Wen Akagi, a student VTuber who loves travel and cooking as if they were the same thing, casually asks his viewers during a late-night stream what the ideal travel partner would be. The chat floods with jokes. But the next morning, a DM arrives from Mikoto, a flashy gyaru streamer at his school. She claims she seriously wants to learn to cook and travel with him. Wen, suspicious, agrees to meet at a local market. Instead of one guest, however, Haruto, Mikoto's childhood friend who is hopelessly
A Second Toast to an Unfinished Journey - A lovers' quarrel begins in the middle of the market.
Standing at the entrance of Asahi Shopping Street, the late-morning air touched his skin with a gentle softness. Akagi Wen absently rolled the small wooden spoon pendant hanging from his neck between his fingers as he checked the time on his phone. He was about five minutes past the agreed meeting time.
Colorful banners swayed under the shopping street's arcade, and the ice at the fish shop sparkled as it reflected the sunlight. The smell of freshly fried croquettes drifted over from the nearby butcher shop. Koutarou Butcher Shop's famous homemade croquettes, ninety yen each. He remembered reading in stream comments that there was always a line around lunchtime.
(*I'll buy one to take home later.*)
As Wen thought about that, he found himself vaguely reminiscing about last night. He had put out a call during his stream for the ideal travel companion. It might have been taken as a joke. But that DM had been real. Mimori Mikoto. A popular streamer from the same school with over forty thousand subscribers.
On his phone screen, the short reply that had arrived this morning still remained: "Got it! Looking forward to it!" There wasn't a single emoji. That fact had left a strange impression on him.
The light filtering through the arcade ceiling slowly shifted its angle.
Ten minutes past the meeting time. Twenty.
Wen leaned against a pillar at the entrance, watching the people passing by. An elderly woman carrying shopping bags, a high school student pushing a bicycle, a housewife negotiating prices in front of the fish shop. Everyone was living out their own late morning.
(*Maybe she's not coming.*)
Just as he began to think that—
From the far end of the arcade, an eye-catching figure approached. Bright brown long hair curled softly outward, with a star-shaped hairpin above her left ear. A white miniskirt and a pale pink cardigan. Her hair swayed gently with every step.
It was Mimori Mikoto.
She hurried over at a light jog and looked up at Wen's face intently. Large almond-shaped eyes. Her colored contacts caught the morning light, glowing a bright hazel.
"You're Wen, right?"
Despite this supposedly being their first meeting, her tone was as casual as if they'd known each other for years. Wen found himself momentarily at a loss for words.
"Ah, yeah. I'm Akagi Wen."
"I knew it! Your hair's a bit longer than it looks on stream, huh? I'm Mimori Mikoto. Sorry I'm late—I kept changing outfits at home and suddenly it was this late."
She said this with a grin that revealed her right canine tooth. Her nails sparkled with light blue glitter, apparently this week's mood.
"It's fine. I just got here too."
In truth, he had been waiting for nearly thirty minutes. But he wasn't going to say that. Wen replied in his usual easygoing tone.
Mikoto noticed the wooden spoon pendant hanging at Wen's chest and tilted her head.
"Is that the one you always touch during your streams?"
"Ah, this. It's a keepsake from my grandmother. I end up touching it during the toast time on stream without thinking."
"Oh, so it's something precious."
Mikoto's voice softened just a little. Her large eyes moved from the pendant to Wen's face.
"I watch your streams from the toast part every time. That part's kind of calming, you know?"
"Really? That makes me happy. I want to treasure that part too."
"But no toast today? You didn't bring barley tea?"
"We're at a market today, so not this time. But let's grab something to drink later."
Mikoto's expression brightened instantly, and she clapped her hands together lightly.
"Nice! Then show me around the market first. It's been forever since I've been to a place like this."
The two of them began walking side by side through the arcade. Mikoto looked around curiously, left and right. She stopped in front of the greengrocer, pointed at the fruit price tags, and exclaimed, "Isn't this cheap?" Then she looked at the horse mackerel lined up on the ice at the fish shop and laughed, "Whoa, it made eye contact with me."
Wen glanced at her profile. Her voice was a bit higher than it sounded on stream, and in person her eyes sparkled far more.
"Oh, right. Mikoto, what do you usually eat?"
It was a question asked without much thought.
Mikoto stopped walking for just a moment, then smiled awkwardly.
"Well, convenience store rice balls and cup noodles. And sometimes I fill up at family restaurant drink bars."
"Huh..."
"Also, my kitchen has my game console and controllers set up in it. I have no idea where the pot went."
Wen stopped in his tracks without thinking.
"You don't have a pot!?"
"I might have one, but I haven't found it. I mean, the kitchen works perfectly as a stream background, so I turned it into equipment storage."
It was a shocking confession.
Wen stood there dumbfounded for a moment, but eventually let out a small laugh.
"I see. Well, that just means there's plenty worth teaching you."
"Seriously!? I've barely even used a kitchen knife, you know?"
"It's fine. Let's start with the simplest thing. Since we're here, I'll show you how to make dashi."
With that, Wen turned his steps toward the dried goods shop.
At the storefront of the dried goods shop, large glass jars filled with kombu and bagged katsuobushi were packed tightly together. Wen picked up a thick piece of kombu without hesitation.
"This is good kombu. Rausu kombu. The aroma is different."
Wen brought the kombu close to his nose and narrowed his eyes. His expression shifted from the relaxed look he'd had moments before to the sharp face of a craftsman.
"Wen-san, your eyes just went into cooking mode."
"Eh, really? Ahaha, I just get carried away. The smell of dashi alone calms me down."
Wen laughed sheepishly as he also picked up a bag of katsuobushi.
"The white powder on the surface of the kombu—that's the umami component. So the key is not to wash it, but to use it as-is."
"Wait, you don't wash it!? Isn't that dirt?"
"It's not dirt. It's a sweetness component called mannitol and an umami component called glutamic acid. These are what determine the flavor of the dashi."
Mikoto pulled out her phone and quickly opened her notes app.
"Wait, let me write this down! 'Don't wash the white powder.'"
Wen felt happy and continued his explanation.
"Also, you heat it slowly starting from cold water. You must not let it boil. If it boils, the kombu's unpleasant flavors come out too."
"Wow! You don't boil it. Dashi is deeper than I thought."
"That's right. This is the most important point—you keep it at around sixty degrees for about ten minutes and slowly draw out the kombu's umami. Then you add the katsuobushi, turn off the heat, and wait for it to sink."
Wen's tone had become faster without him realizing it. When it came to explaining cooking, he couldn't stop—it was an old habit of his.
Mikoto's eyes sparkled as she typed into her phone.
"This is amazing, I feel like I'm seriously studying. I've never heard any of this before."
"Teaching someone else helps me relearn things too. I'm having fun as well."
A warmth spread slowly through Wen's chest. This was different from streaming alone. There was someone right in front of him, listening to what he had to say. That fact made him incredibly happy.
"I want to taste it sometime! I wonder what your dashi tastes like, Wen."
"Yeah, definitely. I'll make it for you sometime."
At those words, Mikoto's cheeks flushed just a little. As if to hide her embarrassment, she pointed at the jars in the dried goods shop.
"Then I'll buy that kombu and katsuobushi too! I'll practice at home."
Wen smiled and called out to the shopkeeper.
"Excuse me, I'll take two of each of this kombu and katsuobushi."
After finishing their shopping, the two headed toward the produce shop. Marushima Produce was proud of its vegetables sourced directly from local farmers. In the wooden crates at the storefront, freshly picked tomatoes, cucumbers, and leafy greens were lined up, glistening with moisture.
As Wen picked up a tomato and smelled the stem, Mikoto lifted a cabbage with both hands beside him.
"This is so heavy! Are cabbages always this heavy?"
"They are. The heft is proof of freshness. Want to hold it?"
Mikoto took the cabbage Wen offered and held it in both arms, laughing.
"What is this? It's so dense, it feels kind of nice."
That was when it happened.
From the far end of the arcade came the sound of someone running at full speed.
"Mikoto!!"
When they turned around, a male student with short-cropped black hair messily spiked up stood there, his brow deeply furrowed. His slightly upturned monolid eyes were glistening with tears.
Sanada Haruto. Mikoto's childhood friend.
"What's your relationship with Mikoto!?"
Haruto closed in on Wen, breathing heavily as he launched into a tirade.
"W-Wait a second. I'm just—"
"There's no way Mikoto would be at a market alone with some guy! And you're a streamer, aren't you!? Anyone who's a streamer is obviously some flashy playboy!"
Haruto pulled Mikoto close by her shoulder, distancing her from Wen.
"Mikoto, did this guy do anything weird to you!?"
"Haru, what are you talking about!? What do you mean 'weird'! Wen-san was just teaching me how to cook!"
Mikoto tried to shake off Haruto's arm, but he wouldn't let go.
"Cooking!? That's obviously just an excuse! A guy inviting a girl to a market—there's no way he doesn't have ulterior motives!"
Shoppers at the market turned to see what the commotion was. The fish shop owner nearby had stopped what he was doing and was watching them.
Wen frantically waved both hands.
"That's not it! I just want a travel companion!"
In that instant, Haruto's eyes widened even further.
"Travel companion!? So you mean a girlfriend candidate!! I knew it!"
"How does that even follow!?"
"Because a travel companion is normally someone you go with as lovers! Traveling alone together—it obviously means that!"
The misunderstanding deepened. The more he tried to explain, the deeper he sank into the quagmire.
Before he knew it, Wen had been made to sit in seiza in front of Marushima Produce.
Properly seated in seiza on the stone pavement of the arcade. In front of him stood Haruto, arms crossed and imposing. Behind him, Mikoto was shouting, "Haru, stop it!"
"Listen here. I've been protecting Mikoto since we were little. And then you suddenly show up talking about being her travel companion—don't screw with me."
Haruto's voice trembled with tears.
"I've been... for over ten years... with Mikoto..."
Haruto choked on his words and bit his lip hard.
"You're a streamer, right? You're used to hitting on girls, aren't you? Guys like that are the least trustworthy!"
"No, I mean, I'm a streamer, but I'm not used to that kind of thing at all..."
"Liar! Someone who goes 'Heyyy, it's Wen!' on stream can't possibly not be used to girls!"
Wen screamed internally.
(*My stream greeting has nothing to do with being used to girls!*)
But he couldn't say it out loud. Even if he did, it would only add fuel to the fire.
Mikoto grabbed Haruto's arm, desperately trying to pull him away.
"Haru, that's enough! You don't know anything about Wen-san! I was the one who said I wanted to meet him!"
Haruto's movements stopped completely.
"Mikoto... you did?"
"That's right. I watched Wen's streams and seriously wanted to learn how to cook. So I sent him a DM. It was my own decision."
Haruto's shoulders dropped slightly.
But the next moment, he raised his head and glared sharply at Wen.
"Fine. Then make something with that dashi of yours and convince me!"
"Huh!?"
"Anyone can talk. If you can really cook, then do it in front of me. If I eat it and think it's good, I'll acknowledge you."
Mikoto smacked Haruto on the back repeatedly.
"Haru, who do you think you are!? You're being so rude to Wen-san!"
"I'm going to confirm whether or not you're the kind of guy who'd make Mikoto cry. This isn't rude at all. I
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