Generation Gap
“It’s meal time~!”
After finishing the very satisfying dinner, the three siblings brought food for the cats.
They usually ate together, but since the Tarous resided in the mansion, the cats had been hiding in a separate building, and only ate after the family had finished eating. Because of how even the ninjas still looked scared of the cats, the family had decided during the family meeting that they had to introduce the cats to the Tarous slowly and carefully.
“Meo~w♪”
The cats gathered around with Koumei as the lead when they heard Emma’s voice.
“Today’s dinner is… Ta-da! It’s kitty rice!”
They had poured miso soup on rice and put dried bonito and sea bream sashimi as the topping.[1]
[T/N 1: I couldn’t find a similar one, but you can search ねこまんま for better visualization]
The Tanaka family cats had been eating the same food as humans since the family moved to the royal capital. When they were in Palace, they ate monsters to fill their stomachs, and the only thing the family prepared for them were the treats they ate together with Emma.
When Emma considered reducing the salt and oil content in the cats’ food for their health, Koumei went “Nyah-uh” while shaking her head. According to Koumei, they only ate because their previous life memories made them have cravings to eat. However, they could actually still live without eating. They basically only needed to absorb the magical power from their surroundings to survive, and didn’t necessarily need food… though they still longed for delicious things.
Once one was named Tanaka, one would gain a great appetite as a new trait.
“Meow?”
“Meow? Meow?”
Kan-chan and Chou-chan looked at today’s dinner curiously. For these two cats, who were part of the crunchy cat food generation since birth, this was their first kitty rice in both their previous and current world.
“Meow!”
‘Our first kitty rice in a long time!’ Koumei and Ryuu-chan started burying their heads into their bowl happily.
“Mmph mew nom nom meow meow.” Following the two cats who were talking while eating, Kan-chan and Chou-chan sniffed their food and stuck out their tongues timidly.
” “Oh-meow!” “
Seeming as if they liked it, the two cats started eating while babbling “Meow meow nom nom wow” endlessly.
“Fufufu, is it delicious?”
Emma laughed as she watched them from the side, so as to not disturb their meal time.
“Um, Nee-sama, what do the cats always talk about while eating?”
William asked his older sister about the cat language he had been curious about. The way the cats ate hadn’t changed from their previous life. They would always eat while making some “Mmph mew meow” sound.
“Oh, it was basically a food review.”
” “Food review. …Wait, a food review?” “
“Yeah, a food review.”
Koumei (of the leftover dinner generation) commented, “The soup in this kitty rice… I could taste the dashi in every sip. And the dried bonito flakes and the fish on the top gave this dish an overall profound flavor.”
[T/N 2: Dashi is a Japanese soup stock made from fish and kelp]
Ryuu-chan (of the half leftover dinner/half crunchy cat food generation) reported, “This is so delicious♪ It’s been a while since I last ate fish! So good!!! Yummy yummy♪”
Kan-chan (of the crunchy cat food generation) remarked, “It contains some flavor I have never tasted before, but I don’t hate it♪ I want to hunt some monsters once in a while. I want to eat raw monster meat.”
Chou-chan (of the crunchy x Chu*ru-fanatic generation) opined, “It’s soft and easy to eat! I like it! But it doesn’t mean I will forget Chu*ru. …Chu*ru… Oh, Chu*ru…”
What everyone said was different, but it was basically a real-time food review.
“…Kan-chan and Chou-chan ate dry cat food almost 365 days a year in our previous life though… They still gave a food review every time despite that?” George was shocked.
“It seems that even crunchy cat food has its own crunchy qualities, you know?”
” “Meow!” “
Kan-chan and Chou-chan nodded in agreement.
“…Or rather, isn’t Koumei-san a gourmet!!!”
Perhaps cats of the leftover dinner generation had a more sophisticated palate as they had eaten a variety of foods.
