"Iwasaki-kun, thanks for coming in today, and first I want to congratulate you on presenting such a well-said speech at the opening ceremony," says Principal Yoshida. Currently I'm sitting in his office, a spacious room with some ornamental furniture and decor.
"Ah, thank you, sir, I appreciate that." Honestly, I have not a single idea why he wants to talk to me today, so my disposition may have been just slightly nervous.
"Don't worry, this meeting isn't very serious, but I just wanted to check-in on how you've been doing. I do send my deepest apologies to the loss of your parents, and how it may be emotionally affecting you and your siblings."
Oh, it's one of those meetings.
"Your teachers have been informed of your current situation, thanks to your granting us that permission during our phone call last week. We're here to offer our support and resources for you. But from what we've talked about last week, it sounds like you're holding it well on your own."
"That is true," I chuckle. "Though this week is the first real challenge." I feel myself relaxing a bit now knowing we're just having a conversation.
"Mhm, student, part-timer, and legal guardian, that's a description for someone maybe ten years older than you are now." He then laughs. "But you have the spirit, and I have faith in you doing well, so just take care of yourself."
"Hm, if you were more like this to your students, you may have a more popular following."
"Hey, a principal has a responsibility to lead students, and befriending them unfortunately doesn't help very much in that aspect."
I sit back in my chair, nodding my head a bit. We talk for a few more minutes about random things, until I realize that my lunch is still waiting to be eaten back in the room.
"There is one more thing for you to think about," he adds. "Since you are currently second in marks for the 3rd years, you will definitely be a candidate for a university recommendation, so just keep that in the back of your mind as it'll come up down the road."
"Good to know."
"Alright, you can go back to lunch."
"Thank you, sir."
Walking back a little quickly, I make it to the classroom with about fifteen minutes left to eat.
"So you're in trouble, eh?" Ryoto asks.
"Nah, just some academic stuff," I reply, digging into my bento. Having my fair share of convenience store bentos, it is quite tasty, but can't compare to mom's homemade ones -- but not for too long, it'll take some time to hone my skills to make one, no doubt!
Of course, it probably wouldn't look as fancy as most people's lunches here; many students here come from wealthy families, and I would not be surprised if they have professional cooks and the like to make bentos for them.
But it isn't good to keep comparing financially like that; envy is not the way to move forward. Learning how to cook good food myself is, obviously.
The rest of the day goes by with a round of classes, mostly introductory stuff.
Luckily, for today, student council activities aren't necessary, as it's literally the first day of school, so it'll give me some extra time after school before the part time shift. Things are already starting to stream through my head as the last minutes of mathematics class go by.
Finally, the end of class is signalled by the bell -- time to go home.
+++++
"That was a boring day," Ryoto yawned.
"It is the first day, so they weren't going to do much," Megumi reasons.
"I think it's more like you find school boring in general," I give my two cents.
"Oi, that's not true--"
"Okay, the academic part of school."
"Tha--fair enough.'"
"It'll get busier once clubs and sports start going again, right?" says Megumi.
"Yes! Soccer and the International Cooking Club are my saviours!" Ryoto chants.
"Heh, where's Megumi then?" I butt in.
"I'm talking about school things -- Megumi's on a whole 'nother level!" he yells, as Megumi blushes a bit.
"Okay, that's enough teasing for today, see you tomorrow!" I wave, turning in the direction of my house. Things to do now: finish schoolwork, prepare tomorrow's meeting, and make dinner. Grocery shopping is going to be Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday, so the ingredients for tonight and tomorrow night are at home.
Unlocking the door, I enter the home -- first one back, so only one in the house.
But not for long, as about ten minutes later, as I'm sprawled on the couch, the door opens and Yuki comes through the door.
"I'm back!"
"Welcome home, Yuki," I say, as she takes her shoes off and comes down the hallway. "How was the first day of school?"
"Good!" she chirps, which is always a good sign. "A lot of my classmates from last year are in the same class, so I'm with my friends again."
"That's awesome," I comment. "Any schoolwork?"
"Not today," she says, smiling at that fact.
"That's lucky." A moment later, Yuki appears near my head and starts playing with my hair. "You're bored already?"
"Not really, but this is fun," she says. Well, as long as she doesn't pull my hair out, that's fine. Though I should probably start doing homework soon.
Some time passes, and at this point my homework should probably be worked on. "Alright, Yuki, it's time to let your big brother get some homework done.
"Five more minutes," as she then hugs my head. Is she going to suffocate me? As I ponder my potential life-ending moment, I hear the door open once again.
"I'm back!"
"Welcome home, Natusko!"
"Ah, Toshiro, you're ba--what's going on with you and Yuki---" I couldn't see what she was seeing from across the room, but it probably wasn't very flattering.
"Ask her, I was just about to go get some work done."
"Finee," Yuki concedes.
+++++
Today's dinner is pork with ginger (shogayaki), and seaweed salad. Flipping to the first half of the cookbook, I set in on the table and get the right ingredients. The main ingredient is 350 g of sliced pork loin, while for the seaweed salad it's about 50 grams of dried wakame. I also have ½ onion, garlic clove, ginger, green onion, pepper, salt, mirin, rice vinegar, sesame seeds, oil, and soy sauce.
The seaweed salad starts with rehydrating the wakame with water for seven minutes. While that's rehydrating, the dressing can be made. The dressing combines 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of oil, and 2 tablespoons of sesame oil. Now that's an easy appetizer.
Now, for the pork seasoning. This calls for 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and 5 tablespoons of mirin. Using the grater, I grate the ½ onion, 2 cloves of garlic, and about 5 centimeters off a piece of ginger. Mix this up, and set for later.
The next step here says to sprinkle salt and pepper onto the pork slices. To make it even, it says to swirl arou---oops, that's a bit too much. Now there's pepper all over the countertop. I'll do better with the salt for good measure.
Wait, I feel like I'm missing something….did I start the rice cooker? "Oh, I need to cook the rice. Oops." Quick detour for a minute….
Now, heat up a larger pan with oil, and start adding the pork slices. I place the first few in, and they all slide in pretty smoothly. The next one then splashes some of the oil.
"Ah!" Small blunder, as long as it stays in the pan, that's okay. There's twelve slices of pork, and the pan only fits six at a time. Once these six pieces are nice and golden brown, I take them out and let them sit on a plate while the other slices are cooked.
Then, everything goes back in the pan and I pour the pork seasoning in the pan---ah the pan's too hot! It started boiling! I read the instructions once again --"Make sure to lower the heat when adding the seasoning." Oh, it was on medium high.
Now add chopped scallions, and it should be ready!
"Dinner's read-wait the rice isn't yet."
"Dinner?"
"Eh in a few minutes."
+++++
"Leaving already?"
"Yeah, if I don't go soon I'll be late--"
"Stay!"
"Can't do that, I''l be back around 10:30, if you're still up by then you'll just see me all tired and stuff. You have your sister here, just play with her."
"Yeah Yuki! We can play….uh….or watch….maybe---"
"Oi, this is your sister, how do you not know what to play with her. You share the same room too!"
Yuki pouts in agreement, as Natsuko starts overreacting. "What, I totally have it under control, just go to your shift already!"
"Don't mind if I do, see you later!" I say, opening the door to leave. Ah, what is even occupying her mind to make her forget her own sister's favorite activities, oh well. Perhaps she was just a little zealous about the first day of school, and with her energy it might have short-circuited her brain cells. It happens.
She definitely was excited about school today, talking about it during dinner. Her friends, similar to Yuki's friends, are in the same class as her, but Natsuko's the type to introduce herself to new people. She did say she liked a lot of her new classmates.
Hold on, could one of these classmates be a guy? Could this person be someone of interest to her? Unlikely, since she would have said something about it at dinner today---with romance, she is an open book whenever she finds the opportunity to talk about it. And it was literally the first day of school.
Yuki talked about her day as well. She was a bit shy with some of the newer classmates, but she said that her teacher is really nice and warm, which was good to hear.
It's too bad I couldn't stay with them and relax….well I have to get used to this. It's not an easy life, and not a relatable one with a lot of my classmates in school, but that's the one I got -- maybe I'll treat myself to something after work.
Walking around the corner, I spot a familiar local restaurant -- my workplace. I work partially as a waiter but also help the manager with some office stuff, like organizing finances and schedules. As I get closer, I notice the staff moving pretty quickly around. And a bunch of people inside…. I should probably go in a bit quicker then.
I make it to the entrance, and once I open the door I immediately make eye-contact with the manager herself. Her face brightens as she waves me to come over.
"Ah, Iwasaki-kun! Thank goodness you're here, hurry to the back and start--we're swamped today!"