My Mental Choices Are Completely Interfering with My School Romantic Comedy - Volume 3 Chapter 2.2:

Volume 3 Chapter 2.3:

The next morning.

“Hamuh… hamuh hamuh… hamuh hamuh muwah!”

The food on the table was disappearing before my eyes.

“Hey, Choco—”

“Wafsh ish itwst, Kanade-fan.”

Chocolat looked up at me, her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk.

“…You know what? Just finish eating first.”

“? O-khay thenfh.”

Mumbling something unintelligible, she went right back to devouring her breakfast.

I watched her in silence, feeling something indescribable.

A few minutes later, having eaten about half of her meal, she sighed in satisfaction and wiped her mouth.

“Fuhahh, that was great! It feels like I haven’t eaten in a whole year!”

“…That’s definitely just your imagination, so don’t worry.”

She was back.

Last night, after that cookie tin smacked her on the head, Chocolat had completely returned to normal.

“Eating delicious food first thing in the morning makes me feel all warm and fuzzy!”

She said in a vague, almost poetic way before once again diving into her meal. There was no trace left of the graceful demeanor from yesterday. Of course, that final, wild rampage was also completely gone.

“Kanade-san, why are you making that difficult face?”

“Ah, it’s nothing… But hey, don’t you think you’re eating a little too much?”

Her portions were the usual—meaning about three times what a normal person would eat—but today, she’d already gone for more rice refills than ever before, surpassing her previous record by a whole two bowls.

“Fufu, not at all.”

Chocolat set her chopsticks down for a moment, walked over to my side, and—looking somewhat proud—puffed out her stomach.

Guuuuuuuuuuurgh.

“See? Like this!”

“What kind of stomach do you have!?”

Impossible… Yesterday, she said she was full after just a little bit… Could memory loss actually change the size of a person’s stomach!?

“…Hey, do you really not remember anything from yesterday?”

“Yesterday… hmm… I remember waking up this morning with my head feeling all fuzzy, but… did something happen after that?”

She wasn’t playing dumb—at least, that was impossible when it came to Chocolat.

“…Well, whatever then.”

There were plenty of things still bothering me, but—

“Hamuh… hamuh…”

Watching her eat so happily, everything else started to feel trivial.

“Hm? Do I have something on my face?”

“…Yeah, a bunch of rice grains, actually.”

“Oh no, that would be a waste!”

She casually picked each grain off her face and popped them into her mouth. Not exactly the most elegant way to handle it… Compared to yesterday, when she got embarrassed just being watched while eating, this was a total 180.

And so, she continued shoveling down rice with incredible speed.

Then, a few minutes later—

“Thank you for the meal!”

“I can’t believe you actually set a new record… by five whole bowls.”

She had eaten through all the frozen rice I had stocked up… While I was still in shock, Chocolat got up from her seat with an energetic bounce—

Thud.

“Ah…”

Something fell from the back of her pajama top and landed on the chair. Panicked, she quickly scooped it up.

“Hey… that…”

“N-Nothing at all!”

Her eyes were darting around suspiciously.

“Let me see it.”

If my eyes weren’t deceiving me, that was…

“Ahh, Kanade-san, that’s so cruel!”

“Just hand it over.”

As she scrambled to shove it back behind her, I swiftly snatched it away.

“I knew it…”

It was a box of premium Toranekoya yōkan.

“Only one left… huh.”

The box, which had definitely contained two bars, now held only one.

“I told you specifically not to eat this, didn’t I?”

This was a treasured item, reserved for a special guest.

“W-well, I have no memory of yesterday, so I wouldn’t know anything about that!”

“I didn’t tell you yesterday.”

“U-uhh… see, my memories got all jumbled, so I don’t really remember…”

I’d never seen someone so bad at lying… I even changed the hiding spot because I knew telling her not to eat it wouldn’t be enough. How the hell did she manage to find it?

“Chocolat… I won’t get mad, so just be honest.”

“R-really!?”

“Yeah.”

Her eyes lit up like she had just received a royal pardon. That reaction alone was basically a confession, but I let it slide and waited for her response.

“Well, you see! While Kanade-san was making breakfast, I caught the scent of something incredibly sweet and delicious…”

She sniffed out the yōkan all the way from the back of the drawer, through its wrapping? What kind of nose does she have?

“So, I opened the drawer… and found the yōkan.”

“…And then?”

I shot her a glare.

“…I quietly put it back.”

…I see. So she was still going to play dumb even with undeniable proof right in front of us.

“Alright, I understand. Then how do you explain the fact that it was stuffed down your pajama top?”

“U-um… after that, my back got really itchy, and… I-I mistook it for a back scratcher and put it back there!”

“…Ohhh, I see, I see! Well, if it was just a misunderstanding, then I guess I can’t blame you! But, I wonder… why is there only one left? So strange…”

“Ugh… th-that’s… y-yeah! It was bacteria! A sudden, massive bacterial outbreak decomposed it!”

“Oh wow, bacteria, huh? I had no idea bacteria could fully decompose an entire yōkan—packaging and all—in just a few minutes! Chocolat, you’re so smart!”

“Ehehe~”

She actually looked happy… I’d never seen an idiot this pure.

“By the way, Chocolat, totally unrelated question—how did the yōkan taste?”

“It was really delicious!”

“YOU TOTALLY ATE IT!”

I slammed my fist onto the table.

“H-hah…! I-I’ve been tricked! What a cruel deception!”

Her fake, victimized act annoyed me so much that I reached out and pinched her cheeks, squishing them back and forth.

“So this is the mouth that stole my yōkan and told a bold-faced lie?”

“D-daaafuh! Buthh ithh luhked sho ghoood!”

“Oh, so if something looks tasty, you just eat it without thinking?”

“Yeshhh!”

…She actually admitted it.

“You’ve got some seriously thick skin, huh?”

“Ehehehe~”

“THAT WASN’T A COMPLIMENT! WHAT KIND OF BRAIN DO YOU HAVE!?”

I let go of her cheeks and glared at her again.

“I’m sorry…”

Chocolat drooped her shoulders, looking like a scolded puppy.

Jeez… just how much of a glutton is she?

Then, a thought crossed my mind—something Chocolat had said yesterday.

“Hey, isn’t a servant of God supposed to be so energy-efficient that they don’t need much food?”

“Huh? I don’t really understand what Kanade-san is saying.”

…No, you definitely understand.

“I’m pretty sure I heard you say with your own mouth that you could survive on just one meal every few days…”

“Ahh, well, that’s true! If it’s just about surviving, I don’t have to eat. But… I still get hungry.”

“Yeah, but yesterday, you got full after just a little bit, didn’t you?”

“Every household is different! What works for others doesn’t work for us!”

“This isn’t about ‘other households’! I’m talking about you specifically!”

“Anyway, let’s not dwell on such hungry topics!”

“That’s not a real phrase! You’re just talking about your own stomach!”

“Kanade-san, the reason I eat so much food is…”

Ignoring my retorts completely, Chocolat turned to face me and gave me a soft, gentle smile.

“Because eating delicious food… makes me feel happy!”

“Ugh…”

That smile—it was so warm, so utterly content.

It made me feel like an idiot for getting so worked up about this.

“…Maybe this is just how you are.”

The words slipped out before I even realized.

Because that loose, carefree smile… looked far more genuine than any other expression Chocolat had ever shown me.

“Besides… watching you eat… it’s not like I hate it or anything.”

I mumbled it softly, making sure she wouldn’t hear.

—

“Alright, Chocolat, time to head ou—”

Having finished changing and checking my appearance, I returned to the living room—only to be greeted by an utterly unbelievable sight.

“Nom… nom…”

“…Tell me, dear Chocolat… just what exactly do you think you’re doing?”

“Fweh?”

I blinked. Then blinked again.

But no matter how many times I checked, the scene before me remained unchanged.

There she was—Chocolat, happily munching away on the last remaining bar of Toranekoya’s yōkan.

“Fufu… Ufufu…”

Letting out an unnervingly sinister chuckle, I slowly approached her—then ground my knuckles into her temple.

“I-It hurts…!”

Chocolat’s eyes welled up with tears.

“Well then, let’s hear what wonderful excuse you have for me this time.”

There was no escaping this one. Caught in the act. No amount of ridiculous logic-twisting was going to save her now.

I was sentencing her to a full week of punishment—no, reduced meals instead of a pay cut.

But then—her next words froze me in place.

“B-But Kanade-san, didn’t you say that this is fine!?”

…Hah?

“J-Just a little while ago, in a tiny voice, you totally said it!”

“Wha—h-how the hell did you hear that!?”

I-I got overheard!? My face started heating up fast.

“And after that, you said you like watching me eat!”

“Wha—!?”

S-She heard that too!?

“So, I figured you were telling me it was okay to eat… Wait, Kanade-san, why’s your face all red?”

“S-Shut up! We’re going to school, now!”

“Ah, wait, just a little more! I’m almost done eati—”

“Hand it over! I’M eating that!”

“Ahh! Such cruel starvation tactics…!”

I snatched the yōkan right from Chocolat’s hands and shoved it into my mouth.

“Sweet—!”

I must’ve been way too flustered, because instead of the refined, delicate flavor it was supposed to have, all I could taste was an overpowering, syrupy-sweet black lump.