Chapter 178. [I Want Your Miso Soup Every Day]

<<Wow, this is delicious! I can’t believe your cooking skills have improved this much in just one week.>>

<<Well, it’s nothing.>>

I swallowed my words.

Who does he think I’ve gotten better for?

<<I could eat this every day. …No, ‘Make miso soup for me every day’!>>

<<Making Japanese food right now is impossible. Cooking rice takes time.>>

<<That’s not what I meant, right?! It’s a Japanese ‘proposal’ expression!>>

<<Yeah, yeah. Huhuhu.>>

<<Come on, you could get more excited about it!>>

Angu Ogu sulked, still holding a fork in his mouth.

I casually brushed off her gaze.

<<Anyway, isn’t housework supposed to be on a rotating schedule?>>

<<Huh!? Iroha does it proactively, so I…>>

<<Well, it’s fine. I don’t mind because I work while watching videos, so it’s not that bad.>>

Specifically, I’m watching cooking lessons by VTubers while working. Honestly, I used to be pretty rough with my cooking, and I thought that was good enough.

It might be an excuse for people who rarely cook.

<<And, you say it’s delicious, Angu Ogu… Well, it’s nothing.>>

<<Hey, Iroha, what were you going to say just now? Come on>>

<<You’re persistent. I was going to say that Angu Ogu’s cooking is no good.>>

<<It’s not that bad, is it!?>>

Angu Ogu’s cooking is hearty and simple.

Or rather… yeah.

If I list the menus she has made in the past week, it’s just steak, or rather, just grilled meat.

Then, instant mashed potatoes, are made by mixing water with powder. There are also green peas.

It’s more like an ingredients than a meal.

The rest is all retort food, junk food, and snacks.

<<If I leave it to Angu Ogu, the nutritional balance will be terrible.>>

<<Potatoes are vegetables, and ketchup is also a vegetable, you know?>>

<<I just can’t understand that American way of thinking. I think it’s a no-no!>>

Angu Ogu protests, saying it’s an imposition of values.

But who cares?

Nutritional value is more important than personal preferences.

Well, in a way, that’s what the cooking showdown was all about.

To check her skills and make the judgment of “I can’t leave it to her!”. Think about it, if my oshi streamer becomes unhealthy and has to take a break from streaming… the one who will suffer the most is me!

<<But it’s fine. Iroha is in charge of cooking, and I’ll handle the laundry.>>

<<We have a dryer, and the workload is too uneven because we don’t need to hang things up.>>

<<It’s not that I don’t want to hang things up, it’s that I can’t. It would incur fines.>>

This apartment comes with a dryer.

On the other hand, depending on the area, you can’t hang clothes on the balcony because it “spoils the scenery”.

Well, even in America, it seems like dryers are more common than natural drying.

And as we talked about that, Angu Ogu had finished eating.

<<Phew, I’m full! Thanks, Iroha!>>

<<You’re welcome. But you’re still nibbling on an apple>>

I’m not sure if it’s for dessert, but Angu Ogu was gnawing on a small American apple, which they couldn’t eat in Japan.

Maybe they had pent-up cravings.

<<Angu Ogu, you’re actually quite a big eater, aren’t you?>>

<<Even though I’ve become way more frugal. I’ve also adapted to Japan’s healthy eating.>>

<<Huh, with this!? You eat almost twice as much as me.>>

<<That’s just because you eat too little, Iroha. Before, when it was me, I would have had cereal as a supplement.>>

It’s often heard that Americans who live in Japan become very thin.

In Angu Ogu’s case, there hadn’t been any significant change in their body shape, so I didn’t notice.

Also, isn’t Japan’s idea of healthy eating mostly about convenience store food?

When they say that’s healthy, well…

<<By the way, didn’t we eat together when you were staying in America?>>

<<I wasn’t paying attention to that back then.>>

In any case, this is pretty normal in America.

American stomachs are huge… so anything gets bigger.

According to them, they could have devoured a hamburger on the first day, before moving to Japan.

That’s probably something they realized after Angu Ogu started cooking.

<<But it’s surprising. I never expected Iroha to be the type to cook so diligently.>>

<<In any case, I have to cook once a week.>>

<<True. Here, most restaurants are closed on Sundays.>>

That was one of the things that surprised me when I started living here.

In America, most restaurants and supermarkets are closed on Sundays.

In Japan, it’s the opposite; Sundays are a busy time.

But I can understand their reasoning.

<<Sunday is a ‘day off,’ after all. Even the employees get a day off.>>

So, if you inadvertently run out of groceries, you’ll have nothing to eat.

We just went shopping for the second time yesterday.

But it looks like going shopping together once a week is becoming a habit.

On the flip side, we hardly go out otherwise!

Sightseeing?

I’d only go if there were VTubers there!

<<By the way, Iroha. I’ve been living here for a week, and… I’ve reached my limit!>>

<<Huh? Is there something you’re so dissatisfied with?>>

<<Of course there is!>>

I swallowed nervously.

Angu Ogu was furious.

I thought we were getting along quite well with our shared living arrangements.

What could have gone wrong?

<<Iroha… let’s renovate the bathroom! I can’t stand these baths and toilets anymore!>>

<<Huh, that’s the source of your dissatisfaction? And shouldn’t it be the other way around, with me, the Japanese one, complaining first?>>

Well, I can understand the sentiment.

I do occasionally wish I could relax in a bath.

Back home, I had waterproof speakers, and I used to watch streams while taking a long bath.

I turned the bathroom into a theater.

Also, a washlet would be nice.

VTubers don’t need to use the toilet (various opinions on this)!

<<So, Iroha. Let’s renovate the bathroom!>>

<<What!? Wait a minute, why are you talking about renovations all of a sudden?>>

Honestly, I didn’t expect them to suggest something that drastic. Besides, this is a rental apartment!