Volume 4 - CH 7

It was the next Sunday after the opening ceremony.

Yuzuru was waiting at the station, dressed in his relatively comfortable and lively casual clothes.

As he busily checked his watch…

“Yuzuru-san.”

“Whoa!”

Suddenly, he was grabbed by the shoulder.

Yuzuru yelped in surprise and turned around.

There was his fiancée with such a cute  “Ehehe” expression on her face.

“Don’t startle me. You gave me a fright.”

“It’s Yuzuru-san’s fault for showing an opening.”

Arisa, like Yuzuru, was wearing slightly more dynamic clothing.

She wore a pair of jeans with a cardigan and a shirt underneath.

On the ring finger of her left hand shone the proposal ring that Yuzuru had put his heart into.

When she comes to school, she does not wear the ring.

…Naturally, wearing an expensive engagement ring to school is a security concern, and more importantly, it causes a commotion of ‘Who gave it to you?’.

It is now a well-known fact that Yuzuru and Arisa are lovers, but the fact that they are engaged to each other is a completely different story.　

There’s no better way to keep it under wraps.

“I see… I guess it’s the fault of the one who showed an opening.”

Suddenly, feeling a little mischievous, Yuzuru gently took Arisa’s left hand in his.

Arisa gave her hand in a natural gesture as if she thought Yuzuru was just going to hold her hand like he usually did.

…That was careless of her.

Yuzuru scooped up Arisa’s hand in his hand, then slowly raised it.

Eh? Aren’t we going on a date now, holding hands?

He smiled lightly at the expression on Arisa’s face and…

“Ah…”

Gently, he pressed his lips to the back of her hand.

Arisa’s body shivered slightly.

Her white porcelain skin turned slightly red.

Yuzuru did not care and gently dropped a second kiss on her ring finger.

“Mn…”

Arisa let out a distracted squeal.

Then she lost her strength and fell towards Yuzuru as if collapsing in a heap.

“Are you okay?”

“Th-this kind of thing… Please stop doing this in front of people…”

When Yuzuru held her, Arisa complained to him with moist eyes.

it didn’t look like she was unhappy, even though she asked him to stop.

In fact, in her eyes, it looked like she wanted Yuzuru to do it.

“It’s the fault of the one who shows an opening, isn’t it?”

Yuzuru gave a wicked smile.　

Arisa then puffed out her cheeks slightly and smacked Yuzuru’s chest.

“Geez… stupid.”

She said this with a relieved, but somewhat unsatisfied, look on her face.

The two of them then headed to a park near the station.

The park was quite large, with beautiful cherry blossoms in full bloom.

Yes, this date was the long-awaited cherry blossom viewing.

“Where should we go?”

“Let’s see… I think that’s a good place.”

Fortunately, there was one place that looked good.

Yuzuru spread out the leisure sheet he had brought with him on that spot.

He was in charge of the leisure seat and drinks.

On the other hand, Arisa’s responsibility was…

“I’ve been working really hard on it.”

She smiled and put together 3 large stacked boxes one after another.

Arisa opened the boxes one by one.

The boxes were filled with Japanese and Western-style side dishes, small and cute rice balls, and stylish sandwiches.

“O-oh…?”

…That’s a lot.

Yuzuru disguised his true feelings that were about to come out of his mouth by saying something in admiration.

“I made a little too much of it.”

Arisa smiled, “Ehehe”.

Yuzuru was baffled by the slight difference in values, wondering if it was as little as she said.

“Well… if there are any leftovers, I can take them home and eat.”

“I’d be happy if you could do that… You can have it for dinner today or breakfast tomorrow. I think it will last for that long.”

“Yeah.”

It seemed that in Arisa’s mind, Yuzuru was the one in charge of “eating”.

However, Yuzuru was more than happy to be able to eat the food that Arisa cooked for dinner and breakfast.

“I’m going to eat it then. Itadakimasu.”

“Itadakimasu.”

Yuzuru and Arisa put their hands together.

Yuzuru reached for the sandwiches, starting with the ones that were likely to spoil or lose their flavor if frozen.

“How is it?”

“Yeah…Delicious.”

The crisp lettuce and cucumbers, the fresh acidity of the tomatoes, the moderately salty ham, and the soft bread.

And the sauce on the bread held the ingredients together.

“…Did you change the flavor of the sauce?”

This is not the first time he has eaten a sandwich made by Arisa.

But Yuzuru noticed that the taste of the sauce had changed a little from before.

“Yes. I changed it a little. What do you think?”

She was happy that Yuzuru had noticed the change in taste.

She asked in a good mood, but with a slight hint of anxiety in her voice.

“I think I like it better this time. It’s a little spicy, but I think it adds a nice touch.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Arisa smiled happily.

Then he moved on to the side dishes.

“This shrimp chili is delicious.”

“I took Ayaka-san’s advice.”

“This hamburger is not hard even though it’s cold.”

“Chiharu-san taught me the trick for that.”

It seems that Arisa has improved her cooking skills while I haven’t seen her for a while.

It’s been a while since the last time he ate food made by her, so his chopsticks moved easily.

And…

“Surprisingly, you ate a lot…”

“That’s true… My stomach is pretty packed, though.”

Approximately two-thirds of the lunches were taken care of.

The rest was Yuzuru’s dinner for today.

“Thanks for the food, Arisa. It was delicious. I’ll have the rest at home.”

“Yes… Apologies for the crude food.” (TN: It’s a polite form of responding to the thanks for the food in Japanese.)

After finishing their meal, they looked up at the cherry blossoms once again.

Their hands were naturally linked.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah.”

After agreeing with Airisa’s murmur, Yuzuru looked at Arisa sitting next to him.

Then, Arisa was also looking at Yuzuru.

Their eyes naturally met.

The two of them couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

“I mean… I’m really a happy man. To be able to get married to such a beautiful, cute person who is good at cooking.”

When Yuzuru said this sincerely, Arisa’s cheeks flushed.

Then, looking up at Yuzuru, she gently snuggled up to him.

“I’m also… happy.”

She said and moved closer until their shoulders were touching.

Yuzuru gently put his hand around Airisa’s shoulder and held her in his arms.

“Mmm…”

Arisa did not resist.　

She gently placed her head on Yuzuru’s shoulder.

The beautiful flaxen hair tickled Yuzuru’s shoulder. (TN: This would make a pretty picture)

Then he gently took Arisa’s hand in his.

And whispered in her ear.

“Do you want to… practice?”

“…Yes.”

With a warm sigh.

Arisa answered in a small voice.