When I Brought The Lost Little Girl To Her House, The One Who Came Out Of The Front Door Was The Most Beautiful Girl In The Grade. - Chapter 17

After returning to the kitchen, I felt exhausted. I thought I had average stamina, but it seems that nursing someone takes even more energy.

Shirakawa’s sister ate lunch and immediately fell asleep. She looked so comfortable, peacefully sleeping.

“You did your best, Natsumi.”

To prevent her from getting sick, I covered her with a blanket.

My phone buzzed, and when I checked, I received one, two, three stamps saying, “I’m hungry!”

I took out the retort pouch of rice porridge from the shopping bag and heated it in the microwave.

Once it was ready, I cracked an egg into the rice porridge, added some soy sauce, and it was done. I put the rice porridge in a dish, grabbed a spoon, and went to Shirakawa’s room.

I knocked on the door.

“Mmm…”

It sounded like she had something in her mouth. “It’s fine!” I heard her say that, so I opened the door.

“Wait!!”

However, it was already too late. Shirakawa was in her underwear.

“W-Why?!”

“S-Sorry! I was wiping off sweat… and retorting pouch rice porridge cooks so quickly…”

“S-Sorry.”

Saying that, I left the room.

“Light blue…”

Her underwear was light blue. It somehow suited her, as I expected, and I realized my face was getting hotter, perhaps from excitement.

“Maybe I caught a cold too…”

After waiting a few minutes, I heard, “Sorry, you can come in?”

I entered the room with even more nervousness than before.

“Sorry about earlier.”

“N-No! It was obviously my fault!”

Being told that, I had no words to reply, and silence hung in the air.

Seeing the rice porridge in my hand, I remembered the reason I came here.

“Oh, this is, rice porridge.”

“Thanks.”

“Are you feeling hungry?”

“Yeah! I have a huge appetite!”

“That’s good… I’m relieved.”

I naturally smiled, and upon seeing that, Shirakawa seemed taken aback, then she looked away and blushed a little.

“You don’t have a fever anymore, right?”

“Yeah… it went down.”

“You’re still red?”

“This is… well…”

“This is?”

“S-Stop teasing me!”

For some reason, she got angry. I was just worried because her face was still a little red…

***

“Thank you for the meal.”

“Well then, after I clean up, I’ll head home.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Being thanked directly like that made me feel a bit embarrassed.

Then, Shirakawa’s phone buzzed.

Curious about her smiling while holding the phone, I asked, “What’s up?”

“Sako and the others… Ah, my friends said they’ll come to visit me in the evening.”

“That’s great.”

“Yeah!”

There was a smile on Shirakawa’s face that she couldn’t hide. I went back to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

Feeling the refreshing coolness of the water in the summer, I scrubbed the dishes with a sponge soaked in detergent.

After rinsing off the foam with water, I wiped the dishes, and they made a little sound. It was a small achievement, but it brought a sense of accomplishment.

After finishing washing the dishes, I returned to Shirakawa’s room.

“Well then, I’ll be going.”

“Thank you so much for everything.”

“No problem.”

“I’ll thank you properly next time!”

“Sure, but there’s actually something I wanted to ask.”

“Something you want to ask?”

Shirakawa tilted her head and looked at me with her big eyes.

“Shirakawa, did we go to the same elementary school?”

I thought I had to ask right now.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

So, they did go to the same elementary school. Then, if Tada Ayano is Shirakawa…

“Yeah, Tada Ayano… is that you, Shirakawa?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“So, you changed your last name?”

“Yeah, various circumstances.”

“I see…”

Darn it. It became an awkward atmosphere. I tried my best to change the subject, but nothing came up.

“It took you long enough!”

Saying that, Ayano pouted and stared at me.

“Seriously, the last name is different, and it’s a memory from when we were kids!”

“I realized it in the entrance ceremony!”

“And your appearance, you’ve become so beautiful! You should have noticed!”

“Notice what?”

“That it’s weird…”

“That’s true… but hmm, beautiful, huh…”

I unintentionally blurted out the word “beautiful.” But she really did look more beautiful than before, and her hair was so silky smooth. I could tell how much effort she put into it.

“A-Anyway! I’m going home now!”

“Yeah! Thanks! Bye-bye, Yuusei-kun!”

Shirakawa blushed slightly more than usual, her silky hair swaying as she smiled softly.

I thought that I might be the only one at this school who could see her with such an expression, or rather, I wanted to be the only one.

“Then, see you… Ayano.”

That exchange on my way home felt like we had gone back to being kids.

After leaving Shirakawa’s house, I stretched my back. It felt like I had gotten much closer to the school’s number one beauty than before.

“Why am I so concerned about my distance with Ayano?”

I suddenly wondered, but at that moment, I didn’t feel the need to find an answer within myself.