Monday. Toyogasaki Academy school day.
In the dimly lit living room, the clock hummed a cheerful "tick-tock" melody, hopping along until it hit 5 AM.
The moment the second hand crossed the 12 mark,
The thin blanket balled up on the sofa suddenly shifted.
".....Time... time to get up and make bento." Mumbling sleepily, a bedhead-ridden Miyahito dragged himself out from under the covers.
Arms waving blindly in the air, his face screaming "I'm not awake," he struggled to sit up.
His dull gaze swept the living room before landing on the small courtyard outside the glass balcony doors, still shrouded in darkness.
It's so dark outside. The sun isn't even up yet.
"Haa..." Letting out a massive yawn, he fought the urge to "sleep just five more minutes." Eyes half-closed, he slowly swung his legs out from under the blanket.
Head too heavy to lift properly, he fumbled into his slippers and shakily stood up.
Dragging his feet, he shuffled toward the washroom.
A few minutes later.
Shocked awake by cold water, a much more refreshed-looking Miyahito wiped his face with a towel and headed for the kitchen.
Tossing the towel aside, now fully awake, he leaned his right hand on the counter, bent down, and pulled a large insulated bento box he'd bought yesterday from the sterilizer cabinet.
"Alright, let's get to work!"
Skillfully turning on the stove, he lifted the lid off the pot of American ginseng chicken soup he'd prepped the night before. The rich, fragrant steam wafted up.
He nodded in satisfaction.
As expected of that Chinese specialty store. The ginseng, red dates, and goji berries are top quality.
Putting the lid back on, he moved on to preparing the side dishes and rice.
"I remember Kasumigaoka mentioning she doesn't like hard rice. Let me check."
Muttering to himself while washing the rice, he flicked water off his hands, walked out to the living room to grab his phone, and scrolled through last night's LINE chat with her as he returned to the kitchen.
"Hmm, dislikes hard rice, likes rice soaked in soup..." Reading the food preferences he'd subtly extracted from her... er, learned yesterday, he placed the phone at an easy-to-see angle and poured the perfect amount of water into the washed rice.
While the rice began to cook, Miyahito didn't sit idle.
He turned to the fridge and pulled out several containers filled with ingredients he'd prepped the night before.
Marinated hamburger steaks, chicken thighs.
Plastic-wrapped broccoli, cherry tomatoes, fresh squid flower rolls.
Lining everything up on the counter, he tied on his apron and smiled softly.
"Let's begin!"
Placing the frying pan on the stove, turning on the heat, adding oil... His movements were practiced, smooth, and methodical.
Accompanying the satisfying sizzle from the pan and the mouthwatering aroma crafted by the Maillard reaction,
he prepared pan-seared hamburger steaks, teriyaki chicken, stir-fried squid with broccoli, and halved cherry tomatoes as a colorful garnish.
Oh, and the steaming, warmly fragrant American ginseng chicken soup.
Looking at the spread covering his entire counter, Miyahito proudly lifted his chin.
See? As expected of me!
To make today's bento perfect, he hadn't used a standard container. Instead, yesterday afternoon, he'd specifically gone to a large mall and bought a top-tier, triple-layer insulated bento box capable of keeping food warm using residual soup heat.
Yep, the exact same insulated bento box used by the protagonist in Food Wars!
After stacking and securing the layers, he grabbed his usual single-layer box from the cabinet.
Casually packing the leftovers inside, he checked the time: 7:00 AM.
Glancing at his phone, his expression tightened. He quickly untied his apron.
He rushed upstairs, changed into his uniform,
grabbed both bento bags, slung on his backpack and gym bag, changed his shoes, and called out:
"I'm heading out!"
.....
Half an hour later, Miyahito arrived punctually at Class 1-B.
Tooru, sitting on Yuki's desk and chatting, glanced toward the front door. "Yo, morning, Miya...hito..."
He trailed off, noticing the mountain of bags his friend was carrying.
An invisible question mark floated above his head.
What's going on, bro?
"Morning, Tooru, Yuki, Kyoko." Completely ignoring Tooru's expression, Miyahito calmly greeted them, including Kyoko, who was rubbing her eyes and yawning.
"Morning, Miyahito."
"Mornin'~"
The two girls responded, then instantly matched Tooru's confused, bewildered look.
Again, Miyahito pretended not to notice. He calmly walked to his seat and sat down.
Just as he was about to hang his backpack and the bento bag on the desk hooks,
"Did you move your whole house over here, Miyahito?" Tooru walked over, spotting the two bento boxes in the bag, and laughed. "You came super prepared."
"Prepared for what?"
Miyahito blinked, his face clearly asking "How did you know?"
No way. How could Tooru possibly know I specifically made a bento for Kasumigaoka today?
The answer came instantly.
"Don't ask me. Didn't you know that starting this afternoon..." Tooru deliberately dragged out the suspense, patting Miyahito's back with a knowing wink. "...our school is holding a basketball tournament?"
Starting this afternoon? Basketball tournament?
Seeing Miyahito's blank stare, Tooru scratched the back of his head, confused. "You didn't know? I thought you brought a huge lunch because you knew about the matches."
"Monday through Friday this week are the group stage matches for each grade and class. Saturday is the grade finals."
"And the winning teams play the all-grade championship on Sunday."
Miyahito froze for a few seconds.
Then...
"So if we keep winning, that means this weekend..."
"Yeah. With our class's strength and yours, we're definitely playing this weekend."
"Ehhhh—! No way!"
The sudden news hit Miyahito like a bolt from the blue.
Aragaki Miyahito's weekend plans: Capsized.
100 Power Stone = 1 Bonus Chapter
1 Review = 1 Bonus Chapter