Chapter 48 – Late

There was a serene silence surrounding the Tanaka household. Not a single decibel of noise could be heard as the entire house was wrapped in a blanket of quietness. Well, not a single decibel of noise besides the light snoring that was creeping out of a certain somebody's room.

Indeed, Takei was still sleeping soundly even though it was a school day. Even though it was only five minutes after the first bell, he was undoubtedly late to school.

The silver lining in this situation however, was the multiple text messages that were sent to Takei for the past half an hour.

An endless flood of text messages were overflowing from Takei's texting app. Some of them were genuine concerns, while some of them were actual complaints. Of course, it went without saying that the sender was Akari.

Hey, where are you?

I knocked on your door, but no one answered...

I'm at school now, but I don't see you here?

Hey, school's about to start! You're going to be late!

I'm lonely...

You're taking responsibility later!

There were many more text messages like this, but you get the gist.

After the 38th text message, Takei's eyes finally fluttered open.

He glanced at his alarm clock that was on his bedside desk and confirmed that he was indeed late to school.

"Ah, whatever. I'll show up during lunch."

Takei closed his eyes and let the sleepiness overtake him once again.

***

"Haaah..."

Stretching his arms out, Takei let out a tired yawn.

He had barely woken up and gotten ready before the lunch period started.

Takei walked down the empty corridors of his school without a care in the world. Classes would be ending soon and lunch would begin as a result.

Getting a stroke of curiosity, Takei decided to head towards Akari's classroom.

He walked to the neighboring classroom 1-B and looked through the slight gap in the door.

Sitting in the front row to the farthest left side was the goddess herself.

Akari was diligently studying her textbook during the ongoing study hour that was happening.

The bright rays of the sun passed through the window and illuminated her hair brilliantly.

She truly looked like a statue that belonged at a famous museum.

As he was admiring her figure, the lunch bell rang and signaled to everyone that lunchtime was beginning.

Takei left the area in front of the classroom and hid nearby to wait for Akari.

Students streamed out of the classroom as the smell of delicious food wafted from the cafeteria and enticed their hungry stomachs.

After a majority of the students left the classroom, a golden haired goddess finally exited as well.

As she was about to pass him, Takei jumped out and scared her.

"Boo!"

"Eek!"

As expected, the goddess reacted normally to Takei's surprise jumpscare and by normally, she was scared out of her wits.

Akari was so shocked that her knees started to buckle.

"Whoops."

Takei caught her in his hands as Akari slumped down.

Looking at her facial expressions, it revealed a deeply annoyed goddess that looked like she was about to snap.

Trying to defuse the situation as fast as possible, Takei attempted at an apology before she even said anything.

"Uh, I'm sorry?"

Hearing Takei's apology that had a questioning tone, Akari turned her head away.

"Hmph!"

It seemed that the goddess was less than pleased at his attempt at an apology.

Takei sighed, knowing that he could do nothing but find a way to uplift her mood.

"What do you want me to do to make you not mad at me?"

Akari then looked at him with a slightly refreshed expression, as if she was waiting for him to say this.

"Feed me lunch."

Oh, that was it? It's a little bit embarrassing, but I don't mind it if it helps make her mood better.

Takei nodded in approval. "Got it."

They then moved to the rooftop as usual and Akari spread the picnic sheet out while Takei brought out the bentos from Akari's bag.

Takei served two cups of hot tea from the thermos that was brought.

Once everything was fully set up, they both sat down on the picnic sheet and opened the bentos.

Today's bentos consisted of chow mein, pickled radishes, kimchi, and various other vegetables. As expected of the goddess, the presentation was unrivalled.

After scanning over all of the food items, Takei noticed a glint in Akari's eyes. She hadn't even reached out to use her chopsticks yet. It seemed that she was waiting for Takei to feed her, before anything else could be done.

Knowing what he had to do, Takei sighed and picked up some food with his chopsticks in order to feed Akari.

"Here you go, my princess."

He outstretched his chopsticks towards Akari and she opened her mouth as a result.

"Aaahn."

The goddess cutely swallowed the food that was given to her with a satisfied smile on her face.

"Satisfied now?" Takei asked, exasperated.

Akari smirked at his clear apprehension of this action. "Mmm, maybe a little bit."

In contrast to Akari's words, the edges of her mouth were steadily getting wider by the second. She really enjoyed getting fed by a bashful Takei.

As Takei was about to prepare more food to feed to her, Akari stopped him before he could continue.

"Hm... it's my turn now."

Akari grabbed some chow mein with her chopsticks and told Takei to open wide.

He decided that it was not wise to anger her any further, so Takei decided to eat her food wholeheartedly.

"Aaahn..."

Takei opened his mouth and received a small helping of chow mein as a result.

Ignoring the embarrassment building up within him, Takei decided to focus on the colorful and immense flavors of the food.

"How is it?" Akari asked.

Averting his eyes due to embarassment, Takei gave her an honest review. "It's... good."

Just like always, seeing Takei's tsundere and bashful side was always a treat. At least, that's how Akari was treating it.

"Fufufu, it'll help you to be more honest in the future, no?"

"Declined."

"Oh well," Akari exaggeratedly replied.

In the end, a peaceful and tranquil lunch was had.

---

Akari's True Affection Meter: 78 -> 80%

This idiot couple feeding each other is going to make me cry...

Sugar-san: It'll be okay, Author-san.

Serious-san: I agree with Author-san, I want to cry as well...