The Fourth Period Is Modern Chinese (Continued)

"I'm not very confident about using knives and forks. So far, I've only used one chopstick."

"Chopsticks are supposed to be used in pairs..."

I tossed off a reply, and Yukino looked even more uneasy. No, no, no. By one chopstick, I only meant it as a metaphor for not being used to knives and forks.

"It's fine," I said with a smile, reaching for the utensils.

Honestly, I didn't know much about table manners. All I had was some secondhand knowledge.

But I knew a fair bit about Yukino Haruno.

That made the answer obvious.

I made up my mind and picked up the outermost knife and fork. Then, without making a sound, I elegantly brought the cured meat to my mouth.

Mm, it was probably... pretty good... Honestly, I was too nervous to taste anything, but it was probably delicious.

As I chewed the meat, Haruno, who was eating as well, glanced at me and suddenly laughed.

Seeing that, Yukino's Mother said with a troubled look:

"Oh dear, Haruno, that's terribly improper. You should use the utensils from the outside in."

"Really? Oops."

After Mama-no reprimanded her, Haruno stuck out her tongue cutely and replied with comic flair.

Hahaha, that was close. So that was it... Had she guessed I would imitate her and deliberately set a trap? Was it because her name was Haruno?

Note: This is a Japanese pun. The words for "set a trap" and "Haruno" have the same pronunciation.

But even more terrifying than her was Yukino's Mother.

The fact that she would put on an act just to test me wasn't the scary part. No, that was plenty scary too, but the scariest part was that she had no intention of hiding the fact that she was acting.

Yukino's Mother supported her temple