Chapter 982

The next day, Broly woke up on the floor of Dormitory 301. The beds arranged by Polar Star Dormitory for students were normal-sized, but for his tall, large build, they were indeed somewhat small.

Sleeping on them meant either curling up or having a foot sticking out into the air, which was somewhat uncomfortable, so he simply lay directly on the floor.

【I'll buy a big bed today, or get a futon mat back.】

Looking at the bed he had lain on for a while last night before getting down, Broly thought to himself.

Taking out toiletries from the Crystal Palace Space, he went out the door.

In the public restroom on the third floor, a girl with braided hair wearing pink sleepwear was brushing her teeth.

Seeing him come over, she enthusiastically greeted him: "Broly-san, good morning~"

"Good morning, Komekko. Hmm, do you usually get up this early?"

Broly responded with a sentence and asked.

The current time was around six in the morning.

"I slept very comfortably last night, so I got up a bit early. By the way, last night it was you, Broly-san, who brought me back to the dormitory, right?"

"

"Hmm, do you still have any memories from before you got drunk last night?"

"I vaguely remember some things, like everyone was teasing me, but I can't quite remember the specifics."

The girl's cheeks were slightly red, and her gaze was a bit evasive, as if she was lying.

"It's fine. I recorded it with my phone—some of your impressive moments at the welcome party last night. You can take a look later and recall the details properly."

To this, Broly was actually very kind, offering the girl help in recalling the details.

"Ah, no, no need, Broly-san. That kind of video, please be sure to delete it."

Hearing this, Tadokoro Megumi directly grabbed his hand and nervously began to plead.

"So you didn't black out after all."

Broly looked at the nervous girl with a half-smile.

"I'm sorry. It's just that when I recall what happened last night, it's truly too embarrassing, so I wanted to use the excuse of drinking too much and not remembering to brush it off. I'm very sorry, Broly-san. Could you please delete the video—"

Tadokoro Megumi apologized and continued to plead.

"Deleting the video is fine, but I hope you can honestly tell me how you feel about me?"

"Ah, Broly-san is naturally a very good person. We only just met yesterday, and you were willing to carry my luggage all this way to Polar Star Dormitory—"

"So if I wanted to pursue you, Komekko, would you agree?"

"Ah, this—"

Tadokoro Megumi's cheeks flushed red in the restroom. She hadn't expected that a normal morning wash-up would lead to such a choice-filled problem.

"Sorry, am I disturbing you?"

Just then, Soma Yukihira arrived at the restroom door. Holding his toiletries, he awkwardly interrupted the atmosphere inside the restroom.

"No, not at all. You came at just the right time."

Broly had naturally sensed Soma Yukihira's arrival. It was precisely because he sensed it that he tested Tadokoro Megumi.

If Tadokoro Megumi agreed, everyone would be happy. But if the girl hesitated, Soma Yukihira's arrival would conveniently provide a way out.

"Komekko, I'm not in a hurry for your answer. I just hope that before you have an answer in your heart, you're willing to continue getting along with me as friends. Is that okay?"

"Mm."

Tadokoro Megumi exhaled, quickly nodded, washed her face clean, sidestepped around Soma Yukihira at the door, and ran back to the dormitory with her toiletries.

"Broly-san, isn't your speed of confessing to others a bit too fast?"

Soma Yukihira walked into the restroom, scooped water with a rinsing cup, squeezed toothpaste onto his toothbrush, and began brushing his teeth. Then he asked the boy beside him in the mirror.

"It is a bit fast, but this is the best way to break through the relationship."

"But what if your confession fails?"

"Failure is the mother of success. On the road to success, there will inevitably be many mothers of failure. As long as you dare to try confessing, there will always be a time of success."

"Wait, why do I feel like I've heard that line before?"

"Oh, wasn't it just like this that you seriously told me the other day when you were grilling squid legs with chocolate sauce?"

"Hey, if you're going to copy my lines like that, you have to pay copyright fees."

"How much do you want?"

"You brought me back to the dormitory last night. That settles it."

After brushing their teeth and washing their faces together with Soma Yukihira, Broly went downstairs with him.

But early in the morning, there was someone else who got up even earlier than them.

"Heave-ho, heave-ho—"

In the vegetable garden behind Polar Star Dormitory, a figure wearing only a loincloth was swinging a hoe in the field.

"Yo, you two are up so early? Why not sleep a bit longer? Totsuki Academy doesn't require you to follow the class schedule of normal high school students."

Isshiki Satoshi heard the footsteps, turned around, and greeted the two who had come to the edge of the field.

"I woke up naturally. By the way, Isshiki-senpai, are you farming?"

Soma Yukihira asked curiously.

"The temperature is low in the early morning, and the soil has sufficient moisture. I'm preparing to plow this plot before the sun comes up, then plant the newly purchased Roma tomato seeds."

Isshiki Satoshi took out a packet of seeds from a suspicious spot on his loincloth and explained to Soma Yukihira with a smile what he was preparing to do.

"Roma tomatoes—I remember they're specifically used for making sauces or stewed dishes. Isshiki-senpai, what do you plan to make?"

"After planting them, I plan to use some for dishes like tomato-braised beef brisket, and some to cook down into tomato sauce, then make Italian pizza, pasta, and other dishes."

"To cook, do you have to start by growing the ingredients? Wouldn't it be simpler to just buy tomatoes or tomato sauce directly?"

Broly asked somewhat doubtfully.

"If you don't pursue the extreme of taste, directly buying finished tomatoes or ketchup would be simpler, but if you want to pursue the extreme of taste, you have to grow them yourself, because growing them yourself allows you to control the tomato's growing conditions, thereby growing tomatoes with suitable acidity and sweetness."

"But you should be able to buy tomatoes with the acidity and sweetness you want, right?"

"Yes, but selecting products would cost more money and effort; although growing also takes effort, at least quality control is done by yourself, allowing relative stability; as for cost, it's just spending your own time growing."

"Also, practicing cooking is a rather money-burning matter; save on ingredient costs where you can; good steel should be used on the blade edge."

"Hmm, thanks for sending me back to the dormitory last night; want a cucumber from the Summer Light series?"

Not waiting for Broly to respond, Isshiki Satoshi walked to the field on the other side, picked two emerald-green cucumbers from the shelf, and introduced them on his own.

"This cucumber has a straight, well-proportioned shape, deep green glossy skin, crisp and tender with no residue on entry; even under high temperatures, it can maintain"

"excellent texture; this past week is precisely the best tasting period; have a taste!"

By the time Broly reacted, both he and Soma Yukihira had a roughly sixteen-centimeter-long, short, straight, emerald-green cucumber stuffed into their hands by Isshiki Satoshi; the skin was smooth and thornless, the flesh thick and seeds few after biting, refreshingly sweet and crisp, full of moisture, without a trace of bitterness or astringency.

"How is it?"

"Delicious, like eating fruit."

"Haha, this is fruit-type cucumber; I use it for the mizumono in kaiseki cuisine."

"What is mizumono?"

"Mizumono means dessert after a meal, but sometimes sweet, refreshing fruit is also used as a palate-cleansing finale for a kaiseki meal."

"But we haven't eaten breakfast yet."

"No problem; eating a cucumber on an empty stomach in the morning can quickly replenish moisture and vitamins; as long as gastrointestinal function is normal, there's no problem if you don't eat too much."

As Isshiki Satoshi spoke, he looked at Broly, who had already finished the cucumber and was planning to ask him for a second one: "Of course, if you eat too much, it might cause stomach cold and diarrhea."

"My gastrointestinal capability is very good; eating a few more definitely won't be a problem."

"I have Spanish mackerel (Spanish mackerel) in my private refrigerator; want to taste my craftsmanship?"

Broly wanted to continue his request for cucumber; Isshiki Satoshi did not directly refuse, nor did he directly agree, but instead turned to propose making other dishes as an alternative.

"But don't you still have to turn the soil?"

"No problem; I put the Spanish mackerel in the refrigerator's chilled layer to thaw last night; if making the dish directly, it'll take about half an hour; going back to turn the soil after finishing isn't late either."

Isshiki Satoshi originally wanted to have a late-night cooking showdown with Soma Yukihira last night, but everyone was directly carried back to their respective dormitories by Broly, directly causing the showdown not to happen. (Can't very well go knock on doors and disturb people in the middle of the night, right?)

【Thawed fish refrozen won't be fresh anymore; just right to make a thank-you meal for the other boy~】

Isshiki Satoshi's face wore a "plan succeeded" expression.

"How about this: you cook for me to eat, I'll help you turn the soil."

Broly thought for a bit, then proposed.

", Broly, do you know how to turn soil?"

"You just tell me how to turn it."

"Uh, okay, you turn it like this————"

Isshiki Satoshi demonstrated, mounding up fifteen centimeters of soil.

"Like this?"

Broly repeated it once.

"That's right; Broly, you used to farm, right?"

"No."

"Then you definitely have talent for farming."

Isshiki Satoshi looked at the youth's incomparably sturdy build and said with great certainty.

"After turning it over, you need me————"

Broly was about to say he'd help sow seeds, but thinking that the tomato seeds were taken out by the other party from somewhere, he decisively shut his mouth.

"Broly, do you want to help me sow seeds?"

"No; the matter of sowing, leave it to yourself."

"Alright, then I'll go cook; oh right, Soma, come with me for a bit."

"Isshiki-senpai, what do you want me for, to be your assistant?"

"No, I just want to ask if you want to have a cooking showdown with me."

"?"

"You said something outrageous at the entrance ceremony yesterday; I happen to want to see the strength of someone who dares say that kind of thing."

"Hmm, if you can't defeat me, it's best to find an opportunity to publicly apologize; otherwise, your future academy life will face quite a bit of exclusion."

"Isshiki-senpai wants to teach me a lesson?"

"No, I just want you to understand the strength of the person you want to surpass, so you don't suffer unnecessary harm because of your own attitude."

"Hmm, Soma-kun, let me re-introduce myself; I am the Totsuki Ten Seventh Seat, Isshiki Satoshi."

The gentle youth opened his narrowed eyes and smiled at Soma Yukihira; his expression was still amiable and unchanged, but a solemn, dignified aura had risen around him.

"Totsuki Ten; I heard last night they are figures standing at the peak of this academy's cooking; alright, since you want a cooking showdown, then as you wish, Isshiki Satoshi-senpai; in a cooking showdown, I won't lose!"

Facing his own father who already has over four hundred losses, Soma Yukihira said this without blushing or heart racing; the two staring at each other in the field seemed to have ignited.

However, Broly is a bit of a bystander who doesn't know how to be a cooking protagonist; he ignored the burning atmosphere between the two, picked up the hoe that looked like a toy in his hand, squatted down, and began heaving and turning the soil.

"Eh, Broly, why are you the one turning soil; where's Isshiki Satoshi-senpai; could it be he bullied you and made you help turn soil?"

Yoshino Yuuki got up and went out; seeing someone turning soil in the field, she walked over without much care at first, but after only a few steps she reacted to the fact that the person turning soil actually had clothes on; looking closely, sure enough it wasn't Isshiki Satoshi-senpai; she stopped at the field edge and asked Broly, boldly making a guess.

"He and Soma Yukihira went to have a cooking showdown; it's also to make breakfast for me; so as not to delay his tomato planting, I proposed helping him turn soil."

"I see; no wait, he's a Totsuki Ten Seventh Seat, running off to have a cooking showdown with a freshman?"

Yoshino Yuuki walked quickly back to the dormitory, planning to go check the situation.

"Broly-san, let me help you."

On the contrary, Tadokoro Megumi, after coming down and seeing him digging the soil, proactively walked over and proposed to help.

"Komekko, do you know how to dig soil?"

"I know how to dig, I'm from the countryside, I used to often help my family with farm work."

"Alright, but the digging is still left to me, you just watch from the side to see if I'm digging correctly."

Broly did not refuse the girl, but he also did not let the girl go down to the soil, instead finding her a foreman's job.

At the same time, his hand movements also slowed down, and from time to time he even dug a bit crookedly, so the girl could point it out, giving her a sense of participation.

Whenever Tadokoro Megumi reminded him, Broly would offer his praise and thanks, and back and forth, the girl's Happiness Value steadily rose.

If not for the place being too small, and Isshiki Satoshi-senpai and Soma Yukihira's cooking also almost being done, Broly could have dug here for a while longer o

"The soil is dug, Komekko, let's go back to the Dormitory building, Isshiki Satoshi-senpai and Soma-kun's cooking should be done too."

"Mm."

Tadokoro Megumi nodded, thought for a bit, then took out a Tissue from her pocket.

"Broly-san, do you want to wipe your sweat?"

"My hands have dirt on them, they're a bit dirty, Komekko can you help me wipe?"

"Then————you squat down a little."

Tadokoro Megumi said with her cheeks slightly red.

Broly squatted down, enjoying the braided girl's sweat-wiping service.

As for why digging a bit of soil could make this Saiyan sweat, that is of course because he forced it out himself.

The effect? Not bad, Tadokoro Megumi noticed, and was even willing to wipe sweat for him.