Tokyo Love Story

"Fortunately Miao made preparations in advance, otherwise..."

Sitting in front of the grill, Tsugumi Seina, wearing an apron, raised her eyebrows and looked at Kashiwamoto Shiori beside her in the light of the outdoor lights on the rooftop.

The girl was raising her eyebrows at this moment, looking thoughtfully towards the downtown area which was not far from the villa area and where she could clearly see the bright lights of the city.

The more nights like this, the more clearly one can tell where the 'city that never sleeps' is.

"otherwise?"

Kitagawa Che, who was sitting next to Tsuchiya Serina, bent down, took out a handful of skewered beef from the iron tray, and handed it to the female neighbor.

In fact, if possible, he didn't want Tsugumi Seina to take over the position of barbecue chef.

It’s not that he likes working, but he is really not confident about Tsuchiya Serina’s level.

It just so happened that Sister Lina was stubborn at times like this, and no matter how he tried to persuade her, she always retorted in very standard Chinese, "When a man has not been away for three days, he should be treated with new eyes."

Take what she added later, for example, today she wanted to show off her skills and demonstrate her unique abilities to everyone, to see how much progress she had made during this period of time.

Now that things have come to this, what else can he say?

I can only remain silent.

He still felt uneasy if he was just asked to wait there seriously.

Yes, with barbecue, as long as you can tell whether the meat is cooked or not, you can solve most of the problems, so you don't have to cook in the bathroom after eating it. But Kitagawa Che thinks he still has to be cautious. In other words, if there is someone watching over Tsuchiya, things won't go wrong so easily.

"We are already growling with hunger."

Tsugumi Seina withdrew her gaze, took the handful of beef handed to her by Kitagawa Tetsu, and put it on the grill properly.

The last time the school had a BBQ, she showed off her skills in front of Ai. Although she still didn't quite understand how to grill seasonal vegetables, she had already passed the test when it came to meat.

To be fair, the grilling technique itself is not difficult, but knowing how to control the heat and how to grill some difficult-to-grill ingredients requires a certain degree of experience.

In her opinion, barbecue is much easier than cooking.

"Speaking of this." Kitagawa Che paused and teased Tsugumi Makoto, "Sister Rina, you ate a lot of snacks just now. Can you still eat more later?"

But joking aside, seriously speaking, he can still understand Tsuchiya Serina. The taste of the dim sum made by Miao is quite good and has reached the standard of dim sum shops outside.

If he hadn't repeatedly reminded himself to eat less sweets, he might have become a fan of Miao Dim Sum.

"You underestimate me." Tsugumi Seirina pouted, "Those snacks are just to fill my stomach."

According to her own expectations, after the barbecue is done, the ideal situation would be for her to sit here and eat while it's grilling.

"Then it's up to you to perform later!"

Beichuan Che also picked up a barbecue and started grilling calmly.

Because we were having a barbecue at home, the amount of seasoning we put on the food was a little more than that time we had a barbecue at school. But if you calculate it carefully, it’s not that much more. The worst that can happen is that you will just need to sprinkle less seasoning on it later.

"no problem."

Tsugumi Seina blinked and turned over the beef skewers in front of her.

A 'hissing' sound followed.

The aroma of beef mixed with the aroma of fat rushed into her nostrils.

Gudong.

Subconsciously, she swallowed.

God knows how Beichuan Che added the seasoning in the afternoon. The aroma of the beef today was at least one level better than the beef at the BBQ buffet at school that day. Just smelling it made her appetite grow.

"No one should compete with you for it later."

Kitagawa Che teased Tsuchiya Seina.

“How do you season it?”

But obviously, Tsugumi Makina did not respond to his teasing as she did in the past, but asked the question seriously.

"It's just normal barbecue seasoning. The biggest difference is probably that I use a bit more heavy-handed."

Beichuan Che turned over the beef skewers he was grilling and gave his answer in a natural tone.

Compared to the Japanese barbecue method that focuses more on retaining the original flavor of the food, his barbecue, whether it is the material or the coating, is much more ruthless. Although it is still not as exaggerated as the Sichuan barbecue, relatively speaking, the taste is much stronger.

The advantage is that it can bring out enough fragrance as much as possible without being too spicy. The disadvantage is that as a time traveler, he always feels that it is not tasty enough and is a little bland.

All right. "

Hearing this, Rina Toshima fell silent.

Beichuan Che's answer made her fall into a brief silence.

She knew that Ache was telling the truth, but the problem was that it was still a little far from the answer she imagined.

"By the way, did you give Shiori's birthday present in advance, Sister Rina?"

Beichuan Che did not dwell on this topic for long. He picked up the bottle of seasoning beside him, opened the lid, and skillfully sprinkled some on the beef skewers.

"Let me use it, too."

Tsuchigumi Seina stretched out her hand and motioned to Kitagawa Che to give her the seasoning bottle.

"This is a spicy seasoning. I personally recommend that you don't add too much."

Kitagawa Che handed the seasoning bottle to Tsuchiya Seina, and only after the latter took it did he focus his attention back on what was in front of him.

"I know it well."

Tsuchiya Seina pursed her lips, somewhat dissatisfied with Kitagawa Che's excessive worry, but her body followed his instructions quite honestly, and she was very careful when sprinkling the seasoning, fearing that she would sprinkle too much.

As one of the long-term guests of the Beichuan family, she knew very well that Ache would not exaggerate on such matters.

If I really did the same as him and sprinkled that amount of spicy cumin seasoning, then the skewers in my hand would probably become something that people would both love and hate.

——The love is that the spicy taste really stimulates people's taste buds, the hate is that the spicy taste is too strong, which directly leads to a cup of tea and a skewer of skewers.

"Here." Tsugumi Seirina handed the seasoning bottle back, "And as for the question you asked, as for the gift, I gave it to you in advance."

Just like her explanation to Shiori Kashiwamoto.

She didn't want to wait in line for Kashiwagen Shiori in the early hours of the morning.

"Leave that over there. I have another bottle here." Beichuan Che pulled out a bottle of prepared seasoning from the tool bag beside him as if performing a magic trick. "So, what did you give me?"

"Perfume." Tsugumi Seirinai paused and explained, "Ai recommended it to me. It smells nice and not too strong."

She knew that Beichuan Che understood her personality, so she knew very well that even if she didn't explain, he would ask.

Instead of leaving the answer halfway and waiting for him to ask, it is better to say it in advance.

"Then Shiori should like this gift very much, right?"

Beichuan Che mentioned this thoughtfully.

He knew something about Shiori Kashiwamoto's preferences.

"Hmm." Tsugumi Seina nodded, then turned around and looked at him with a smile, "So, I've told you the gift I'm going to give, so in exchange, shouldn't you also tell me what you're going to give?"

She was very interested in this, but someone had done a very good job of keeping it a secret, and no matter how much she tried to ask, she couldn't get any information.

This caused her curiosity to grow even more, and she felt like a cat was scratching her heart, making it itchy.

It just so happened that Beichuan Che was a person who would only respond to soft words and not to hard ones, so she was completely helpless.

"If you reveal the answer in advance, the surprise will lose its original attributes."

Beichuan Che said this meaningfully, then turned over his skewers.

"It's very cunning of you to say that."

Tsugumi Seirina pursed her lips and wanted to reach out and tap him lightly as a "demonstration", but after raising her hand and hesitating for a moment, she put it down.

It wasn't because she felt it was inappropriate that she didn't do it, but at the moment, her hands were oily and it would be inappropriate to rub them on Beichuan Che's clothes.

After all, it was Ejima Tadashi who did the laundry, and there was no need for her to add to the workload of this girl who was so nice to her.

"After all, I want to keep a certain degree of surprise."

Beichuan Che laughed and changed the subject.

In a sense, the gift he gave was quite masculine, not romantic at all, and not at all girly, but as for the gift itself, it was in line with Shiori Kashiwamoto's requirements.

"So I say, you are really cunning!"

Tsugumi Seirina shook her head and looked at the guy helplessly.

"If you don't turn your skewers over, they'll get overcooked."

Beichuan Che reminded her.

This is the easiest but also the most troublesome part for a barbecue chef. An experienced barbecue chef will often not flip the fish over very diligently. He will take advantage of the gap in the middle to put the meat skewers on the grill, then light a cigarette, touch the fish, and then look at the right time to flip it over.

The advantage of doing this is that you can reasonably take out time to slack off, without having to concentrate all the time. The disadvantage is that even if you are slacking off, you need to keep a certain amount of attention there, and you can't just slack off.

oh!"

Hearing this, Tsugumi Seina turned over her skewer reflexively.

After lowering her eyebrows and confirming the shiny beef with a very clear sizzling sound, she heaved a sigh of relief.

As Beichuan Che said, if she had been distracted for another half a minute, this thing would have been burnt.

"If you want to have a good barbecue, you need to make good use of your slacking time." Beichuan Che raised his eyebrows and looked at the night sky of the city. "In short, you can't delay slacking off or doing business."

I’m not sure if it’s because of the drizzle last night, but the sky is quite clear tonight. Even in the city, you can see the starry sky above your head.

"What you said..."

Tsuchiya Seina chuckled helplessly. She could understand what Ache meant, but when he said this with a relaxed look on his face, it inexplicably had a comedic effect.

"Oh, right." She coughed lightly, her eyes falling on Ejima Tae and Kitaen Rin who were busy on the picnic mat not far away. "Ache, please sing a song for me, just a cappella."

What do you want to hear?

Beichuan Che didn't think it was a big deal to sing at this time.

"Wow!" Tsugumi Seina withdrew her gaze from that direction, turned around, and raised her eyebrows at Kitagawa Che, "So confident?"

"Yes."

Beichuan Che nodded and gave an affirmative answer.

There's nothing wrong in showing off your skills in front of this neighbor girl occasionally.

"I want to hear new songs you haven't sung before."

Rina Toshima blinked.

Since Ache has already asked for it, she will have to give him some strength.

Of course, if he really couldn't sing, she had already thought of how to give him a way out.

"Sure." Kitagawa Che thought about it for a while, and for no reason he remembered that classic sad love song. He turned his head and looked at Tsuchiya Seina, and reminded her, "But this song is in Chinese."

"no problem!"

Even if she didn't understand the lyrics, she could understand the melody of the song.

Moreover, in order to save her "face", she has been studying Chinese intensively for a period of time. Although speaking is still a little difficult, listening is probably not a big problem now.

"That's fine."

Beichuan Che lowered his head and put the grilled beef skewers into the stainless steel plate beside him, then grabbed a handful of pork belly and put it on the grill.

Then, following his memory, he hummed softly.

The Prince of Love Songs, Jeff Chang, has many classic songs, but his favorite one is not his popular song "Love Like Tide", but the relatively less popular "Want to Love You So Much".

The reason why classics are classics is that no matter when you listen to them, they will never feel outdated.

Seeing that her skewers were almost cooked, Tsugumi Seina placed the grilled beef skewers on the stainless steel plate on her side, then pricked up her ears and listened attentively.

As Kitagawa Che's neighbor and someone who has watched him grow up, she knows very well that his singing skills have improved visibly. Coupled with his unique voice, those love songs of his can only shine with a refreshing charm.

Following his singing, she closed her eyes comfortably and gradually immersed herself in the emotions of the song.

In Beichuan Che's singing, she saw a man who was humming softly on the stage of a bar, who had drunk some wine but was still conscious.

There is no weeping or excessive expression, and there is no mention of blood dripping from every word or surging emotions, but it is still so moving.

Maybe his voice is not so perfect, and the lyrics are not so "sentimental", but the emotions that fit the atmosphere very well at this moment bring the song to its extreme.