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Cooking Skill
◆Hiiragi Haruka◆
For the holiday, Seiji-kun decided to make dinner for me. It was for all the times that I made him meals and bentous.
As he continued calmly with his cooking, I could tell that his skill was pretty good. In the end, he served a salad, soup, and pasta. It seemed like a combination that would be commonly served as a café lunch set. I was quite happy, but at the same time, not happy.
I picked up some pasta with a fork and took a bite.
“How is it? I have a good amount of confidence in it.”
I-it’s good…! For a moment there, I thought I had actually gone to a café.
“Yeah. It’s good.”
Seiji-kun smiled in relief and then began to eat.
I had no complaints in good cooking, but personally, I was unhappy that Seiji-kun was good at cooking… The soup as well, wasn’t something that was store bought, but something that he had made from scratch.
Mumumumu…
Generally speaking, I would say that I’m better, but Seiji-kun would have enough skill to be called as having a normal level.
A male who knows how to cook is popular—
That’s what I would think. Having someone that can make food for you is something that is quite nice, and at the same time, it makes it kind of hard to let go of them. I’m super worried about Seiji-kun attracting another woman because of this.
“Seiji-kun, this flashy cooking, where did you learn it? From your mother?”
“Umm… that…”
He was stuck, as if he had a hard time saying something.
I can’t imagine Seiji-kun’s mom making such flashy dishes like this. The bentou that I see him eat for lunch in the home economics room always had a homemade feel.
“My mother, has been quite into Italian recently… so…”
Pikiin, my woman’s intuition was activated.
It’s wrong. It’s definitely not his mother.
Then, who is it? Sana-chan is terrible at cooking… If that’s the case, then another woman———!? That would be the only explanation for such flashy dishes.
“Seiji-kun, are you hiding something from me?”
“Ueeh!? W-why!? Why would you think that…”
His panic is quite suspicious…
“I can somehow feel it. Just a little.”
“The soup is pretty good as well, right?”
“Ah, yeah. It’s really tasty!”
“That’s good.”
This relieved smile that Seiji-kun had, it was a smile that I unbearably liked… His salad is good too. It was to the point where it might make me say that I actually wanted to eat vegetables!!
In truth, I really didn’t know much about Seiji-kun. I believe that I wouldn’t lose to anyone in knowing things about Seiji-kun after he became a second-year high schooler, but if it’s about last year or about his middle school days, I haven’t heard much. Without a doubt, he had mastered this cooking skill before he started dating me.
“You made this meal today to thank me, right?”
“Eh? Ahh, yeah.”
“Do you do cooking at home?”
“My mother is at home, so if I just use ingredients in the fridge, she gets mad at me. She would scold me by saying that she was going to be using that meat or those vegetables tomorrow, and stuff like that.”
“Ah. I get that. It’s because most of the things in the refrigerator are probably planned out. If things are used all of a sudden, the menu for the week ends up getting messed up a bit.”
“So it seems. She said the same thing to me.”
He doesn’t cook at home, yet he’s so good…?
Ah, I got it!
“An ex-girlfriend!? It’s that, right!? You were dating a beautiful, fashionable, and slightly older Onee-san!?”
“Haaah!? What are you talking about? Rather, isn’t that more like the current situation?”
That’s right. There isn’t any proof that I’m Seiji-kun’s first girlfriend.
“I don’t have an ex-girlfriend. Haruka-san is my first.”
He immediately refuted my thoughts.
Hmmm? Rather, isn’t it more like the current situation…?
“A beautiful, fashionable, and slightly older Onee-san?”
I said, while pointing at myself.
“T-that’s right…”
Ah. He’s embarrassed. So cute… When he shows this side of himself, it makes me aware that he’s a younger boy and it really makes my heart tighten. Normally, he wouldn’t get flustered or hesitate as he settled everything perfectly.
“I’m sorry for being jealous of a nonexistent ex-girlfriend.”
“No, it’s fine.”
He wasn’t taught by an ex-girlfriend, nor was he taught by his mother. Then, who, and when…?
“Seiji-kun, do you like cafés?”
“Cafés? No, I don’t really like them that much. I do like coffee though.”
Mumumu.
So, it wasn’t that he was imitating a lunch from some café somewhere.
“I mean, cafés are like, ‘Having tea at a fashionable place this, it’s so cute! I’m quite fashionable myself, right?’ Those are the types of girls that go there, right?”
“Uwah, that’s quite a biased view!!”
“Am I wrong?”
“Girls just like that sort of place. The furniture, the interior, and the accessories are often really nice, and the store itself comes with a good atmosphere.”
“Fuun. Why the sudden talk about cafes?”
“I was thinking that if it wasn’t on a date, it’s kind of hard to go to a place like that, right? So, I thought maybe that you liked it. The stuff you made is like the stuff that would be served at a café after all.”
He doesn’t like cafes… He isn’t imitating the cooking of some place… Then, where did he get all of his cooking skills. Was he secretly practicing in the kitchen—?
“Were you thinking about thanking me today like this for a while?”
“I wouldn’t say it was for a while, but you always treat me to things, and even make me bentous. That’s why I thought I should pay you back.”
What should I do? When I think that he might have been bad at it, and practiced cooking for my sake, it makes me want to love Seiji-kun even more…
Mou, I’ll leave it like that then. Seiji-kun is grateful for everything that I do for him every day after all, and the cooking is also good.
“Are you really curious about my cooking, that you need to no matter what?”
“Eh? Yeah…”
He was trying to hide it earlier. What happened all of a sudden?
Seiji-kun peeked at me with a serious expression.
“I’m really 27 years old, and I came to this current time period by a time leap.”
“… Ahahah, what’s with that? No matter how I see it, you aren’t 27.”
“And so, I know how to cook because I remember it from college, when I was working part time at an Italian restaurant—”
“What? That’s such a realistic college setting. Ahahaha.”
“In college, I lived alone, so I had a lot of chances to cook. So now—”
“College student, living alone. That sounds so real!”
Tears felt like they were coming out of my eyes, so I wiped it with one of my fingers.
“Haaah, that was weird.”
“……… I know, right?”
That’s the smile that I like.
Then, I asked him something uneasily.
“Ummm… Tai-mu-lee-pu, what’s that? What does it mean?”
Gakun, Seiji-kun hung his head.
“I-I see… I guess you wouldn’t normally know. A word like that…”
And then, he explained to me what a time leap was, and I finally understood.
So, as we carried our own tableware to the sink, I tried asking him.
“Then, if the time leap was real, then the Seiji-kun here right now is 27 years old?”
“Aaah, the setting from earlier? That’s how it would be.”
With the water running, I washed the dishes with a sponge, and then handed them to Seiji-kun to rinse.
“Haruka-san… If that was the case, what would you do?”
“I don’t think I would do anything? Seiji-kun, is Seiji-kun, right? If it was really someone else inside, then I would have to think about it though.”
“I see.”
Saying that, Seiji-kun smiled.
Afterwards, we flirted a little more than we usually would.
Thanks for the chapter
“Are you really curious about my cooking, that you need to no matter what?”
Shouldn’t it be, “Are you really curious about my cooking, that you need to know no matter what?”
Isn’t the word “know” missing?
Thanks for the chapter!!!
Second!!!
Ohh! He told her his secret!
Also, I give my respect to guys out there who can cook!! Because I can’t, all I can cook is canned goods, hotdogs, and instant noodles though I can make MREs but totally not cooking….
I can cook anything as long as it has a precise recipe lol
Hey, so can can my younger brother~! And he’s got these super ultra sharp taste buds that can taste anything no matter how masked they are. Me, I can cook simple stuff as long as I have the recipe, and then I’ll improve on it. I could try more complex stuff, but I find it too troublesome and time consuming.
I can cook most local traditional food
But damn it is useless in getting girl
Well most girls this days like to be treated to food outside… Well compared to you, all I eat is easy to make food and are very strict in nutritional value… MRE may be easy to make but tastes like eraser or clay
I love mre! They have a unique taste 🤤
I love dim sum.
Proper Chinese dim sum, that is.
“a guy who knows how to cook is popular with girl”
Hah!! FALSE! Big fat lie!
Im great cook and have 2 years worth of working with it
And zero second of dating a girl……
And have you ever brought them food? Try giving them food. I know I’d love it. XD
Have you ever brought them food? Try give them food. I know I’d love it. XD
Mm? That’s weird. Didn’t he have trouble using a knife to make curry during that field trip? Eh, I guess it was all part of his plan to bolster his reliability during this moment.