CH 16

Ch 16 What do you think? (Yukiya’s POV)

As I walked back to the classroom with Kanae, I was already met with curious stares.

Every one of them is grinning at me…

The only saving grace was that it was right before class started. If it had been during break time, Kanae and I would have been surrounded and teased for sure.

I did my best to ignore the annoying stares coming from all over the place. The teacher had already arrived, and I returned to my seat with a feverish look on my face.

“Hey, what were you and Kana-chan doing…?”

“Tell me, Yukiya…”

The neighbor and the girl in front of me quickly got involved.

“There’s nothing going on.”

There was, but I couldn’t tell them. That, that-

“No, no, no, no… hey, what really happened…?”

“Yukiya, your face is all red… Too easy to understand…”

She says that in a whisper, and now she physically picks at me with his fingertips — stop it, stop it, it’s annoying!

I glare at my two classmates, who smirk and give me a lowly grin.

Why isn’t there such a delicacy? It’s a ugly affair that makes me want her to drink even the dirt of Kanae’s nails, my childhood friend who is a merciful and caring person.

I turned my attention to Kanae to relieve my irritated mind. Any thoughts I had about distancing myself from Kanae had been literally blown away by her.

Then, my eyes met Kanae’s in the distance.

If you look at her, you can see that Kanae is also being chided by her classmates around her, and the way she looks at you is somewhat stern. Yes, I know the feeling. It’s annoying, isn’t it?

But as we looked at each other like that, Kanae immediately smiled thinly and gave me a small wave.

This is it, this care.

I was choked up by Kanae’s thoughtfulness and waved back modestly as well.

“Wow~… they’re waving at each other~…”

“Hey… we’re in the middle of a class…?”

Damn, the outside world is so noisy. I’m sure it will come with more heat on my face…

–There was no time to take it easy. When class was over, the next recess would come.

Before I could escape, I was surrounded by my classmates.

“Well, Yukiya. It’s time for your interrogation.”

“I want you to tell me what you were doing with a girl during recess, as vividly as possible in a reenactment style.”

“Oops, the girls are interrogating the accomplice now, so we can’t get her to talk, okay?”

Damn, I handled it poorly – but these guys are totally in the groove. I mean, all the boys and girls are using Kanae and me as a story to get along with me and Kanae, I want to be on that side with Kanae and have fun with other people’s love stories.

No, but it’s kind of a dream come true that Kanae and I are rumored to be together. In elementary school and junior high school, I often heard rumors that Kanae was after Souta, and it made me depressed.

I wonder how I would have felt if I had known then what I know now. Would I be able to ease some of the pain in my heart that I felt back then?

While escaping from the reality of the situation, I kept silent for the whole time, saying things like “call a lawyer” and “we don’t have katsudon”.

And so, after a morning of being teased by classmates, the fateful lunch break came.

“Yuki-kun!”

As soon as recess started, Kanae walked up to me as if she was being sent out by the girls behind her.

I was annoyed to see that my classmates around me were either smirking or smug.

“Yuki-kun, let’s have lunch in the courtyard.”

“Huh…!?”

Kanae’s words sent a shiver through me.

The school’s lunchtime courtyard is nothing less than a sacred place for couples, where couples from different grades and classes huddle together on two-seater benches that look as if they were set up for that purpose and have lunch there…

No, no, what is this? I’ve been trying not to think about it, but with the “foo-foo incident” in the morning, what’s going on here? Is this a chance?

However, it feels like it’s already been twelve days since Kanae dumped me, but in reality, it’s only been two days.

I’m not going to confess again just on the spur of the moment and get rejected again. The next time I do this, I want to increase my chances of winning as much as possible, hmmm…

I wanted to go out with Kanae, but I kept agonizing over it.

“Yuki-kun, why don’t you sit on this bench?”

Then I realized that I was in the courtyard of a sacred place. And in front of me was a couple’s bench.

“Oh, hey, when did we get to the courtyard…?”

“Yeah, we walked together, didn’t we?”

Kanae next to me. And in my hand, a small, hot, soft touch.

“My hand!”

Before I knew it, I was holding hands with Kanae. I was so surprised that I gripped it tightly.

“Ouch!”

Kanae let out a small scream.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry I’m sorry! Are you okay?”

I was upset, but Kanae smiled at me and said, “Boys are so powerful!”

“I’m fine, okay? Let’s get some food.”

Kanae pulls me out of my reverie, sits me down on the bench, and pulls out a lunch box from her small handbag.

I felt bad, but I decided to follow Kanae’s example.

“Oh, you know what, Yuki? This is…”

Kanae held out a small lunch box to me.

What, is this… for real?

“Well, I thought Yuki-kun would have brought his lunch, so it’s really just a little bit.”

Kanae looked up at me with a nervous look on her face.

“Oh, I made it…”

Suddenly, I received a divine item, a homemade lunch box made by my childhood friend, and with hands trembling with emotion, I took it and carefully opened the lid.

The contents of the small bento box that Kanae gave me were octopus sausage, egg rolls, small rice balls, broccoli with sesame paste, cherry tomatoes, and other colorful items that looked very tasty.

“Eh, aren’t these all homemade side dishes?”

It was very different from my bento, which was all frozen food.

“Uh-huh. Heh, it’s a little plain… Sorry?”

That is absolutely awe-inspiring. I expressed my great emotion and deep gratitude to Kanae, and gratefully accepted her lunch.

“Well, I’m really happy with this delicious looking bento. Thank you, Kanae!”

“Heh, heh, you’re welcome. I hope it suits your mouth…”

“It’s absolutely delicious, it looks delicious from the outside. The colors are beautiful, and the fact that everything is homemade is amazing.”

“Mmm… oh, thank you, hehehe.”

“Kanae is good at cooking, and I personally like Kanae’s food.”

“Heh–oh, I’m so happy, heh heh heh.”

“That’s why I’m so impressed, Kanae’s handiwork-“

“Yu, Yuki-Kun!”

As if to interrupt my words, Kanae, who was lying face down, raised her voice.

Oh no, I did it. I wanted to express my excitement, so I spoke out passionately. I’m embarrassed to say that Kanae is not happy with me…

I immediately opened my mouth to apologize, but Kanae interrupted me and said, “I’m sorry.”

“I’m happy, but I’m… embarrassed, so I’ll just say… that way.”

As Kanae squirms around with a red face, I gulp as if another desire than appetite is about to be aroused.

No, no, no, no. This kind of evil feeling will make Kanae hate me. I’ve been rejected once before, but I can’t lower my likability any further.

“Eat it, Yuki-kun.”

“Oh, oh, thank you, Kanae.”

But even this exchange sounded erotic to me, and I had to eat lunch while agonizing over various things.

I had a little bit of regret that I didn’t take a picture of it as soon as I started eating it, but I finished it in no time because of the deliciousness of Kanae Bento.

“Thanks for the food, it was really good.”

“Good, thank you for eating so cleanly, Yuki-kun.”

And even though there were moments along the way when my rational mind nearly collapsed from Kanae’s counterattack, I had the best lunch break in the history of my life.

But the lunch break didn’t end there.

After I left Kanae to go to the bathroom and wash my hands…

“Hey, Yukiya!”

I was stopped by Souta.