Chapter 19 – Himeka’s Homemade Lunch
Urushibara-san’s homemade lunch.
How much is this worth?
At the very least, it would be worth more than my monthly allowance could ever buy.
Even a shady person like me knows that it’s worth something that dozens, or even hundreds, of male students can only dream of.
So even though I firmly refused, in the end I couldn’t convince Urushibara-san, and I had to follow her insistence.
That’s right, I had no choice.
Because Urushibara-san is scary.
If she threatens you, you can’t refuse.
That’s why it’s inevitable that I’m having lunch together with Urushibara-san and will be eating her homemade lunch box.
So, at the emergency stairwell at lunchtime…
Urushibara-san was with two lunchboxes and I was empty-handed.
Lately, I’ve been eating here all the time, and when I sat down first, Urushibara-san forced herself to sit next to me, even though the stairs were narrow.
“Urushibara-san, it’s too narrow if you sit next to me,” I said and tried to move.
“No! Please sit down! Even if it’s narrow, you can still eat!”
“No, we can’t! If people see us this close together, it will arouse suspicion, not just of being friends, but something worse!”
She glared and her eyes turned sharp.
“Yes… I guess you’re right… You can still eat in a narrow space… Haha.”
Urushibara-san, you’re so scary.
“Here you go! I made it all myself, you know? I hope it suits your palate…”
When I opened the lid, I found a number of well-balanced repertoires.
There were many kinds of sushi, such as chirashi-sushi with soy beans and hijiki, fried chicken, omelet, boiled broccoli and carrots, octopus sausage, asparagus bacon. There were so many kinds of food that it was truly “amazing”.
I’m going to try one of the omelets.
Huh, this is a dashimaki. Not too sweet, but juicy with just the right amount of flavor.
Then, I took a bite of the fried chicken.
I can tell that it’s seasoned with soy sauce and sugar, which gives it a perfect balance of sweet and spicy flavors, and above all, it’s soft and tender.
“Urushibara-san.”
“W-W-W-What…d-d-d-do you think? D-D-Do you…l-l-like it?”
Ah, it’s Urushibara-san in clumsy mode.
“Excellent. The omelet and the fried chicken are perfectly seasoned. I can tell that a lot of effort has gone into them. This is truly wonderful. The taste is the result of Urushibara-san’s cooking skills and love. It’s excellent.”
“Ah♡, don’t praise me so much~, I’m embarrassed~~~…”
Oh, now it’s shy-mode Urushibara-san.
After that, Urushibara-san, whose face had been red for a while, fell silent, but she kept glancing at me as if she was curious about how I was eating. I finished eating quickly, but she didn’t progress with her chopsticks at all, and she finally finished eating just before the end of the break.
“Thank you for the food. I honestly underestimated you, Urushibara-san. I didn’t expect such a delicious lunch.”
“Ehehe, i-is that so?”
“Yes, I’m sure Urushibara-san will make a good wife.”
“W-Wife!?!?!?”
“Shhh! You’re being too loud! What if others find out we’re here!?”
“I-It’s Moriyama-kun’s fault! You suddenly started saying you want to make me your wife!”
“I didn’t say that! Are your ears rotten, Urushibara-san? I was just giving you my objective opinion that you would make a good wife!”
Sitting side by side on a narrow fire escape, shoulders touching, knees close together, we whispered to each other.
From the outside point of view, they appear to be a couple of friends, but Himeka is unable to express her true feelings, while Ichiro is not even aware of the word “romance.”
In any case, they have zero experience in love and a low self-esteem.
Whether or not they are aware of each other’s love, whether or not they are aware of their partner’s feelings, whether or not they are misunderstanding each other, there is no way that things will go well even after the standard romantic comedy event of a homemade lunch box.