Koyuki poked her fingers together and sadly whispered, “I’m not good at cooking, so if I’m just gonna be in the way, I’ll leave.”
“No,” Naoya stated. His immediate and short reply made Koyuki’s face light up. How could he deny her when she acted like that? He handed her a handful of carrots and a peeler. “If you could peel these, that'd be great. Think you can handle it?”
“Y-Yeah. I’m not good with knives, but I’ve at least done this before,” Koyuki responded with a resolute nod and lined up next to Naoya. She was a bit clumsy, but she worked diligently.
As Naoya observed her, he found himself thinking, It’s kinda strange that she’s not more nervous right now. I mean, not that anything’s going to happen, but still...
Suddenly, he reached another epiphany. “She still hasn’t noticed,” he blurted out loud.
“Did you say something?”
“Nothing at all. Watch your hands, by the way,” he instructed with a bright smile. Okay. Now I just need to keep it that way. Everything would be fine as long as he was the only one freaking out. He knew he wouldn’t do anything, but he also didn’t want her jumping to the wrong conclusion.
“By the way, Sasahara, there’s something I wanna ask,” she spoke up.
“Yes, uh, whatever is the problem?”
“Why are you being so weird?” Koyuki noted with a puzzled expression. “Anyway... You’d prefer a girl who can cook, right?”
“Huh?” Naoya blurted. The question had caught him completely off guard. Still, he perceived the correct course of action quickly, and he took it. “Well, I don’t really mind if you’re good or bad at cooking—I still like you either way.”
“I wasn’t talking about me! It was a hypothetical question!” She yelled before quickly deflating again. “Still, guys like girls who make them home made lunches and stuff, don’t they?”
“Well, yeah, that does sound pretty nice,” he admitted. Having a pretty girl bashfully handing over a homemade lunch was every young man’s dream. “But everyone’s got their strengths and weaknesses, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. You have so many other great points, after all.”
“Back to the cringey lines with a completely straight face, I see. And don’t get the wrong idea—I can’t stand it when people give spineless non-answers like that. But anyway, you do want handmade lunches, huh? Interesting,” she spat with her usual vigor until she went silent. After a few seconds, she smiled as though she had settled on something. “Fine. I’m gonna study cooking and make you an awesome lunch one day. It’s just to flaunt my amazing abilities, though, got it?”
“That sounds great. Please do.”
“Fine. If you want it so bad, I’ll have you begging on the ground for it. Might even make you lick my feet while I’m at it.”
“Can I actually do that?” he asked.
“Um, no.” Her fearless smile disappeared.
Naoya’s brain had gone into overdrive. Improper thoughts raced to and fro inside his head, so he decided to take refuge in the repetitive work of slicing vegetables. After a moment, he smiled and offered, “If you wanna learn how to cook, I could teach you. You could come here and help me out whenever I cook for Kirihiko.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad, but won’t I be in the way?”
“Nah. Kirihiko was pleased to have you here, right? Plus, they live alone, so they like it when the house is a bit busy.”
“Oh, okay then. Maybe next time, I’ll bring som—'' Koyuki stopped mid sentence, freezing in the middle of peeling vegetables. Naoya gave her a quizzical look. “You just said that they live alone, right?”
“Uhh, yeah...?”
“Meaning that right now...” she trailed off, her face turning a bright shade of red. When it finally reached the color of a boiled octopus, she continued her sentence. “We’re alone in this house together.”
“That would seem to be the case, yes.”
She’d finally realized it. Her shoulders shook for a moment before she bolted over to the farthest wall, putting as much distance between herself and Naoya as possible.
Obviously, Naoya’s feelings were quite hurt by her actions. “I’m, uh, not gonna do anything. You don’t have to run away, okay?” he tried to reassure her.
“B-But...” she stammered in a thin, high-pitched voice. “Sakuya told me that all men turn into wolves when they manage to get you alone!”
“What kinda prejudice is that?!”
“So that was all a lie?” she asked, seemingly relieved at his denial of Sakuya’s words. “So you hold no desire to do anything lewd right now? That’s good to hear.”
“Uh, well, I mean... Well, you see... Yeah, no desire at all. None.”
“You don’t sound very confident!” she shouted.
He didn’t want to lie to her; if he had said there was no carnal desire in his heart, then that would most certainly have been a lie. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the testicular fortitude to be honest with her at this juncture. As it turned out, his averted eyes gave him away regardless.
“I knew it! You wanna do all the things that Sakuya showed me in those books!”
“Please, this is all just a big misunderstanding! And what kind of books is Sakuya showing you anyway?!”
“Quit trying to get me to say lewd things, you pervert!”
“I dunno—it sounds like you’re more of an expert in this field than me!” Seriously, what kind of conversations were these sisters having in their house? Naoya paused, knowing he would make no progress like this. He took a deep breath and continued, “Look, let’s just calm down. I don’t plan on doing anything lik—”
A sharp pain suddenly jolted through his finger. He looked down and saw a trickle of blood leaking from a nick on his finger. He must’ve dropped his knife during the commotion. “Ow...”
“Oh my god—are you okay?!” she cried. Although she had been cowering in a corner just a moment ago, she immediately rushed over to him and looked at his finger. “Oh no, oh no, oh no! What should we do?! Is this my fault?!”
“Nah, it’s okay. Don’t worry. It’s nothing serious,” He simply needed to run it under the tap for a while, stick a bandaid on it, and that would be the end of it.
As he was about to do that, Koyuki grasped his finger and stuck it in her mouth. She sucked on it, looking up at him with puppy eyes, and asked, “Are phu alphright?”
Words failed him. Finally, he barely managed to contain himself enough to sputter, “Y-You really are more lewd than me...”
Still, his finger no longer hurt.