Volume 1 - CH 42

—tick—tock—tick—tock

The sound of a clock echoes through the quiet room.

—click—click—click.

And the sound of Himekawa running a pen through her notebook.

—boriboribori

I’ve lost my concentration, and I’m eating a candy bar.

Oh no, this situation is very bad.

I can’t concentrate as much as I want to.

It’s not because I’m a guy who can’t concentrate.

It’s because I’m not used to being alone with a girl in the same room.

And there is also a problem with this distance.

When I concentrate on my notes, the soft scent of soap hits me.

I look at my watch and realize that it is almost eight o’clock.

I notice that more time has passed than I expected.

“Himekawa, it’s almost eight o’clock, why don’t we have dinner?”

Himekawa puts down her pen and stands up tall.

“Hmmm. I didn’t realize it was this late already. I didn’t notice.”

She closes her notebook, puts her reference books on the edge of the desk, and puts her writing utensils back in her pen case.

It was quick. It takes only a second. The talented girl in front of me is different.

“I’m just finishing up too, so why don’t we call it a day?”

“I guess so. We still have some time before the exam, so let’s resume after dinner.”

Hm? Himekawa-san, isn’t that a bit contradictory?

I said, “That’s all for today”, and right after you replied, “Yes, that’s right” you said, “Let’s resume after dinner”.

Am I not understanding you well enough? Or are you seriously an all-out student?

—

“What shall we cook today?”

We scour the fridge, consulting the ingredients and deciding on the menu.

Today’s menu quota is to digest cabbage. The majority of the vegetable room is filled with cabbage.

“We should make a menu that uses a lot of cabbage. Can you think of anything?”

A moment of silence passes.

Himekawa closes her eyes and rubs her chin with her hand, thinking seriously.

Her gesture is like a detective’s. 

Then she slowly opens her eyes and speaks to me.

“I can only think of shredded cabbage.”

It was as if I could hear the sound effect of ‘do-ya’ from Himekawa’s back.

“Well, it’s ready in a few minutes just by cutting, but don’t you get tired of one cabbage?”

“Do you have any ideas, Tendo-kun?”

I pick up one of the cabbage and bring it to the cutting board.

It’s a pretty big cabbage.

“Well, …How about some okonomiyaki?”

You can use a lot of cabbage and just add other ingredients as you see fit.

The rest is simply baked on a hot plate.

“Sounds good! Okonomiyaki, I like it!”

It was an immediate response.

We immediately started preparing the okonomiyaki ingredients and brought the hot plate to the table.

There were shrimp and squid in the freezer, I believe.

There were no yams, but there were eggs and mushrooms, and I’m sure there were some tenkasu somewhere.

“I’ll get the ingredients ready, so Himekawa, go look for okonomiyaki flour and tenkasu in the tea chest over there.

“Um, is this tea chest okay?”

“I think it’s probably in there. If not, maybe the drawer next to it? Maybe it’s somewhere in the tea chest there.”

It’s probably there somewhere. I remember once making okonomiyaki by myself and putting the leftovers somewhere.

I bought a big bag of flour, so I must have had quite a bit left over.

I prepared the ingredients while wrestling with the cabbage. I put a lot of cabbage in a bowl.

The other ingredients should be placed separately, and when cooking, you can add whatever you like to each ingredient as you see fit.

—

I’m almost done cutting the cabbage.

But the flour hasn’t arrived yet.

“Kya!”

Suddenly, I looked toward the tea chest and a strange sight appeared before my eyes.

Himekawa’s face, hair, and clothes have turned slightly white, and she is covered in flour.

The flour had fallen slightly to the floor, but Himekawa was whiter than that.

Is she Cinderella covered in ashes!

“What’s wrong?　What in the world happened?”

“I tried to make sure this powder was the right one, and when I put a little force on it, the bag opened…”

Was the seal too tight? There is not that much damage to the floor, but there is a fair amount of damage to the Himekawa.

“Himekawa. Don’t move too much. Let’s move slowly to the entrance.”

I took Himekawa’s hand, slowly opened the kitchen door to prevent powder from falling on the floor, and guided her in.

If she shakes her head here, it would be a big mess.

After arriving at the entrance, I put on Himekawa’s sandals and go outside.

Then, I dust off the powder on Himekawa’s head with my hand.

Himekawa also brushes the powder off her clothes.

The powder on her head was harder to remove than I had expected.

I gently brush the powder off her head.

The powdery feeling gradually disappeared.

The powder on her clothes also disappeared, and she finally returned from Cinderella to Himekawa.

“I’m sorry…”

Himekawa’s shoulders drooped and she was dejected. There was no need to be so depressed.

It was just an accident.

“Don’t worry about it. Oh, there’s still flour on here, too.

I gently patted Himekawa’s cheek.

Yes, I got it.

Himekawa clutched her skirt with both hands to the point that it was wrinkled, and for some reason, she looked me in the eye.

Hm? What is it? Is there powder on me too?

Suddenly curious, I look around at my clothes as a whole.

There is no powder on me.

“Did you get it?”

“Oh. There is no more flour. That’s all right.”

“Thank you. Some of the flour is gone now.”

“It’s all right. Let’s get back to it.”

“…Wait!”

Himekawa grabbed my arm as I was going back to the room.

I was called, and for a moment, I was nervous, but when I turned around, Himekawa looked me in the eye.

“Te, Tendo kun has some powder”

Himekawa’s slender white hand brushes my cheek.

“I got it! Now, let’s go back quickly. I’m hungry!”

That’s funny. I don’t think there’s any powder on my face.

Did it get on my face when I was moving earlier, or when I was cleaning Himekawa’s powder off?

I pat my own cheek as I watch Himekawa go back to the entrance ahead of me.

There’s no powder on my face, is there?

—juwa

The perfect harmony of sauce and mayonnaise.

This stage is where dried bonito flakes dance. And the audience is me and Himekawa.

We are in front of that great, great theater.

It’s wonderful!

“”Itadakimasu.””

Himekawa puts the okonomiyaki in her mouth while huffing and puffing.

I was just as hungry as she was. I love okonomiyaki, too.

“It’s pretty good.”

“It’s delicious! There’s plenty of cabbage, so I can eat as much as I want.”

The okonomiyaki was rapidly disappearing as we continued to eat.

We have already eaten three regular-sized okonomiyaki together and are now on our fourth.

Himekawa-san. You eat more than I expected.

You really like okonomiyaki, don’t you?.

“Oh yeah, did you finish all the moving-related paperwork?”

I asked, a little curious.

She was still moping around with okonomiyaki in her mouth.

Oh, she has a little sauce around her mouth.

“Ah, yes. I’m done. In the morning of the day I came late, I went to the city hall, the post office, and the bank. I have already finished what was written on the paper that Imai-san gave me.”

“I see. Then your address is now here, and your mail will be delivered here?”

“Yes. Do you want to see my certificate of residence?

“No, I don’t need to look at it.”

“If you need it for something, please let me know. I have several copies.”

“Oh, I’ll tell you if I need it.”

—

Thus ended the first okonomiyaki party and its theatrics.

All the leftover okonomiyaki ingredients have been cooked and should be put in the refrigerator.

“Now we can have okonomiyaki again tomorrow!” Himekawa seemed to really like okonomiyaki, as she smiled at me and said that.

I think I’ll try Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki with yakisoba noodles next time.