Chapter 203 – Late Night Dinner

Once the movie ended, the group exited the theater and saw the vastly different sky outside. Compared to when it was bright outside earlier, the sky was now pitch-black with small dots of bright stars accompanying the endless darkness.

Takei was reminded of a certain event that happened quite a while ago. It was the first few days that he had met Akari.

He went to the movies with her and then went to go eat dinner after the fact. For a first date, he was pretty proud of it.

"Where should we go now? It's getting a bit late," Airi spoke up.

"That's true, but we haven't even had dinner yet..." Takei scanned the surroundings looking for a good place to eat. "Is going out to dinner fine with everyone?"

""Yes!""

Even though it was a school night, no one seemed to want to go home yet. It was pretty much a given though, everyone was a teenager who just wanted to live their life.

"Oh, I have an idea!"

Akari spoke up by excitedly raising her hand with a lightbulb appearing over her head. She didn't suggest ideas often, which was why Takei was excited to see what Akari had in mind.

"What is it?"

"Let's cook a nice meal at home together!"

Akari suggested that they go to Takei's house and cook a large meal together. It was an activity that everyone could participate in and was relatively cheap compared to going out to a restaurant.

"I-I'll do my best!" Shizuku stated.

Haruto placed his hand on her head and gently rubbed it. "Don't overwork yourself that hard..."

"Overwork? I'm good at cooking, y'know?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say. That plan sounds good to me," Haruto gave his affirmation.

Takei was already on board with Akari's plan, so the only person left to wait for agreement was Airi.

Seeing that everyone was intently staring at her, Airi shrugged and gave up. "Alright, time to cook!"

***

Haruto Renzaki was in quite a pickle.

It wasn't anything serious, but he was worried it would affect his reputation.

"What do I do...?"

The being known as Haruto Renzaki could not cook for his life.

I've always had my meals cooled by Sakura, so I don't really know how to cook at all! It's kinda my fault for not learning how to cook earlier, but I have no talent at all.

What surprised me more was how Shizu knew how to cook. This gorilla woman that I wrestled in the mud with in my earlier days knowing how to cook has to be the biggest shock of my life.

Haruto was restlessly looking around the kitchen at all the other people who were working hard on the meal.

The closest person in skill to him would be Takei, but Takei was a decent chef in his own right, so it wasn't a really fair comparison.

Haruto leaned over and whispered to Takei. "Hey, I'm struggling a bit right now. Could you lend me a hand?"

"What are you struggling with?"

"Everything."

"..."

"..."

"I feel your pain."

Takei stealthily moved over to where Haruto was and quietly instructed him on how to do everything. It wasn't that Haruto was just inherently bad at cooking, it was because he didn't really care for measurements and eyeballed everything.

As a result, the food would always taste too salty or too sweet. His cutting and cleaning skills were also quite abysmal.

"I don't even know how you managed to survive to this age..." Takei said dumbfoundedly as he observed the mess that Haruto had made.

Half of the kitchen looked like a warzone thanks to Haruto, which resulted in everyone finding out about his lack of cooking skills.

"Ah, that's quite a scene..." Shizuku tried her best to stifle a giggle.

"He did his best, I guess?" Airi wryly smiled.

"You got it next time~" Akari consoled him.

Everyone was very kind to him even though he had made a mess of the kitchen. Putting aside Shizuku, no one made fun of him.

Haruto wiped away the tears that were forming and smiled at them. "You guys..."

He was really happy that no one made fun of him. However, Haruto would be punishing Shizuku later for laughing so that was a whole other situation.

"The food's finally done!" Takei happily exclaimed. "We can finally eat hotpot!"

The dish that the group worked together to make was hotpot. Even though it was basically in the middle of the summer, everyone craved hotpot so it ended up being made.

"Let's dig in~" Akari proposed.

""Thanks for the meal!""

As instructed by the goddess, everyone grabbed a small bowl and indulged themselves in the meal.

They all had a thoughtful expression on their face as they ate, but it quickly changed to delight once the taste fully registered.

Shizuku was the first one who broke the silence. "There's just no other way to describe this meal than just perfect..."

"I can definitely taste Akari's skill in tasting the seasoning in the broth. It tastes very light but also very refreshing," Airi added.

"This hotpot is amazing... You get to eat stuff like this everyday?" Haruto asked Takei.

"Yeppppppppp. Are you jealous~?"

"Yes, I am. I'm so indescribably jealous that I want to cry," Haruto said, crestfallen.

As the table erupted into a lively atmosphere, Takei couldn't help but let out a smile at the sight of such a warm household.

It wasn't long ago where it felt like he was alone due to his parents leaving and going overseas, but now the house felt much more livelier as his friend group continued to grow.

Loneliness is nice and all, but I think I enjoy the company of other people much more now.

—

Supreme Idiot Couple Meter: 72 -> 73%

Arc end! Time to move on to the next one!

Serious-san: Will there be seriousness in the next arc?

Sugar-chan: What do you think?

Serious-san: No...?

Sugar-chan: Ding ding ding, you're right!