My Beautiful Childhood Friend Is Working in a Maid Cafe For Some Reason - Chapter 43

We left the school and walked in the opposite direction of the apartment for about ten minutes until we reached a station. This station is also used by students who commute by train, so I saw a few familiar faces. However, we quickly ducked into the ramen shop Yukina had been eyeing, avoiding being noticed.

Yukina, who was coming here for the first time, looked around the shop with great interest.

By the way, I’ve been here a few times with Haru, so I’m already familiar with the place.

This shop has a lot of counter seats. There are some table seats too, but the counters dominate.

“Yukina, is the counter okay?” I asked.

It was just around lunchtime, so the place was filled with salarymen. If we had come a bit earlier or later, it wouldn’t be so crowded and the atmosphere wouldn’t be so stifling.

Among the few available seats, I spotted four open ones and led Yukina over.

“Yes,” she agreed.

We sat down next to each other, leaving a space between us and the next customers.

You never know—if the ramen broth splashes and causes a burn, it could be a problem.

“Welcome! Ready to order?”

The cheerful owner placed two empty glasses in front of us as he asked.

“I’ll have the shio ramen,” I said.

“Got it! One shio ramen. And for the young lady?”

“Uh, um… I’ll have the tonkotsu ramen,” she replied hesitantly.

“Alright, one tonkotsu ramen. Anything else?”

“Oh, and some fried rice and gyoza!” she added.

“Sure thing!”

How much is she planning to eat…? Even the owner looked a bit surprised for a moment.

After ordering, we waited for our food.

“Yukina, give me your glass. I’ll get you some water.”

Getting water is self-service here, with a bottle of water and ice right in front of us.

“N-no, I can do it myself,” Yukina insisted.

“It’s fine, just give it to me.”

I took the glass from Yukina and filled it with water.

“Here.”

“Th-thank you…”

When I handed her the glass, she quietly thanked me and took a sip of water.

Now what should I do…?

I looked around the shop, trying to figure out if there was something else I could do.

“Yukina, there’s a wet towel here. Do you want one?”

“Uh, yes.”

“Yukina, do you have enough water? Should I refill it?”

“Y-yes.”

And then… and then…

“Hey, what’s going on with you?” she asked, looking puzzled.

“What do you mean?”

I tried to respond as calmly as possible.

Of course she’d be suspicious—it’s not every day I go out of my way to take care of Yukina like this.

“You seem unusually kind today,” she said.

“Haha, what are you talking about? I’m always kind, aren’t I?”

I tried to laugh it off, doing my best to cover up my embarrassment.

“Well, yes… but today you seem even kinder than usual.”

So, she thinks I’m usually kind… That’s… really embarrassing.

Hearing Yukina say something I didn’t expect made me feel my face heat up.

“Well, you’ve helped me a lot, Yukina. Today is about paying you back.”

Haru had told me:

“Well, anyone who’s willing to help Yusuke with his studies must be having a tough time. I can already picture them struggling.”

She said it with a teasing smile.

Yukina didn’t struggle as much as Haru predicted, but I bet she was still really tired. I think I caused her a lot of trouble.

That’s why I decided to show her some appreciation today, as a way of returning the favor.

“You don’t have to do that. I’m the one who offered to help you study… and besides, you’re treating me to ramen.”

“But…”

“And you’ve already returned the favor in other ways. If you do any more, I’ll feel like I have to do something for you again.”

She had a point. Yukina only asked me to treat her to ramen, so that should be enough.

And since Yukina said it was okay, I guess I don’t need to keep doing these little things for her.

“Alright, I’ll stop.”

“Good. Just be yourself, Yusuke. By the way, how did the test go?”

“Thanks to you, I managed somehow. I appreciate it.”

“It’s not like I did anything special. I just taught you how to memorize and let you copy the important parts. It was your efforts that paid off, even with your… limited capabilities.”

The way she said it was a bit irritating, but it was true that I managed because Yukina helped me. So, I didn’t argue.

“And don’t get too comfortable yet. You haven’t seen the results.”

“I know. How about you, Yukina? How did you do?”

“Me? I did as well as I always do.”

So Yukina did well as usual…

Just like Haru, she probably got high scores. I’m a bit jealous…

“Oh, by the way, is this outing today what you meant when you said you’d go out with me if I cleaned the room?”

“No, it’s not.”

I knew it… I was hoping this little side trip might count as an outing with Yukina, but she shot that down right away.

“Today is just my reward. What I promised before was a gift for you. So, you’d better think carefully about where you want to go. I’ll be fine going wherever, as long as I’m with you.”

“Wherever, huh…”

That’s the hardest thing to deal with.

If you don’t specify a location, you risk picking somewhere random and getting complaints… It’s a typical pattern when dealing with a tsundere character.

If the person really loves you and accepts any place you choose, it’s fine to say “wherever.” But most of the time, they’ll end up complaining. Whenever I see that, I think they should just say where they want to go from the start.

But where does Yukina want to go…? I have no clue, so I’ll just use some clever words to avoid having to go out anytime soon.

“Here you go! Shio ramen and tonkotsu ramen!”

While I was lost in thought, our orders arrived.

The aroma of the shio and tonkotsu broth wafted through the air, making my mouth water.

“Here, Yukina, your chopsticks.”

“Thanks.”

I took two pairs of chopsticks from the basket and handed one to Yukina.

This wasn’t about paying her back or anything like that. It was just a simple gesture. Yukina seemed to understand and accepted them without any fuss.

“Thank you for the meal,” we both said simultaneously before digging into our ramen.

The deliciousness seemed to brighten Yukina’s expression instantly.

Seeing her enjoy the ramen so much made me want to dig in even more.