Tokyo: Who would still fall in love after being spoiled?

Chapter 63: Amano's Salty Cheese Cookies - No Price Yet

Ten minutes later, magician Inoue and policeman Amano had reconciled their differences and gathered the children together to play a duet in the music classroom.

Before leaving last time, Natori prepared some simple music teaching materials and some music scores for the children who were interested.

The children gathered together and played all sorts of different instruments - flutes, accordions, castanets...

Natori and Sakurai took turns playing the main melody one song after another and asked them to follow along; Amano took the opportunity to slack off and held the trumpet that he had snatched from some girl; he did his best to lead the kindergarten children who had not yet learned any musical instruments to clap along with the rhythm of the music.

It started with children's songs, such as "Stretch Your Hands to the Sun," "The Naughty Boy," and "North Wind Little Monk Kantaro"...

Later, Amano suddenly took over the main melody and played "Pigeons and Boys".

Natori was stunned for a moment, then began to play the piano.

The chorus theme suddenly changed to a special feature on Hayao Miyazaki.

Blowing and turning into wind, always together, playing Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo on the Cliff... Children who can sing join in the ensemble, and those who can't sing hum along.

He was also one of those children who couldn't sing. He sat by the shore of the ensemble's sound, watching the waves surge and surge, carrying the boats far away and far away...

"Can Brother Inoue play the accordion?" The girl who had just watched him perform magic tricks brought the huge accordion with some difficulty.

"Is Brother Inoue a wanted criminal or a good man?" he asked first.

"Hmm..." The girl was in a dilemma. "Can't he be a wanted criminal and also a good person?"

It’s all Amano’s fault. He corrupted the girl’s sense of good and evil so early on!
"Brother won't, but..." He and the girl leaned in close and whispered, "Brother can secretly use magic again, but you must not tell Sister Amano."

"Okay~~!" The girl's eyes lit up and she agreed happily.

Now he is the same as Amano, who corrupted the children.

At the end of the trumpet piece, he played the accordion and snatched the main melody from Amano.

According to the music recommended by the system, the contrails are blown up and the country roads are blown up.

-1000 points

-1000 points

【…】

Just before eleven o'clock, the children were a little tired, so the chorus stopped and they gathered in groups of three or five.

Natori taught the children around her to play some simple piano melodies.

Sakurai clapped her hands and taught the child to sing.

Amano was slacking off again. He got up and left the music classroom, and no one knew where he went.

He played games with the kindergarten children until they got bored and left temporarily to go to the art classroom to get paintbrushes and paper.

He passed by the home economics classroom and smelled a special fragrance wafting towards him.

Amano was wearing an apron and had her long hair tied up high like when she was playing badminton in physical education class. She was busy running between the oven and the baking table.

"Cookies?" He walked closer to the oven and turned on the observation light inside the box. It looked like they were almost done.

"Two kinds, lemon icing and chocolate icing." Amano placed the soup pot on the stove.

The soup pot is filled with water that can cover the chocolate basin. The water temperature is controlled over low heat to melt the chocolate beans in the basin into a solution.

"Need help from the great Wizard Inoue?" He glanced at the oven timer and saw one minute left.

"Help me make a third kind of cookie?" Amano dipped the stirring stick into the chocolate bowl and poked the chocolate beans that had not yet fallen apart.

"Isn't the original flavor the third type?"

“Original flavor is not available.”

"That can't be made." He looked at the baking table. In a small bowl was a mixed lemon icing, with half a lemon left next to it. "But I can help with the taste test."

"Questioning my skills?" Amano stopped stirring and looked up at him.

Not even giving me a taste, how stingy.

"Only two?" he asked.

When I looked down through the corridor window, I saw a group of children led by a few older children playing football. The score was currently 2-1, and it looked very intense.

"We didn't prepare enough ingredients," Amano said, "so only the lucky kids who came to participate in the ensemble activities could eat it."

He stared at Amano's profile for a few seconds, unconsciously considering whether he should pay more attention to this person. Although Amano opposed him at every turn, he always understood the meaning of his words so quickly, which was strange.

Ding--

The oven will sound to indicate that the timer is complete.

He immediately put on scald-proof gloves and brought two plates of fragrant cookies to the baking table.

A plate has about sixty or seventy pieces, and every child in the art classroom can get about three or four pieces.

After it cooled down a little, he picked up a piece, lightly dipped it in lemon icing, and put it in his mouth.

It has a rich milky flavor, is crispy and delicate, and the lemon icing is just right.

He wants to eat another piece.

"Are you a child too?" Amano couldn't help asking when he saw him picking up another piece.

"I won't be an adult until the spring of next year, so why not?" He put the cookie he had just picked up back.

"Is it delicious?" Amano took the chocolate bowl out of the pot and asked again.

"It tastes better than those in many bakeries." He commented objectively and checked the prices in the points store.

[Amano's lemon cookies - no price yet]

Not for sale? Or maybe it's a limited edition item...

"Really..." Amano remained noncommittal. He held the chocolate bowl, tilted it, and poured a layer of chocolate solution onto the cookie he had just picked up. While the chocolate was still hot, he quickly moved to the next cookie...

With quick and clean movements, he drizzled almost the same amount of chocolate on each cookie on a baking tray. By the time he finished drizzling the last cookie, the crust of the first cookie had already dried.

"Then," Amano picked up the chocolate cookie, put it to his mouth, and said with a smile, "Can you allow Inoue to have another piece?" "..." It would be a waste not to eat it.

He reached out and took the cookie, popping it into his mouth.

[Amano's Chocolate Cookies - No Price Yet]

His system is really useless.

After the cookie incident, he stopped going to the art classroom to get his painting supplies. After the chocolate shells dried, he sprinkled another plate of cookies with lemon icing and helped Amano carry the cookies back to the music classroom to distribute to the children in the classroom.

At noon, I ate in the cafeteria with the children from the welfare home.

Children have three main dishes to choose from for lunch: udon noodles, curry rice, and fried noodles, which are also served with vegetables and a certain amount of pork, beef, or fish.

The workers and teachers at the welfare home also eat the same lunch as the children.

He was not full after one portion of curry rice, so he ordered a bowl of fried noodles, both of which tasted good.

While chatting during lunch, Natori said that the last time she came here, Amano wanted to buy some bread from the shop near the boarding house and bring it to the children to try, but unfortunately it was mentioned too late and the reservation could not be made.

Given Amano's baking skills and the impression he had of his identity, it wouldn't be difficult for him to contact a bakery with better quality. However, he insisted on buying from the one he usually ate at. He had a vague sense of Amano's thoughts, but he couldn't grasp them, and he was baffled.

In the afternoon, Amano and Natori tutored piano for middle and high school students; Sakurai went to the baseball field and pitched, but his technique didn't seem very good.

He remembered the painting of the girl with the low ponytail and went to the art room.

The watercolors on the canvas had already been altered more than halfway according to his instructions. She lay in the art room, curled up in a low ponytail with paint all over her face, her face peaceful and sound asleep...

This is how I spent a day in the welfare home.

Natori notified everyone to gather in the communication group. Amano walked lightly into the art room and called him. The three of them walked out of the activity building of the welfare home together in the sunset.

Bang——!
In the baseball field not far away, the ball thrown by Sakurai was once again easily hit away by the junior high school hitter.

"How?" Amano suddenly spoke, looking at him and asked.

"Not very tired." He came back to his senses and answered vaguely.

"I'm asking about your welfare home." Amano sighed.

They walked to the baseball field together to call Sakurai who was obsessed with baseball.

"Well... it's great..." The venue is large, the environment is nice, there are many activities, and the food is better than the cafeteria at Tottori Public Elementary School. "But there aren't many welfare homes with such conditions... even in Tokyo, right?"

"Hmm..." Amano fell silent.

"If we only count orphanages for abandoned children," Natori interrupted, "this is the best orphanage in Tokyo."

"Is that so..." He looked at the base runner running for the baseball, thinking something completely different from what Natori was thinking.

When they reached the baseball field, Natori waved to Sakurai as he ran over.

He and Amano stayed where they were.

It is a rare sunny day, the sky is vast and the sunset is distant.

"..." Amano noticed his gaze and looked with him toward the red and purple clouds in the sky. He spoke softly, "There are more than just children from Tokyo here."

"Really?" He was slightly stunned and turned to look at Amano's profile. His clear eyes reflected the warm yet passionate light of the sunset.

"Besides," Amano lowered his eyelids slightly, and withdrew his gaze from the horizon, looking towards the baseball field, "Even in Tokyo, there are so many orphanages, and each orphanage can have dozens or even hundreds of children..."

Whether the so-called "listening attentively" was just an empty talk of passion or idealism was not the point. He could truly feel Amano's vague yet real obsession or emotion.

"Some things are inevitable." He was silent for a moment until Natori and Sakurai said goodbye to the kids at the baseball field, and just said this with his Adam's apple rolling.

"Really..." The children also waved to them, and Amano raised his hand in response, saying goodbye on their behalf.

"And, if you think so, what about Natori-senpai and Sakurai-san?" He couldn't help but ask.

"So what if they don't think so..." Amano asked him in return, smiling calmly.

That smile under the sunset was like the sound of the piano on the day of the competition, and that profile under the light, breaking through the deep sea of his memory and sinking continuously... vaguely yet strongly imprinted somewhere, until the sea dried up and the rocks crumbled, and it became clearer and clearer.

【mission completed】

[Reward: 30000 points]

There are no such welfare homes in the countryside of Tottori. Orphans in the countryside are taken in by school teachers or relatives and neighbors.

There is one in Tottori City, but it only has simple dormitories and a canteen, as well as a fairly spacious playground.

He had been there at the invitation of his junior high school classmates, where they studied together in their rooms and ate a wide variety of lunch in the cafeteria.

No milk in the morning, no cookies or bread in the morning.

Only Tokyo.

Even Tokyo...

[Natori: So, have you made up your mind? Inoue-san, are you going to join us?]
[Sakurai: I'll apologize! I'll treat you to a meal! How about spicy hot pot?]
On the tram back to his rental house, he stared at the message on his phone in a daze, then changed his mind and forced himself to think about the composition of the illustrations for the new volume of "The Wasteful Hero".

Ding--

[Amano: What flavor do you want for the third type of cookie?]
The message ringtone rang again, and it was a rare private message from Amano.

"..."

[Listen carefully]
[Inoue: You can be a nominal member, but forced participation is out of the question.]
[Natori: Okay!]
[Inoue: I don’t want spicy hot pot. I want barbecue.]
[Sakurai: BBQ... isn't bad either! How about tonight? Tonight, let's...]
Everyone has boarded the train and gone home...

He returned to the chat page with Amano and thought about it, deliberating deeply.

[Inoue: Salty cheese, please.]
　Thanks to Asunaro for the 500-point tip.

　　----

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(End of this chapter)