Afterward, Erina's eyes grew hazy, as if tears were about to fall.
But due to her reserved and strong-willed nature, she quickly held back her tears.
Perhaps.
Regarding her mother, Nagiri Mana.
She harbored a kind of hatred, yet deep down, she still longed for the 'love' from a mother, just like everyone else.
Countless nights, she wished she could lie in her mother's arms and fall asleep peacefully!
But for her, such a thing was ultimately a luxury.
Finally, she couldn't help but lower her head to look at the empty ceramic bowl, and Erina's thoughts became complicated.
If one day she were to truly meet her mother again, how should she face her?
And could the rift between mother and daughter still be mended and repaired?
Clearly, on these questions, no one could give a correct answer!
...
"Interesting."
"A simple Oyakodon."
"It actually made Erina reveal such a pained and distressed expression, almost making her cry in the end!"
Rindo quietly watched all of this, then couldn't help but sigh deeply.
In this world, is there really a dish that can move people to tears just by eating it?
The answer is definitely yes.
If it's merely pure tears, that's very simple; many spicy dishes can make diners cry from the heat!
There's also a type where the dish itself has no story and won't evoke any memories, but its power lies in triggering 'resonance,' for example: it's rare, precious, and eating it brings a sense of guilt, and so on!
Of course, what resonates with most people even more is:
Expense!
Dishes costing thousands or tens of thousands of yen.
For many people, it can truly make them 'cry' from the cost.
And in Rindo's eyes, the dishes made by Sosuke themselves didn't have many stories.
But his dishes were definitely the most heartwarming food in the world, often filled with a lot of 'love.'
Every time, any hungry diner who came to the Izakaya would feel a strong sense of happiness from his dishes!
In fact.
Many 'feelings' are cultivated through eating.
The feelings from drinking coffee together and eating skewers together are definitely different.
It's like the difference between friends on social media and old classmates; one shares prosperity, the other shares adversity!
Even Longdan, whenever she passed by some restaurants, she couldn't help but sniff, not to smell the aroma of barbecue, but to recall the classmates she used to eat with!
Therefore, she fully believed that Sosuke's dishes would subtly influence many people.
She just couldn't understand why Sosuke would specifically try to influence Erina repeatedly through cooking.
...
"Here!"
"Wipe your mouth with this!"
Seeing a grain of rice and some oil residue still on Erina's lips.
Sosuke suppressed the smile in his heart and quickly took out a clean silk handkerchief.
"Tha... thank you."
Erina, who had slowly calmed down, had a slight blush on her cheeks.
She quickly took the silk handkerchief from Sosuke's hand, and after elegantly wiping her mouth, she heard Sosuke say, "How was it? This Oyakodon."
"It was alright."
Erina replied without hesitation.
"Just 'alright'? Didn't it make you recall anything?"
Sosuke crossed his arms over his chest, then lowered his head and looked at Erina.
Perhaps his words made her involuntarily think of Nagiri Mana again, causing her watery eyes to immediately lose their original luster and dim!
It seemed that just mentioning her mother made her heart ache terribly.
"Anorexia."
"Is it really that terrifying?"
A dejected Erina softly continued, "Sosuke, on this matter, can you... can you tell me?"
...
"Eat."
"Vomit."
"Eat again."
"Vomit again."
"Imagine, when you collapse by the toilet for the 10th time, it's already deep into the night."
"Your throat burns like fire from vomiting, and the intense stomach pain extends to your back, reaching your heart!"
"Then you can't stand the pain anymore and swear you'll eat well tomorrow and promise never to vomit again."
"But every day that follows, you still struggle in the cycle of eating and vomiting. So, the pain brought by anorexia is truly beyond what ordinary people can imagine."
Sosuke looked deeply at Erina, then said faintly.
"Even so, my... my mother shouldn't have run away from home, and she certainly shouldn't have abandoned me."
Listening to Sosuke's explanation, Erina still couldn't accept it.
In Nakiri's history, two consecutive generations having the God Tongue was very rare, but precisely because of this, theoretically, Erina should have been better able to understand her mother's pain.
However, things turned out unexpectedly; Erina only knew that when she was young.
She lost her mother, she lost maternal love, and who could understand the misfortunes of her childhood?
"It seems."
"You still don't understand."
"Actually, your mother has already come to Japan and has tasted my dishes here at the Izakaya!"
"When I saw her, her physical condition was already on the verge of exhaustion, barely sustained by nutrient solutions every day."
"These years, the curse of the God Tongue would naturally destine her to live a very difficult life."
"She could have ended it all with death, but if she couldn't find a dish to conquer the God Tongue before her death, then your fate would be just like hers."
"Therefore, perhaps for your sake, she dragged her weakened body away from home, traveling all over the world."
"After all, she could endure the pain brought by the God Tongue, and she could commit suicide immediately, but she absolutely did not want to see you repeat her mistakes and become the second Nagiri Mana!"
Finally, Sosuke honestly told Erina the purpose of wanting to make the Oyakodon.
...
Actually.
Many things have two sides.
Most people often only see the ugly, or only the beautiful side, but ignore the opposing aspect.
And if this emotional knot cannot be completely untied, then Erina will still have an extremely poor relationship with her mother, just like in the original story, even to the point where they would argue as soon as they met!
Confusion.
Astonishment.
Bewilderment.
Fear.
Upon hearing that Nagiri Mana had already appeared at the Izakaya.
The expression on Erina's face kept changing.
She hadn't expected that her mother, whose identity was already a Special Executive Officer of the WGO Gourmet Organization, had actually returned!
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