Fully Won Her Heart

"That bastard can only say things like that to silly Kei."

"He likes the new, but doesn't tire of the old."

"He's a lecher, but he doesn't seduce and abandon people."

I don't know. That was my answer.

Are you satisfied...

"Then it's a promise. You have to lie to me for the rest of my life."

Karuizawa Kei raised her head again, and their eyes met.

"Of course. You belong to me. I'll love you forever."

Just then, their stomachs both growled.

The barbecue had been delicious.

But it hadn't kept them full for long.

After their post-meal walk and the intimacy they'd just shared,

their food had almost completely digested.

The perfect excuse had presented itself!

Karuizawa Kei seized the chance to make a bold declaration.

"Once I've eaten my fill, I'll beat you again."

So cute. The silly girl's memory was really something.

As it happened, he'd bought ingredients to test the actual effects of [Chef's Fortune].

He wanted to see what effect a meal made with love for himself and his beloved would have.

"We have ingredients already. How about we each make a dish for the other?"

"Y-Yes, I can! But I'm not very good at cooking."

The girl's eyes lit up, and she looked quite tempted.

But then she remembered that she didn't cook very often at home.

She worried that her food might not taste good.

"That's fine. I'm no better."

Since Tanaka Yukishin had prepared ingredients that were easy to handle,

like salmon and eggs...

he wasn't worried about anyone making a meal so awful it was inedible.

Fried eggs, scrambled eggs, steamed egg custard, pan-fried salmon... These dishes were all very simple.

Even if the girl found them difficult, she could still make salmon sashimi.

Surely no one could fail at cutting salmon with a knife.

It was just home cooking, not a five-star restaurant.

The standards weren't that high.

And besides, what mattered was that they were cooking for each other.

That was what made it special.

In the kitchen, Karuizawa Kei's hand trembled slightly as she gripped the whisk.

She'd chosen tamagoyaki, which looked simple enough, but only realized how difficult it was once she started.

The egg mixture kept spilling over the edges of the square pan, and on her third attempt to fold it, a hole even tore through it.

Tanaka Yukishin silently handed her a bowl of freshly beaten egg mixture and casually wiped the flour from the tip of her nose.

She stole a glance at Tanaka Yukishin, whose hands moved fluidly as he prepared the salmon.

The soft rasp of the silver blade sliding along the fish's bones sounded like it was mocking her clumsy cooking.

The fish on the cutting board gradually became neat pink petals, while the pale yellow egg in her frying pan stubbornly rolled into a lopsided cylinder.

"The oil's too hot."

Tanaka Yukishin's warning came half a beat too late.

Karuizawa Kei hurriedly turned off the heat and saw the edges of the egg roll, which should have been golden, turning dark brown.

As if in a fit of pique, she poured in another layer of egg mixture. This time, she deliberately turned the heat as low as it could go and watched as the mixture slowly set into a translucent film.

When the fifth layer had just barely stuck together, the frying pan suddenly sizzled.

Tanaka Yukishin's salmon fillet was spreading out in the olive oil, and a fleck of oil splashed onto Kei's hand.

She instinctively stepped back, then, as if trying to prove something, grabbed a lemon and squeezed it hard. The tart scent burst through the air, mingling with the smell of something slightly burnt.

At last, it was time to plate the food. Kei drew a lopsided heart on the egg roll with ketchup.

The sticky feeling on her fingertips reminded her of their kiss earlier. She suddenly felt that these imperfect folds might be proof of her clumsy affection.

At the computer desk, Tanaka Yukishin pushed the pan-fried salmon toward her and pulled the tamagoyaki closer.

The two of them reached out at the same time, each picking up a bite to eat.

Suddenly, Karuizawa Kei stopped Tanaka Yukishin.

"Eat your own first."

Tanaka Yukishin gave her an amused glance.

He set his chopsticks down on the plate.

Then he stood up and reached out with both hands, lifting the silly girl from the chair beside him.

"What are you doing?"

His sudden closeness made Karuizawa Kei's little face flush.

"Silly girl, don't overthink it."

He carried her back to his modern chair.

Tanaka Yukishin gently pressed her down, letting her rest her ear against his chest.

"If you wanted to do this, you could've just carried me in your arms. Why use such an embarrassing way to hold me?"

Though Karuizawa Kei grumbled in protest, she obediently stayed in her beloved's arms.

Chapter 31: Fully Won Her Heart

Tanaka Yukishin prodded the slightly wobbly tamagoyaki on the plate with the tip of his chopsticks, then picked up the most golden-brown edge and put it in his mouth.

The girl held her breath and gripped the edge of her apron tightly, her eyelashes fluttering with nerves. "How does it taste?"

He chewed.

The texture was a little sticky, and it tasted like an ordinary fried egg, only a little softer.

With the ketchup...

He could only say it was average.

"Average."

As he spoke, Tanaka Yukishin picked up the pace, and the tamagoyaki on the plate rapidly dwindled.

"Wait!"

Seeing this, Karuizawa Kei remembered a scene from a girls' manga she'd once read.

It was a situation very similar to theirs.

The heroine cooked for the hero, but the food tasted awful.

The hero said it was delicious and immediately ate it all.

Could it be...

Patting her beloved's chest didn't work, so she simply reached out to stop him.

"What are you doing now?"

Tanaka Yukishin was a little hungry, and being stopped just as he was getting into the meal, he helplessly pinched the silly girl's waist.

"I made that. I should at least have a bite."

Karuizawa Kei came up with a rather flimsy excuse, hiding her true intentions.

Then she snatched the chopsticks from her beloved and took a bite of the tamagoyaki.

The moment it entered her mouth, her tense shoulders relaxed.

It tasted reassuringly ordinary. It wasn't burnt or fishy, and the slightly sticky texture from being undercooked even had a clumsy charm to it.

It really did taste average. Not bad...

Karuizawa Kei was a little relieved.

Good thing she hadn't revealed the real reason.

Otherwise, that bastard would definitely have seized the chance to tease her.

Ignoring the girl in his arms and whatever she was fussing about,

Tanaka Yukishin flicked her forehead, then snatched the chopsticks back and continued eating while she covered her face.

The bamboo chopsticks she'd bitten still carried the faint sweetness of strawberry lip balm. His chewing paused for an almost imperceptible half second, then he reached for a piece of his own crispy pan-fried salmon.

He gripped the salmon with three fingers and bit off a piece.

The salmon had turned crispy on the outside from being pan-fried.

The Maillard reaction had given it an enticing aroma.

And after he'd used lemon juice to remove the fishy smell, it tasted even better.

But sure enough, just as the gift's description said, [Chef's Fortune] didn't affect the taste of the food.

Tanaka Yukishin thought his pan-fried salmon was average.

Of course, by comparison, it was still a little tastier than Karuizawa Kei's tamagoyaki, which was merely average.

As the food went down his throat and into his stomach,

Tanaka Yukishin felt the food inside him digesting and absorbing thousands of times faster than usual.

In an instant, a clear current flowed through his body.

Aside from slightly calming the restless blood surging through him,

his body had also grown a little more accustomed to the [Dragon Bloodline].

Not bad.

Comparing the difference before and after, he made a rough estimate.

If the effect remained constant and his goal was to completely calm the agitation in his blood,

then, based on the amount he'd just eaten, the effect of a single meal he cooked for himself...

he'd have to cook ten meals a day at the very least.

It felt a little underwhelming.

But for that small benefit, he still decided that he'd prepare his own breakfast and dinner every day from then on.

He wouldn't mind the effort if it made him stronger.

That was how he'd trained hard since childhood.

He understood cost-effectiveness all too well.