Volume 1 - CH 3.3

Shimizu-san’s Bentō 3

During the lunch break, I finished my lunch early and had nothing particular to do, so I lay down on my desk.

I could hear Hondō and Matsuoka talking to each other from the seat next to me.

“I really wanted to eat Seto-san’s homemade cooking——”

“Toshiya, are you still hung up on what happened during the cooking class?”

“At that time, I thought I had come to terms with it, but wouldn’t every guy want to eat the homemade cooking of a girl he likes?”

“I think the subject is a bit too big, but you’re probably right. It’s rare to have the chance to eat the food made by a girl you like, and I think it will make anyone happy.”

It seems that Hondō is also interested in home-cooked food from the opposite sex. Good, it means I’m making the right effort in the right direction.

“Right?! I wonder if Seto-san will make homemade Bentō and give it to me… “

“At this point, it’s more of a fantasy rather than an imagination…”

Perhaps because they are close friends, Hondō can sometimes be blunt with Matsuoka.

“I don’t care if it’s fantasy or imagination, I’ll definitely make it a reality later!”

“Good luck with that.”

“Yeah, I mean, even if it’s not the home-cooked food of someone you like, there’s something nice about someone else’s homemade food.”

“Agreed. It’s good to cook by yourself, but there’s something special about having someone else cook for me.”

This is good information. It means they would feel happy to have someone else cook for them, even if it is not from the person they like.

“Speaking of which, I was just wondering, when we were talking about love before, did Daiki ever think of making your own Bentō?”

Matsuoka suddenly questioned Hondō.

“I thought about it, but in the end, I gave up because I couldn’t get up early in the morning.”

“I see. So you’ll have to rely on the school store for the time being.”

“I guess so. But when we talked about Bentō before, I got a little curious and wanted to try making one if I wake up early next time.”

I was just casually listening to him, and now I’m in big trouble. There is a world of difference in cooking skills between Hondō and me. If Hondō made his own bentō, it would be somewhat difficult for me to give it to him later.

I had thought that I could give him the Bentō later when I was satisfied with it after some practice, but now I realized that I needed to hurry up and finish the Bentō.

“Hey, Shimizu-san has been in a bad mood for the past week or so, do you know why? “

“I’ve heard a rumor that the scar on her hand is increasing day by day cause she has been fighting with students from other schools every day, there is a theory is that someone has made Shimizu-san upset and some other theories. But I don’t know which one is correct. The only thing I know is that we should never get involved with Shimizu-san in that state.”

“I agree. I’ll be careful too.”

I can feel my classmates gossiping about me in the corner of the classroom, but I don’t have the energy to respond.

It’s been a week since I started making Bentō, and to tell the truth, I’m still not satisfied with my Bentō.

No matter how carefully Ai taught me every morning, my cooking skills did not improve, and even though my mother began to teach me a few days ago, the result remained the same. As I continued to eat the Bentō’s failed dishes day after day, both Ai and I gradually lost heart.

(I had no idea my cooking skills were this bad…)

No one had the energy to eat the failed dishes this morning, so I packed them in a Bentō box and brought them for today’s lunch.

It would be difficult for me and bad for Ai to continue making Bentō any longer. I decided to stop making bentō from today.

At lunchtime, I take out from my bag the Bentō that my mother made and the Bentō that I made myself. I have to eat both of them during my lunch break. I feel like sighing.

“…sigh.”

The voice wasn’t mine. I turned toward the voice, and I saw Hondō resting his chin on his hand, looking absent-minded.

“What’s wrong? You got such a gloomy look on your face.”

I was curious and couldn’t help but ask since Hondō rarely sighed like that.

“Ah, sorry, Shimizu-san.”

“No need to be sorry, but what’s going on? “

Since I took the initiative to talk to him, I wanted to at least know the reason for his sigh.