Shall we talk a bit about food preferences?
Of course, my taste is just the standard palate of a typical Korean. I don’t particularly enjoy overly rich dishes and prefer moderately salty and spicy food.
Having spent quite a long time in Azernar—well, not so much the cuisine of Azernar itself, but mainly the foods from Velbur and Niberia—I’ve adapted somewhat, but it seems I’ve failed to completely erase my fundamental taste.
It’s a bit surprising that even though my body has completely changed, my taste buds have remained the same. Could this kind of taste be related to the soul?
…Anyway, in that sense, life has been enjoyable lately.
Eating kimchi stew, soybean paste stew, and various soup dishes has given me strength. Plus, isn’t this place a different world from Azernar? Not only Korean food, but I can almost eat all the Asian dishes I couldn’t have over there.
I should eat as much as I can since I won’t get to enjoy it again once I go back—at least that’s what I was thinking.
However, I couldn’t ignore the tastes of the two people spending time with me.
Both of them have taken quite a liking to Korean food, but still, I can’t just serve them Korean dishes all the time.
Excluding the many local foods of the Empire of Aetherna that are hard to identify, it seems that even if I gather up various foods that are more or less worth trying, the food available in Azernar is typically rich.
Moreover, rather than using chili, sauces often use tomatoes or cream, and the shape of the noodles is closer to spaghetti than thin noodles. Given that it’s based on quantities, that’s to be expected. Besides, it’s a perspective influenced by how a Japanese person sees the West, so it’s understandable that the food might feel a bit exaggeratedly Western.
Claire and Alice look at me.
No matter how much I say to relax, they can’t help it. If you’re leeching off someone else’s home without paying a dime, anyone with normal feelings would be conscious.
So even if the taste of the meal isn’t quite right for them—
“Y-yeah, it’s delicious. It’s not that spicy.”
They say that while sweating profusely, or,
“I can definitely say that foreign food is worth trying.”
They remark, unable to finish half the meal.
Right, even if it’s foreign food, it’ll taste good the first time you eat it. Maybe even the second or third time.
But if you keep eating it, you’ll get tired of it.
The reason I attempted to make dishes like spaghetti or went to the highest-rated nearby bakery to buy bread was for this reason. I wanted my sisters to not have a bad impression of the food here.
Anyway, despite that, seeing their reactions while eating fairly decent Western cuisine—mostly European food—sparkled their eyes, so I figured it wouldn’t be much of a problem.
Yeah.
“I thought so.”
“…Claire, I was counting on you.”
“Ehh!? What’s wrong, sis? Did I do something wrong?”
You did.
After we streamed a horror game, our viewers increased. We didn’t create a separate account on the streaming site, but it seems that clips and GIFs of my scared moments spread around various communities.
Thanks to that, more people started asking about us, and naturally, the donations poured in.
I thought we might be able to enjoy a cushier life now and thought about ordering some pizza—
“…What’s this?”
Alice, after opening the pizza box, tilted her head.
Yes. The pizza inside the box had pineapple on it.
“…Well, it’s not wrong.”
True, it’s not wrong.
No country has made it a crime to put pineapple on pizza. It might be illegal in Italy—although honestly, if you put it that way, most Korean pizza would be illegal—but anyway, it wasn’t to my taste.
“Is that so?”
But Claire seemed unsure, looking up at me with a slight bow.
…Right, it’s not like Claire did anything wrong.
After all, for these two, all the food in this country is ‘foreign food.’ Even if we buy fish and chips we had in Azernar, it’s ultimately British food, not food from the Empire of Aetherna.
That means these two have no fundamental sense of what ‘food should be like.’ Since everything they eat here is basically their first time trying it.
I should have thought of that first.
“Pineapple on pizza is fresh.”
Fresh, indeed.
It might be sacrilegious.
“Isn’t it? That’s why I ordered it.”
Claire said, her face lighting up with a smile.
Now that I think about it, I think mint chocolate was also made in England.
…I must choose the flavor if we go for ice cream. That could’ve been a disaster.
“Sis.”
When I finally came to my senses upon being called, Claire and Alice were looking up at me, surrounding the pizza box.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
Claire still looked a bit anxious as she looked up at me.
…Well, it’s not like I’m going to die just because there’s pineapple on the pizza.
Even though I dislike the idea of pineapple being cooked on pizza, what can I do? The pizza’s already here.
I cautiously sat down in the empty spot.
Both Claire, who thinks of me as her older sister, and Alice, who sees me as her younger sister, seemed to be waiting for me to start eating.
They shouldn’t have to be so aware of it.
“Well then, shall we eat?”
“Yeah!”
“Let’s do that.”
I picked up the first slice of pizza.
Pepperoni and cheese were delicately combined, and on top—was pineapple.
After a brief hesitation, I took a bite of the pizza.
The first thing that touched my tongue was the still-warm pizza dough.
After one chew, the melted pizza cheese became immediately apparent. It wasn’t too rich, and the subtly savory yet strangely salty flavor was very similar to the pizza I usually eat.
It tasted a bit different from the pizza in Azernar, but to be honest, I prefer this pizza more.
As I chewed the pizza again, the taste of sausage hit me. The slightly spicy flavor of the pepperoni sausage came through.
As I slowly savored the familiar Western taste and moved my jaw again—
I felt the pineapple.
The sweet flavor of the tropical fruit enveloped my tongue in an instant.
Honestly, I like pineapple. I could easily finish a can by myself.
But, pineapple on pizza? Really? Why?
I tried not to scowl. I hoped my two sisters—especially Claire, who picked the pizza—wouldn’t feel hurt.
“It’s delicious!”
“See? It really is tasty.”
I see. It really is good.
Compared to the food of the Empire of Aetherna, it’s overwhelmingly better.
Still, the more I put it in my mouth, the increasingly edible it seemed.
If only it didn’t have pineapple.
“Go ahead and have more.”
I finished a slice of pizza and picked up another while saying that.
“Wait? Is that it for you, sis?”
“Yeah, I think this much is fine for me.”
“Is that so? Did you have a hearty breakfast?”
Alice tilted her head.
More like… I just don’t feel like eating more. Of course, I don’t think it’s a meal I find completely disgusting.
The two of them, even while being aware of me, polished off the remaining slices.
…If I had eaten more, it would have been insufficient.
*
“Both of you, there’s something to talk about.”
At my words, Claire and Alice exchanged glances and then knelt before me.
“…Why are you sitting like that?”
“Um, no, it’s just that, during the meal earlier, I felt like you were a bit upset.”
Even so, I wouldn’t get angry just because they ordered something I didn’t particularly like.
And I didn’t completely refuse to eat it either.
“You don’t need to be tense; I’m not angry.”
Still, seeing the two of them kneeling, I held back a sigh and placed a card in front of each of them.
“Uh.”
“This is.”
“This is a debit card.”
Basically, the money I earned is my own money. Of course, I don’t plan to use it solely for myself and am thinking of keeping it as a reserve for emergencies.
But it’s a good idea to split the money earned through streaming accurately among the three of us.
It’s not like I’m the only one earning it.
Of course, while it hasn’t been settled yet, I can still see how much we’ve made.
“I’ve set aside an appropriate amount from the money we earned through broadcasting. Both of you get the same amount.”
In fact, I had already opened accounts for them beforehand. They each created an online banking account, and these cards were the debit cards I applied for at that time.
“If you want anything, you can spend it within that limit. If you need something but don’t have enough money, I’ll give you more.”
“Really…?”
Claire took the card with a slightly bewildered expression.
“…Can we really use it for personal stuff?”
“I trust you two.”
“…”
From my words, the two seemed momentarily at a loss for words.
“I’m sorry for just receiving it like this.”
Claire spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.
“It’s not like that. It’s not something you should feel bad about.”
I smiled gently at Claire and responded.
“If I were here alone, I’d just wither away. Thanks to you two, I’m able to enjoy each day. And this money isn’t solely mine.”
“…I’ll pay you back one day.”
Alice spoke.
“I’m already in the process of repaying you.”
“…”
At my words, Claire and Alice were silent for a moment before—
“Eek!?”
They both jumped at me at once.
No, if you want to give me a thank-you hug, could you please be a little gentler?
I thought that while smiling and patting the backs of both of them.
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