Chapter 8

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Series: A Love That Lurks at the Dining Table

Previous chapter

“It seems like you’ve been buying more vegetables lately. What’s going on?”

Today was a holiday, a month after I first started making Hino-kun’s dinners. While the storekeeper at the greengrocer was calculating my total, Miya-chan stood next to him and tilted her head.

It was true that the amount of vegetables… or more like, the amount of ingredients I have been buying has doubled.

I went from buying one person’s worth to two people’s because of Hino-kun, but I couldn’t just say, “I’m cooking lunch and dinner for a boy in my class.” I couldn’t answer if she asked me why.

Also, it will be summer vacation soon. I still haven’t asked Hino-kun what he planned on eating for lunch and dinner over the break.

I usually gave him frozen meals I made on the weekend and explained how to prepare it over the phone, but it would be difficult to do that every single day. The temperature will be hotter, too.

But I couldn’t just ask him if we could meet up so I could give him his bento. I would feel bad if he thought I was making an excuse to see him during the holiday.

“Um, it’s for practice, I guess?”

“I see. I was just thinking that you were buying a ton of vegetables. I thought you were making smoothies.”

“Smoothies…”

Drinking was easier than eating, and it was a great way to make up for malnourishment.

But, smoothies were more about supplementing for nutrients you lacked in your regular diet. I wondered if it would be good for him if he couldn’t eat in the first place…

Models in general didn’t seem to eat much, but Hino-kun ate plenty.

Actually, he was slim and his arms and legs were slender, so I wondered where all that food went. He said before, “I digest things quickly so I get hungry easily,” and that made me wonder if a fast-digesting liquid like smoothies would be a good fit for him.

“Oh, right. Listen to this, Mizuka-chan.”

“Hm?”

“Yousuke was asked in an interview about the ideal woman, but look at this! He said his favorite type!”

Miya-chan pulled out a magazine from under the register and spread it out. It seemed like she read it when there were no customers. In bubbly, pink and yellow text, the top of the page read, “Hino Yousuke’s View on Love” and below it was his answers in a Q&A format.

“His favorite type was ‘The cutest girl in the world’…! Yousuke has definitely got to have a girlfriend, right? He wouldn’t make that face if he didn’t. He was totally using the magazine to talk about his sweetheart. Here, look at where they ask him what he wants to do with the person he loves. He said he wants to enjoy a casual meal together. Doesn’t it seem like they’re living together? I’m so jealous! The interview was about how they’re going to be shooting a kiss scene in the summer and I was like, wow! But then I saw this and I was like even more wow!”

Miya-chan kept closing and opening the magazine while repeating, “Seriously, wow!”

Did Hino-kun have a girlfriend?

He was very popular, but if he had a girlfriend, I didn’t think he would invite a classmate like me out shopping with him.

Plus, he bought mugs with my favorite color just because they didn’t have his. If he had a girlfriend, he surely would have bought some with her favorite colors.

But, I couldn’t tell her that he didn’t have a girlfriend because I couldn’t explain my reasoning, so I just stood there as Miya-chan’s father walked out from behind her.

“Didn’t you go home under the same umbrella as that baseball lad the other day?”

“Eh, you saw that, Dad!?”

“Of course I did! I was working then! He tried to be sneaky and leave at the corner. I will never approve of some guy that can’t even meet his crush’s parents!”

“That’s not it! We’re just classmates!”

Seeing Miya-chan go completely red with anger, her father groaned with a sullen voice.

“Of course I didn’t know ‘cuz you never said it! Even though you were sharing an umbrella, your shoulder got soaked! It’s not that I don’t care about you.”

“Aaaaah! Stop it! Go away, Dad! I was talking with Mizuka-chan!”

She forcefully pushed her father to the back of the store. And then she immediately came back here.

“Don’t worry about what Dad was just talking about! Forget about it! ‘Cuz it didn’t happen at all!”

“Okay. Got it.”

“Oh, t-that’s right! The songs playing in the shopping district! It seems like they’re going to change since the speakers are going to be repaired at the end of the obon festival. It will feel lonely for a week, but the new songs will cause a whirlwind! Although the songs could end up being weird because the head neighborhood councilman is in charge of it.”

Miya-chan started talking about the new songs in the shopping district as if to change the topic. Although half of what she said just didn’t enter my head so my responses just became makeshift.

“What is it, Mizuka-chan?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Miya-chan looked anxious from my silence. I hurriedly shook my head and smiled.

Hino-kun’s… girlfriend. I didn’t think he had one, but he might have had a person he liked since he bought two people’s worth of tableware.

…Hino-kun’s… crush.

“Well, I’m going home now.”

“Okay. Take care, Mizuka-chan.”

I waved to Miya-chan and left the greengrocer. I left the shopping district, feeling some sort of pent-up feelings in my chest.

◇

I stared at the calendar in my room the next day. The drawing on the calendar changed from hydrangeas to sunflowers. Summer vacation was the day after tomorrow.

Of course I couldn’t see Hino-kun during vacation. I should have been happy about not having class, but somehow I felt heavy. Tomorrow was the closing ceremony with just morning class. He didn’t say anything, so maybe he didn’t need lunch or dinner… or so, I thought.

Or perhaps I should ask what should I do about Hino-kun’s meals for summer vacation? He said before that his manager bought him food on the weekends because he had work, but I was worried. In any case, I was going to practice fried foods that I couldn’t manage before to increase my repertoire this summer, but…

“…But, Hino-kun’s… girlfriend…”

I muttered it to let out my strange thoughts, but I just felt heavier. Even though I didn’t know if it was true or not.

If he had a girlfriend, then I… well, I was a girl, after all. It wouldn’t be okay for us to have lunch together alone…

So he probably didn’t have a girlfriend. He called himself a “thief” when insisting to pay my electricity bill and whatnot, so he was the type to do those things properly.

“Alright.”

I grabbed the apron I had hanging up and put it on to make dinner when my phone vibrated. I checked my phone to see the sender was Hino-kun.

“Are you free tomorrow?”

“Could you come make dinner at my house?”

While I was staring at the two messages he sent, another one popped in.

“Since it gets hot during summer vacation, I wanted you to come make dinner at my house soon”

“Is that okay?”

I was stunned as I followed the messages with my eyes.

Me, going to Hino-kun’s house to make dinner…? Not delivering them?

It’s true that food went bad quickly in the summer. But, how will I reply? How should I reply? I couldn’t just respond later and leave him on read.

“O-k-a-y.”

I’ll just respond with four letters for now. As soon as I tapped the send button, the message was marked as read. And then he send another message.

“You also eat at home, right?”

“We always have separate dinners so I wanted to eat with you”

“Of course I’ll do the dishes!”

“I also have cookware so you don’t need to worry about that”

And then a stamp of a swimming penguin.

Then, that meant, I would eat at Hino-kun’s house tomorrow?

“Is that okay, Igarashi-san?”

“Yes?”

“No?”

I kept receiving messages while I was thinking. I began typing out a response in a hurry.

“If you’re okay… with it… then I… am… too…”

I finished typing and sent it.

I got an immediate response. He sent a stamp of a happy penguin with words of thanks. I sent a similar animal stamp as well as “I will do my best tomorrow” before putting my phone to sleep.

…I was going to Hino-kun’s house tomorrow.

Somehow the reality wasn’t hitting me. But my chest still felt tighter.

What should I do…? Or more like, what could I do? It was just a little bit different from the usual. What should I make? Since I was going to his house, I could prepare it today… or not. Since it was summer, there was still a chance of it going bad.

…But, this was a chance to give Hino-kun freshly prepared food.

Previously frozen food could still be delicious, but freshly made food was definitely more delicious… There were many factions, such as those who preferred boiled food cold rather than fresh, but grilled fish and sauteed foods tasted better when they were hot.

Then tomorrow, I will make delicious, fresh food… Plus, since it wasn’t a bento, I could use raw ingredients and there were no restrictions.

As I was thinking, I noticed myself getting happier. I quickly slapped my cheeks to calm down.

That’s no good. I should settle down a little. I should think about what to make. I should read a recipe and not think about tomorrow. I flipped through a magazine until I landed on a recipe for boiled chizukenni.

“Yeah. I was thinking about your cooking. I really like your cooking. It’s very calming, like I can feel all the tension leave my body.”

My face heated up when I remembered Hino-kun’s words. I shook my head as if to shake away the heat and went back to reading recipes.

◇

The day of the closing ceremony. I was at the edge of the court in the gymnasium watching the basketball game and listening to the whistle.

This new school was also more or less a prep school, so there was a focus on course work. Sports and cultural events were organized relatively late. Today was the closing ceremony before summer vacation, but gym was postponed due to the rain and lessons were reduced for the first two periods.

Everyone seemed to be happy today since this class wasn’t as tough as doing relays or endurance running.

There was a heated game in the court, but today I couldn’t get the thought that I was going to Hino-kun’s house after school out of my head.

I could tell that Meina-chan was also feeling anxious as she glanced around next to me. Following her line of sight, I saw her watching the boys in the next court playing basketball.

“I wonder if Maki-kun will be alright…?”

It seemed like she was worried about Maki-kun.

He was lazily sitting down at the end of the court. He didn’t seem to have any desire to participate in the match. There didn’t seem to be any way for him to get hurt, but it was Maki-kun, after all.

He had fallen down in the middle of nowhere before, and the other day he had fallen down a hill after almost being hit by a tricycle, and he had bandages wrapped around his arms. Meina-chan’s concern couldn’t be considered overprotective.

“Here, Hino-kun! Here’s your vest!”

I reflexively turned to where the voice was in the distance. I saw a group of girls trying to hand Hino-kun vests and towels.

He was seriously popular. But, he didn’t look happy at all to be offered so many vests and towels.

“Hino’s always taking all the girls. I’m so fucking jealous!”

That voice came from one of the boys in a different class behind us. There were two classes in this gym class, but being close to boys in a different class made me nervous. They seemed to have finished their match as they wiped off their faces with a towel and took deep breaths.

“I seriously hate that guy. He only has a nice face.”

“Right? He’s always cold to everyone. Even the girls.”

“What? Even the girls? Seriously? That Hino?”

I felt doubts rise up while listening to the boys.

Hino-kun was cold?

“He always refuses lending stuff even when it’s super casual, and avoids getting close enough to touch others. He has mysophobia or something like that. I’ve never seen him lend anything to anyone.”

“Ooh, that’s probably it.”

“At first I thought he was just like that with guys, but it’s rather convenient that he does it with girls too. He’s like, a barricade from all directions.”

“For real?”

“He probably has some sort of trauma, right? They’re always fangirling. Maybe it’s something like this person who got in trouble at an idol handshaking event every year. Apparently they licked their hands before going.”

The boys finished wiping their sweat off and left.

…Hino-kun hated being touched?

I haven’t heard that before. But this was about Hino-kun. I could see him not liking it and just being silent and cautious about it. But then something horrible must have happened to him. It would make sense if he didn’t want others to get close to him.

There was a chance I might have accidentally touched him while handing him his bento. Could I have reminded him of bad memories…?

…I needed to be careful not to touch or get close to him when I went to his house today.

I went back to watching the game, the words the boys said settling in my heart.

◇

After the closing ceremony, I left school and walked down a road I usually didn’t take.

I ducked into a back alley to escape the students going home and saw Hino-kun leaning against a wall while holding his phone. He smiled as soon as he saw me.

“Igarashi-san.”

“S-sorry for making you wait.”

“It’s completely fine. Shall we go then?”

“Y-yeah.”

I followed behind Hino-kun.

Since school ended at fourth period, I could smell the scents of lunch in the surrounding residential district.

There was an older couple that seemed to have bought lunch from a convenience store, but since this was an alleyway, there were no students.

Hino-kun was calmly walking, but I was nervously wondering how I should be walking.

I couldn’t get too close, or touch him, or remind him of anything bad. Plus, this was the first time I went to a guy’s house. Alone. The hurdles were too high.

Of course I knew that nothing would happen, but I was still nervous. And since I was cooking in his kitchen, I couldn’t get it dirty.

“Sorry for suddenly asking this of you yesterday.”

Suddenly, Hino-kun turned around, our faces close. I quickly backed up. “You don’t have to be that surprised…” he said with a slightly hurt expression before continuing.

“I’ve actually been thinking about it for a while. That I wanted you to come to my house to cook and eat there. Then I would wash the tableware and cookware and we would eat together.”

“R-really?”

Together.

My mind focused on that word and it caused my heartrate to increase. I looked down to hide my burning cheeks, but he grabbed my shoulder to peer into my face.

“I prepared all the ingredients for you. So make what you want.”

He said it like it was nothing, but shopping must have been difficult for him. It must have been troubling at the very least and he might also have scars from the delivery incident. Even so, he went out shopping for me.

“Thank you, Hino-kun.”

“Don’t mention it. Usually you’re always doing the shopping, so… Likewise, thank you for everything, Igarashi-san.”

Hino-kun smiled, just as blinding as the summer sun. I’ve seen him smile many times before, but I never thought much about it before now.

But today, my chest clenched tightly and I walked next to Hino-kun to hide my red face.

◇

“No way…”

After traveling through some unpopular streets, we rode a taxi for forty minutes. And then we arrived at a towering apartment complex.

When the scenery outside the taxi window changed to be urban, I had a feeling that Hino-kun’s house was going to be crazy.

But I could never imagine that his house was in a towering apartment complex I only ever saw on posters.

After that shock, we went inside. Of course his house was huge, but what really shocked me was–

“A state-of-the-art brand new… integrated kitchen system…”

“Hmm, I guess it is.”

Hino-kun was completely calm as I gazed at his kitchen, which was made up of all the latest models. I couldn’t calm down.

You could cook many different ways with the grill like steaming and boiling, and the sink spout could be taken out. You could adjust the shower to clean vegetables… it would be good to use on mud stains. This incredibly convenient kitchen was in front of my eyes.

My house had the normal three burners plus a burner to cook fish, so this was incredibly multifunctional! I couldn’t contain my excitement.

“Amazing… this is amazing! This can clean vegetables so quickly!”

I explained my excitement to Hino-kun, but he just silently stared at me. I tilted my head. Rather than being weirded out, it seemed like he was trying to remember something.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking that I liked seeing you so passionate, Igarashi-san.”

“Wha-“

“Is that bad?” Hino-kun asked after seeing me stiffen.

It wasn’t bad but it was bad for my heart. I shook my head quickly and he approached the fridge.

“Hey, what do you want to drink, Igarashi-san? I have black tea, coffee, juice and a bunch of other drinks, but… Oh, want to look in the fridge? Come here.”

I approached Hino-kun as I was told and saw a large amount of ingredients stuffed in the double doors. The ingredients were all lined up, including vegetables and fruit and fish and meat.

With those ingredients, I could make the kind of boiled and seasoned dishes that he liked, as well as Japanese meals, paella, bouillabaisse, Chinese dishes, sweet and sour pork, etc…

I mean, I wondered if that many ingredients would go bad…?

“What do you want to eat, Hino-kun?”

“Hmm, I wonder. Anything that you make is good… but, that’s probably just gonna put you in a spot.”

“I-if you have a request, I would like to hear it. I want to cook what you want to eat.”

“Then… cod. I want to eat the fried cod you talked about before.”

Fried cod, huh? He also had cod. For fried cod, I could replace the potatoes with taro… I could add half the cauliflower and shrimp pilaf… And if he wanted an acidic flavor, I could make minestrone soup too. Tartar sauce had too many calories, so I could replace the mayonnaise with yogurt…

I selected the menu items one by one.

I couldn’t actually fry the cod, so I’ll have to make it without frying. While I was thinking, suddenly I felt rising doubts.

When… did I talk about fried cod with Hino-kun…?

I’ve avoided making him fried foods. Because I thought it would be better if models avoided fried foods. I learned how to cook without frying yesterday, so I shouldn’t have said anything before then…

“Igarashi-san?”

As I was thinking, Hino-kun looked at me in curiosity. Maybe I talked about it while talking about fish and just forgot about it…

“It’s nothing. I’ll start cooking now.”

Yeah. I’m sure I talked about it when I was hungry. Thinking about it made me a little embarrassed. Focusing, I took my apron out of my bag.

Standing in the kitchen, I washed my hands, looked up, and made eye contact with Hino-kun. He was staring at me with his elbows on the table across the counter.

“Can I help with anything, Igarashi-san? Or would I just get in the way?”

“No no, you don’t need to help. Don’t you have work tonight? And you’re paying me for this.”

“Then, do you mind if I watch?”

“Wha–“

“I want to watch you cook. Or would it be distracting?” Hino-kun asked and sat down in the dining chair next to him.

“I-it probably won’t be that interesting, but if you want…”

“Thanks. That makes me really happy.”

Seeing Hino-kun’s childish smile made my heart beat loudly. I quickly turned away from him and began focusing on preparing the food.

First was the rice. I cleaned the rice for the rice cooker and added just a little less water than the needed amount. I put in the frozen peeled shrimp, consomme, mixed vegetables, and chopped cauliflower. I set it to cook quickly and pressed start.

Maybe it would be best to make a light food like a sandwich to eat while waiting for it to finish…?

I glanced at Hino-kun and saw him staring straight at me. It felt like he wasn’t even blinking. I-it’s hard to work like this. I was nervous, but my heart was also beating fast from feelings other than nervousness.

…Anyways, I should focus on cooking.

I turned back to the fridge and took out some vegetables. I quickly chopped up carrots, onions, eggplants and tomatoes before throwing them in a bowl. I wrapped it lightly and put it in the microwave.

While that was cooking, I put olive oil in a pot and started cooking thinly cut bacon. I added the vegetables after they finished cooking in the microwave too. Next, I melted consomme in hot water before pouring that in too. After seasoning it with salt and pepper to taste, the minestrone was done. I closed the lid and left it to simmer.

Then finally, the main dish. The fried cod.

I chopped the cod and added soy sauce and grated ginger to prepare it. Then, I sifted cake flour, milk and beaten egg in a bowl.

I also added salt, pepper, chili pepper, paprika, all spice, and consomme.

Once the spices were evenly spread, I dipped the cod in the mixture and placed it on a tray on top of cooking paper.

I cut the taro into fries, sprinkled with potato starch, salt, and pepper, and placed it on the tray around the cod. Then I put it into the oven.

I will bake the rice cooker pilaf after it steams to some extent.

The sauce was the last step. In a bowl, I mixed together drained yogurt, just a little mayonnaise, chopped pickles, cabbage, and mustard. And the tartar sauce was complete.

I put the tartar sauce in a container and as I was waiting for the rice cooker and oven to finish, Hino-kun approached me with perfect timing.

“Now we have to wait for it to cook?”

“Yep.”

“I see… Then did you want to see all the equipment here?”

He pulled open a drawer in the kitchen. From the mirrored drawers, skillets, oddly shaped cake molds, and cooking utensils that I had been thinking about buying before were carefully stored.

“Woah…”

“You can use anything here, not just the ones in this drawer.”

“Eh, i-is that okay? They have to be expensive…”

“If it’s you, then it’s fine. Use them as you like. I only use pots anyways.”

We were staring at the same place when Hino-kun turned to me and our faces got close. Even though we couldn’t get close. I immediately put some distance between us, only for him to close it again.

“Why are you avoiding me?” Hino-kun asked in an upset, dissatisfied voice. I looked away, unsure on how to respond, when he grabbed my arm.

“Do you hate me?”

His eyes seemed to trap me as he got closer and closer. I tried to back up at once, but I couldn’t since he was holding my arm.

In response, his eyes got wider and I felt instinctual fear.

“N-no, t-that’s wrong. I heard that you hated getting close to people.”

“From who?”

“A-a boy from the other class.”

“Why? Was he an acquaintance? A friend? Did you get involved with a boy in the other class? How? Why? Who? You don’t have any relatives in high school around here, right?”

Hino-kun asked questions in rapid succession with no expression. Like an interrogation. I hurriedly started talking about what happened during gym.

“D-during gym, I heard some boys talking about you, and how you avoid getting close to others, so I thought, you must not like getting close to others, so I don’t hate you. I was worried because we might have touched when I handed you a bento.”

“Huh…? You avoided me because you thought I hated that?”

Seeing me speak in a half-panicked way, Hino-kun asked his question in a smoothing voice, yet he looked like he wanted to cry. I fearfully nodded and he released my arm in relief.

“You don’t have to worry about something like that, Igarashi-san. That was just something they made up because they were jealous of me.”

…Jealous? Then did they make up that stuff about him being cold out of jealousy too?

“It happens a lot. I’ve been accused of stealing someone’s girlfriend even if I never spoke to her. And then if I ignore someone, they say I have the worst personality. And there are always strange rumors going around.”

“Th-then, do you not hate being touched…?

“Yeah. You don’t have to worry about that, Igarashi-san. It’s fine if you bump into me. You can touch me as you please. You can even punch me in the stomach like a sandbag. I’m pretty sturdy so I can probably handle dozens of your punches.”

Hino-kun returned to being gentle, as if the tense atmosphere from before was just an illusion. The tenseness left my body from hearing his childish tone.

“What the, I’m not going to punch you…!”

“Don’t laugh, I’m serious. It’s fine if you kick me or stab me with a needle. You can even toss me off the veranda. Like yeet!”

We laughed at his attempt at humor. He was a little scary before, but I was relieved to hear he didn’t hate people getting close to him. But saying I could toss him off the veranda… as usual, his ideas were outlandish.

At the exact moment I turned to the rice cooker and oven, thinking it was about time to be finished, the timer rang.

◇

I placed the finished food on the dining table and sat across from Hino-kun. Lined up on the table were a blue and orange tablemat that he bought from the general store, with me getting the blue one and Hino-kun getting the orange one.

A vase with a bouquet decorated the center of the table. Perhaps it was because of the stylish interior that didn’t look very lived in, but the food I made and lined up looked as if it came out of a restaurant.

“Thanks for the meal.”

Clapping his hands together suddenly, Hino-kun gazed at the dinner on the table with rapt attention.

“It looks so delicious. And smells great too.”

“I-I thought about calories and whatnot, half of the pilaf is cauliflower and I didn’t actually fry the cod, um, so it should be fine to eat…!”

“Yay! Then I’ll eat a lot,” he said and dug into the fried cod. I grabbed my fork as if to follow him when he looked up at me with wide eyes.

“Mm… Did you really fry this without oil? Is this really cod?”

“Yes.”

“It’s like fried chicken. Delicious…! And this tartar sauce has such a gentle flavor too.”

“I used yogurt instead of mayonnaise.”

“Heh~, it’s refreshing. I like it.”

When I saw Hino-kun eating cod with a smile on his face, my chest felt tight and I got hungry. I tried the taro potatoes, the crispy texture overlapping with the unique thickening. I was relieved I was able to cook it well. He began burrowing into the pilaf.

“Aah… This flavor… This is so gooood…. The cauliflower and the rice suit each other. I’m glad you were thinking about the calories. Is it okay if I get another serving of this? Did you make more?”

“Yeah. I made a lot so there’s some left over. I put it in the fridge for now so you can eat it whenever.”

“Yay! Thanks, Igarashi-san.”

Seeing Hino-kun smile widely at me was truly… painful. This was no good. My heart hurt more than a simple pain.

I didn’t think about it that much during the spring, but what was this feeling? It was painful. It hurt. I moved my eyes away from him and to my minestrone. The soup went down my throat and filled me with warmth. Since my heart had calmed a little, I looked back to him once to see him drinking his minestrone in the same way.

“I saw you drinking the minestrone so I thought I would try it too.”

Please stop. Including looking at me with those upturned eyes. Anything, everything. I tightly gripped my spoon and Hino-kun touched that same hand.

“You know, I’m not joking, but lately, eating with someone other than you has been painful.”

“Did another bad thing happen…?”

“No. Nothing happened, but even catering has been tough.”

“Catering…”

Wasn’t that… when he got food while working? Like, did he hear that that employee would come…? If eating was painful even when he was at work, that meant that he still wasn’t over the shock from that employee taking secret photographs.

In contrast to my growing anxiety, he smiled brightly.

“You’re amazing, Igarashi-san. You could easily kill me… It would be a perfect crime.”

“Eh-”

I was surprised at the sudden change of topic. But despite the dangerous topic of what he was saying, he had the horribly innocent look of a child asking for someone to buy him a toy.

“…I-I could never… k-kill you… And I would never!”

“You could. Right now I can’t eat anything other than what you make. So if you stopped making me food, I would starve to death, without a doubt.”

“S-starving to death…”

“If you left me alone for about half a year, would I be nothing but bones? I think it would make the news. Then since this room would be labeled as a place of an accident, you could probably buy it for cheap.”

Hino-kun looked serious. He pointed to his carpet, and the thought of him lying there weakly with his eyes closed scared me. But he excitedly said frightening things like, “If you want to kill me, you always can.”

“I-I won’t! I would never do something so resentful.”

“It has nothing to do with resentment. It could just be because I took up so much of your time, Igarashi-san. I have to pay a reasonable price too. You have the right to kill me if you don’t like me.”

“Hi-Hino-kun…!”

“Haha, you don’t need to make such a troubled face, Igarashi-san.”

I felt his gentle voice softening the tension in the air.

I was tricked since he looked so serious. I was so surprised. I was seriously stunned that he would talk about things like that.

I didn’t really understand it well, but his ability to use words alone to convince others was a show of his amazing acting abilities.

“Don’t joke like that… You really surprised me.”

“Sorry, sorry… But I wasn’t joking.”

“I-I’ll get angry if you tease me too much.”

“Oops. I wouldn’t want you to ban me from getting seconds.”

I felt relieved to see Hino-kun joking around. It was bad for my heart, but I really enjoyed sitting at the dinner table with him. I got to see him eat delicious food too.

I readjusted my spoon to hide my embarrassment and resumed eating.

◇

I walked with Hino-kun on a road lined with office buildings and street lights.

There was a crowd of office workers heading home around us, but perhaps it was because it was dim, they didn’t seem to notice or care about Hino-kun.

It was evening when we finished eating lunch. Since he had work at night, I made him an onigiri to bring with him.

At first I just made some for him, but after he unrelentingly asked about my portion, I also made some for me.

So I had an onigiri in my bag now as I followed after Hino-kun. He offered to walk me home like it was a matter of fact, but I felt like it was about time we split off. We had almost arrived at the station and there would surely be a lot more people there.

“Hey, Hino-ku-“

“Isn’t the moon gorgeous, Igarashi-san?”

Hino-kun turned around and looked up at the sky. The moon floated in the sky, the color of an egg yolk.

“It is.”

“I’m glad I got to see it today…”

His forlorn voice made my chest tighten. I’ve been seriously weird lately. My heart has started beating weirdly even when I wasn’t watching Hino-kun eat. Maybe I was really sick. I had to go home by myself.

“Here is fine. Sorry for–“

“No way. I would hate if something bad happened to you, so I’ll walk you until it’s completely safe.”

No. I couldn’t misunderstand him. He was just worried about my safety, he had no other intentions. …Intentions? Just how would I misunderstand him…? While I was filled with doubts, Hino-kun laughed deeply.

“Well, the most dangerous place is probably next to me, though.”

“Eh?”

“I actually have a knife on me. You never know what people are thinking or hiding, right? Bad people can be anywhere.”

I’ve seen Hino-kun smile many times before this. But maybe it was because the light from the moon was shining on him, but his smile felt different now. He touched my hair, still smiling. His touch was less like a pat and more like he was scooping up my hair. I didn’t know how to respond.

“There are evil people doing thing you don’t know about behind your back, Igarashi-san. They’re closer than you think.”

“What…?”

“You know, even though the basketball club was so well behaved, they got suspended this year. No matter how much they try to fix things from the outside, if you trust them, then…”

My heart pounded. But it seemed different from before, like something else was mixed in.

“…it’s over.”

Hino-kun let go of my hair with a, “Shall we go?” and pulled my arm. In the end, I wasn’t able to split off from him early and he walked me all the way to the station.

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