Anime Heart

Chapter Fifteen: Cooking and Washing Dishes

Sipping mango juice, Yu Ma Xian Dong pondered what kind of food to cook. He could only cook some common home-style dishes; he wasn't very good at making more expensive dishes, only a few that he particularly liked and enjoyed.

Sitting on the other side of the sofa, Tsubaki Sawabe hesitated. She had heard the sounds coming from inside from outside, and although she hadn't heard what they were saying, she was sure the two of them were arguing!

The two brothers got into an argument on their first day together, which was not a good sign, and Tsubaki Sawabe was a little worried.

But is it inappropriate for me to speak up? What if Xian Dong blames me?

After being separated for three years, Tsubaki Sawabe really felt that Arima Kento had become a stranger. Although they had become familiar with each other again after spending a day together today, they really couldn't act like the closest of friends they used to be.

Perhaps it will take time to get back to how we were three years ago!

Arima Kenji, who was pondering the menu, suddenly noticed that Sawabe Tsubaki's face practically screamed "I have something to say."

So, he asked with a bit of a laugh, "Xiao Chun, just say what you have to say! Do you still consider me an outsider?"

"Phew~" Tsubaki Sawabe took a deep breath. With Arima Kento's words in mind, she was able to speak up, "Hey, Kento, did you and Kousei have a fight?"

"Hey, I thought something was bothering you like this, but I didn't expect it to be this." Arima Kento said, "Don't worry, nothing's wrong! We were just talking about something, it just got a little heated."

"Are you really alright?"

"It's really nothing!" Arima Kento assured him again. Just then, Arima Kousei came out of the bathroom. Arima Kento quickly ran over and hugged Arima Kousei's neck, then said, "Do we look like we've had a fight?"

Arima Kousei had already composed himself. Hearing Arima Kento's words, he was still a little stunned, but with a hint in Arima Kento's eyes, he understood what he meant. "Um, we get along very well. What's wrong, Tsubaki?"

"I'm relieved to see this!" Tsubaki Sawabe is also a single-celled organism, so she easily believed what they said.

"Alright, I'll go prepare the food!" Arima Kento said, looking around the house. "Could you two please tidy up a bit? My room doesn't need any cleaning, I just swept it."

"Okay, no problem! With me, the 'cleaning expert' Tsubaki Sawabe, here, I guarantee your house will be spotless. But if I don't get to eat something good later, I'm going to beat someone up!"

"Don't worry! I guarantee you'll get delicious food." Arima Kento seemed to remember something again, and looked at Arima Kousei, saying, "Kousei, it's not too late for you to take back what you said."

"Hmph!" Arima Kousei said arrogantly, tilting his head and not answering Arima Kento's question.

Arima Kento chuckled, ignoring the 'young couple' and heading to the kitchen to start cooking.

The kitchen was very clean, which means that even if Kousei Arima doesn't use it often, he still cleans it regularly, saving him some trouble.

He had already decided what food to make: two or three dishes, a soup, and then rice.

He ate a store-bought lunchbox for lunch. Although the taste was okay, the portion was a bit small. Even though he ate a braised pork patty on his way home in the afternoon, he had already used up a lot of energy while tidying up at home, and he was very hungry.

I suppose they feel the same way, so these dishes are more than enough to finish. Let's make three dishes!

Stir-fried tomatoes and eggs are simple to make, but delicious! Sweet and sour pork isn't difficult to prepare, but he really likes its sweet flavor. The last dish will be braised eggplant—nutritious, healthy, and tasty all at once.

The common feature of these dishes is that they are not spicy, because Ma Xiandong and his two incarnations did not like overly spicy food, and sometimes he did not even think that spiciness was a flavor.

That's practically chemical weapons destroying people's mouths and taste buds!

As for soup, Ma Xiandong isn't very good at making it, but that's okay. Since we've already made scrambled eggs with tomatoes, we're just missing a tomato and egg soup!

The recipe is set, the ingredients and seasonings are sufficient, and the equipment is adequate. How could I possibly fail with my own skills? Absolutely not!

However, reality proved to Arima Kento that after three years away from the kitchen, he was no longer as skilled as he had imagined.

The scrambled eggs with tomatoes turned out well, the sweet and sour pork almost failed, and the braised eggplant stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Originally, it was supposed to be three dishes and a soup, but it ended up being two dishes and a soup. Luckily, the rice was cooked in a rice cooker, so it didn't turn out badly; the texture was just right.

After clearing the table and setting the food away, Ma Xiandong prepared to call the two men to eat.

Unlike people from other provinces in Japan, Arima Kosei's home also had chairs, and since no one bothered him, he was happy to be more comfortable.

Kneeling is obviously not as comfortable as sitting directly in a chair.

"Hey, Kousei, Tsubaki, dinner's ready!"

"Oh, we'll be right down." Sawabe Tsubaki's voice came from upstairs. The two were cleaning upstairs. Arima Kento didn't wait at the dining table but ran upstairs to check on the two.

Arima Kousei and Sawabe Tsubaki were quite capable; while he was cooking, they had almost finished cleaning the entire house, and there wasn't a speck of dust on the stairs.

Upon arriving on the second floor, Ma Xiandong discovered that the two were standing in front of the piano room talking.

Upon closer listening, Yu Ma Xian Dong realized what the two were talking about.

Sawabe Tsubaki wanted to clean the piano room, but Arima Kousei refused, and the two were deadlocked, so neither of them was eager to come over for dinner.

"Alright, alright, let's stop cleaning for now and eat quickly, otherwise the food will get cold and won't taste good." This time it was Arima Kento's turn to act as a peacemaker.

Fortunately, the two of them were also very hungry, so they obediently followed Arima Kenji downstairs.

"Wow! It's actually really delicious! Is this mainland cuisine? The taste is a bit strange, but I really like it!" Tsubaki Sawabe exclaimed.

Although Arima Kousei didn't say anything, his actions proved that he also quite liked the dishes.

"But speaking of which, this dish and this soup look so similar!"

This flaw was still pointed out, and Yu Ma Xian Dong was a little embarrassed. He waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about such details. As long as it tastes good, that's all that matters."

The three of them, working at full speed, devoured all the food, and before long, only empty plates and bowls remained on the table.

"I'll take care of cooking, so I'll leave the dishwashing to you, Kousei."

Arima Kento no longer pursued the flag that Arima Kousei had set before, as long as he cleaned up the kitchen.

"No problem, leave it to me! Xian Dong, you can rest!"

Arima Kousei had no idea that the kitchen had been turned into a mess. He thought that Arima Kenjiro, who was good at cooking, wouldn't have such a mess in the kitchen.

So what's the point of cleaning this up?

Chapter Sixteen: Xianxia Novel

Arima Kousei carried the bowls and chopsticks toward the kitchen. Arima Kento knew it was time to slip away; he didn't want to be lectured by his somewhat old-fashioned older brother later.

"Xiaochun, if you're bored, you can watch TV or grab some snacks from the fridge. I'm going back to my room; I have something to take care of."

Arima Kento looked at Sawabe Tsubaki, who was sitting on the sofa drinking juice with a 'satisfied' expression, and Sawabe smiled and nodded at him, then showed his teeth and said, "Yeah, I know, Kento, I don't consider myself an outsider!"

"Ok!"

Tap tap tap, click!

After entering his room, Ma Xiandong immediately locked the door, knowing that Ma Gongsheng might come to settle scores with him later.

I sat down and turned on the computer. Before Tsubaki Sawabe came to my house, the internet company had already come by. They were very efficient and had installed the network cable and set up the router and everything else before Arima Kenjiro and Arima Kousei started arguing.

The so-called top-of-the-line computer refers to the highest configuration that Ma Xiandong saw in the nearby electronics store. He didn't know the exact configuration, but the brand of the computer seemed to be the 'Alienware' series, so it should be correct!

He powered on the laptop and entered his information. Ma Xiandong discovered that, as expected of the high-end laptop he had purchased at a high price, it booted up in just five seconds and even supported fingerprint unlocking.

After connecting to the home Wi-Fi, Yu Ma Xian Dong opened the world's online store.

He had already done a detailed investigation beforehand, and none of the popular works from his previous life were here. The popular online novels in this world were all fantasy, urban, historical, and other similar genres of the "pretending to be cool and slapping in the face" style.

The once-popular Xianxia genre is now a minor category, with very few masterpieces; it has almost been overtaken by Xuanhuan (fantasy).

How could this be allowed?! As a devoted fan of fantasy novels, he couldn't let this happen. Although he read other novels and enjoyed other niche genres, fantasy was still his favorite. So he decided to focus solely on the fantasy genre and put everything else aside for now.

After all, a person's energy is limited. Even with so many popular novels, it's impossible for him to bring them all to this world! He doesn't have the strength of a tentacle monster; he's lucky if he can type three thousand words an hour.

However, if he were willing to follow the original work exactly, then there would be no problem. But the problem is that he is not willing to do so, so a speed of 3,000 km/h is fine, but any faster would be asking too much of him.

With the major categories already decided, what to rewrite is a question worth exploring and considering.

Writing novels is not just out of interest, but also with a purpose. So what kind of book can one write to become a literary sensation and gain enough fame?

The answer is obviously Wang Pang's "A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality". This novel pioneered the genre of Xianxia (fantasy martial arts) novels and is also a model of becoming a god with a single book.

The only problem was that the book couldn't get a contract when it reached 300,000 words, but it gradually became popular afterward.

Suddenly, a question came to his mind: he had heard that although "A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" was signed a little late, its data was already amazing before the contract was signed, even better than some books recommended by a single online platform.

The contract was delayed simply because the censorship standards for fantasy novels were high at the time. In other words, their books have always been top-notch!

Then there's no problem.

So, Arima Kento first opened his email and started writing an outline. With his superhuman abilities, he quickly wrote a rough framework, and then filled in the detailed outline.

He uses an email address because of a lost manuscript incident that happened in his previous life.

Due to computer and network problems, he lost his manuscripts several times. The worst time was when he lost 50,000 words of his saved manuscript, which forced him to rack his brains to write another 50,000 words.

Unlike other genres, online novels are not easy for authors to forget after writing them once. So, he wrote two versions of that part of the plot, even though one of them was lost.

It's so painful!

After that, he developed the habit of using email to write, so that even if the computer or the network broke down, as long as he knew the account and password, the manuscript would not be lost.

Unlike other online writers who have to slowly think, accumulate knowledge, and then fill in the framework, Arima Xiandong doesn't need to write outlines. He already knows all the plot points, so he only needs to put these abbreviated outlines into the framework.

He was writing intently in his room, clearly having forgotten the harm he had just caused: the black, sticky stuff stuck to the bottom of the pot, which we'll call 'braised eggplant' for now.

Arima Kousei came to the kitchen and began washing the dishes. He often did this kind of work, so it was no stranger to him. He was quick and efficient, and soon he had finished washing all the dishes.

Now all you need to do is wash the rice cooker and the wok.

Feeling bored being alone in the living room, Tsubaki Sawabe took two jellies to the kitchen, opened one, and prepared to 'attack' Kousei Arima.

Just then, Arima Kousei opened the wok and exclaimed "Wow!" Seizing the opportunity, Sawabe Tsubaki glided in front of Arima Kousei and poured the jelly into his open mouth with a "whoosh".

"Yay!! The jelly-feeding plan was a success!!"

"Cough cough cough... Tsubaki, are you trying to choke me to death?!" Arima Kousei coughed twice. He swallowed the jelly, but the juice from the jelly got stuck in his throat, which triggered the cough.

Sawabe Tsubaki patted Arima Kousei's back with some concern, and was relieved to see that he was alright.

At that moment, Tsubaki Sawabe saw what was in the pot, something that surprised Kousei Arima. "Wow! What is this... Kousei! Are you trying to choke me to death?"

As fate would have it, while Sawabe Tsubaki was still in shock, Arima Kousei took Sawabe Tsubaki's jelly, opened it, and threw it into her mouth as his revenge.

"I'm just repeating what you just did. But this thing is probably a product of Xian Dong's failed cooking! Anyway, just clean it up."

"Ah~ I see. I was wondering why Hito was in such a hurry to go back to his room and even locked the door. It was because of this 'black paste'!" Tsubaki Sawabe said, recalling Hito's actions.

"Honestly, I won't hold it against him, after all, he's a chef!" Kousei Arima said with stars in his eyes, "From now on, all the cooking in my family will depend on Hitoshi! So I won't offend him!"

Seeing the somewhat disdainful look on Tsubaki Sawabe's face, Kousei Arima quickly added, "Of course, it's before and after he cooks."

After tidying up the kitchen, Tsubaki Sawabe prepared to leave. It was already completely dark outside, so she had to hurry back, even though her own home was just next door.