What Did You Eat Yesterday? Volume 17

There’s a cute chapter in What Did You Eat Yesterday? volume 17 that has a lot happening. Ultimately, it ends with Shiro taking care of Kenji in a variety of ways, which I found heartwarming.

Kenji, now managing the hair salon, feels as though he has to go out drinking with his good customers as part of the business. (Apparently, this is a thing in Japan, with author Fumi Yoshinaga making a comment about clients wanting to drink with their hairdressers because whatever they say doesn’t get back to anyone they know.) The woman who’s invited him out this weekend has a husband, just got dumped by her boyfriend, and wants Kenji to spend the night with her in spite of knowing he’s gay “so a one-night stand with a female client shouldn’t count as cheating at all.”

Thankfully, a well-timed phone call from his boyfriend gives him an excuse to get out of the situation without hurting her feelings. The moment that really showed how solid their relationship was, to me, was when, after Kenji’s gotten home, a tired but determined Shiro talks Kenji out of stress-eating late at night. “Go take a bath and call it a night,” is good, caring advice. The next morning, Shiro makes Kenji French toast to make up for it. They’re just so sweet together!

Other chapters in this volume feature a New Year’s party with another couple, where they make shabu-shabu and talk about how great cooked lettuce is (?!?); a Nicoise salad with a gratin to make up for not remembering a woman who greeted them on the street; a Valentine’s date dinner and a movie; and a work case for Shiro, in which he saves a woman’s husband from being blackmailed.

I was reminded again of why I love these stories and characters, when Kenji goes for his checkup and his doctor tells him that, as a man over fifty, things are just going to start going wrong. You don’t see a lot of heroes that age still out doing interesting things. Then he finds out that Shiro considers his tastes when shopping, which is again, just a sweet thing to do. It’s these quiet moments of caring that I find romantic.