Chapter 175: Latte Art and Bento Box
Chapter 175: Latte Art and Bento Box
When Shishio thought of the instant coffee that he always had drunk in the past week, he had always missed his real coffee. It was also the reason why he asked Roberta to help him buy a coffee machine. He had money, especially after he had won a lot of money when he bet on himself on the Kengan Match before.
Shishio checked the coffee machine directly, took out some coffee beans, and some milk from the fridge. Then, he put some of the coffee beans into the coffee grinder and turned it on.
“!!!”
The loud sound of the grinder caused everyone to awaken. After all, the scene where Shishio checked the coffee machine was too shocking for them. It wasn’t that they hadn’t seen a coffee machine, but the way he used the coffee machine was too shocking, and it was as if he had used the machine thousands of times, making them feel as if they had seen a master barista.
Japan is a country with very popular coffee culture.
It might not be related, but Japan imported 80% of the Blue Mountain coffee (best coffee globally). Not only was coffee popular among adults and older people, but even a youngster also loved to drink coffee since by drinking black coffee (espresso), some children thought that they could become an adult, which was why coffee was very popular even among children.
If Shishio wasn’t wrong, even the previous Shishio Oga had always drunk a black coffee without sugar since it would make him cool, showing how popular coffee was even among Chuunibyou.
“Espresso or latter art, which one do you want?” Shishio asked, looking at everyone in the dining room.
“Latte art?” Everyone knew about espresso since most of them often drank it, but they weren’t sure about latte art.
Shishio wasn’t surprised by their reaction since latte art wasn’t that popular in 2005, and it wasn’t until later that it would become popular in the future. “In simple terms, I’ll draw something on the cup of coffee. Do you want to try it?”
“Drawing?!” They were dumbfounded.
“Drawing on the coffee?” Shiina was very interested in this matter since she had never seen one, so she looked at Shishio’s coffee cup curiously.
“Do you want some, Mashiro?” Shishio asked.
Shiina thought for a while before asked, “…Is it sweet?” She remembered that the taste of the coffee was very bitter, and she didn’t really like it.
“It isn’t sweet, but it isn’t that bitter,” Shishio said, telling the truth to Shiina.
“……” Shiina.
“I want it! I want it, Shishio!” Misaki raised her hand without hesitation.
Shishio nodded and said, “Wait a moment, I’ll prepare one for you.” So without hesitation, he took the portafilter of the coffee machine and put some of the coffee on it before he pressed it with a tamper with his arm, creating 90 degrees of angle.
The process was like art, and everyone was entranced by his ability.
Shishio then connected the portafilter to the coffee machine, placing a cup below. Next, he started to make an espresso through the machine.
The moment the espresso was made, the aroma of coffee permeated through the room, which somehow relaxed them. The smell of the coffee had always been nice, and everyone couldn’t help but raise their noses to smell this smell better.
While waiting for the espresso to be ready, Shishio poured some milk on the milk pitcher before he put the steam wand on the coffee machine to create a microfoam.
Microfoam is finely textured milk used to make espresso-based coffee drinks, particularly those with latte art. It is typically made with the steam wand of an espresso machine, which pumps steam into a pitcher of milk. It is shiny, slightly thickened, and should have microscopic, uniform bubbles. It is not as viscous or “foamy” as macrofoam, and it is better described as “gooey” and resembles melted marshmallows or wet paint.
Looking at Shishio, they felt curious and stood up, watching from a close distance.
When the microfoam and the espresso were ready, Shishio looked at Misaki and asked, “Misaki-senpai, what kind of picture do you want to be made on your coffee?”
“Eh?” Misaki was startled, then she thought for a while before she said with a smile, “Heart! I want a heart shape!”
“…..” Ritsu, Chihiro, Shiina, and Shiro-san.
Shishio looked at Misaki for a while and nodded. “Good.”
“…”
They wanted to stay something but stopped when they saw how smooth his movement was when Shishio poured the microfoam on the espresso. His movement was like art itself, gently pouring the microfoam, creating a heart shape on the surface of the coffee. He then presented the latter art in front of everyone and said, “Done.”
“….”
Misaki was stunned and somehow blushed lightly, but when she was about to take her coffee, suddenly…
“I’m late! I’m late!” Mayumi quickly entered the dining room and asked, “Shishio, do you have bread?”
“….” Shishio looked at Mayumi speechlessly, wondering whether this woman wanted to recreate the cliche shoujo manga plot when a cute girl crashed into a handsome transfer student with bread on her mouth. “I don’t have bread, but I have onigiri.”
“Good!” Mayumi nodded and felt relief. She felt a bit thirsty, then grabbed the heart-shaped coffee from the table directly, then stunned for a bit. She looked at Shishio with a smile and said, “Hey, are you confessing to me with this coffee?” She then ran the coffee with a sip, then felt that her eyes were wide open. “Damn, it is so good!”
“….”
“It seems that you haven’t woken up from your dream, Mayumi-san,” Shishio said calmly while creating an onigiri for Mayumi.
Looking at Mayumi, who drank her coffee, even though Misaki had a very good temper, she couldn’t control her emotion at this moment. “Mayumi-san!!!!”
Hearing Misaki’s loud voice, Shishio had to admit that today Sakurasou was very peaceful.
—
The morning was quite peaceful, and after the coffee incident, Shishio, as usual, walked to the school together with Shiina and Ritsu.
“Oga-kun, when did you learn to make coffee?” Ritsu asked curiously.
“Well, I learned it by chance from a random coffee shop in Kyoto,” Shishio said simply.
“Did you learn the coffee art from that random coffee shop too?” Ritsu asked.
“No.” Shishio shook his head and explained. “As for latte art, I had learned it by chance when I browsed the internet. It felt interesting, so I learned it by myself. The result wasn’t bad, right?”
“Um, it is really amazing…” Ritsu had to admit that a genius was really different, but she didn’t feel that much surprised when she thought about Shishio’s painting skill.
“Shishio, can you teach me?” Shiina asked since she felt that it was interesting to draw on the coffee.
“Sure.” Shishio nodded, but then he noticed someone familiar when he was about to pass the convenience store near the school. Of course, this wasn’t the convenience store where he met Rui, but rather a different convenience store, but he had to admit that the number of convenience stores in this country was a lot, so a lot that he might find two or three of them on each of the streets in Tokyo.
Looking at the swaying brown ponytail in front of the convenience store, Shishio saw that there was something wrong and said, “Mashiro, Kawai-senpai, I’ll leave you two for a bit.”
“Huh?” Ritsu was confused, and Shiina was in a daze, but then, their eyes were wide open when they saw Shishio caught an unfamiliar girl that they had never seen before.
‘This guy…’ Ritsu was wondering how many beautiful girls that Shishio knew.
—
In the morning, when Nanami had just woken up, the convenience store manager where she worked suddenly called her out and asked her to help in the early morning. She was so tired since she just had her part-time job last night, and she also practiced until late, but then suddenly, in the morning, she was asked to work.
Nanami wanted to refuse since she was very tired. Still, there was no way for her to refuse, considering the convenience store where she worked was quite near her school, so she didn’t want to change her job just because the manager of the convenience store had a bad impression on her so even if it was hard, she gritted her teeth and came to work.
Nanami worked for a few hours, and her job was about to end since she would go to school soon. So the only thing that she needed to do was to throw out the trash on the outside, but when she was about to grab the trash bag, she felt that her head was dizzy and she lost her balance, but when she was about to fall, her shoulders were grabbed by someone.
“Aoyama-san, are you alright?”
Nanami was surprised when she heard this voice. She quickly turned her head and didn’t expect to see him here. “O – Oga-kun?!”
“Are you alright?” Shishio asked in concern.
“I – I’m alright! You don’t need to worry!” Nanami quickly stood up with a blush on her face and showed that she was alright, but then…
*Growl!*
“…..”
Nanami blushed and lowered her head in embarrassment. Now, she understood why she was a bit dizzy, and it was because she hadn’t eaten anything!
Shishio looked at Nanami and felt that this girl was working too hard, right?
“Shishio.”
Shishio turned and saw Ritsu and Shiina, who walked toward him. “Mashiro, Kawai-senpai.”
Nanami also looked at Ritsu and Shiina, and she was surprised at how beautiful the two were. In truth, she had seen both of them in the class since both of them had asked where Shishio was, but she had never known their identity, and at the same time, she was wondering how they could go to the school together?
Shishio looked at Nanami’s expression and said, “We’re the same tenant from Sakurasou, Aoyama-san.” He then looked at Shiina and Ritsu, then introduced Nanami. “Senpai, Mashiro. This is Aoyama Nanami. She’s my classmate.”
“Ah, N – Nice to meet you!” Nanami bowed her head slightly, introducing herself to both of them.
“Nice to meet you, Aoyama-san. I’m Ritsu Kawai,” Kawai introduced herself.
“Shiina Mashiro,” Shiina said.
Shishio then looked at Nanami and asked, “Do you need my help, Aoyama-san?”
“No, no, I can’t ask your help, this is my job, if you help me, then the manager might say something to me,” Nanami quickly refused when Shishio offered his help, but even if she refused, she felt warm inside.
“…” Shishio looked at Nanami and took out the bento box that he had brought before. Inside, there was only a normal grilled onigiri that he had by chance since he made one for Mayumi before, so he made some of them for himself at school, but he gave it to Nanami. “Aoyama-san, even if you refuse my help, you can take this.”
“This is…?” Nanami was surprised when she saw Shishio take out a bento box.
“There’s an onigiri there. You can eat it in the break room inside the convenience store.” Shishio took Nanami’s hand and placed the bento box on her hand.
“No, no, how can I ta—” Nanami was about to say something, but the manager called her.
“Aoyama-san, have you thrown the trash?”
“Ah, yes, wait a moment!” Nanami quickly responded, but then she saw Shishio had left with both Shiina and Ritsu. “Oga-kun!” She quickly called out his name.
“Eat it!” Shishio turned, looked at Nanami, and said, “We have PE later. If you pass out, are you going to skip on the infirmary again?” He knew how stubborn this girl was. If she wasn’t stubborn, then she wouldn’t run away from Osaka to Tokyo alone, so rather than force himself to help, it was better to support her slowly until she got used to his support, but looking at how she abused her body so she could achieve her dream, he just couldn’t bear it and might as well take her in the future.
Looking at his teasing smile, Nanami somehow remembered the time when they were together on the infirmary and couldn’t help but blush. She looked at the bento box again, and after a moment of hesitation, she decided to accept it since she needed to do her job as soon as possible.
—
When Shishio had walked away, Ritsu asked, “Oga-kun, that girl…?” She was wondering what was wrong with Nanami.
Shiina also looked at Shishio curiously, wondering about Nanami.
“Well, she just works hard to achieve her dream. As for the rest, I can’t say much,” Shishio said with a light smile since he knew that it wasn’t good to talk about someone behind their backs. However, he felt that he needed to keep what he had talked about with Nanami before unless Nanami permitted him or she was the one who gave the initiative to talk.
Ritsu and Shiina looked at Shishio for a bit, then nodded. They didn’t know much about Nanami, and they knew that it was a bit rude to talk to someone behind their backs.
“Her dream?” Shiina asked.
“It’s Seiyuu.” Shishio looked at Shiina and said, “If your manga is made into an anime, then Aoyama-san might become a voice actress on one of the characters.”
“Will my manga be made into an anime?” Shiina asked curiously.
“You don’t want your manga to be made into an anime?” Shishio asked curiously.
Shiina thought for a while and wasn’t sure how to answer since she had never thought about this possibility before.
“Well, you don’t need to think too much. All you need to think about is how your manga will be accepted by your editor and serialized for now,” Shishio said.
“Um.” Shiina nodded.
—
Nanami, who had changed into her uniform in the break room, opened the bento box that Shishio gave. She looked at the onigiris inside and couldn’t help but be stunned when she saw how delicious it seemed. ‘Did Oga-kun make it?’ Somehow, she felt that her femininity was hit hard when she thought Shishio might cook better than her.
Nanami looked at the onigiris for a while before she gulped since she knew that she was starving at that moment. Then, she hesitated again for a while before she ate it since she just couldn’t handle how hungry she was.
“…….”
“…It’s salty,” Nanami said in a low voice, but her mouth didn’t stop, and she continued to eat. However, she didn’t realize that her tears were dripping from her eyes at this moment, feeling the warmth that she longed for, which made her crave the onigiri even more. She took other onigiris, and before long, she saw that the bento box was empty. Looking at the bento box for a while, she quickly wiped the tears on her eyes, feeling very complex since she knew that even though sometimes, it was impossible, and it might not bear fruit, but she just couldn’t help it.