Kays Translations

Chapter 8. Tidy up the kitchen!

At this point, I go to call Jill.  

I want her to judge whether the sorted items are necessary or not.  

Although I should be tidying up, Jill was momentarily stunned by the kitchen, which looked more cluttered than before.  

Yeah, but there are that many things in this kitchen.  

“Please put only the important things and the things you use regularly in this box.”

I make the request.  

Jill was overwhelmed by the amount of items and began sorting them.

　

“There are so many plates…”  

Yes, there were quite a few plates of similar size. There are also many pots.  

I think it’s okay to discard items with the same purpose.  

“oh, this cup belongs to grandpa,”  

Jill-san picked up the cup that was in the corner, her face softens.

That one was stored quite far back on the shelf.  

It seems some meaningful items have come out, and she carefully sets them aside as if they are precious.  

Important things. She’s finished sorting out the things she uses regularly.

Next are items on hold—things that may or may not be discarded.  

I thought there might be many, but before the first box was full, Jill-san seemed to have flipped a switch, she suddenly said,  

“I don’t need the rest.”

That’s what happens when you go into discard mode. But wait a minute, I’ll check whether she’s used these items within the past year.  

Seasonal items are only used once a year, so it’s troublesome if you don’t have them.  

You should keep what you’re using.

The rest are probably things I can get rid of without any problems. I’ll take them all out of the kitchen for now.

Food, condiments, and similar items—I’ll check if they’re edible, or classify them into three categories: “edible,” “questionable,” and “just no.”  

The onions that had melted into a goo were nasty…

We took a break here.

Jill-san brewed a pot of tea using the somewhat unusual leaves that were brought out.

The tea utensils that came out were also nice, with the dark color of the tea standing out against the thin white cups.

What is that? It smells a bit like chocolate.  

A fleeting thought crosses my mind—is it still good before the expiration date—but since it’s tea leaves, I decide to trust my instincts and adaptation skill.

I take a sip with a satisfying swallow.  

Yes, it’s delicious.  

Jill also brought out some bread, probably for her meals.  

I was thinking of refusing it, but when she said,  

“Have some!?”  

In a kind of angry tone, I ate it.  

This is also delicious: a baked bread made with whole wheat dough and topped with spicy meat and vegetable fillings.  

This was my first time eating something from this world, but it’s not bland or greasy, although I did think the seasoning was a bit foreign, it was delicious.

When I smile and say,  

“Delicious,”  

Jill-san also relaxes and smiles.  

It seems to be bread from her favorite bakery.  

Yeah, it’s really crispy and flavorful. The taste and the rise is definitely due to yeast fermentation.  

I guess this means I’m not going to be an unparalleled cook in a world where the food tastes terrible…

　

Is it naïve to think that I can make a big profit by making soft bread or fix everything with yakiniku sauce?

But on the flip side, it probably means that I can serve what I made without too much trouble.  

So, as a thank-you for the tea and bread, I serve Jill some raisins and finger biscuits.  

She eats it and exclaims,  

“This is delicious!”  

Which makes me a little happy.  

These finger biscuits go really well with this tea.  

Alright! I gather my resolve and go back to cleaning.  

Before storing away the things she wants to keep, I try to clean as much as possible—shelves in the back and places people don’t usually clean, where dust has accumulated.  

Baking soda is great for removing greasy stains in the kitchen.  

I’ve bought baking soda at 100 yen shops and drugstores before.  

I wanted to try that huge pack from the store, but I’ve never bought it, which is a shame. The unit price would have been really cheap.

Looking at the 1,000 yen repeat purchases, I found a history of 500g at 108 yen.  

Ten yen should be enough. Buy.  

Should I also buy sodium bicarbonate and citric acid?  

For now, I think I’ll just get baking soda.  

Using baking soda makes it easy to remove burnt-on residue from pots, which is satisfying.  

There’s a little mold in some spots, but using Kitchen hopper seems risky because of the material.  

Kitchen highballs are cheap but they’re a hazardous substance…

Mixing it with acidic cleaners can be dangerous.  

Now that most of it is clean, I wipe and store the remaining items.  

Place the most-used items in the most accessible spots.  

Seasonal items go to the bottom.  

Spice and ingredient stocks are grouped in easy-to-find places.  

I also put the storage box in a corner of the storage. If it remains unused for a while, it can be disposed of.  

I don’t want to use the upper storage space if possible, but I put lighter, bulky items there.  

That’s about it.  

When I call Jill-san to check,  

“Was it this spacious?”  

She was surprised.  

She also marvels at the shiny pots, saying,  

“Wow, it’s glowing!”  

Her eyes widen in amazement and she laughs.

I wish I could take before-and-after photos of this transformation.  

She plans to have a tool shop come and take a look at the items that she plans to dispose of. It would be better if she could sell them and have someone else use them.

Anyway, this marks the end of the request, so I get her to sign the request form.

“You did a great job. Thank you. I’d love to ask you to do this again.”

She says, which makes me happy.  

I guess my first job is now complete.

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