Thank God I have no sense of taste…

Eiji entered the door of his home and came face-to-face with Masato, who was in his school uniform.

– I’m home. – he took his shoes off.

– Welcome back. – Masato turned to Eiji with a smiling expression.

– Why so happy? – Eiji asked.

– Can’t you see? I look great in my outfit! – Masato puffed out his chest, pointing to himself.

– Yeah? Whatever… – Eiji brushed past him towards the dining table.

– What do you mean “whatever”? – Masato faked an indignant tone, mimicking Eiji’s bored delivery.

– I started the Baranta club today. We have three members, excluding us. – Eiji ignored him, sitting down.

– What? I thought you said you would wait for me! – Masato was surprised.

– I didn’t really have a choice. I either get in trouble for fighting two guys or just say it was for the club. – Eiji looked down at his bowl. His expression froze. – Mi a fasz ez?! Is this edible?

The soup was a chaotic mess of half‑cooked vegetables and raw meat chunks floating in cloudy broth.

– I made this for you, don’t you like it? – Masato had an innocent expression.

– Are you really asking me that? – Eiji had a serious tone.

Masato suddenly burst out laughing.

– I know it’s shit, but one of us really needs to learn to make some decent food. Or get a girlfriend who will come over, either one works for me. – Masato sighed loudly. – It really is harder than I thought, life in Japan with just the two of us… – he said in a tragic stage voice, pressing a hand to his chest.

– It was a mistake to let you be in the acting club back home… – Eiji sighed. – Also, now that I think about it, didn’t you say you knew how to cook before we came here?! What happened to that, bazdmeg?!– Eiji was annoyed.

Masato shrugged with a mischievous grin.

– I do know. Just… not that well. – He slid into the chair beside Eiji. – Anyway, we’re in this together, right? So tell me more about the club.

Eiji reluctantly lifted the spoon, took a sip, and sighed.

– Thank God I have no sense of taste…

Masato blinked, then crossed his arms.

– I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. – he leaned closer to Eiji. – Now, could you finally tell me about the club?

– Yeah… – Eiji rubbed his forehead. – It all started with this… damn, I don’t even know his name. Whatever. This guy thought I was going out with the girl who sits next to me. He liked her too, but I didn’t really give a shit.

– Ooooh, a love triangle! – Masato grinned, leaning in like it was gossip.

– Don’t make it sound stupid. – Eiji shot him a look. – Anyway, I walked away, but when he tried to grab me in the hallway, I acted before I could think. Did the shoulder pressure thing. Dropped him right there. Everyone saw.

Masato smirked.

– Getting into trouble on your second day I see…

– Shut up. – Eiji was slightly annoyed. – To better the situation I made up something about it being a demonstration from the Baranta club.

Masato slapped the table, laughing.

– The only one that could pull this off would be you.

– Did I really have a choice? – Eiji sighed.

– Not really, but it’s still funny as hell, so what about the other two members? – Masato was still amused.

– One of them is the guy I told you about, the one I fought that day before school even started, his name was Fuyura or something… And the other is his friend. – Eiji took another sip of his soup. – On second thought, the texture is not that bad… – he muttered to himself.

– Then where is the second fight? Is there a fourth guy? – Masato leaned even closer.

– No, I fought this Fuyura… or was it Furuya? – Eiji said after swallowing a mouthful of soup.

– His name doesn’t matter. What matters is why fight? – Masato raised his eyebrows.

– We made a bet: if I win, he joins the club, if I lose I don’t start it at all.

– What kind of club president gambles the whole thing on day one? – Masato smirked.

– The kind that is sure in his own abilities. – Eiji grabbed the bowl and drained the rest of the soup in one go. – And if he’d won, you could’ve started it instead.

Eiji stood up from the table.

– So you actually had a plan like that… – Masato became serious. – But it’s still not fair!

– What? – Eiji turned back, two steps away.

– How you could eat all of it! I had to struggle for half an hour just to not throw it away. – Masato felt wronged.

– You know exactly how, so why ask? – Eiji turned forward, walking away.

– Even after all these years I’m still baffled by how much you don’t care about taste… – Masato sighed. – Haven’t you ever thought about the taste of things?

Eiji stopped for a second, he touched his chin with hand.

– I did, once. – he raised head. – After I got the dog soul, I used it to taste something… some beef, I think.

– And? – Ishida tilted his head.

– It was disappointing, I didn't really like it. – Eiji put his bowl in the sink and sat back down at the table. – So I haven’t tasted anything since, and I don’t plan to.

– But how will you know what your first kiss tastes like? I heard that it’s like lemon. – Masato puckered his lips and leaned toward him.

Eiji shoved him back.

– Cut that shit out, not like I’ll ever get to kiss anyone… – Eiji snorted.

– Come on, Eiji, you’re so cold to me! – Masato clutched his chest, staggering back in mock heartbreak. – Didn’t we swear, on that cold night, that if we were still single at thirty, we’d give up on women and get together?

Eiji sighed.

– Oh, how could I forget? Except it wasn’t a cold night. It was 3 AM on a Saturday, you’d just been rejected, and we were playing Minecraft. – Eiji played along with Masato’s joke.

They both froze, waiting to see who would crack first.

Then laughter burst out of them at the same time.

– Hahaha, is this why we don’t get girlfriends? – Masato wheezed.

– Yeah, well, we’ll have to cut this shit out here, otherwise it’ll be worse than back home. – Eiji said with a slight smile.

– Shit was crazy back there. Guys hugging, sitting on each other’s laps… no wonder the whole school thought our class was gay! – Masato remembered.

– Didn’t that girl also think you were dating one of the guys, so she never even considered you? – Eiji asked.

Masato blinked, then burst into unstoppable laughter.

– Now that you say that… I think she did!

They spent the rest of the evening laughing and reminiscing about their life in Hungary.

– Well, let’s go to sleep. We’ve both got school tomorrow. – Eiji headed toward his room.

– You sure you don’t want to sleep in the same bed? It can get scary at night. – Masato grinned.

– No, I’m good. Good night, Masato. – Eiji opened his door.

– Good night, Eiji. – Masato slipped into his own room beside his.

Eiji paused for a moment, a faint smile tugging at his lips, before closing the door.

Author’s note:

Hey everyone, thank you for reading another chapter of 𐲂𐲀𐲢𐲀𐲙𐲦𐲀 Baranta!

I hope you’ll continue to enjoy following their journey, and I’ll see you in the next chapter!

With lots of passion,

𐲖𐲉 LE