“Oh, let me help,” Yoshin said, getting up.
I shook my head and held my hands out, as if prepared to physically stop him. Yoshin was the birthday boy, so he didn’t need to do anything at all. He was looking at me apologetically, but making the star of the day do any kind of work was just plain wrong! Therefore, I had to pull a dirty trick.
“If you don’t stay put, I’m going to go off and take off all my clothes except this apron,” I stated.
“What kind of a threat is that?!” Yoshin exclaimed.
My supposed threat must have worked, though, because Yoshin sat back down begrudgingly. Wow, that worked a lot better than I thought.
Though it really was a questionable trick. Except this wasn’t the result of any bad advice I had gotten. It was just that...
Yoshin doesn’t stand a chance against pervy threats.
I guess calling it a threat wasn’t exactly right, but most times I inserted some sexiness in a conversation where I wanted Yoshin to back down, he usually did. The whole being-naked-except-for-an-apron thing was a scenario that Yoshin probably wanted to see too, but he most likely understood that I was also saying it because I wanted him to relax.
Of course, this was all a guess based on his eye movements, his speech, and the subtle changes in his expression—but I probably wasn’t too far off.
On the other hand, if I returned to the room actually wearing nothing but my apron, I’d probably get the lecture of a lifetime for my antics. Well, not probably; definitely. He would go on and on, telling me that I shouldn’t do stuff like that so lightheartedly when we were alone. He would scold me, voice calm and not at all agitated, and speak with such sound logic that I would have no room to attempt a rebuttal.
But I didn’t really mind Yoshin lecturing me like that. Not that I was a masochist or anything. I just felt grateful that someone cared about me enough to scold me like that.
That was even more the case now that I was in high school. I even felt relieved by the fact that Yoshin didn’t just unconditionally accept everything I did. If he did just go along with whatever I did without comment, I felt like I would start to become dependent on him and no longer care about anything else. If things got that far...it would be pretty scary.
Come to think of it, though, I didn’t think I’d ever seen Yoshin yell at someone before. He sometimes raised his voice with Kenbuchi-kun, but that was just him being exasperated by Kenbuchi-kun’s sense of humor. I’d never seen Yoshin yell at someone out of true anger.
Would I ever see him act like that?
Turning that question over in my head, I headed back to Yoshin’s room—but upon entering, he nearly leaped into the air with a start. Huh? Was there something scary just now?
“Oh, hey, Nanami. Uh, welcome back. I didn’t have anything to do, so I tried setting things up,” he said.
The takoyaki maker was plugged in and already greased. It seemed Yoshin had prepped it for us. The machine already seemed ready for the batter.
“Thanks! But why were you so startled?” I asked.
“Oh, uh, yeah. Nothing, it’s totally fine,” he answered.
“Huuuh? Tell me!” I pressed.
I sat down and shook him gently, but Yoshin didn’t reply right away, just swaying along without resisting me. It was kind of fun, so I shook him just a little more. It would be bad for him if I overdid it, though, so I made sure to do it in moderation.
“Well, uh,” Yoshin began.
“Hm? What is it?”
“I was just thinking about what to do if you really did come back with nothing but your apron on.”
That’s what you were thinking?!
It astonished me to know that Yoshin could be so pervy, but what really took me by surprise was the fact that he had taken what I said somewhat seriously.
“Wearing nothing but an apron while cooking would be so unsanitary,” I stated. “And what if there’s hot oil? And I’d have to tie back—”
Yeah, okay. It might look sexy to be wearing nothing but an apron, but it’d be super dangerous to be so undressed while actually cooking. Chefs even wear hats to prevent their hair from getting in food; being naked is probably the most inappropriate thing you could be while cooking. Even if we’re only making takoyaki, it’s probably better not to... Wait, why is Yoshin being so quiet?
“Um, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“No, it’s just that...how do you know so much about cooking in just an apron?” Yoshin muttered.
Whoops. No, this isn’t... It’s not like I know a lot... It’s just not!
“Look, it’s not like I looked up what it would be like if I actually did do it or anything! I mean, I did look it up, but...it’s not like I was really thinking about doing it!” I protested.
One of the poorest excuses ever uttered came out of my mouth, and yet Yoshin’s loving gaze never wavered.
That’s not it! I’m not a perv, I swear!
But this was one of those situations where trying to explain myself would only make it worse. I had to force quit this conversation. Dammit, Yoshin’s got the biggest grin on his face.
“Jeez! Let’s just make takoyaki now, okay?!” I shouted.
“Yes, ma’am,” Yoshin said, picking up the ingredients with a pleased expression on his face.
We really had prepped quite a spread for just the two of us: We had cut-up octopus, of course, but we also had cheese and sausages, along with shrimp, kimchi, and tuna. For veggies, we had lotus root and cabbage, among other things. All in all we had a bunch of options. Basically, we had way too much for two people to even try to finish.
“We sure have a lot of stuff,” Yoshin murmured. His eyes were twinkling, perhaps over excitement about his very first tako party.
Honestly, it was my first time seeing this many ingredients assembled all together.
“My parents bought a lot of it. As a birthday present,” I shared.
“Got it. I’ll thank them next time I see them,” he replied.
It was true: When I told my parents that we were going to do a tako party for Yoshin’s birthday, they both got really stoked and ended up buying a lot of things for us.
To start, we first poured the batter into the takoyaki maker, and then we added some of the ingredients.
“Yoshin, are you okay with red pickled ginger?” I asked.
“Not normally, but with takoyaki I’m good for it,” he said. “Can I try making some too?”
“Course you can.”
Yoshin picked up the toppings and placed them on the batter in the takoyaki maker, adding the red ginger on top. He watched the batter cook with the sparkly eyes of a little kid.
You were supposed to flip the takoyaki when it started bubbling, but maybe since it was his first time Yoshin instead poked them very gingerly with his bamboo skewer.
“I kind of suck at this,” he muttered.
Ah, yeah. It’s hard to get it right the first time. Yoshin was giving the slightly flattened takoyaki a mildly dismayed look. But I found it so cute. All I wanted was to see him make that face even more. It was a confusing mix; he seemed so pitiful, but at the same time, pretty adorable too.
“It’s okay, we have lots!” I told him. “You’ll be a pro in no time.”
“You’re so good at it, though,” he mumbled.
“But as a beginner, you’re pretty good too, you know? Come on, let’s try flipping the other ones.”
Yoshin nodded obediently. Who is this precious creature before me? Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this before meeting Yoshin. On praising him, his sadness immediately turned to joy. Witnessing his shifting moods was amazing—almost like getting a present.
Commenting that takoyaki was takoyaki regardless of its appearance, Yoshin placed one of the balls that he’d made on his plate, topping it with takoyaki sauce, mayonnaise, and bonito flakes...and brought it to his mouth before I could warn him of how hot it was. But he must have been worked up still; he went ahead and ate it, huffing and puffing the whole time.
I rushed to give him a cold drink, and when he said the takoyaki was so hot he thought he was gonna die, it made us both laugh.
“This one’s good too. Here, say... Oh, maybe we shouldn’t, since it’s so hot,” I mumbled.
“Yeah, you’re right. We probably shouldn’t,” Yoshin agreed, though he looked crestfallen. Even that expression was cute, but his mouth would be burned if I fed him another piping hot piece. But it was so perfectly shaped, I still kind of wanted to feed it to him anyway.