71 Mother and Daughter's Sorrow
The golden scrambled eggs completely covered the rice.
At the same time, the cheap white onions had a mild flavor, with a sweet sensation, adding a hint of sweetness to the broth!
Just a simple bite could soothe the emptiness in the stomach easily.
Maybe?
The true meaning of this dish is being able to taste the deliciousness of "Mother Hen" and "Egg Baby" together.
The emotional abuse from a beloved family member is what makes one most sad and helpless, so Erina has never wanted to recall her childhood experiences!
But in this Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl, she unconsciously thought of her mother:
Mana Nakiri!
...
In fact.
People like Erina have always lacked love!
Even though Alice always cries and throws tantrums over small things, especially losing to Souma in the Fall Selection, where she lay on the ground crying!
When facing any difficulties, she always puts on a strong and stubborn front, never shedding a tear in front of others!
So, on the surface, Erina gives off the impression of being strong.
But!
In reality, it's different.
Her inner self is more fragile than anyone else's.
It's this fragility that forces her to pretend to be strong and conceal her true feelings!
The experiences from her childhood have taught her to endure, to hide all her true thoughts deep within, never exposing them to others.
In short, it's really hard to get along with her.
However, those who truly know Erina, like Hisako Arato, Zane, understand that with just a bit of love, she can be easily moved.
And although she may be a bit aloof, deep down, she is kind and not entirely unreasonable!
...
When she was young.
Those memories must be somewhat fuzzy by now.
But for Erina, the sight of her mother, Mana Nakiri, lying in pain due to her God Tongue ability on the bed is something she can never forget.
Even after ten long years, the memory remains fresh, causing her deep sorrow whenever she recalls it.
Perhaps.
At that time.
Seeing her mother in that state, she understood her own fate, maybe that she would be the same one day.
But what should she do?
As a young child faced with such a situation, she was helpless.
All she could think of was to be obedient, hone her cooking skills, and in the future, create a dish that could conquer the God Tongue, solving the problem!
But this world is cruel, and problems never get solved just by her thoughts.
In the end.
The family's worst tragedy.
Finally happened on a dark and stormy night!
Mana Nakiri, unable to bear the pain brought by the God Tongue, chose to leave home and never returned to Totsuki Academy.
Since then, Erina's life missed her mother's company, missing that deep maternal love like the vast sea!
...
Indeed, as the only Executive of WGO.
Mana Nakiri is truly an exceptional person, the pride of the entire Nakiri family!
But for her daughter Erina, she was not a good or responsible mother.
Just to avoid dying by starvation, she abandoned the whole family, her daughter, and ran away from home!
This kind of behavior is simply too selfish!
"I don't understand."
"I really don't understand."
"Why... why was she so afraid of death?"
"Could a curse of the God Tongue really be so frightening? Can the symptoms of not being able to eat any food really make life worse than death?"
"Isn't it a relief to face death by starvation openly and frankly, a kind of liberation for her?"
"But why did she have to abandon the whole family, make everyone suffer, and cast a thick shadow over me for a whole ten years?"
"Hate!"
"I... I really hate her!"
With a heavy heart, Erina finished the whole bowl of steaming Chicken and Egg Rice Dish.
As she savored the taste of the Oyakodon, memories of her childhood kept flooding back in her mind!
By the end, Erina's delicate face began to show signs of pain and discomfort.
...
"Strange."
"Logically."
"Zane shouldn't know about the things our Nakiri family went through, right?"
"So why did he use a bowl of Oyakodon to awaken Erina's long-buried memories?"
Seeing Erina like this, Alice directed her gaze towards Zane.
It's worth noting that when Mana Nakiri ran away from home back then, it led to a series of chain reactions, eventually resulting in the Ban on such incidents spread outside.
She was still very young, still at Totsuki Academy.
While getting along with Erina, perhaps because the two had no friends and came from a similar noble background, their relationship was quite good.
Later, Erina gradually started to dislike Alice's cooking.
This unease persisted, making her feel uncomfortable, constantly holding it against Alice.
Even so, their relationship didn't break because of this!
Until she moved to Northern Europe, and they were far apart, the chance to play together was no more. But Alice still wrote letters every month, sent to Totsuki Academy.
At first, she thought Erina would reply upon receiving her letters.
However, over the years, she didn't even receive one letter back from Totsuki Academy, not a single message.
This outcome made Alice naturally angry, thinking that Erina looked down on her, and their friendship was over!
Some time ago, she transferred to Totsuki Academy.
She only learned from the headmaster that it was her aunt, Mana, who ran away.
This caused her uncle, Azami, to be unable to bear the blow, then began to implement isolationist education on Erina, making her early childhood even more unfortunate!
At the same time, he severed all of her contacts with the outside world, so to speak:
The letters she wrote at that time were all intercepted by Senzaemon Nakiri, not a single one reached Erina.
So she couldn't help but realize that she was feeling somewhat ashamed.
After all these years, she had misunderstood Erina, and felt deeply sympathetic towards her subsequent experiences.
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