As Ryunosuke was retorting Futaro's mockery with a flat face about who deserved to be called stingy more, the cafeteria lady happened to bring out the free food menu.
The contents turned out to be sliced tomato mixed with cucumber. Then there was clear egg drop soup—the kind of soup so clear people could see the bottom of the pot. The rest was just white rice plus radish soup.
For free food, what were people expecting to eat anyway?
Futaro without further ado immediately tried to push to the front of the line.
Ryunosuke wasn't willing to lose; while holding a stainless steel tray, he thrust his hip out, bumping Futaro until he was thrown back, and seized first position.
Futaro fell until his bottom hurt, he gritted his teeth internally.
"You're still the same as before! When it comes to free stuff, always so aggressive!"
"Why don't you just go eat grass like before?!"
Ryunosuke's body trembled, remembering bad memories. Because his parents were in debt, he had indeed gone through times of having to eat grass. Fighting over food with goats on the mountain had become a daily sight for him.
Sometimes he also tailed wild boars to steal bamboo shoots the animals had painstakingly dug up. He even trained his tree-climbing ability to avoid being chased by angry wild boars.
His face darkened. Why were memories like this so clear, while other memories were completely lost?
Couldn't they be exchanged?
He really didn't want to remember such embarrassing things.
After getting his free food ration, Ryunosuke sat back in his chair calmly and began eating. Futaro, who had also finished getting food, came over and sat beside him.
Ryunosuke only raised his eyebrow slightly without saying anything, continuing to devour that free "pig food" voraciously. After all, this was free stuff, a waste not to eat it. This was still far better than before when he had to fight over food with wild animals.
Many wild animals had become victims of his antics. For example, stealing acorns from squirrel nests. He vaguely remembered that little squirrel jumping around panicking in the tree and trying to attack him desperately, which looked quite adorable. In the end, he caught that squirrel, roasted it, then ate it...
What could he do, he was too hungry. Even a python in his eyes back then looked like a luxurious dish.
Ryunosuke had indeed lived a very difficult life. His parents divorced, his mother remarried, while his father was a gambling addict and often used him as collateral for debts. If he wasn't clever and frequently ran away, the consequences would surely be unimaginable.
His father back then also often used Ryunosuke's agility to cheat. Because his father knew he would definitely run away and come back, the father didn't feel guilty at all every time he gambled him away at the gambling table.
Ryunosuke felt very grateful his father was finally sent by debt collectors to Africa to plant potatoes. If not, his life would surely be very desperate.
Meanwhile, his mother who had remarried already had a new life. He felt bad about disturbing her, so he almost became homeless. If not for the acceptance letter from this Advanced Nurturing High School, he might have been finished.
Futaro while eating his food asked. "Is your father still acting like that?"
He understood very well his friend's family situation, otherwise they couldn't possibly have played together as children.
Ryunosuke answered with a calm gaze, as if this problem wasn't his. He said in a flat tone, "Who knows. He was sent by debt collectors to Africa to plant potatoes long ago. Whether he's still alive or already dead, I don't know either."
"I see..." Futaro didn't comment much, but in his heart he felt relieved for this friend. "That's better. At least you don't have to live suffering like before anymore."
Ryunosuke shook his head, didn't speak anymore, and continued eating calmly.
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At the same time, the Nakano quintuplets also arrived at the cafeteria to get food.
Upon arrival, Yotsuba immediately caught sight of Ryunosuke's figure. Her eyes sparkled, initially she wanted to approach to greet him, but remembering that it seemed the young man no longer recognized her, her gaze dimmed again.
Because if Ryunosuke recognized her, he would surely have greeted her since class earlier.
(No!)
(Maybe it's because it's been too long and the change is too great so he doesn't recognize me!)
Yotsuba shook her head, looking for reasonable excuses until she herself believed them, but she still didn't have the courage to walk over there and greet him.
She felt she had broken her promise; she failed to become a high-achieving student, instead becoming a student with extraordinarily bad grades. Even her test scores didn't reach double digits.
Her green hair ribbon wilted in line with her now miserable mood. Her four sisters of course noticed the oddness of her attitude. Itsuki, who was chewing a meat bun, thought Yotsuba was hungry, then kindly offered her steamed bun.
"Here, Yotsuba, eat a meat bun to feel better."
The others: "😐"
The other three sisters facepalmed resignedly.
Even Yotsuba couldn't hold back the twitch at the corner of her lips and smiled forcedly. "I'm not hungry, Itsuki, eat it yourself..."
After saying that, she pushed back the meat bun Itsuki offered.
As a true eater, Itsuki didn't want to overthink it; seeing her sister refuse, she immediately ate it herself without hesitation.
Her mouth chewed until her cheeks bulged round like meat buns from being so full. The other sisters could only stay silent seeing Itsuki's behavior. They too began eating together.
The school gave each person 100,000 personal points. Honestly, for others it might be enough, but for Itsuki, it was very worrying... because her eating portion was too large.
She alone ate more than her four sisters combined.
Worried that 100,000 points wouldn't be enough for food expenses, the other sisters unconsciously decided to economize to cover the "hole" of Itsuki's eating needs.
Itsuki herself didn't know how much her sisters were very troubled thinking of ways so she could stay full.