Campus Sanctuary 1

Bland Curry

Shoko, who finished with her club, goes with Seiya to the supermarket to help buy curry boxes for him and his friends. They arrive at the curry aisle and see all kinds of curry brands. Shoko recommends a well-known brand without flavors to start. So, Seiya buys the boxes and tests them during dinner. Each of the boys gives feedback on how they should eat curry. Seiya takes note of each input. They'll eat curry for dinner because they have run out of bento boxes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Class topics for this week (random): Ancient Greek Philosophy - Socrates (English, History); Shinto Philosophy - Yayoi (Morals, Social Studies); Newton's Law of Physics part 1 (Physics); Biology Basics - Basic Cells (Biology); Tale of Genji chapters 1-20 (Literature)

The weather is sunny and cloudy mix.

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[June 14, Thursday - week 3]

"Seiya-kun, are you available to hang out?" Shoko asks. Shoko finishes her club activities and spots Seiya outside the Home Economics room.

"If I say yes, where do we go?"

"Don't tell me you're busy?"

"I can't go anywhere just cause. I need a reason." Seiya then suddenly remembers something that he thought this morning. "Say, can you help me out with something? It's about recommending me curry goods."

"You want curry recommendations?"

"Yeah, because my friends have been asking since they ate it at camp, and they went to eat more, except we don't have it at the dorm."

"Seiya-kun, there are many different kinds of curry."

"I want to know if there is some kind of market that sells them."

"Then you might want to visit a grocery store."

"That's the place? Can you take me there then?"

"I wanted to go somewhere else with you, but since you're more interested in curry, I'll take you to the supermarket."

"Thanks a ton! I'm in your debt!"

"You don't have to go that far!" Shoko's eyes widen in surprise. "We're friends, after all. We shouldn't owe each other anything."

After a short subway ride, the pair arrives at a large supermarket and walks to the aisle with many curry brands.

"Are all these boxes curry?" Seiya asks, confused. He grabs a random box and inspects it. "I expected them to be premade or something."

"You still have to prepare it. Curry boxes carry small cubes for you to toss in a pot so they can be dissolved. They're more like flavor cubes."

"Flavor cubes, huh?"

"Premade curry that you cook in a microwave exists."

"Really? Without the cubes? I could do that, but my friends might be disappointed. Forget it! I'll cook instead. Which one should I get?"

"Try this one." Shoko shows him a yellow box. "This one is a popular, well-known brand. You can never go wrong with a big-name brand. Besides, this one doesn't have additional flavors, so it's really basic."

Seiya grabs the same box and inspects it. "I can go with this. Looks like it's affordable, too. I'll buy five to start."

Afterward, they head to the checkout, and Seiya buys five boxes. They leave the supermarket with the goods inside a plastic bag.

"Thanks for your help, Shoko-san. By the way, you said you wanted to somewhere else with me. Do you think we can still go?"

"Never mind. It's no big deal. We can always go next time. I'm still impressed you can cook. Too bad I can't visit your dorm."

"You can come to the club. Sometimes, we keep spares stored for anyone who needs food. I could set one aside just for you."

"You will? Thank you so much! It'll be handy until I get home given my long commute. Club practice makes me hungry."

"Are you okay with this? Enduring the long commute all by yourself?"

"Of course I am. I've been doing this since grade school."

"Since grade school? How old are you?" Seiya sweats. "Don't get the wrong idea. You don't have to answer if it's inappropriate."

"I'm thirteen," Shoko pridefully answers.

"Just like me. I thought she was younger."

"Besides, I have plenty of self-defense skills. I see no reason to be scared. Why would I when I've been training for a long time?"

"You seem confident. Alright, I accept." Seiya nods. "Let's go home."

Seiya arrives at the dorm with the grocery bag, and his friends immediately notice this. "I'm back, everyone!"

"What's with the bag?" Hyoga asks.

"Be surprised! I will cook curry today."

"Really? But what about the boxes?" Shun asks.

"We're out of them."

"How are you going to cook? We don't have rice," Shiryu says.

"We do. I discovered grains in a storage tin. Plus, the rice cooker is stored and in good condition. I can pull this off."

"Are you sure? No more box lunches?" Ikki asks.

"Right. We're out on all of them: breakfast, lunch and dinner. I bought five boxes for us. Let's try them out. It'll be like that of camp. Trust me."

Seiya heads to the kitchen to cook five plates of curry while his friends wait in the lounge. Once done, he serves the plates with five filled glasses of water. Everyone sits and starts to eat, but the taste fails to impress.

"I'm not sure what to say about this," Shun says.

"This is hardly impressive," Hyoga adds.

"Maybe because it was our first time," Shiryu says.

"Don't forget it happened at camp too," Ikki says.

"You're not wrong about that, guys. Shoko-san recommended me that brand to try it out. I mean, there are so many different kinds."

"You went to the store with Shoko-san?" Shun asks.

"I did. I wanted her help with the selection."

"You didn't use all five boxes, right?" Shiryu asks.

"Nah! One box brings a chunk that can be sliced into smaller cubes. I used only one box and the others remain stored."

"Okay, so I guess we'll eat more of this tomorrow? I mean, I'll eat it since that's all we have, but this doesn't do anything for me," Hyoga says.

"At least we're eating something different," Shiryu says. "But Seiya, you must buy more of these boxes. Do you have the allowance for them?"

"That's going to be problematic. I should ask Saori-san for a raise."

To be continued...