A Story About a Blonde Gal Angel Who Excessively Praises My Cooking. After Asking Me to Teach Her How to Cook, Feelings of Mutual Love Began to Grow - Chapter 107-108

Chapter 107: Avoiding Trouble

“Alright, it’s done.”

On the last day of summer vacation, with nothing else to do, I decided to cook. I wondered if it was odd for a high school boy not to fully enjoy his summer, but then I remembered that this was just my normal routine.

“I’ve uploaded the pictures, too.”

Ever since I started cooking with Amatsuka, my Instagram updates had slowed down significantly. This time, I made sure to include a dessert and posted everything together. It turned out pretty well.

“I made it, but neither of them are home yet.”

I covered the dishes with plastic wrap and stored them in the fridge.

“That’s right. If they don’t come home soon, I won’t be able to enjoy your cooking, Motobu.”

“Could you stop sneaking up behind me like that?”

“Sorry. I was planning to secretly take a picture, and I just…”

“You ‘just’ what? And by the way, ‘secretly taking pictures’ isn’t something people usually say in everyday life.”

“Sorry. It’s part of my everyday life.”

“Well, you are a detective assistant, after all.”

Kurose often makes these kinds of comments with a straight face, but I’ve gotten used to it by now. The saying “truth is stranger than fiction” is spot on.

“Kurose, you’re spending the last day of summer vacation at my house again. Didn’t you go out with anyone?”

“No, not particularly.”

With nothing else to do, I made tea, and the two of us relaxed in the living room while waiting for Chika and the others to come home.

“I enjoyed the summer festival enough.”

“Although it ended in quite a mess.”

“Speaking of which, I’ve identified those trashy people.”

“No, you don’t need to do that! Why are you doing this?!”

They were my elementary school classmates from when I moved to Tokyo. If something happens, I’d be the one in trouble.

“Don’t you want revenge? I was planning to tear them to pieces.”

“I said you don’t need to do that!”

Scary. Kurose is scary.

Is Naoto really trying to set me up with Kurose? I’m getting a bit worried about this…

Well, Kurose is incredibly beautiful, intelligent, and one of those people you can’t really find any faults with—except for her dangerous tendencies.

“For me, the act of stepping on the yakisoba you made is a crime deserving of death. If anything, I’d like to tear out that trash’s tongue.”

“While I appreciate your anger, you really don’t have to do anything. I’m used to it.”

“Getting used to things like that isn’t something I approve of.”

Kurose said something surprisingly reasonable with a serious expression, which caught me off guard.

“It’s best when nothing happens at all.”

“But something already happened, didn’t it?”

“For me, that was normal, so please don’t worry about it.”

It’s like the butterfly effect. Well, it’s not that big of a deal, but things just turn out that way.

Even now, here I am, drinking tea with Kurose. I ended up teaching Amatsuka how to cook too.

Because of Instagram, things turned out like this. But this is just a hobby for me, so it’s only natural that there would be some unintended consequences.

Those classmates from elementary school—they might not have treated me so badly if I had acted differently. But even so, I came out of it all in one piece, and that’s enough for me. Avoiding trouble is fine by me.

I don’t need anything special to happen.

“We’re back!”

“I’m hungry!”

“Welcome back.”

“Welcome home, both of you.”

I didn’t expect them to come home at the same time, but I was relieved that I didn’t have to wait any longer.

…Well, I still feel awkward around Manoka-san, but she hasn’t changed at all in how she interacts with me. Or rather, she’s even clingier than before.

And for that, I’m grateful.

“Alright, let’s have dinner.”

While the three of them chatted away with girl talk, I reheated dinner.

—

Chapter 108: The Transfer Student

Even though summer vacation is over, the walk to school is still hot.

“Good morning, Motobu-kun.”

“Good morning, Momohara-san.”

I hadn’t seen Momohara since the summer festival, and now he really looked like a girl. Maybe it was his hairstyle—it was a bob cut, and he didn’t seem like a boy at all.

“It’s still a bit hot.”

“Yeah, it is. Even though it’s already fall.”

It felt like just the other day that we started high school, and now summer vacation was already over. Time flies by so quickly.

“It’s almost time for the school festival.”

“…I’m the class president, aren’t I? It’s a pain to have to make all the decisions.”

“Haha, well, good luck with that.”

Even though there’s stuff to plan for the festival, at least we don’t have to deal with it on the first day of the second semester.

“It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve been in the classroom.”

“You look happy.”

“I guess I am. Motobu-kun is here, after all.”

“…That’s…good to hear.”

My heart skipped a beat for a moment. Maybe it’s okay to like a cute boy like her. Actually, maybe that’s even better.

“Isn’t the classroom kind of buzzing?”

“Yeah, it is.”

“I wonder why.”

The students who were already in the classroom seemed excited. Most of the noise came from the boys, and when I listened in, I found out that a transfer student was apparently coming.

I didn’t know if she’d be in our class, but someone said they saw an unfamiliar girl in the teacher’s office. I don’t know how they could tell she was a transfer student since most of us first-years don’t know many of the upperclassmen.

She must have been really cute. If that were the case, then “she’s so cute, but I’ve never seen her before” would make sense.

Being excited on the first day of the second semester is a sign of good energy. That’s what youth is all about.

“Good morning!”

“Oh.”

“Good morning.”

In the midst of the noisy classroom, Amatsuka, Miaki-san, and Kurose also came in.

“Good morning.”

“Morning.”

I get excited over a transfer student. But since I was a “transfer student” myself back in elementary school, I don’t have many fond memories of it.

Getting a lot of attention is usually something that only happens at the beginning. Depending on the person, you might end up like me.

I’ll just hope that the rumored transfer student can have a peaceful school life.

“Momohara-san, did you finish your homework?”

“Yep, all done. No problems.”

Momohara no longer seemed nervous and shy like he used to. It’s nice to have smooth conversations with him.

“What about you, Motobu-kun?”

“Of course, I finished it. I got it all done in the first week of summer vacation because I wanted to relax afterward.”

“Finishing it in one week is impressive. It took me a lot longer.”

Relaxing is the privilege of a househusband, but only after you’ve taken care of what you need to do. On top of that, there’s the daily routine of grocery shopping, cooking, and other chores that never seem to end.

Finishing homework early is always the easiest option—if you can manage it.

“Motobu-kun, thanks for the other day!”

“No problem. I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.”

Amatsuka smiled at me brightly as she thanked me. I was relieved that her health hadn’t taken a turn for the worse.

“Look, look! I made these sweets yesterday. What do you think?”

“They’re cute. Where did you get the mold?”

“A new store that just opened in front of the station.”

“Maybe I’ll check it out sometime.”

Momohara showed me a photo of the sweets he had fun making. Since he’s been teaching me as well, I’m pretty interested. Cookie molds are useful for cooking, too, so they’re pretty versatile.

“Hey, you guys, take your seats!”

The bell rang, and at almost the same moment, our homeroom teacher walked in with a lazy attitude. Seeing our teacher, who always wears a shapeless tracksuit, somehow puts me at ease.

Morning homeroom started, and the teacher began to speak.

“We have a transfer student today. Come on in.”

I hadn’t expected the transfer student to join our class. But more than that, I was shocked when I saw who it was.

“Haaitai! I’m Yurina Kiyan from Okinawa! Yutasuku Unigeesabira!”

…Why are you here? I didn’t hear about this.

Well, I hadn’t kept in touch since then, so I guess that explains it.

“Yurina-chan?!”

“Miu?!”

Hey, wait. Since when did you get so close to Amatsuka that you’re on a first-name basis? Girls really do get along quickly, don’t they?

The classroom got even noisier as Yurina found more people she knew.

“Oh, Takeru is here too!”

“…Could you please not call me that?”

All the eyes in the class turned to me. Especially the guys. I could feel their murderous glares…

“Alright, quiet down, everyone. Kiyan-san, take that seat over there.”

“Okay.”

I never thought this would happen. Yurina’s complete lack of awareness of social cues is abnormal. This means my high school life is about to be severely disrupted.

It’s impossible to get through this by just avoiding trouble. If things get any more chaotic, I might end up like before.

As I watched Amatsuka and the others having fun, I decided to distance myself from them.