@SOL_rocks A good breakfast, lunch, and dinner are indeed essential healing factors.
@friendly I actually never thought about it, but perhaps Kiyo is only planning to stick around as long as Sumire is living in that boarding house. If anything, Sumire leaving might be the signal for Kiyo to leave as well, to seek formal education in cooking and catering, and then look at what the wider world could offer to her (or at least Japan).
@waterbottlecushion I think in the first couple chapters, she has the flashback where shes helping the current caretaker b4 while she was in training. I dont think it's what you're looking for but it probably implies it was already natural for her to be in there and since they needed a new caretaker she offered the job to Kiyo.
@Laparoscopic iirc in one of the chapters, it was explained that she was paid like Maiko, that is her full time pay was given to her parents while she got some pocket money regularly from the Mother of the house
It would be good if Kiyo found a chef at one of the establishments where the Maiko perform to take her in as an apprentice then she can continue to work in Kyoto and one day she might be able to open her own tea house too.