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Chapter 5 â To Move Forward\nVolume 2\n<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide">\nBefore I knew it, I was remembering things from the past.\n
Maybe it was because I was in the middle of eating my lunch. My own two-tiered lunch box was filled with colorful side dishes. Since I cook for both Sayaka and my father, I donât use too many frozen items, and many of them are made by me. About half of the dishes were leftover from last nightâs dinner, but the other half were made in the morning.\n
Iâve gotten much better at cooking if I do say so myself. There is not a day that goes by that I donât cook. My skills are completely different compared to four years ago.\n
The tamagoyaki in my lunch box for example. The first time I tried to make it, it lost the shape when I tried to roll it up and resembled scrambled eggs. The seasoning and the shape have grown to the point where it can be sold.\n
The stewed burdock next to it. I couldnât use the knife well, so the pieces were all different sizes, but now they were evenly sized.\n
I like to eat my lunch. Iâm confident in my cooking and I adjust the seasoning to my liking, so itâs simply delicious to eat. When I try a new dish, I get excited to see if it is still good when it gets cold.\n\n
ââŠâŠâ\n\n
It was quiet. I and the two people in front of me quietly put our food in our mouths.\n
Iâm not talking about the usual pair of Saito and Shindo, but Enami-san and Nishikawa for some reason. The atmosphere was awkward. I wondered why I was in this situation in the first place.\n
I tried to remember the past to escape reality, but either way, I couldnât shake the fact in front of me. This was a corner of the cafeteria. Naturally, Iâm attracting a lot of attention. Nishikawa and Enami-san alone stand out, but thereâs a mysterious third person sitting there. There were already rumors about the two were dating or not dating, so now there must have been more gossip with a longer story behind it.\n
Nishikawa, seemingly unable to bear the silence anymore, opened her mouth.\n\n
âThe modern literature class really makes you sleepy, doesnât it? I try to listen seriously, but my eyelids close by themselves. The teacher doesnât even pay attention to us.â\n
âYeah.â\n
â While I was sleeping, my fake eyelashes came off you know. Even around me, all I could hear was the sound of others sleeping.â\n
âThatâs right. I fell asleep too for a little while.â\n\n
It was a trivial conversation. In fact, Nishikawaâs eyes were a little red.\n\n
âBut then I realized that itâs almost December. âŠAnd then itâs the end of the term! Ahh, it goes by so fast.â\n
âTo make matters worse, entrance exams will be in full swing in a year.â\n
âI donât want to think about it!â\n\n
While we were talking, Enami-san didnât open her mouth. She was quietly eating the bread she had bought. She doesnât seem to eat a lot, just sandwiches and salad bread.\n
She didnât seem to be in a bad mood. She just didnât want to talk.\n\n
âNishikawa, have you decided which college you want to go to?â\n\n
I donât know what sheâs planning to do, but until Enami-san was ready to talk, I decided to have a conversation with Nishikawa.\n\n
âNo~. Not at all. Iâm only thinking about enjoying the moment!ăWhereâs Naochi?â\n
âIâm going to Tohashi UniversityâŠâ\n
âOh, thatâs right. You have to work hard then.â\n\n
For a while, the conversation continued between Nishikawa and me. Eventually, Enami-san finished her bread and talked to me.\n\n
âHey.â\n\n
Interrupting the conversation, Nishikawa and I turned to Enami-san.\n\n
âI want to ask you something.â\n\n
âŠOriginally, this situation was created at the request of Enami-san.\n
As soon as lunchtime came, Nishikawa came to talk to me. Enami-san wanted to ask me something. Thatâs why the three of us had moved to this cafeteria and were eating together.\n
She was silent for a long time, probably because she was thinking.\n\n
âWhat?â\n
ââŠDid you talk to Mom about something?â\n\n
So thatâs the subject. I wondered if talking about it while Nishikawa and Enami-san were away had caused any changes in Mother Enami. I didnât think she would find out.\n\n
âWhy do you ask?â\n
âMy mother talked to me about you. She said youâre a good kid.â\n
âThatâs all?â\n
âThatâs all.â\n
âEh?â\n
âThatâs the weirdest thing Iâve heard in years. I donât know how long itâs been since weâve talked about other people.â\n\n
The things mother Enami didnât care about. I suppose that has been applied to all other people up to now.\n\n
âSo in the end, what did you do?â\n\n
I wasnât sure how I should answer. If possible, I didnât want Enami-san to know. Because I knew she wouldnât like me probing into her situation like this.\n
But it wasnât something I could hide. I decided to give up.\n
I told her everything. That I thought the problem will not be solved if I didnât talk. And that I simply asked her why she was sleeping there.\n
âIn case youâre wondering, I wasnât trying to find out what was going on⊠Iâm sorry I didnât tell you, but it wasnât out of malice or anythingâŠâ\n
âI know.â\n\n
I donât know why she trusts me so much.\n\n
âUnless you were asking her something deep, itâs fine. Did Mom give you any trouble?â\n
âNo, nothing like that. It was just a normal, calm conversation.â\n\n
There were times when switches were made along the way, but in the end, everything went off without a hitch.\n\n
I was able to understand that this person must have something to carry.\n\n
<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide">\nTN: Double chapters today in light of 100 day celebrations :p\n\nThanks for the Ko-fi again, RafiBomb đ\n\n