Chương 35: A Very Peaceful Day

Mouse and I continued to watch previous league matches. Time flew by extremely fast, hours passed in what felt like minutes. Was this why people got addicted to watching sports? Aside from being entertaining to watch, it was also genuinely informative. The captions always provided a small rundown on classes and skills when they were used. Seeing so many unique and different classes made me realize just how much there actually is. Fencer, bug-tamer, shadowmancer, berserker… That's just a few of them.

It made me wonder if I'll ever evolve my class. To do so, I'd need to get lucky and get a tower reward for it. But what would Alchemist even evolve to? I couldn't even think of a class. And I didn't want to search up advanced alchemist classes since I didn't want any spoilers. In any case, I hope it's something fun. Hopefully the tower will reward my greatness(cuteness) and give me a class evolution ticket or something. As we watched the league match come to an end, I stretched my arms wide and cracked my back.

Mouse also stretched and we accidentally bumped into each other.

"That was a fun match." Mouse said.

"Mhm," I nodded, "I can't believe the Gators actually came back from that when they were down a person."

"Even the commentators couldn't believe it, did you hear how hype they were?" Mouse chuckled.

"Yeah, you'd think it was a championship match or something but it was just a regular season match."

"Well, that guy was very biased, so we heard some great fan enthusiasm." Mouse said before searching for another match to watch. While she did, I checked my phone and widened my eyes when I saw the time. 15: 20… It was already past lunch time. Did the time god play a trick or something? Why is it already 3? I nudged Mouse's side with my elbow,"Hm?" She looked over at me and I showed her my phone, "Wow, it's already 3?"

"Mm," I nodded, "We should eat lunch."

"Alright," Mouse nodded, "I'll order something, any preferences?" She asked.

"No," I shook my head, "I want to make something, that okay with you?" I asked.

"Oh?" Her eyes widened for a second before she nodded, "Of course! I'm excited to see your lunch skills."

"Hehe," I smugly nodded, "Be prepared to be surprised." Standing up, I headed to the kitchen. Mouse followed a few steps behind me. Opening a cabinet…I closed the cabinet and then reopened it.

"Mm…" I closed it again. Then, I opened it.

"I don't know what I expected…" Food didn't magically appear in the cabinets like it usually does. In fact, her pantry was completely empty. I knew she barely had ingredients in her fridge before, but how is there only dust in the pantry? No flour, oil, seasonings, nothing. The only ingredients she has in her house are the ones I bought for her which are sitting on the counter or in the fridge. I slowly turned and threw a glance towards Mouse. She was looking away and whistling.

"Mouse…" I said with a low voice. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Y…Yes?" She said, obviously avoiding eye contact.

"…Should we go shopping?" Buying ingredients from the exchange was possible, but I couldn't do that every time I wanted to make Mouse food. For one, I didn't have the funds to only eat graded food. And two, sometimes basic ingredients you get at the store are better.

"…Okay…" Mouse said with a downtrodden tone. …

"Do you really only order food everyday?" I asked for the umpteenth time as we drove to the supermarket.

"Ugh…I can't cook…" Mouse replied, focusing on the road.

"As expected as a hikikomori." I shook my head.

"I'm not a hikikomori!"

"Mm…Let's look at the facts," I started counting my fingers one-by-one, "You stay at home all day playing games; You only eat delivery; You're jobless-""Enough! I get it! I get it!" Mouse said with a quivering voice.

"Hehe." I giggled, looking at the girl. Teasing her really is so fun.

"You're also a shut-in!" She finally retorted.

"But I have a job selling potions. What do you sell? No one plays Shadows of Freest anymore except us, you can't even rice-farm."

"Ugh…" Mouse groaned, taking plenty of mental damage, "Are you having fun teasing me?" She said with a low tone.

"Hehe, it's the best." I replied with a smile.

"You just wait." She grumbled and continued to drive. As we listened to music, we eventually parked in front of the supermarket.

"What're we planning to get?" Mouse asked as we stepped out of the car.

"Everything."

"…Everything?"

"Everything." I nodded, leading the way. Inside the store, we were hit was a blast of cold air. Dozens of shoppers walked through the store with carts filled with ingredients. I grabbed a cart before heading to an aisle.

"Do you have any food you dislike?" I asked.

"No," Mouse shook her head, "I can eat pretty much anything."

"Mm…" I nodded and began throwing things into the cart.

"Baking soda…? Flour? Breadcrumbs?" Mouse mumbled as the cart started to fill.

"What're these for?" She asked.

"Right now I'm adding supplementary ingredients—things used to make food without the main ingredient. Flour can be used pretty much anywhere and is essential for lots of dishes, breadcrumbs I mainly use in chicken recipes." I explained, adding things to the cart as I saw them.

"…This is a lot." Mouse said with a bit of surprise.

"This is all stuff that won't spoil anytime soon. It'll be useful to have in your pantry." I said. Soon, the cart was filled and I hadn't even picked out half of the ingredients I wanted to buy.

"Are we done?" Mouse asked with a bit of glee. I shot her a glance before shaking my head,"Not even close, can you go get another cart, please?"

"Ah…" Mouse sighed before nodding and heading back to the front of the store.

"Mm…Maybe two trips?" I mumbled to myself, I was already expecting us to have to store these in the car before being able to buy more. Mouse reappeared a bit later with an empty cart. I nodded, swapping carts with her before continuing to shop. After I dropped a bunch of different spices and seasonings in the cart, Mouse posed a question.

"Do we really need all of those? I can't see us finishing or using all of those."

"Mm," I turned, "They all have different uses. If I were to only make a single type of food like steak for example, we would only need salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Or a pre-blend seasoning. But, I don't plan on only making one type of food forever, so we're buying a bunch of different kinds. Also, if we ever want to switch up the flavor of something, we can swap the seasonings to taste. If you're feeling something spicy, we can use chili powder or cayenne pepper."

I explained, "They also don't expire, so there's no time limit on when we have to use them."

"I see…" Mouse nodded. Continuing onward, both carts were soon filled with dry ingredients. Mouse looked happy at the sight. It seems like she thought just because we filled both carts that we were done shopping.

"We're not done yet." I quickly killed her thought process.

"Ah…" A look of betrayal and sadness filled her eyes.

"But…We can't carry any more…"

"We'll buy this stuff first, put them in the car and come back for round two."

"Ah…Life…" Mouse looked towards the ceiling. Strange, was it raining? At the checkout, we both placed the things on the conveyor.

"Are you okay with splitting the price?" I asked. Truthfully, I wouldn't mind fronting the whole cost, but that'd probably make her uncomfortable.

"Huh? No, it's okay, I'll pay for everything." Mouse replied with a head shake.

"Nuh-uh," I shook my head, "Let's split it. You're only buying things because of me anyway."

"I can just-""Split."

"Fine…" She sighed at my insistence.

"Good!" I smiled, "I'll send you the money after everything's purchased."

"Haah…" I heard an audible gulp as Mouse purchased the first batch of ingredients. I internally chuckled before we headed to her car and stashed everything. We headed back inside. There were still a bit more things I needed to buy like oil and spray. And I did exactly that, I put them in the cart before turning to Mouse,"Right, now we can finally get to the good part—onto the main game!" I said. Mouse looked at me with disbelief.

"…You're telling me that was all the tutorial?"

"Yep!" I smiled, "Now, we're gonna buy meats and other refrigerator stuff." She perked up a little when I mentioned buying meat. We headed to the meat section of the store.

"Do you have a favorite cut of steak?" I asked.

"I like them all." She replied, eying the beef.

"Mm." I nodded and started picking out a variety of different cuts. Strip, sirloin, ribeye, ground beef, all types of cow went into the cart. Multiple of them too. After that, I also started throwing in chicken. Breasts, thighs, legs, wings, those all went into the cart as well.

"Eh?" Mouse questioned, "Isn't this too much?! How are we going to finish all of this before it spoils?"

"Most of it is going in the freezer," I answered, "It'll remain frozen until ready to cook."

"Wouldn't it take too long to thaw when you want to cook them though?" I just stared at her blankly for a moment.

"…All fridges have a thawing machine built into them, anything frozen can get thawed within ten minutes." That was introduced to all fridges about five years ago…Just how much does this girl avoid cooking? I even saw her fridge had a thawing machine build into it, had she never thought "What is this contraption in my fridge?"

"…" She stared back. I didn't break eye contact. She lost the staring contest and looked away with reddened ears,"I see…" Snap! That's a good photo… She glared at me which only provoked another photo.

"Ugh…Let's just finish shopping." She grumbled.

"Hehe, okay." I smiled, continuing to throw food into the cart. After the cart was filled with a whole bunch of food, we were finally done shopping. As we headed to the checkout, Mouse asked a question,"Are we not getting seafood?" She asked.

"I'm allergic so I can't cook them well. I can try if you like it though?" I answered.

"You are?" She said with a bit of surprise, "No, it's alright, I'm not a huge fan of seafood anyways."

"Kk." I nodded. … Back at Mouse's place, it took several trips to get everything inside. Eventually, her kitchen was filled with ingredients in plastic bags.

"Do you have any preference on what goes where?" I asked. But inside I knew this girl would never touch the kitchen.

"No," She shook her head, "Wherever you find stuff comfortable." She said, "You're the only one gonna be cooking here anyways…" She mumbled that last part.

"Okay! ~" I said, "Then, follow my lead. We'll put the spices and seasonings here-" What followed was about two hours of storing and organizing ingredients. …

"Phew! All done!" I said with a smile, wiping my forehead. Taking a step back, I looked at the clean kitchen with pride. Everything was officially organized to my liking and easy to access. Common seasonings like salt and pepper lined the top of the stove, and I could grab a pan or pot in seconds. I wish when my own kitchen was like this. Now, it's just filled with alchemy equipment. I can barely even cook for myself nowadays.

"Finally…" Mouse said, looking like a dead fish.

"That took so long…"

"It looks nice though, doesn't it?" I asked, pointing her towards the organized cabinet.

"Mhm…" She nodded, "I don't think I've ever put anything in those bottom cabinets."

"I can tell. The amount of dust was intense." I shook my head, "You really only had a box of cereal."

"…Cereal tastes good."

"Right." I pursed my lips.

"Anyway, it's going to take forever to finish all of this…Did we not buy too much?"

"It's fine~ Maybe I'll just come over to cook us dinner every day~""If you want…I'm okay with it."

"Hehe." The only problem was, it was a bit too late to make lunch now. But it was also too early to make dinner. Mouse figured this out too and we stared at each other.

"Should we order delivery?" I asked.

"…Yeah." She replied. … We sat on the bed, munching on some fast food. The league match was about to start, so we were wasting time casually chatting. Eventually, the match started and the two of us watched with full attention. The Steel Gators versus the Principality of Clockwork.