Actually, the Hungry Gyaru Who Eats a Lot Was Being Cheated On, so I Decided to Win Her Heart (And Stomach) From Her Jerk Boyfriend - 27

Chapter 27: Making a Full Recovery and a Small Gesture of Comfort

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Amateurs tended to act in a completely unexpected way, either in a surprisingly good way or… In a disastrously bad way. Of course, I didn’t only talk about cooking. The same theory could be applied to other things as well. 

For example…..

“Hoop! Eyy!”

“Sasamoto, when you’re using the knife, you just need to press down on the blade instead of swinging it down. You can still cut the ingredients by pressing down on it. So please,  for the love of all things holy, stop swinging it like you’re butchering something.”

I sighed before continuing. 

“Watching you do that is seriously bad for my heart and also, curl your fingers. Like this. Make a ‘cat’s paw’ shape.”

Case 1:

To put it simply, the way Sasamoto used the knife was really dangerous. She slammed the knife onto the cutting board with force, causing loud thunk thunk noise to echo throughout the room. Everyone would flinch every time the blade hit the cutting board. I had never seen anything as scary as this and I was really afraid she might slice her finger off. Not only me. Maruo-sensei too. Maruo-sensei looked terrified of Sasamoto. 

“Hey, Suou. I accidentally dumped too much sugar in. I don’t really know how much I’ve put, so can I just add the rest of the seasoning randomly?”

“No. Hold on, Suzuki. Let me adjust the taste accordingly. Hand that over to me.”

Case 2: 

Suzuki was being too slovenly with her measurements. Amateurs had to use a measuring spoon when adding seasonings. There was nothing more terrifying than an amateur eyeballing the seasonings in cooking.

“I hate bugs… I don’t want to see any bugs… But they’re still in hiding… That’s even worse than seeing bugs in plain sight… Ah, right. If I soak the vegetables in soap, the bugs will die, right?”

“They might die, but we need to eat the vegetables afterward, so I strongly advise against using soap… Good grief. Give it to me. I will check if there are any bugs. Now put that soap away.”

Case 3:

Her way of eliminating bugs from the vegetables was a bit extreme. 

I get that she hates bugs, but can you be a bit chill about it? Also, I thought Miura is the calmest out of the four of them, but when it comes to bugs… She becomes terrifying. 

And that was how the cooking class went for me. I had to scramble to clean up after the three girls who never cooked before… I had to cover for them. What made it worse was that each of them had a different type of problem, so I couldn’t guide them all at the same time. I had to come up with an individual solution for each of them. Of course, I had to do all that while doing my own tasks. The mental fatigue was overwhelming. I felt so mentally exhausted, rather than physically. Meanwhile, the guys, who had been staring at me with envy, started staring at me with pity instead. After watching what I had to do with these beautiful girls, the resentment had disappeared from their eyes. Not just the guys. The girls were staring at me with pity too. 

“Wow. I can’t believe he hasn’t cracked under all that pressure.”

“I guess Suou was the right choice after all. No. Only he can do it.”

“He’s the perfect guy to manage all those girls.”

“I… I don’t think I could handle those three girls…”

“Same here…”

That being said, it wasn’t like I had to do everything myself. Shizuku had been a great help too, albeit she couldn’t step in between the three gyaru. When I returned to check on the curry, Shizuku, who had been watching the pot for me, smiled sympathetically at me. 

“Suou-kun. Good job there. You’ve worked hard.”

“Thanks. You really helped me out too.”

Fortunately, Shizuku was able to do most of the tasks decently. I could leave the pot to her without any worry, even though it was a task that involved fire. On top of that…

“Look, look! Suou-kun! Look at this! I put saffron in and the curry turned super yellow! Even though the leaves are this red, but the curry becomes super yellow instead! Isn’t it crazy?”

“…Yeah, but, those aren’t leaves. They’re stamens.”

This casual conversation I had with Shizuku truly warmed my aching heart. Shizuku knew I couldn’t give her a proper response given how exhausted I was, hence why she made the effort to guide the conversation to help me relax. I truly appreciate this gesture. 

I see. This must be what people mean by peace. 

I felt like I was starting to understand the true meaning of peace. 

“Kushina, thank you. Thank you so much.”

“Huh? Why? Why are you thanking me out of the blue like that?”

“I’m thanking you for being normal. If you weren’t here, I don’t know if I could keep on cooking…”

“…Somehow, that doesn’t sound like a compliment I can be genuinely happy about…”

Shizuku pouted and stared at me with reproachful eyes, but then…

“But well, as long as I can be of help to you, Suou-kun, then that’s good. I feel like all the effort I’ve put into learning how to cook has been worth it because I can be useful to you.”

Her expression softened as she flashed me a bright smile. 

“…!”

It was the same smile I had seen countless times before and yet, for some reason, her smile looked more radiant than usual. No, no. It must be just my imagination…. But still! I couldn’t stop this slow and creeping heat rising from my chest to my face. This forced me to avert my gaze from her. 

“I just hope we can finish this class without any more trouble.”

“You’re right…”

Shizuku’s gentle voice came from behind me, but right after that…

“Suou!~ I poured too much milk in the meat mixture! It’s looking all runny now!”

Suzuki’s cry for help came barging in. She was in the middle of making hamburg patties for toppings, but yeah… To be honest, I already had a bad feeling about it from the start. It turned out my bad feeling was spot on. 

“That’s why I told you not to pour it directly from the milk carton. Suzuki, do we still have any breadcrumbs left?”

“Yep, we do!”

“Good. Let’s add more breadcrumbs to balance out the excess milk. Shizuku, sorry, but can you keep an eye on the heat a little longer?”

“Leave it to me! I’ll keep everything right, no problem!”

Shizuku said while giving me an enthusiastic thumbs-up. After making sure the pot would be just fine in Shizuku’s hand, I hurried over to help Suzuki.

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T/N: Suou and 3 toddlers ꉂ(≧▽≦)