Chapter 934: Back to the Roots

Higo didn’t know when, but somehow, in the middle of their conversation, his consciousness slipped once again, falling into a far place called the dream land.

It was strange, honestly, since he himself had been asleep for so long during the journey.

The boy spent half of his time from Dusseldorf to Tokyo falling asleep, and while the trip from Tokyo to Sapporo was fine, he suffered the same problem during the final journey to Hakodate.

In total, he had already been asleep for more than 12 hours the day before, and yet, once he was back home, the boy somehow felt so exhausted that he fell asleep without realizing it.

Not that Higo would blame himself, of course, since home would always have this strange air that would lull him to go back to sleep under the warm blanket, especially in the middle of the winter.

The moment he woke up, though, the boy realized that he was still under the warm kotatsu. Next to him, his sister and mother were also in the same position, sleeping like a bunch of fish in the can.

It was quite normal for Hokkaido people to sleep under the same kotatsu, especially in the middle of the cold winter, so Higo didn’t think too much about it. If anything, the nostalgic feeling was back, as this scene reminded him a lot of when he was just a child.

The boy finally woke up, and the first thing he did was to check on his room. After all, he didn’t have time to do that last night, and the boy felt the need to do this properly this time.

Not surprisingly, everything was still the same.

The desk that he usually used to study, the wardrobe, the bed and its sheet- everything was clean and perfect, like how it was when he left the home.

Smiling a little, the boy went to the kitchen after that. Somehow, even after having a feast last night, his stomach had already grumbled again, demanding to be fed right now.

Well, since the family was still asleep, Higo just started to prepare for the others as well.

He used the broth from miso last night, adding tofu, tomato, and many other things that could warm their stomach in such cold weather like this.

Soon enough, Minami finally woke up, and the first thing she heard was the sound of the knife hitting the cutting board.

She blinked for a second, trying to regain her consciousness quickly. Next to her, the woman saw her daughter still having her head on the table, but she was also staring at the kitchen quietly, as if she was watching a show.

"What’s wrong?" She asked; her voice was raspy.

Ayaka didn’t answer the question immediately, making the mother even more curious about what she saw in the kitchen.

That was when she saw her boy moving so swiftly, cooking something for the whole family.

Minami opened her mouth, wanting to greet him or say anything else to break the silence. However, words seemed to be stuck on her throat, unable to escape from it.

This scene, where her son was preparing food for the whole family, reminded her of the family’s situation a few years ago.

At that time, the situation wasn’t this good, with her having to work so hard and sometimes even staying at the office for the whole night just to keep up with her work.

However, whenever she was back from work, her son would always be in the kitchen, preparing something warm for him and his older sister quietly like this.

The scene was always exactly like this, and yet, looking at how her son was right now, Minami couldn’t help but feel a lump in her throat, finally coming to a realization.

’Yeah, my children have already grown up, huh?’

-0-

"So, what is your plan today?" Ayaka asked.

It was after everything was ready, and somehow, they were in the middle of a very normal breakfast with whatever that Higo prepared earlier.

The boy himself didn’t know what he had just made. He just added everything on the fridge to the broth, and with a little bit of magic, everything was done, and a good and warm meal was ready on the table.

Honestly, at this dining table, no one would be able to notice that there was a talented goalkeeper that the world hailed as one of the best right now.

"Me?" Higo hummed, not even raising his head while he enjoyed the warm tofu melting in his mouth. "Maybe meeting with the others at noon. I haven’t seen my friends in a while; it would be good to catch up with some of them."

"With Kumiko-chan as well?" Minami suddenly chimed in, looking at him curiously.

Higo didn’t know why she looked at him like that, but he just nodded briefly.

"Yeah, she promised me that she would drive today. I don’t even know where the place would be, so I will just tag along with her."

Ayaka could feel the corner of her lips twitching when she heard that.

"She is going to drive? Are you not embarrassed at all?" She asked playfully.

Higo knew that she didn’t mean bad, just wanting to tease him about this. So, he just let out a little snort, brushing off the concern nonchalantly.

"She offered to do that, so why would I refuse?" He retorted.

Yeah, at this point, he and Kumiko had been friends with each other long enough even before they dated that he didn’t mind being seen not ’manly’ or something like that.

She knew that Kumiko didn’t think so about him, so for him, that was more than enough.

Minami pondered for a second before finally chiming in again, "Say my hello to her, okay? Invite her to a dinner with us as well! I would love to hear her story during her time together with you."

There was something strange in her tone that Higo couldn’t catch here. However, since his mother didn’t mention it, he just shrugged, not thinking too much over this little request.

In the end, he just answered it with a little bit of playfulness, like how his sister said earlier.

"She would love to, I guess. Just make sure that the dinner is good, okay?"