Do You Like Romantic-Comedy Protagonists?

Chapter 19: Do You Like House Visits? 5

An hour and a half had passed since Akaishi began correcting Hachiya’s bad habits.

“It’s done…”

Hachiya and Akaishi peered into the finished bento box together.

The bento contained scrambled eggs, ginger pork, cherry tomatoes for color, and the classic octopus-shaped sausages.

There were minor hiccups, like Hachiya trying to wash rice and vegetables with detergent—a classic rom-com gag—that Akaishi had to correct, but the final product looked decent.

“Let’s eat.”

“Please, try it.”

Prompted by Hachiya, Akaishi dug into the bento.

He put a piece of ginger pork in his mouth and chewed.

“H-How…?”

Hachiya looked at Akaishi nervously.

Akaishi savored it, swallowed, and looked at her.

“Not worth raving about… but definitely not bad. It’s pretty good.”

“See, told you!”

Hachiya struck a victory pose, eyes sparkling, and leaned toward Akaishi.

He continued eating, and overall, the bento maintained a decent taste.

“Now I don’t even need you! Honestly… calling you was a waste, hah!”

Hachiya glared at Akaishi with narrowed eyes.

Gaining confidence from her praised cooking, she piled on more.

“Seriously, anyone can cook if they follow a recipe, so I didn’t need you at all. Ugh, waste of an invite.”

“You’re the one who didn’t follow the recipe.”

“What!”

Hachiya glanced at the bento again, smiling faintly.

“Well, I’ll thank you just a tiny bit for your advice. But what about that, huh!? You said my first dish was ‘awful’! Don’t you have any consideration for girls!? ‘Awful’ is too much! Sousuke would’ve said ‘delicious’ no matter how bad it was! You’re so mean!”

Akaishi ate while listening to Hachiya.

Pausing, he swallowed a cherry tomato and spoke.

“Sure, Sakurai would probably say your awful cooking was delicious.”

“Exactly!”

Akaishi was certain.

A rom-com protagonist would never directly call a girl’s cooking “awful.”

Sakurai likely wouldn’t either, he guessed.

“But I’m not Sakurai.”

“…That’s…”

Hachiya, unable to counter, fell silent.

“And I think it’s worth considering whether Sakurai calling your bad cooking ‘delicious’ is actually right.”

“…What’s that mean?”

Unable to grasp Akaishi’s point, Hachiya narrowed her eyes, listening intently.

“I don’t mind being called mean, and I know I am. But is calling something bad ‘delicious’ the kindness you’re talking about?”

“…Yes.”

“Is praising a bad dish without critique, halting progress, your idea of kindness? I don’t think so, but I also wouldn’t say it’s not kindness, like you do.”

“…”

Listening to Akaishi, Hachiya looked down silently.

“I agree that calling bad food delicious can be a form of kindness, but that doesn’t mean someone who calls it bad isn’t kind.”

“…”

“Personally, I’d want someone to tell me if my cooking was bad. To know my limits and improve—”

Akaishi spoke fluently until he noticed Hachiya.

She was clenching her slender fists, trembling. He quickly backtracked.

“Sorry, I went too far. I didn’t mean to nitpick. Forget it.”

“Nn…”

Hachiya denied it with a hoarse voice.

Still looking down, she rubbed her eyes, then looked up.

“Well… you’ve got a point! But Sousuke’s kindness is genuine, so I’d be happy if he said ‘delicious’! This talk’s over!”