The st css on Wednesday m was Home Basics, and today’s lesson was on cooking. After the teacher gave a brief expnation and a few reminders, the students were free to form their own groups.
Shuichi Chiba headed for a cooking statiohe er, and as usual, Hachiya Uchida followed him. For activities like this, the two of them typically teamed up to chat and scrape by with the bare minimum effort.
But today, something unusual happened—An Akiyama walked over to join them.
"Hey, look over there! What’s going on? Why is the css president joining the otaku duo?"
"Is she there to scold them? The css president’s pretty serious, so it wouldn’t be surprising."
"Maybe she ’t stand wasting ingredients and wants to teach them proper cooking? She’s always been big on not wasting food."
"Those two are in for a treat today—they might actually get to eat something made by the css president."
As the icy beauty and the younger sister of the student cil president, Tsuki Akiyama, An was already a promi figure in the css.
Her sudden decision to join forces with the two "otaku" naturally drew everyone’s attention.
The specutions about An Akiyama’s presence were fairly mild—there were no eous or malicious ents. The css atmosphere was retively harmonious.
Of course, one could alsue that the "otaku duo" were so invisible to their cssmates that nobody cared enough to pay them much attention. A kind of benign , perhaps, but some might call it subtle exclusion.
Hachiya Uchida, who had been sloug zily, straightened up the moment the css president approached. He khat if he didn’t, he’d definitely hear something along the lines of:
"Uchida-kun, please take this seriously. Food is precious."
Even if it wasn’t a scolding, being publicly called out like that was still embarrassing.
With this in mind, Uchida edged further into the er. Their cooking station was already at the edge of the room, and he mao tuck himself even deeper into the er by the wall.
Feeling a bit guilty, he quietly apologized to Shuichi Chiba, whispering, "Sorry, buddy—you’ll have to take the heat for this one."
Shuichi Chiba had no idea what was running through Hachiya Uchida’s mind. He simply stood there and gave An Akiyama a curious look. “What are you doing over here?”
An Akiyama tried her best to mimic her sister’s usual demeanor, keeping her expression as calm and aloof as possible. “Teaming up with you. Is that a problem?”
“I don’t mind, but your sister might not be too thrilled about it.” Shuichi Chiba replied with a soft chuckle.
“Hmph.” An Akiyama puffed her cheeks slightly in annoyance. “My sister… lied to me. Are you two dating?”
“No, that’s ohing she didn’t lie about,” Shuichi Chiba answered holy. After all, he and Akiyama Tsuki weren’t in a typical romantic retionship—they were more like master and servant, or unventional game partners.
Hearing his response, An Akiyama finally believed him. Ever since her sister had lied about not drinking the peach soda, her blind trust in her had been shaken.
“Then… if I make eye tact, talk, or touch a boy, will I really be tricked into having a baby?” She asked, her tone serious.
“...” Shuichi Chiba rolled his eyes in exasperation. But as he thought about it, her words wereirely unreasonable—especially in An Akiyama’s case. “Well… that’s irely inaccurate,” He admitted.
“ht! That’s what my sister specifically said about you.” An Akiyama suddenly remembered, adding the crification.
Shuichi Chiba’s mouth twitched. “Then it’s definitely not true. Haven’t you already made eye tact, talked, and even ied with me? Did I trick you into having a baby?”
“Hmm, that’s true.” An Akiyama seemed to realize this too. She hadn’t been tricked into doing anything strange.
Finally uanding, she tilted her head slightly and asked curiously, “So… is dating a fun thing to do?”
For some reason, when Shuichi Chiba looked at An Akiyama, with her cute, na?ve demeanor and love for food, he suddenly felt a sense of fatherly .
This little airhead—if he didn’t keep an eye on her, she’d probably get tricked, wouldn’t she?
"Dating is b, really b," Shuichi Chiba said with a smirk. "Eating is way more iing. Listen to your sister, stay away from boys." Then he quickly added, "Except me, of course."
"Oh..." An Akiyama houghtfully, her little head clearly buzzing with thoughts, as if she were suddenly deep in a storm of ideas.
Mom said that girls will definitely end up dating boys iure…
But I’m a girl…
Both my sister and Chiba-kun said to stay away from boys…
Except for Chiba-kun, who is an exception among boys, and someone I i with…
So... does that mean the only person I date is Chiba-kun?
With a burst of logical reasoning, An Akiyama had seemingly solved a life riddle. She suddenly felt a wave of crity wash over her.
Seeing her adorably fused expression, her baby fat on her cheeks looked so soft and squishy. With no one paying attention, Shuichi Chiba couldn’t resist and quietly reached out to pinch her cheek.
Ever since he saw Tsuki Akiyama pinch her cheek earlier in the m, he’d been itg to do it himself.
"Huh?" An Akiyama looked at him in fusion, not uanding why he had pinched her face.
"Fine, I'll give you octopus sausages at lunch. Just let me pinch your cheek a little more." Shuichi Chiba said, ping her cheek once more.
"Alright, alright," An Akiyama happily nodded in agreement.
Hachiya Uchida, watg from the er, was trembling with ay. Chiba! What are you doing?! What are you doing to the css president?! She's gonna kill you, isn't she?!
Before, when he’d seen Shuichi Chiba handle Nagase-sensei so calmly, he had merely admired him, but now, he was geerrified. It was clear that the student cil president was a force to be reed with.
"Chiba-kun, do you want to date me?" An Akiyama casually asked while skillfully prepping the ingredients. She had helped out in her family’s ramen shop a lot, ae being a bit clumsy, she was much more capable at this than other people her age.
"Huh?" Shuichi Chiba was momentarily stunned. What was this clueless food lover talking about all of a sudden?
"Do you want to date me?" An Akiyama, thinking he hadn’t heard her, blinked her i, big eyes and asked again.
"Well... I'm not sure why the css president would say that, but my answer is... no."
Shuichi Chiba didn’t hesitate for a sed. The painful lessons from his past life had made him give up on any illusions about marriage and love.
It was much easier and more f to share mutual uanding with a woman who also saw through the harsh realities of life. That felt far more peaceful than engaging in any romantic games with young girls.
Well, the obsessed student cil president was the exception. They were special py partners.
"Oh, I see..." An Akiyama wasn’t disced. She thoughtfully scratched her head, her little mind w through the problem, feeling like she’d just solved a tricky math problem.
Chiba-kun said before that he had regrets, so... maybe I should fess first?
Should I do it on the rooftop?
How should I go about it?
However, it seemed like she couldn’t ask her sister this time, especially since her sister had tricked her about this matter before. So, she decided to ask her mom instead.
With a deade, An Akiyama pushed the matter aside for now and focused on preparing the food.
The cooking css was scheduled as the st css of the m, specifically so students could eat what they made for lunch.
Normally, An Akiyama would eagerly eat her own cooking, but today, she didn’t even g the dish she made before quickly running off.
After all, her homemade food couldn’t possibly pare to the delicious bento her mom prepared.
Other students noticed this and uood—since she was cooking with the "otaku" group, the css president probably wasn’t happy with the result either.
"In that case, it's all yours, Uchida," Shuichi Chiba said, taking off his apron and pointing at the curry rice they made.
"Huh? There’s no way I finish all of this by myself," Hachiya Uchidaya looked fused.
"Well, then just take your time a it slowly," Shuichi Chiba patted his shoulder, then followed An Akiyama out of the .
