Be careful with the laid-back beauty who took a liking to me. Otherwise, it will be too late! - Chapter 9 - The Scent of Custard!ter

Episode 9 – The Scent of Custard!

The next day was a holiday. The meeting place was set at the nearest station to the school, and the gathering time was set for 2:30, coinciding with snack time.

Meeting up with girls on a holiday like this was the first time since becoming a high school student.

Although it wasn’t a date, I looked up “the basics of a date” before going to bed last night. After some research, I found out that arriving an hour early was too soon.

To pass the time until she arrived, I decided to play the chess game Koharu recommended to me when we were eating taiyaki last night. Since I’m a beginner, I decided to learn the rules first.

I found it surprisingly enjoyable, and as I was immersed in the game, I heard a voice from behind.

“Check…”

“Whoa! K-Koharu-san!!”

When I turned around, there stood Koharu-san, wearing a white cardigan and a black long skirt.

I had seen her casual clothes when I visited her house before, but today, she seemed to have put in extra effort and looked exceptionally cute.

Approaching me from the front, she peeked at my phone and murmured, “Check is like ‘check’ in shogi… I’m glad you’re playing the game I recommended.”

She had said she wanted to share her interests, so she seemed very happy that I was playing the game she suggested.

“Since you said it was interesting, I decided to try it out. I might be hooked.”

“See, see! Let’s play against each other sometime.”

“Yeah, that sounds fun.”

Today was my first time, and I hadn’t fully memorized the rules yet, so playing against someone else might be difficult. But I did want to try someday.

After chatting about chess for a bit, Koharu-san, seeming hungry, grabbed my hand.

“Shall we go? My stomach is about to collapse…”

“Huh, are you okay!?”

Seeing Koharu sway, I got worried when she leaned against me.

I quickly checked her forehead to see if she had a fever, but she seemed fine, just really hungry.

“I… want… cream puffs…”

“R-right, let’s go eat. Can you walk?”

Asking her, she clung tightly to my arm.

“Like this, I might be able to walk…”

“!”

(Um, something soft is pressing against me…)

It felt a bit awkward to walk like this, imagining her swaying while walking, but if she said she could walk like this, then it was fine.

“Hurry, Hikaru-kun.”

“Y-yeah…”

It’s not far from here, and I shouldn’t worry too much about whatever soft thing is pressing against me.

Thinking we looked like a couple, we walked together, and as we approached the shop, Koharu-san ran ahead of me with all her might.

“Smells like custard!”

From in front of the shop, Koharu-san bounced cutely, urging me to hurry up and go inside.

Running lightly to catch up with her, Koharu-san grabbed my hand and headed straight to check the menu board.

Although there was an option to eat in, we decided to take it to go and eat it on the bench near the station, as we had planned.

“Th-there are two types of custard! Hmm, Hikaru-kun, this is a tough choice…”

Koharu-san noticed that there were custard cream puffs and matcha custard cream puffs, and she seemed to be having trouble deciding.

“Have you decided what you want, Hikaru-kun?”

“I think I’ll go with the rich chocolate cream puff.”

“Rich… that sounds delicious…”

By mentioning what I had chosen, it seemed like Koharu-san’s options had expanded.

After placing our orders, Koharu-san decided.

“Okay, I’ve made up my mind… Sorry, I’ll take these two.”

(I knew she’d order everything when she was struggling to decide.)

After receiving two cream puffs, she held them in both hands with a happy expression.

As we walked to the bench near the station and sat down, Koharu-san looked at the cream puffs with sparkling eyes.

“It smells so good… Let’s eat.”

“Yeah.”

As I took a bite of the rich chocolate cream puff, a sweet aroma filled my mouth.

I was about to say it was delicious to Koharu-san sitting next to me, but I was captivated by her blissful expression.

“Om nom… I’m so happy.”

I smiled as I watched her eat so happily. Seeing someone enjoy their food like that made me happy too.

Before I realized it, she had finished one cream puff and started eating the custard cream puff.

“I like matcha, but I might prefer just custard cream.”

After taking a bite, she shared her thoughts with me, cream sticking to the corner of her mouth.

“There’s cream here.”

I pointed it out to her, and she used her index finger to pick it up and ate it.

“Mmm, thank you for telling me. I’ll eat slowly in case it gets on my face again…”

Saying that, she quietly enjoyed the custard cream puff.

(She’s so cute when she’s interacting with cats…)

After finishing eating, she tidied up the bag containing the cream puffs and spoke to me.

“Do you have any plans after this?”

“Plans? No, I don’t.”

“Then, let’s go see some cats together. Let’s go get healed.”

Thinking it might be a cat cafe, I followed her.

It turned out to be a cafe called “AMAOTO,” and it didn’t seem to be a cat cafe.

I entered the cafe, feeling curious about why we were going to see cats even though it wasn’t a cat cafe.

When we entered, the staff noticed Koharu-san and approached us.

“Oh, it’s been a week, Sayo-chan. Is the person next to you your boyfriend?”

“N-no, he’s a friend. We came to see some cats together.”

“Sayo-chan’s friend, huh. Oh, I’m the manager of this store, Chisato Senri. Sayo-chan and I are relatives, and she often comes to see the cats we have at home.”

“I’m Hikaru Kohai, Koharu-san’s friend.”

“Hikaru-kun, right. Well then, please come this way.”

Saying that, we were led to a room at the back of the cafe.

When we entered the room, Koharu-san’s eyes sparkled as she jumped toward the cats.

“Kitties~ It’s so fluffy today too~”

(Seeing Koharu-san interact with cats… it’s really healing.)