She can't remember if she's given him a donut yet. Ah, she gave him a bagel before, of course. It was so obvious now. She throws another bagel at him.
What was a bagel?
A ring of dough. Sometimes thick, sometimes thin. Plain, simple, nondescript. The exterior’s hard. Rough to the touch. Inside it’s soft, sometimes warm. It is not all that different from bread. It could very well express the fact that Touya, for all of his past deeds, is nothing more than an overglorified and uninspiring facsimile of the most common wheat product in the world.
Or perhaps…
A bagel can be anything. It could be eaten as is, straight out of the oven. It could have sesame seeds sprinkled on top of it and baked into the dough. It could be split across the middle and have various spreads added, such as cheese or chocolate. It could be dipped in warm drinks, or various syrups. It could be glazed just like a donut, or it could be buttered like a scone. It could be accented with undertones of sweetness, or it could be served salted, or as a side dish for something sour.
A bagel was all of that and more.
It was the foundation upon which rich cultural tastes could flourish.
It was everything.
Mei must have thought very highly of Touya.