[TaroTre] My Blind Date is My Childhood Friend - Chapter 13

This was the first time Taro had truly felt comfortable during a blind date meal.

Tregear was an easy person to get along with, even if he was a bit of a picky eater and didn’t eat very much. (Taro had always assumed that a “normal” appetite was one that matched his own, so he had always believed his brothers and Tregear had stomachs the size of birds.)

Taro looked at the menu and ordered an immense amount of food.

Braised pork with buns? “One order.” Crab with stir-fried rice cakes? “One order.” Mongolian barbecue? “Make that a large.” Salted egg yolk chicken wings? “Give me three orders. If I order too few, Taiga and Tregear will definitely start fighting over them.” Griddle-cooked cabbage? “Let’s have one order of that; we can’t have only meat.” Spicy shrimp? “Yes, yes, definitely two orders of that we can add more later if needed.” Spicy diced chicken? “One for now, Taiga can’t handle too much heat.” Boiled fish with Sichuan pickles? “One order, Tregear actually likes that quite a bit.”

Then came the snacks. Brown sugar rice cakes, one order. Pumpkin with salted egg yolk, one order. Let’s see what else…

“Do you guys want fried bananas and corn cakes?” Taro asked, looking up from the menu.

“Yes!” Taiga and Tregear shouted in unison.

“Oh, then I’ll just get one order for now,” Taro muttered to himself. After all, while he loved food, snacks always had to take a backseat when there was meat on the table.

“Two orders!” Taiga and Tregear yelled together again, before glaring at each other in mutual annoyance.

“No. We’ll order one for now and get more if it’s not enough. Neither of you eats that much, so don’t just order everything wildly. It’s a waste,” Taro said, looking at the two of them with disapproval.

“Fine,” Tregear sighed. He could never win when Taro got serious, so he chose to back down.

“Okay,” Taiga muttered, sounding a bit unhappy. But since even the “evil” Uncle Tregear had agreed, he couldn’t very well disagree, or he’d look like he was being unreasonable.

“Good,” Taro nodded with satisfaction. Having finalized the order, he handed the menu back to the nearby waiter. As the waiter headed to the kitchen, the three settled in to wait for the food.

There were sunflower seeds and tea on the table a classic touch for guests to snack on while passing the time. Taro loved this thoughtful design of Chinese restaurants; he liked keeping his mouth busy.

“Want some tea, Tregear?” Taro asked, lifting the teapot.

“Pour me a bit,” Tregear replied, holding out his cup.

Taro poured tea for Tregear and plain water for Taiga. The three sat there waiting for the dishes, shelling sunflower seeds as they talked.

Tregear was incredibly fast at shelling them. Taiga was the slowest, clumsily trying to peel them with his hands and only resorting to his teeth when that failed.

Seeing this, Tregear mocked him: “You’re so slow, you’re like a snail. Are you even going to get to eat at this rate?” As he spoke, he placed a small pile of kernels he had already shelled onto the plate in front of Taiga.

“Hmph,” Taiga grunted unhappily. However, since he had been gifted a pile of pre-shelled seeds, he surprisingly didn’t talk back. He just lowered his head and picked them up one by one to eat.

Tregear would eat one for himself, then shell one for Taiga. Seeing this, Taro felt a pang of “pain” as he handed over the large handful of kernels he had been painstakingly saving up to Tregear a reward for looking after Taiga.

Taiga’s internal monologue: Actually, Dad, you could have given those to me. I don’t really mind if Tregear doesn’t look after me… I want a whole handful of kernels too! Eating them all at once is the best feeling in the world!