Chapter 20: A Meal at the Hoshino House
"Mama, the *Idol* MV is out!"
Ruby was at home, intensely searching for any information related to Ai Hoshino, and managed to snag the "first comment" the very second the video went live.
「*I was there! Ai is the world's number one idol! Anyone who didn't go to the concert should commit seppuku in apology!*」
"Mama is just too beautiful! I'm going to loop this video a hundred more times!"
Ruby rolled around on the sofa, clutching her phone in delight, while Aqua stared solemnly at the personal link for Hikaru Hoshino included in the description.
"He really didn't let this wave of traffic go to waste."
"Still, it's better this way. At least it means he's not funding this song as a 'father,' but seeking cooperation from the perspective of a partner."
"Then I'm not worried."
Aqua muttered to himself with the air of an old man, only to be scooped up into Ai's arms.
Ai spoke to him with a serious expression.
"Aqua, you can't say things like that. No matter what happens, he is your father."
"Eh? Wasn't Mama a virgin conception?" Ruby asked, blinking her big eyes.
Aqua whispered under his breath, "It's a hundred years too early for me to acknowledge him."
*Ding-dong.* The Hoshino family's doorbell suddenly rang.
"Coming, coming!"
Ai trotted over and pulled the door open, revealing Hikaru Hoshino's smiling face.
"I see you've been listening to me."
Looking at the security chain properly connected across the gap in the door, Hikaru nodded in satisfaction.
"Honestly, Biyoo, do you take me for a fool?"
Seeing Hikaru's relieved expression, Ai suddenly felt a spark of annoyance. Why did it feel like she was being treated like a child? She didn't want that! She was twenty years old! She was a mother of two!
"Probably."
Hikaru nodded in admission, but seeing that Ai was actually showing signs of genuine anger, he quickly changed his tune.
"So, what are you here for?"
Ruby "zoomed" out and grabbed Ai's arm tightly.
"Ruby, don't be so rude. When a guest comes to the house, you should say 'Welcome'."
Ai began to instruct her daughter, unaware that her own teaching was slightly off.
Ruby asked in confusion, "But isn't 'Welcome' (*Irasshaimase*) what they say in restaurants?"
*Yes, that's what servers say.*
Aqua agreed internally. The correct thing to say would be "Welcome back."
Hikaru, meanwhile, was seriously wondering if he should say "I'm home" (*Tadaima*). But if he said that, it would really feel like they were a family.
Consequently, both Aqua and Hikaru decided to keep their mouths shut.
"To celebrate the successful release of Ai's concert MV? I don't know if that reason works."
"Hmph, barely."
As Ruby spoke, she turned and headed back inside. Hikaru followed, carrying several large bags of groceries.
"What are these?" Ai asked, puzzled.
"If I hadn't come, how were you planning to handle dinner?"
"Um, grab some bento from FamilyMart?"
"I knew it." Hikaru clutched his forehead. "It's one thing if you don't eat properly, but the two kids are still growing. How can they not get proper nutrition?"
"Today, you shall taste my cooking."
Having lived alone for a long time, Hikaru actually possessed quite a high level of culinary skill. Though he preferred home-style dishes that didn't require too much fuss, making simple food taste delicious was no easy feat.
Hikaru brought the pile of ingredients into the kitchen. He put the groceries in the fridge first and then tested the feel of the kitchenware.
Rice cooker, microwave, cutting board, knives... everything was surprisingly complete. The frying pan seemed to be a coated iron pan—decent enough, though it looked like it hadn't been used in a long time. Hikaru personally preferred using a lighter wrought-iron wok for tossing, but he could make do with this heavier pan.
With the arm strength of this body, he should be able to toss it easily.
"Just to check—do you guys eat spicy food?"
"For me, I think I can handle a little. Aqua and Ruby haven't tried it yet."
"Then I'll go easy on the chili. Well, since we're both singers, we should avoid overly spicy food to protect our voices anyway."
Soon, Hikaru became busy in the kitchen. He first thoroughly cleaned the cookware while Ai volunteered to prep the ingredients. Although Hikaru worried about Ai hurting herself, he didn't want to dampen her spirits and eventually let her help.
When Hikaru actually started frying, the three of them crowded at the kitchen door to peek inside, only to witness a shocking sight.
Hikaru was shaking the iron pan up and down with one hand as if it were a toy! The food inside was tossed into the air by inertia and then caught steadily back in the pan. The flame on the gas stove was turned up high; the oil sizzled and smoked, and occasionally, a ball of fire would "whoosh" up from the pan.
Ruby: "Is he trying to burn our house down?"
Aqua: "Probably not. This is a very advanced technique of cooking. Only those with deep mastery of the culinary arts can grasp it. I didn't expect to see it here today."
Ruby: "Eh?! Is it that amazing?"
Aqua: "Well, it's just 'tossing the wok.' Most restaurant chefs can do it. But, very few people actually use it at home."
"Probably... Chinese food?"
"It's ready."
After a full half-hour, Hikaru emerged from the kitchen carrying plates. Just as Aqua suspected, he had prepared a standard Chinese meal. However, it wasn't the Mapo Tofu or General Tso's Chicken that foreigners usually know; instead, it was simple stir-fried greens, tomato and egg, and braised pork belly (*Hong Shao Rou*).
"I tried to restore the original flavors as much as possible—it's roughly at a level a normal Chinese person would enjoy, but I don't know if you'll be used to it."
"If you can't stand it... we'll go buy bento together."
He didn't know how to cook Japanese food, after all.
Ai was a bit puzzled: "Biyoo, did your tastes change after you lost your memory? You used to prefer Western food?"
"Just assume I traveled to China for a while after I lost my memory," Hikaru explained casually. "It's complicated, and I can't explain it clearly right now."
[TL: Smell that, it's CHINESE. What I found appropriate to filter, I have already filtered.]
After setting out all the dishes, Hikaru personally scooped a bowl of Yangzhou fried rice for everyone, Ai included.
He felt that rice was a vital staple, and there were many delicious ways to prepare it. If one completely shut it out due to childhood trauma, it would be an undeniable loss. Psychological trauma can be avoided forever, but people eventually have to move toward the future.
Looking at the translucent, glistening grains of rice before her, Ai swallowed nervously.
When she was a child, she often had to eat rice mixed with sand. Once, due to an accident, her mother had even mixed in shards of glass. For all these years, Ai remembered that sensation—a feeling that, once experienced, could never be forgotten.
For years, if someone recommended rice to her, Ai wouldn't refuse to their face. She would suppress the fear in her heart and force herself to eat all of it, leaving not a single grain. Because she didn't want to be the "odd one out," and she certainly didn't want to cause trouble for others.
But this kind of mental trauma isn't easily healed. Even though Ai had declared in front of 50,000 people at the concert that she had completely stepped out of the shadows, she still felt an involuntary fear looking at the rice in front of her.
She kept telling herself this was Biyoo's sincere effort, and she couldn't let it go to waste.
But... surely this golden rice... wouldn't have sand in it too?
Ai cautiously scooped a spoonful of rice, closed her eyes, and with a burst of resolve, forced it into her mouth.
In her mind, she expected the sensation of grit cutting her tongue, then the sand moving to her throat, leaving bloody streaks on the thin walls until the taste of iron filled her mouth.
But what Ai imagined didn't happen.
Having suffered countless phantom pains in the past, she didn't experience that terrible sensation this time.
She simply felt that the rice in her mouth was soft.
And it was delicious.