Chapter 37 Can You Eat Spicy Food?
"Hehe heh~~~ Snow Miku is mine~~~"
A few minutes later, the two walked out of the figure shop, and Eriri had a bag in her hand, her face full of joy.
Kaede didn't buy anything; he just followed Eriri around. Besides, he already had quite a few figures at home. Even with a storage room in his bedroom, he would have to carefully consider buying more.
Glancing at the bag in her hand containing the figure box, Eriri asked, "By the way, Asakura, which character's figures do you have the most of? Or do you have a bit of everything?"
"Hmm... I do have various Saber figures, but the most are probably Gundam and Kamen Rider figures, MB and Shinkocchou Seihou. I also have some Gunpla, but I buy very few because I don't have much time to build them."
"Tsk tsk, you only pick the expensive ones?"
"Of course, appearance is also a factor, after all, just the packaging box looks impressive. Building them is another experience altogether. If I had enough time, I wouldn't mind buying some to pass the time."
"Hmm~~~" Eriri thought for a moment and then said, "Gundam models, let's forget about those. I've only built two mecha girls at most. But, Saber, I didn't expect you to have more than one figure of her?"
Kaede smiled and said, "After all, she's the Type-Moon mascot. Many of her figures are really good quality, and I bought them because I had ample funds. Don't tell me you haven't bought any; I wouldn't believe it."
"Hehe, of course I have some." Eriri nodded, "But I only have two Saber figures, while I have three of Rin."
The two chatted about figures, visited two more shops, and then it was lunchtime.
Looking at Kaede, Eriri asked, "Didn't you say you'd decide where to eat? Where is it?"
"Don't worry, it's not far from Akihabara, right next door. You don't even need to take a car; it's just a ten-minute walk."
Leading Eriri towards their destination, Kaede thought of something and asked, "But first, a question for you: Can you eat spicy food?"
"Huh?" Eriri blinked, thinking that Kaede was probably taking her to a restaurant with spicy dishes. So, she confidently said, "It's just spicy food, who can't eat it? My mom often takes me to eat mapo tofu!"
"..."
Although Eriri said that, Japanese mapo tofu wasn't really that spicy, and mapo tofu itself isn't considered a very spicy dish.
"Alright then, let's head straight there."
In less than ten minutes, Kaede led Eriri to a Chinese restaurant just one street away from Akihabara. It wasn't a very large shop, looking like a common family restaurant in size.
"Is the food here good?"
"If it wasn't good, I wouldn't bring you here. My taste is very particular." Looking at the somewhat skeptical Eriri, Kaede smiled and walked in first.
"Welcome!"
Inside the shop, a middle-aged woman saw Kaede enter and immediately smiled, saying in Chinese, "Oh, it's Kaede! You haven't been here in a long time!"
"Sorry, proprietress, I just started high school recently and had some other things going on. But I'm here today, aren't I?"
Eriri hadn't expected Kaede to start speaking Chinese as soon as he entered. She didn't understand a single word and could only follow behind Kaede, looking completely bewildered.
The proprietress also saw Eriri, who was following behind Kaede and looked like she didn't understand anything. Her smile became even harder to suppress, and she asked Kaede, "Kaede, is this your little girlfriend?"
Kaede knew he would be asked this question when he came. He shrugged and said, "Not yet. Today, we just agreed to hang out together."
"Understood, understood." The proprietress nodded knowingly, pointing to an empty table inside the shop. "Go sit down first. Just order whatever you want."
"Okay."
After leading Eriri to sit down, Kaede took a menu from the table and handed it to Eriri: "Take a look. What do you want to eat? The Chinese food here is very authentic. The owner and his wife are both from China, and their cooking skills are excellent."
Eriri took the menu, but instead of opening it immediately, she asked, "Asakura, can you also speak Chinese?"
"Yes, haven't I mentioned it?"
Eriri shook her head.
Kaede realized he really hadn't mentioned it, so he explained, "My mom majored in foreign languages in university. Besides English, she also took Chinese as an elective, and later studied abroad in China for a year. I guess I grew up in a trilingual environment, so I'm fluent in both Chinese and English."
"That's amazing. I only know a few simple phrases."
Eriri looked at Kaede with admiration, realizing there truly were differences between people. He already knew two foreign languages, yet she, who was half-British, couldn't even master English properly.
"Right, did that proprietress say anything when she looked at me just now?"
Meeting Eriri's curious gaze, Kaede chuckled and said, "She asked if you were my classmate, and she also complimented you on being very pretty."
"Hehe, is that so?" Eriri smiled shyly, then opened the menu and started looking through it.
At the table next to them, two young women who were eating covered their mouths and giggled after hearing the conversation between Kaede and Eriri.
Evidently, these two were also exchange students. Having overheard the conversation between Kaede and the proprietress when they first entered, they were barely able to hold back their laughter.
Kaede glanced helplessly at the two young women and decided it was better to speak more quietly.
By this time, Eriri had finished scanning the menu. She pointed to a dish and asked, "Asakura, Asakura, is this Pickled Vegetable Fish delicious?"
"It's very delicious. It's a little numbing and a little spicy, but the main flavor is that of the pickled vegetables."
"Then I want to order this!"
Eriri immediately decided to order the Pickled Vegetable Fish first. After looking through the entire menu, she noticed that many dishes were completely red, clearly indicating they were too spicy for her.
Although she had boasted before coming that she could handle spice, Eriri clearly hadn't anticipated that the spice Kaede was referring to meant this level of heat.
Kaede saw that Eriri was a little scared, so he took the menu and called the proprietress over.
"Proprietress, we'll have one Pickled Vegetable Fish, one Guo Bao Rou (Sweet and Sour Pork), one Boiled Cabbage, and two bowls of Chicken Tofu Pudding." Kaede ultimately chose not to torture Eriri. After ordering several mild dishes, he looked at Eriri. "What would you like to drink?"
"Coke!"
Kaede smiled, knowing that would be her answer.
"And two bottles of Coke."
After the dishes were ordered, the proprietress smiled and said, "Alright, please wait a moment, the food will be ready soon."
The proprietress went to tell her husband to prepare the food, while Eriri was bouncing in her seat, starting to look forward to lunch.