When he was in a bad mood, he knew he should treat himself to a good meal. Kitagawa Ryo had understood that since he was little.
He spotted a bag of peeled shrimp and reached out to take it, deciding to make himself shrimp dumplings for dinner.
The kitchen was stocked with all the basic ingredients. He rummaged through the cupboards for wheat starch and regular starch, mixed them with salt, then poured in boiling water and stirred. He put the mixture in a pot, covered it, and let it steam for five minutes. While he waited, he looked for some vegetables to go with it. Proper shrimp dumplings usually used bamboo shoots, but unfortunately, he couldn't find any dried bamboo shoots, so he settled for corn kernels, stir-fried them, and set them aside.
Once the dough had set, he took it out, added a little lard, and kneaded it into a ball. Ryo enjoyed the process of kneading and pounding it. At some point, Hotaru had gone to sit on the floor outside the kitchen. It still remembered the rule that it wasn't allowed near Ryo when he was cooking, so it sat there obediently. Ryo slapped the dough against the cutting board over and over. Each time it went smack, Hotaru gave a little start, its fluffy ears wobbling back and forth.
After pounding the dough, Ryo took out the bag of shrimp, rinsed them, and finely minced them with the back of a knife. Then he cooked them in a pot and scooped them out.
Only after finishing all that did Ryo finally have a free hand. He went to the living room, took a can of iced coffee from the fridge, and gulped it down. Hotaru seized the opportunity to come over and rub against his