The Spicy Omega

Translator: Katie

Editor: Shizukuku

Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!

High-Grade Meat Rhapsody (Kijima POV)

A/N: Extra part as thanks for digitalization


Kijima and Karasawa’s high-grade meat episode.

I received a message with absolutely no context, but between friends, it probably wasn’t too strange.

“You wanna come over and eat some expensive meat?”

A mere friend would probably not send a message like this though.

“I’ll go.”

The moment I saw it, I immediately said yes without any questions.

‘Cause it’s expensive meat, ya know? I had an estimate of the amount and source of meat.

I only found out when and where it would be afterward, but there was no reason for me to not go that day. Even if I were busy that day, I’d forcefully free up my schedule.

Just like that, I was invited to go to my friend’s house for the first time in a while.

The last time I came over was when he’d asked me to help him move out, so it had been about a year.

As usual, the huge building was a convenient distance from the train station despite being in a well-spread-out neighborhood.

Feeling out of place, I stood at the apartment entrance and pushed the buttons for his room number.

But I’ve been inside once before. It should be fine to confidently enter while wearing these worn-out jeans and a long-sleeved patternless shirt.

“Pardon the intrusion.”

“C’mon in.”

Going down a deserted hallway, I checked the room number plates twice before I arrived at the room where I was greeted by a familiar face.

“Long time no see, Karasawa. It’s been a year.”

“Did we really not see each other for that long? You seem to be doing as well as ever, Kijima.”

“Yeah, you too.”

From the entrance, the single, wide apartment felt slightly imbalanced with the person wearing loose loungewear welcoming me in—my friend from my high school era, Karasawa Shinya.

He was earnest and studied a lot but was also friendly and gentle. He was actually an omega and lived while hiding that fact this whole time.

But after a lot of things happened—and I mean a lot—he now lived with my other friend, who was an alpha, Amami Ren.

I heard they formally became mates the other day, and seeing the soft smile on Karasawa’s face, I didn’t even have to ask him to figure out that everything went well.

Normally, when two people out of a three-person friend group got hitched to each other, the remaining person would feel awkward, but I didn’t feel that way towards them.

I might’ve been screwed if I held any feelings of love towards Karasawa.

But that wasn’t the case at all, nor would it ever be, and if I ever thought about having such evil feelings, I’d get erased. Physically.

“Here, it’s what you asked for.”

As I entered, I handed over a white plastic bag.

Inside were some vegetables and shirataki noodles I bought at the supermarket. I’d been asked to buy these beforehand.

“Oh, thanks. I’ll pay you for them later.”

“No need. You’re gonna let me eat expensive meat to my heart’s content anyway, right?”

“Of course.”

I asked with an unconscious grin on my face, which was met with a similar grin.

“Here is our main menu of the day, expensive sukiyaki meat!”

“…Oooh~”

The meat he showed me in the kitchen looked expensive, just from the container it was in. It was splendid meat that was bright red and glinted in the light even now.

It was probably marbled, as even the fatty parts look delicious. But there were only 5 slices in a single box.

Just when I was wondering whether we’d even get full from this much, he said that there were still countless boxes.

My throat gulped in a conditioned reflex.

Karasawa, who was brought up as a commoner, would never buy meat this expensive.

It was probably—no definitely—something Amami brought back. So alphas could freely eat such delicious-looking meat? I was jealous.

Perhaps I was already plenty blessed to be able to enjoy such amazing meat.

Anyhow, if Amami didn’t return home, we couldn’t start the sukiyaki party.

He had said he’d be back soon, so we decided to wait in the living room for the other resident to come back.

Sitting on the sofa, I sipped a cup of coffee that Karasawa had brewed for me while I glanced around the living room.

It was a huge room as usual.

There were more books on the shelf above the TV set now, and the amount of knick-knacks scattered around had also increased since they moved in. It seemed much more lived-in than before, which gave me a slight ticklish feeling.

“Speaking of which, why did you invite me?”

To hide my embarrassment, I asked him while sipping on the coffee with plenty of milk added to it.

“Oh, yeah. We got that as a present, but Ren said he doesn’t really like beef. So we decided to call someone who seemed like they could eat a lot of it.”

“Hahhh… Words of the rich.”

“Right? It’s so odd to send high-grade meat that’s not an end-of-the-year or mid-year gift.”

It seemed that Karasawa, despite living in a high-class apartment and eating high-quality food, still hadn’t lost his sensibility as a commoner.

Amami was a good guy, but when speaking to him, I occasionally felt that our sensibilities were different. There had been times when I would think I was wrong, and then I would lose confidence.

In that aspect, Karasawa was raised in a beta household like me, so our thought processes were similar.

Karasawa was most likely the main decision maker for their daily lives, and they would discuss their different senses of value and adjust themselves accordingly while living together.

“I’m glad you guys seem to be happy. Not that I was worried though.”

At my earnest words, Karasawa’s eyes widened, and then he burst into laughter.

“Thanks, Kijima. I heard that Ren consulted you about a lot of things.”

Back in high school, I was supporting their love from behind the scenes.

My role was to hold Amami back, who seemed like he was about to run wild, and guide him. You could say I was their cupid of sorts.

There wasn’t a lot I could do for them, and I got anxious when they strayed from each other, but I was relieved when they got together without incident.

“It was the worst when Amami came to ask me for advice almost every day. Since I worked so hard, I would’ve been troubled if you didn’t get together.”

“What the heck?”

No, it’s not a laughing matter, Karasawa.

Even though he was the one asking me for advice, whenever I spoke on behalf of Karasawa’s feelings, he would say things like, “Why do you know that? Are you actually after him?” and hurl groundless suspicions at me.

Amami threatened my life countless times. I thought I deserved some recognition for my hard work in going along with him despite having to deny those every time.

Fortunately, Amami would never direct that dangerous part of him towards Karasawa.

Knowing him, he was probably just as gloomy and perverted as always, but I was sure he was thoroughly spoiling and loving the fated mate he finally got his hands on.

As I thought about this in a daze, I looked at Karasawa, who was sitting diagonally across from me on the sofa, and my gaze was drawn to the collar of his shirt.

A superbly placed red spot that gave the impression of being either a bug bite that was slightly too early in the season, or maybe a rash.

“…”

It was only natural for me to cover my face and crumple where I sat.

“Huh?! What’s wrong, Kijima!? Do you feel sick?”

“N-No… I’m fine…”

I stilled Karasawa, who was hovering over me worriedly, and heaved a huge sigh.

It was already confirmed that I would come over today a few days ago.

And Amami was the type to make sure even the mating claim mark stood out. No matter how much of his skin he covered, it was in a place that could be seen from any angle so that anyone could understand.

(Trying to keep even me in check, just what was the meaning of this…?!)

When I raised my head for a small glance, I saw Karasawa at my side, kneeling on the floor.

Since I had to look down at an angle to see him, I ended up getting a good view of his neck, and my throat made a groaning sound I never heard before.

“Um… Karasawa…”

“?”

I pointed at the area below my ears with a finger. I was being as considerate as possible.

Karasawa looked at my neck in confusion, lightly touched his own in the same place, finally realized what I meant, and reddened.

That alpha really was an idiot who could only study.

To think he’d let the shy and easily embarrassed Karasawa be seen by other people like that. Fortunately, I wasn’t a danger to Karasawa, but you never know what someone else would think.

“Alright!”

It seemed the mood was about to turn awkward, so I got up with energy.

“Let’s eat meat first. We won’t let Amami eat high-grade meat!”

“Y-Yeah!”

Karasawa, with his cheeks still a little red, got up with a desperate feeling and headed to the kitchen with me.

I wasn’t a kid anymore, so of course I would know what an alpha and an omega living together would mean. And the reason for a small reddened patch of skin too.

Nonetheless, that didn’t mean I ever wanted to know the details of what went on between my friends. In fact, it was because I had known them for a long time that I’d rather not find out.

Even though I went through the pain of maintaining an appropriate distance, if the other party gave me strange hints, I would have to deal with them accordingly. Furthermore, it was obvious that Karasawa was all wrapped up in Amami’s jealousy.

In the first place, was this something he’d done to keep me in check because he suspected I might attack Karasawa otherwise? Wasn’t that super rude?

If he was going to act like that, then it would only be fair for him to be punished with no meat when he came back home. Maybe we could leave him some shirataki noodles or enoki mushrooms though.

Seeing the cutting boards and kitchen knives meant for two in the wide and tidy kitchen, I could tell that Amami really took good care of Karasawa, but at the same time, I grew more vexed.

“Ren said he’d be home soon.”

Coming in after checking the text he received, Karasawa timidly reported when Amami would be back.

All the ingredients were chopped and the pot was ready too. To my surprise, the perfect portable gas stove was also prepared. And now there was no reason for me to wait for that guy to come home.

“Alright, let’s turn on the stove!”

“A-Are we really not waiting for him?”

Karasawa was slightly hesitant.

Even though it was just me, he was still humiliated, so I felt like he could’ve been more angry, but he was just too nice.

“Then you can wait for Amami. I’ll eat enough for the both of you.”

But today, I wouldn’t be forgiving. And I wanted to eat as much meat as possible.

“No way! If that’s gonna be the case, I’ll eat too!”

Noticing how serious my face was, Karasawa hurriedly shook his head.

“Alright, I’m turning it on.”

“…Okay?”

Even Karasawa, who tilted his head, could not resist the allure of the delicious smell from the pot in the end. The way the ingredients soaked up the flavors greatly stimulated my appetite.

Cracking in slightly expensive eggs, which I had bought for this occasion, we both looked at each other with a small plate in hand and a twinkle in our eyes.

“Looks like it’s cooked. Let’s eat! Thanks for the food!”

“Is it really fine…?”

Karasawa was still slightly hesitant but eventually started eating.

The flavor of the meat… could not be adequately described with my poor mastery of the Japanese language. That was how delicious it was.

When the contents of the pot reached half the original amount, Amami arrived home.

“I’m home… Huh!? Why did the two of you start eating already?”

Amami was stunned as he alternated looking between Karasawa, whose mouth was full of juicy vegetables, and me, who was poking at some tofu, which had lost most of its heat and became easier to eat.

It was rare to see him so pathetic with his bag sliding down his shoulder.

“Welcome back, Ren.”

“Yeah, welcome back. Just now we were getting all worked up complaining about how horrible you are while eating meat.”

I lied.

Until just now, both of us were at a complete loss for words due to the unprecedented taste of the meat. We’d only said things like “delicious” and “amazing”.

Just as I expected, Karasawa’s eyes widened.

“Huh?!? About me…? Huh, you too, Shinya?”

“Yep~ Isn’t that right, Karasawa? If you don’t like something, you have to say it clearly, you hear?”

“Shinya… hates… me…!?”

Amami’s bag finally fell off his shoulder.

His face was so full of sadness that I couldn’t help but laugh.

It was revenge for embarrassing Karasawa with his silly jealousy, but it seemed to be more powerful than expected. This man really was weak and pathetic when it came to his mate.

Well, that was why I was able to relax and leave my friend to him.

Karasawa intervened and revealed that I was lying earlier, but that look of despair on Amami’s face had me laughing out loud for a while.

I was almost banned from coming back because of that, but Karasawa’s last-minute interrogation about that hickey prevented that.

It was also super rare to see Amami’s dejected look from Karasawa’s scolding, and I laughed again.

After letting Amami eat the meat we saved that was firmly stuck to the sides of the pot, we helped Karasawa clean up and then left the room.

Karasawa, with Amami stuck to his back, came to see me off at the entrance.

An alpha clinging to an omega’s shoulders was a sorry sight if I’d ever seen one, but Karasawa didn’t seem to mind much.

“Hah… My stomach is bulging now, and I laughed enough for a lifetime. May the two of you live in happiness forever.”

“…Yeah, thanks. Kijima, I hope you find a partner soon too.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that! See ya.”

Behind the smiling Karasawa, I saw out of the corner of my eye that the one hiding behind his back also gave me a little wave.

Knowing Amami, Karasawa would probably not be unhappy. But not being unhappy didn’t guarantee he would be happy.

They should be able to respect each other, love each other, and laugh with each other. If possible I hope they could stay like that for the rest of their lives.

“They ended up showing off to me.”

With a full and warm belly and the warm feelings I had been given, I leisurely made my way home.

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