Chapter 12: CH 12

“You’re.. ? Sasamiya-san, are you having a bento today?”

Lunch break.

As I was about to eat the sandwich that Yuika had given me, Otonzui called out to me.

“Well, yeah.”

Then she stared at the sandwich and said,

“… That’s a sandwich made by a woman, isn’t it?” (T/N: … HOW.) (E/N: woman’s intuition; or maybe it looks fancy; a waifu would also know.)

H-How can you tell just by looking at it?

It’s obvious that I didn’t make it, but how can you be so sure that a woman made it?

Like Yuika, I’m always amazed at a woman’s intuition.

However, if I said that it was made by a high school girl who was not one of my relatives, it could lead to unnecessary misunderstandings.

I’ll make up a good story here. (E/N: dumb dumb.)

“Yeah. My sister made it for me. I’ll have to tell her what I think of it tomorrow. Oh, it’s a good egg sandwich.”

Since it was true that I had a sister, it was easy to incorporate it into the lie. This way she wouldn’t find out.

“How old is your sister?”

“She is twelve now and is in the first year of middle school.”

Then Otozui said with a blank expression,

“He ~~~~~~~~~~~”

What’s with the “He~”?! You scared the hell out of me!

Did I say something funny?

It was not strange to have a younger sister who was in the first year of middle school.

Could it be that she found out that I asked a high school girl to make my lunch?

No, no, no, there was no way she could have found out.

It would be impossible even for a great detective with an adult brain.

Otozui stood next to me and continued talking.

“Do you live together?”

“No, I live alone, but she was thoughtful enough to make it for me today. There’s no broccoli in it. …”

“Fu … hmm. I see you live alone. …”

Today, Otozui was obsessed with strange things.

In addition, what was this pressure …

一Is the fact that I live alone bothering you?

“Ano …, sono …Sasamiya-san, do you like homemade food?”

“I’m not particular about it, but it’s nice to have it made like this. Oh…This shrimp and chili sandwich is very innovative. She’s good.”

“… Is she ..?”

Otozui suddenly fell silent.

I looked at her and saw that she was fidgeting for some reason.

“What’s wrong?”

“… N-Nothing.”

Otozui looked down and started kicking the empty floor with one foot. (T/N: she’s cute gotta say.) (E/N: uhh… don’t say.)

They said that when people feel stressed, they would express themselves through actions rather than words.

I don’t know. …

I had no idea what Otozumi was thinking.

Then she spun around and walked away.

“S-Sasamiya-san. …”

“Hmm?”

“I won’t lose.”

“… … Who?”

I knew something was wrong.

The heck is ‘who’ …?

Ha~! I see!!

◆◆◆◆◆

“What? Your junior complimented me on my sandwich?”

On my way to work the next day, I told Yuika about what happened when I was eating my sandwich.

“Yeah. At the end she said something like “I won’t lose”. So I guess she was pretty impressed.”

“I see. I just made it quickly, but it’s nice to hear her say that.”

“You’re good, Yuika.”

“Well, yeah.”

In a good mood, Yuihua added, “So,” and continued.

“I’d like to know what you think of the sandwich.”

By the way, the sandwich was given to me as a practice for my praising skills.

Of course, I was thinking about it.

I presented her with a heartfelt compliment.

“Yeah. It was good.”

“… Anything else?”

Huh? Was that not good enough?

I thought it would have conveyed a straightforward, manly feeling if I said it was delicious rather than tasty.

I had no choice.

I should use the compliments I had stocked up on just in case.

“The shrimp sandwich was especially good.”

“What?”

“Huh?”

“That’s it?”

“… Ah”

Yuika’s eyes were a mixture of surprise and pity.

“Don’t you have anything more?”

“You still want me to compliment you?”

“That’s what you said. Let’s hear it.”

That’s true, but I’ve complimented you a lot, haven’t I?

The shrimp and chili sandwich that I mentioned earlier, if I were to compare it to a baseball game, it would have been a major homerun at the ninth inning.

That’s not good.

I can’t think of anything more to say.

“Hmm~. Other … Maybe I want to eat … every day.”

Then Yuika became even quieter than usual and fell silent.

What is it this time? What’s up with her reaction?

This girl sometimes had a look in her eyes that showed no emotion at all, and that was a problem.

“Maybe the way I praised you was not good enough?”

“It’s not bad, but you shouldn’t say ‘I want to eat this every day’ to anyone but your junior.”

“Why? I’m just being honest.”

Then, without changing her expression, Yuika took out her phone and started playing with it, ignoring me.

When I tried to look at her phone to see if something was wrong, Yuika took a half step away.

… What’s with you, all of a sudden? You … must be lonely.

When I was worried that she might be angry, Yuika resumed her conversation.

“I’ll make it for you again sometime.”

“Is that okay?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. And thanks for the … compliment.”

It was hard to read her expression as she talked while looking at her phone, but she didn’t seem to be angry.

I didn’t know what Yuika was thinking, but for now, it was a relief.

“Oh, yeah. Next time, pull out the broccoli.”

“Yeah, okay. I just need to add a lot of broccoli.”