She took out the dried fish from the box. Filefish, squid, octopus, pollack… there were all sorts of things inside. They filled the entire box too, so the price must be considerable.

She put the dried filefish filets on the table since they were packaged in small packs while putting the rest under the sink and in the cupboard.

Eating all of them might wear their jaw muscles out.

“We should hand these out to the people around us tomorrow,” she said to Maru, who came out of the shower.

Maru went to the sofa and sat down with a towel on his head. He looked exhausted like he had used tomorrow’s stamina in advance.

She mixed some cold water with green plum extract and gave it to him. Only after gulping it down in one go did he heave a sigh of relief.

“Didn’t you say you were going to a shoot for Hot-blooded Youths?” she asked as she sat down on the floor.

“I did. I went to the market.”

“You went there to work, so what’s up with all the dried fish?”

“The owner gave it to me as a token of appreciation.”

“All that, just for a token of appreciation?” She pointed at the empty box she put in front of the porch.

How thankful must they have been to give Maru a box full of expensive products?

Maru dusted the water off his hair with the towel before speaking,

“I was originally...