Life In The Reverse World

Ichiban Yakiniku.

All-you-can-eat Kuroge Wagyu!

Domestic pork!

From 2,680 yen per person (before tax)!

“Onii… this restaurant you mentioned is…?”

While nervously glancing back from time to time, afraid that Harutaki’s far-too-obvious tailing might get noticed by Onii, Chouko followed Sato down the street. It was not until he suddenly stopped that she reacted and looked ahead.

The first thing that entered her view was a customer-attracting poster based on a juicy slab of meat, stamped with bold black lettering. The advertisement was pasted on both sides of a lighted sign, giving off a warm, toasted glow as night fell.

“Yeah, this is the yakiniku place. Supposedly it’s been open since the last century. Don’t let the small storefront fool you, its reputation’s always been great… and the prices are really reasonable too.”

Sato nodded as he answered her question.

He had eaten here twice before with senpais like Obara and Yamashita, along with their girlfriends. Remembering how everyone had left satisfied back then, he felt Chouko would probably like it too.

Back then, Obara-senpai’s girlfriend had said that eating yakiniku was a truly blissful experience.

He thought to himself that if Chouko did not like it, she would say so, right?

Just like when they were kids. From time to time, Chouko would complain to him about being forced to eat strange vegetables or wild greens at home.

But recalling the stiff smile and uneasy tone she had used when refusing popcorn in the theater, Sato hesitated for a moment, then asked again.

“Um… is there anything you feel like eating, Chouko? As long as it’s not too expensive.”

Even if they split the bill, he could only afford around 5,000 yen at most.

“I’m fine with anything. Didn’t I say it before? I’ll leave it all up to you, Onii.”

“Then… shall we go in? It’s not crowded yet, so we probably won’t have to wait long.”

Seeing that her expression seemed normal, Sato quietly let out a breath of relief and stepped inside first.

“Yakiniku, huh…”

Following him across the threshold and into the shop, Chouko was hit by the rich smell of grilled meat and could not help but let out a bitter smile in her heart.

Good thing I didn’t wear the outfit Harutaki likes. Otherwise, it’d definitely reek of smoke or grilled meat.

It was not that she had anything against yakiniku. On the contrary, she would even be happy to have it once in a while.

What disappointed her was that from beginning to end, Onii had never really put thought into her preferences.

Something a senpai recommended, somewhere he himself had eaten and liked. Even when he asked her opinion, it felt more like a last resort.

They had spent so much time together as children, yet it was as if he did not know her tastes at all, with no opinions of his own.

“Hah…”

Still, Chouko softly exhaled. Eating yakiniku should not cause any more trouble, right?

After all, with this kind of food, the restaurant only provided the ingredients and seasoning. Everything else could be adjusted to personal preference.

……

Sizzle.

Fat screamed under the intense heat. Combined with the charcoal-black surface of the meat, the curled slab looked like a demon crawling up from hell.

Staring at the piece of Wagyu, both Chouko and Sato were dumbfounded.

“O-Onii… you don’t know how to grill meat?”

“Uh… I usually just buy half-price bento at night…”

Sato tried to pick up the charcoal-like Wagyu with the tongs, but then…

Szzzt.

As fat dripped onto the fire below, orange flames suddenly shot up, startling him so badly that he dropped the tongs with a clang onto the grill.

Seeing this, Chouko could not help laughing.

“Onii, you’re way too hopeless.”

Harutaki could cook dishes on par with high-end restaurants, yet Onii could not even grill simple yakiniku and was scared by a burst of flame.

“It looked really easy when I watched senpai grill it before… and you’re laughing at me. Fine, why don’t you try it?”

Picking up the tongs with his chopsticks, Sato shoved them toward Chouko in embarrassment, forcing the mocking girl to face the challenge herself.

“I’ll try then. What’s so hard about it? Watch closely, Onii.”

It’s just grilling meat.

Even though Chouko had studied Japanese cuisine since elementary school, something as simple as yakiniku, with no complicated steps or techniques, should be nothing to her.

Sizzle.

She went straight to work, placing a slice of Wagyu in the center of the grill, eyes fixed on the bright red meat as flames licked at it and the surface quickly turned brown.

“Like this, and then-”

About a minute later, just as she was about to smugly show off her skills, fat dripped down with a pop, causing the flames to leap up again, exactly like what had happened to Sato earlier.

“Th-this is fine…”

Unfazed by fire thanks to her cooking experience, Chouko quickly rescued the meat with the tongs. What she got back, however, was only half a slice.

Half in the tongs, the other half stubbornly stuck to the grill.

“H-half is still edible, right?”

Under Onii's speechless gaze, she dipped the half slice into sauce, blew on it until it cooled a bit, then popped it into her mouth.

Chew.