“I wanna surprise you with the finished dish once it’s plated.” After that, she started humming to herself.
She really does love to cook.
I obediently went and laid in my bed, looking forward to the finished result. My excitement was stronger than my guilt for letting her cook alone. Besides, my involvement would only spoil the meal, and I wouldn’t want her efforts to go to waste.
I flipped through my manga for a while until Shinohara arrived with a big plate in her hands and a proud look on her face. “Ta-daaa!”
Ham with a runny yolk crown sat atop an English muffin. My mouth fell open. I felt as if I was looking at a food porn social media account.
“Holy cow. I can’t believe you can make food look that good in my kitchen.”
“It’s eggs Benedict,” she declared proudly. “One of my favorite recipes—stylish and tasty.” I was amazed. Even the name sounded stylish. “Want one? I know you just had breakfast, but…”
I’d stopped myself from overeating during breakfast, so I still had an appetite. When I picked one up and bit into it, the delicious runny yolk coated my tongue.
“That’s good! What the heck? It’s great!”
“Mmm, it really is! I’m glad it turned out so good!” Even Shinohara couldn’t help but compliment her work.
Only someone who cooked a lot could take one look at a mystery condiment in my fridge and instantly be inspired to make a whole dish.
Before long, she announced, “I need to catch the Shinkansen soon, so I should get going.”
“Oh, wow. You really were just checking in.” I’d thought she was making an excuse, so I was a little surprised.
Shinohara nodded back as if that was obvious. “Yep, that’s what I said. It may not have been long, but thank you for your time anyway.”
“It’s not like you live close. You didn’t need to waste your time on me.”
She’d thanked me and all, but I felt bad that she’d taken time out of the busiest part of the year just for me.
She heaved a big sigh and shook her head. “Hey, Senpai? Do you really think I’m sweet enough to go to someone’s house just for that?”
“Hmm…?” To be blunt, I didn’t think so. I could tell from the scene with Motosaka just how she treated people that she didn’t care about anymore.
“I left my club and broke up with Yuudou-senpai, so I actually have a bunch of time on my hands. And we’re friends now. Thus, I had no choice but to invite myself over.”
“So you’re just killing time? You’re something else.”
“Heh heh. You make it sound like I’m a bad person.”
That was basically what I had said, yeah, but why did it put such a pretty smile on her face? It was refreshing to see her blatant free-spiritedness.
Though, really, any man would be happy to have a girl as cute as her kill time with him.
“Eating alone makes me feel lonely, so let’s eat together once in a while. I’ll even do your chores.” She leaned forward and looked up at me needily.
“Just for today is fine, sure.”
“I’ll come five times a week!”
“Am I talking to a brick wall?!”
She put a hand over her mouth, and her shoulders shook. At least one of us is laughing.
“Okay, then twice a week,” she said as a compromise. “I’ll give you a heads up before I come. Agreeable terms, surely?”
Don’t “surely” me. It’s like you’re certain I’ll accept. But compared to her initial demand, two times a week was definitely doable. I wasn’t especially busy, and if she was going to do chores for me, then I saw no reason to refuse despite the resulting decrease in private time. Besides, time with her was kind of…fulfilling.
After easily coming to that conclusion, I evasively replied, “I mean, I guess.”
“Heh heh heh. A successful door-in-the-face!”
“A what?” I frowned in confusion.
“It’s a negotiating tactic where you hit someone with an outrageous demand first so that your real demands seem more reasonable. I see it on TV a lot.”
“Huh. I had a feeling I’d heard of that. Just not a fan of having it used against me in everyday life.”
Well, the jury’s still out on whether our conversations can be considered everyday.
“Cool, right?! I’m glad I listened to that lecture.” Shinohara stood up, seemingly satisfied by my reaction. I followed her to see her off, but she held her hand out to stop me. “Oh, you don’t have to see me off. Since I invited myself over, and all.”
“Really? Okay, then. Bye. See you next year.”
“Yep! Happy New Year!” After a silly salute, Shinohara smiled bashfully.
“Yeah. Hey, thanks for everything this year.”
She bowed, then headed over to the door.
The door opened, a cold wind blew, and silence returned to my abode. Our homes were at different stations. She’d said she would go home on the Shinkansen, so that meant that she had gotten off at my local station just to see me.
This was hardly a blessed year for me, especially after being cheated on. But damn if it didn’t feel like it had ended on a good note.