Penne Reincarnation #Dialogue Three-Topic Story #Grassland Return Penne
When I returned to our room after shopping after work, he was asleep.
On the table was the returned manga manuscript.
The cover depicted a castle standing on a grassy plain, and the title was "Penne Reincarnation," a play on the word for reincarnation.
He seemed confident in this work, but it looks like it didn't go well after all. I found that out through a LINE message while I was at work.
I changed my clothes as quietly as possible so as not to wake him.
"Welcome back... thanks for your hard work today..."
"Sorry, I woke you up..."
"No, it's fine. I've slept enough..."
"I see. Well then, after you take a shower, I'll prepare dinner. It's authentic Italian today, though I'm not sure if I can pull it off..."
"Yeah, thanks..."
His voice really lacks energy, doesn't it...
...................
Authentic Italian was something far removed from my life. At most, I'd only ever made spaghetti.
The reason I wanted to make authentic Italian was because of "Penne Reincarnation."
It's a story about a protagonist aiming to be an Italian chef who dies in an accident and then reincarnates into a medieval European-style world.
The setting is that the reincarnated protagonist ends up with a body like a piece of penne pasta, complete with a face and limbs—I thought it was quite interesting.
And then, through a strange turn of events, he becomes the exclusive chef for a knight order, and it was supposed to be a story of laughter, friendship, and adventure where he solves problems facing the knights and the king using cooking and modern knowledge...
He researched several Italian dishes in detail for this manga.
He looked up not just the recipes, but even the origins of the dishes.
He drew many sketches of the food plated on dishes.
While watching him do that, I started to want to make and eat them myself.
It wasn't just the cooking; I also became knowledgeable about the history and customs of medieval Europe.
There are fun parts to going along with his dreams, too...
.................
He came out of the shower and started drinking a canned beer while watching TV. Every now and then, he would let out a deep sigh.
I cooked while feeling that behind my back.
"Okay, sorry to keep you waiting."
"Huh!? Caprese, saltimbocca, and tiramisu."
When I lined up the dishes in front of him, his face brightened up all at once.
"I made the caprese and saltimbocca, but I bought the tiramisu."
"Even so, this is amazing. I drew it in the manga, but I never thought I'd be able to eat the real thing."
"But I can't guarantee how it tastes..."
"No, I can tell it's delicious just from the smell."
..............
Maybe it was partly because he was tipsy from the beer, but he seemed to have regained his energy from my cooking...
When I finished cleaning up after dinner, he suddenly hugged me from behind.
"Wait a second, *after* you take a shower, okay? Hehe♡♡"
"Yeah♡"
His love-struck face is so cute...
I gave him a small kiss and went into the shower room.
..............
However...
When I finished drying my hair and returned to the room, he was facing his desk.
I wonder if he thought of a good story...
It happens sometimes, you know—him suddenly waking up in the middle of the night to start drawing manga.
I called out to his hunched-over back.
"Should I go buy some coffee?"
"Yeah, please."
"What size?"
"Short... no, make it a grande size."
It seems he's pulling an all-nighter again today.
I have to go to sleep while listening to the sound of his pen running across the paper, don't I?
But for me, that's the best lullaby♡
The End
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is an entry for Haratokei-san's project, "Dialogue Three-Topic Story."
Dialogue
"Short... no, make it a grande size."
Topics
Grassland, Return, Penne