Fūju’s face suddenly wore a strange grin as he typed out those two playful lines.
[Sakaki Shizuka]: “…” Sakaki Shizuka’s end immediately replied with a string of ellipses.
After a long pause, Sakaki Shizuka finally sent a new message.
[Sakaki Shizuka]: “Boss, please don’t bring that up again, we’re still good friends…” From Sakaki Shizuka’s written words, one could feel a deep sense of sorrow bleeding through the screen.
She, Sakaki Shizuka, didn’t want to be the “Izakaya Killer” either!
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