Akimoto Yoichi looked at the seven dishes and one soup spread across the table. He'd spent over forty minutes making them, and felt quite proud of himself.
Though he'd transmigrated, he rarely got to eat a proper meal.
After all, the old man had turned every pot in the house into an ashtray. They were also hundreds of thousands of yen behind on the electricity bill, and the power had been cut off for over half a year.
There was nothing he could do. Akimoto Yoichi had nowhere to show off his cooking skills.
Every day, he could only go to a convenience store or supermarket and wait until after nine to buy bentos marked down to ten or twenty percent of their original price.
With his blond-haired face, no one dared fight him for them. You could say he made a living off his looks.
This was the first time he'd cooked familiar dishes from his old life with his own hands.
"Akimoto-kun, you're really amazing! I can't believe you made so many dishes!" Suzuran Ayano was delighted. She'd filmed the entire time Akimoto Yoichi spent cooking.
That way, she could learn to cook like Akimoto Yoichi in her spare time.
Her bentos would be much more varied, too.
Mama would be happy, too, compared to all those dishes she'd grown tired of making before.
"It really is surprising. Akimoto-kun, you can't judge a book by its cover. Your face looks so scary, yet you can actually cook. I thought you just liked girls wearing aprons and frying apples."
Nishida Yuki teased Akimoto Yoichi with great interest, her words carrying a double meaning.
"Huh? Akimoto-kun likes girls wearing aprons? That's weird. What's so nice about an apron?"
Kuroo Maya had already sneaked a bite of the pork, and now she sucked her fingers as she spoke with innocent naivety.
"Let's eat." Akimoto Yoichi glanced at Nishida Yuki, who was deliberately teasing him, and couldn't be bothered to respond.
Someone like her, who loved testing the limits, would get taught a lesson sooner or later.
What surprised Akimoto Yoichi, though, was that Ayano and Maya hadn't understood.
Fukayama Natsuki, however, had turned bright red. Had this little girl understood what Nishida Yuki meant by frying apples and wearing an apron?
"We should go call Mama down to eat. My hands are a little full. Akimoto-kun, could you go get her?"
Suzuran Ayano was cleaning the counter.
Without thinking much of it, she asked the person she trusted most, Akimoto Yoichi, to call Suzuran Mari.
After all, Ayano and Nishida Yuki weren't exactly on good terms, Kuroo Maya was busy sneaking bites of food, and Natsuki had been saying strange things all day. Akimoto Yoichi was the only normal one.
"Oh, sure." Akimoto Yoichi agreed without giving it much thought.
But just as he was about to move the chair beside him,
Fukayama Natsuki sprang up from her seat.
"No! He's not allowed to go!" Natsuki shouted.
Everyone looked at her, and Fukayama Natsuki realized that she'd spoken too loudly.
But she didn't back down.
"That blondie can't go! I'll go call Mama Mari!"
"You're not allowed to follow me!"
"Do you hear me? You're not allowed to follow, blondie!"
With that, Natsuki hurried up the stairs to the second floor, as if she were afraid Akimoto Yoichi might get there first.
Seeing how wary Fukayama Natsuki was, Akimoto Yoichi sat back down.
Nishida Yuki, seated to his left, immediately giggled.
"Looks like Akimoto-kun's been rejected—and by such a cute middle schooler, too."
"Shut up. Do you want me to stuff something in your mouth?" Akimoto Yoichi said, displeased.
Fukayama Natsuki had dumped a pot of curry over him the first time they met, and now she was acting like this?
He didn't understand. He hadn't done anything strange to Natsuki. If anything, he'd been quite tolerant of her.
Could Natsuki have misunderstood more than just the kiss between him and Nishida Yuki?
"Hahahahaha! It's definitely because of Akimoto-kun's looks!" Kuroo Maya said, sucking on a sweet-and-sour rib, oil smeared around her mouth.
"Akimoto-kun looks so scary. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed he could make so many delicious dishes!"
"You couldn't even get these dishes at a Chinese restaurant. I really see Akimoto-kun in a whole new light now."
"Silly Maya, that's hardly comforting." Ayano carried the clean dishes over to the table and tapped Kuroo Maya.
Then she looked at Akimoto Yoichi and apologized with a guilty expression.
"I'm sorry, Akimoto-kun. I don't know why Natsuki-chan was so rude."
"She's usually very clever and well-behaved."
"Who knows why she's acting this way toward you of all people? And she even dumped curry all over you. I'm really sorry."
Akimoto Yoichi shook his head without saying anything.
He wasn't about to complain to Ayano.
"Could it be because of Fukayama Midori? Midori-kun is Natsuki's brother. Maybe she's trying to protect her childhood friend from a rival?" Nishida Yuki made a sharp guess.
That comment wasn't aimed at Akimoto Yoichi. It was aimed at Suzuran Ayano.
"Hmph. If Fukayama really cared about me as his childhood friend, he should have come himself instead of sending Natsuki. Since he hasn't shown up, he clearly doesn't care about me."
Ayano's voice was hard to hide her disappointment.
This wasn't her being tsundere. She was genuinely disheartened.
But Ayano wasn't the weak sort. She quickly put Fukayama Midori out of her mind.
"Never mind Fukayama. I just thought you and Fukayama were close, Nishida-san."
"Didn't you two chat happily at the opening ceremony?"
"So Fukayama still didn't come to see you? He finds me annoying, but he hasn't come looking for you either, has he?"
Hearing Ayano's retort, Nishida Yuki scoffed.
Fukayama Midori? He was just a pet.
"Me? I don't mind. My interest in Midori-kun isn't the same as your feelings for him." Nishida Yuki could always find herself a new pet.
Now, she'd found an even more interesting "pet."
She didn't say those words aloud, but the way Nishida Yuki propped her chin on her hand and looked at Akimoto Yoichi conveyed exactly that.
Akimoto Yoichi glared at the scheming Young Lady, but it only piqued her interest.
"So, Akimoto-kun, what are you going to do?"
"Fukayama Natsuki seems to be treating you so badly because she sees you as a rival for her brother's childhood friend."
"If things go on like this, she'll keep disliking you."
"Natsuki's actually a good girl. I'm sure she'll understand you eventually," Ayano said, comforting Akimoto Yoichi.
Akimoto Yoichi merely shrugged, unconcerned.
"It's fine. I don't care whether she wants to get close to me. She just shouldn't get in my way."
He'd originally just wanted to get close to her. Natsuki's Learning Ability buff was genuinely useful.
But seeing how badly Fukayama Natsuki was treating him now had made it a little less interesting.
He'd let things play out for a while. If Fukayama Natsuki couldn't help him, she could at least stay out of his way.
"Have you all finished cooking? It looks delicious."
Footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Mrs. Suzuran came down with Natsuki.
Mrs. Suzuran was clearly wearing light makeup now, no longer looking as disheveled and languid as she had right after waking up.
She'd also changed out of her light, sheer nightgown and into a cozy off-the-shoulder sweater.
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