Chapter 6

「Ta-dah! How’s this? This is my masterpiece dish!!」

Hoshino lines up her homemade dishes on the table.

「Wa─! Amazing…..? Maybe…?」

「It’s certainly food, but…」

「W-What!? If you have complaints, say it! The presentation is perfect, isn’t it!」

「Well… Michika-chan? You see? These dishes…」

「Can’t you tell by looking? Pasta (with store-bought sauce), shredded cabbage and spinach ohitashi, colorful cherry tomatoes, and instant miso soup! How about it? Quite luxurious, right?」

Hoshino proudly puffs out her chest as she introduces them.

Well, I mean, there are certainly a variety of dishes, but…

「Michika-chan… were you a vegetarian…?」

Aina-san perfectly voiced exactly what I was thinking.

On this table, there was no meat. No protein, what you would call a main dish.

「N-Not at all. I-It just so happened that there was no meat or fish in the fridge…」

Yeah, that’s true. The fridge only had condiments, drinks, and a few vegetables.

「But, wasn’t there meat in the freezer?」

「I-I don’t know. I-It was too much trouble to make!」

Hoshino turns away as if throwing in the towel.

This is clearly a case of completely forgetting the existence of the freezer.

Apparently, Hoshino papa, if I should call him that, regularly visits the house and leaves large amounts of cash and groceries.

If he’s that worried, why did he allow her to live alone? It’s a mystery only the papa knows, and there’s no way to find out. Actually, it’s probably better not to know.

「And what about you? You took longer than me, though?」

「I started a bit later, so it can’t be helped, right? You can expect great taste.」

With that, I brought a dish from the kitchen.

「What’s that?」

「Did you like school lunches when you were in elementary school?」

「School lunch? I didn’t dislike it…」

「I loved it… Sometimes I still crave it.」

「Right? I often think the same.」

「But, it’s hard to recreate the taste. I tried once, but it was impossible.」

For a moment, I thought it was especially true for Aina-san, but I quickly discarded that thought.

Yeah, I wasn’t thinking anything disrespectful at all.

School lunches are known for being cheap, delicious, and well-balanced.

However, for some reason, it’s very difficult to recreate the taste.

Over the past few years, since I started working part-time in housekeeping, I’ve been trying to recreate it using ingredients and seasonings, following my vague memories from the past. And after much effort, I finally arrived at it.

「This is my favorite dish from my elementary school lunch.」

With that, I placed the plate on the table.

「Hmm? Could this be? Tuna rice bowl?」

「That’s right. It’s tuna rice bowl. All the rice bowl dishes in school lunches are exquisite, but this is my favorite.」

「I liked it too. It’s delicious, isn’t it?」

「……Tuna rice bowl.」

「How is it? Nostalgic, right?」

「──Yeah, it’s certainly nostalgic. But, it’s not luxurious!」

「Indeed, it’s not luxurious. But, don’t you think it looks very stylish when I sprinkle sesame seeds like this?」

As I sprinkled sesame seeds, the aroma of the sugar soy sauce and sesame from the tuna rice bowl filled the room, stimulating the appetite.

「It smells so good… I’m getting hungry.」

「I’ve cooked rice too, so why don’t we have an early dinner?」

「Wait a minute! What do you think you’re doing in my house!」

「I gave permission.」

「I got permission from Aina-san.」

「Geez… Onee-chan!!」

「I just got hungry for rice!」

「That’s fine, but at least tell me, I thought this guy did it on his own.」

Even as a housekeeping service, I’m not so inconsiderate as to cook rice without permission.

I only went ahead because I got the okay from the person in charge.

「To settle the match, we must taste it. Come on, hurry up, hurry up!!」

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Aina-san, holding a rice bowl in one hand, speaks with excitement.

When did she prepare that…

「Uuu, fine.」

Prompted by Aina-san, we sat down at the table together.

「Fufu… This feels refreshing.」

「Yeah. I’m usually alone, so it’s been a while since I’ve done this.」

「If you ever feel lonely, you can always come back, you know??」

「I politely decline, I’m not lonely at all!」

「Geez… You’re so cold… You used to be so clingy to me…」

「Onee-chan!!?」

「Listen, Taa-kun. Michika-chan used to be really needy~ At night, when she was alone──」

「D-Don’t say unnecessary things!! Look! Itadakimasu!!」

「A─h, I was so close.」

「If you talk about that, I’ll never forgive you! Got it??」

「Okay─. It’s a secret between Onee-chan and me~ I won’t say it. I won’t say it─.」

Seeing Aina-san smiling so brightly as she said that, I thought, “That’s definitely a lie” …but it seemed more interesting that way, so I let it be.

Not wanting the food I worked hard to make to get cold, I put my hands together.

「「「Itadakimasu.」」」

When we put our hands together, Michika’s ears were bright red for a while, probably because she really didn’t want that embarrassing topic to be discussed, and Aina-san smiled satisfied seeing that.

「Delicious! It’s delicious, Taa-kun.」

「I’m glad to hear that.」

Aina-san’s eyes sparkle after taking a bite.

It seems to be well-received by Aina-san.

「Michika-chan? How is it?」

「Ku… it’s… deli…cious.」

「Eh?? I can’t hear you~」

「I said… it’s delicious!!」

「I see, I see. That’s good, right? Taa-kun.」

Aina-san enjoys Michika’s reaction.

It seems they’ve always had this kind of relationship, and it was heartwarming to watch.

「Mmm… Michika’s shredded cabbage is delicious too!」