Yukinoshita Yukino realized she had just lost her composure a bit, and she lightly coughed to hide her embarrassment.
Actually, after finishing the novel, although she really liked this style of story, she was somewhat bothered by the heroine's death, and she even shed tears of emotion when she first finished reading it.
So, when she heard that the heroine of Tanaka Masao's new novel had died again, she reacted so strongly because she was overly sensitive.
"I apologize, I was just a little surprised. Is it true that in Tanaka-kin's novels, the heroine is destined to die?"
"I'm also quite curious about that question."
Kasumigaoka Utaha asked.
"Junior, didn't you write two new novels? In the one I haven't read, called 'your name,' did the heroine die in the end too?"
"Hey, hey, how can you think of me like that? I'm not some kind of devil.
It's like I can't write a good novel unless the heroine dies. The heroine in 'your name' is..."
Tanaka Masao was a little indignant and was about to retort that the heroine's death rate was not 100% when he remembered that in the original 'your name,' the heroine was killed by a meteor a few years ago.
It was the male protagonist who reversed time and saved everyone in the village.
Tanaka Masao, who had initially been somewhat indignant, instantly lost his momentum.
[It's all the system's fault for making me appear to be a cold-blooded person in others' eyes.]
Tanaka Masao said somewhat vaguely.
"That heroine... she just... died for a bit."
Kasumigaoka Utaha showed an 'I knew it' expression; no heroine could walk out of Tanaka Masao's stories alive.
Tanaka Masao: "Sigh, I don't like hearing that. Actually, besides being a novelist, I'm also a doujinshi artist.
The heroines in those are all alive and well, and each one is full of energy, always smiling, and brimming with surging vitality and life."
"I knew Junior's heroines wouldn't have a good end.
However, Junior, can you explain what 'just died for a bit' means?"
Yukinoshita Yukino analyzed.
"Although Tanaka-kin is a scumbag, his literary skills are decent, and he wouldn't make such a simple grammatical error. So, there's only one truth!
Could it be that some heroines die more than once?"
"Ah, this..."
Tanaka Masao couldn't refute because the heroine of 'anohana: the flower we saw that day' indeed died more than once.
Menma left everyone in the summer ten years ago, and in the summer ten years later, everyone finally found the hidden Menma, and she completely disappeared.
"Ahaha, don't mind these details. As long as it's a good story and everyone likes to read it, that's all that matters. Don't worry about whether the heroine lives or dies."
Tanaka Masao's poor statement naturally earned him another round of eye-rolls from the others.
...
During their casual chat, they finally arrived at the nearby supermarket.
Upon reaching the supermarket, it became Kawasaki Saki's domain. She frequently came here to buy groceries, so she was particularly familiar with the supermarket's layout, and she asked,
"Tanaka, have you decided what ingredients you want to buy for Cooking tonight?"
Tanaka Masao nodded.
"I've thought of a few dishes I want to try. Let's go buy meat first."
"Okay."
Kawasaki Saki nodded and led the way.
Meat is usually the main ingredient. Once the meat is decided, what else needs to be bought can also be determined.
It was still early, and most families hadn't started preparing dinner yet, so the supermarket's ingredients were particularly abundant, allowing for free selection.
Kawasaki Saki looked left and right, considering what kind of Cooking would be best to prepare for her family tonight.
Yukinoshita Yukino and Kasumigaoka Utaha, having nothing else to do, also began to observe the quality of the meat, thinking of giving Tanaka Masao some suggestions.
"The quality of this salmon looks very good."
"Salmon is good, but eating it as sashimi might not fully showcase Junior's Cooking skills. I think beef would be better; it could fully test Junior's Cooking skills."
Just as Yukinoshita Yukino and Kasumigaoka Utaha were discussing and preparing to ask Tanaka Masao for his opinion, they realized that Tanaka Masao, who had been following behind them, was gone.
After searching for a bit, they found him in a corner.
Seeing his serious expression, the two of them, holding the ingredients in their hands, walked over curiously.
When they saw the ingredients in front of Tanaka Masao, both of them simultaneously showed expressions of disgust.
"Wow~, it's large intestine."
"Tanaka-kin, what are you doing here? You don't actually like to eat this, do you?"
The two girls clearly didn't like this item, as the mention of large intestine inevitably made one think of that word...
After Kawasaki Saki had selected the chicken she wanted to buy, she noticed the three of them gathered together and walked over. Seeing the large intestines displayed, she couldn't help but frown.
"Large intestine is not easy to prepare."
Because not many people eat large intestine here, its price was relatively cheap. Driven by the idea of frugality, Kawasaki Saki naturally tried to prepare it.
However, no matter how she tried to prepare it, she couldn't make it well. After two attempts, her family [and she] didn't like eating it, so she gave up.
Hearing their advice, Tanaka Masao picked up a box of large intestine, looked at it for a couple of seconds, and also shook his head with a sigh.
Seeing Tanaka Masao's disappointed look, Yukinoshita Yukino and Kasumigaoka Utaha, however, breathed a sigh of relief.
They were going to have dinner at Tanaka Masao's house tonight, and they didn't want to eat such strange food.
But before they could fully relax, they heard Tanaka Masao continue,
"Why is this large intestine cleaned so thoroughly? It has no soul at all."
"Huh?"
The three girls heard Tanaka Masao's rather explosive statement, and their brains didn't quite process it for a moment.
What does it mean that it's too clean and has no soul? What kind of soul do you want?
And while they were in a daze, Tanaka Masao quickly put box after box of large intestine into his shopping cart.
"Although it has no soul, I'll make do with it. This box for dry-fried large intestine, this box for spicy large intestine, this box is for braised large intestine in oil, steamed, stewed, large intestine wrapped sausage..."
Oh, I actually found one that wasn't cleaned properly. How lucky! I'll use it for large intestine sashimi."
In a short amount of time, Tanaka Masao almost cleared out the few boxes of large intestine on the shelf.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Yukinoshita Yukino and Kasumigaoka Utaha quickly became horrified. Looking at the piles of large intestine in Tanaka Masao's shopping cart, they couldn't believe that this was the main ingredient Tanaka Masao had prepared for tonight.
And the most outrageous thing was, the uncleaned box you mentioned last, you're actually going to use it for sashimi?
Are you kidding me? What kind of guy invites beautiful girls to his house for dinner and prepares a large intestine feast for them, seriously?