Early Monday morning.
「Alright, let’s do this!」
Today is finally the day I make a bento for Sasaki-san.
Over the weekend, I helped my mother with cooking several times and thoroughly read through cookbooks. I feel like I’ve done everything I can at this point.
So, as a thank you for always making me delicious bentos, today I’m going to do my best to make a bento for Sasaki-san!
With that in mind, I quickly put on an apron and stood in the kitchen.
「Umm, about today’s bento… well, Sasaki-san said she likes meat, so it should be good to have a lot of meat!」
In the end, I couldn’t ask Sasaki-san what she wanted to eat, but I know she loves all kinds of meat.
And I think I read somewhere that eating a lot of meat is good for healing injuries. Well, her injury is supposedly healed, but still, for the first bento after recovering, a hearty meat-filled bento should be good!
「Alright, today’s bento menu will be centered around meat!」
Having decided that, I immediately took out the frying pan and started making various meat dishes.
Then, I packed the bento box tightly with the meat dishes I had just made… meatballs and ginger pork, along with some chicken karaage I made with my mother yesterday.
Now, let’s pack the rice tightly into the bento box…!
「Alright, it’s done! But… what’s this…?」
It took quite a bit of time, but I somehow managed to finish the bento. I tasted all the side dishes, and they were all pretty good. They were good, but…
「U-Unn, like… overall, it’s a bit too brown…」
I muttered to myself as I looked at the bento I had made.
Because all the side dishes in the bento were brown… to be honest, the appearance of the bento wasn’t very appealing…
It would be fine if it were just for me to eat, but having Sasaki-san, who’s good at cooking, eat this takes some courage, or rather…
「Unn, Sasaki-san’s bentos always look delicious. So why did mine turn out like this…?」
Remembering Sasaki-san’s bentos and then looking at mine, I felt embarrassed at how unattractive my bento looked.
But I haven’t prepared any other side dishes, so I have no choice but to go with this brown bento today.
「Haha, but I feel like Sasaki-san might laugh at this…」
I said that with a bit of self-deprecation as I put the bento box in my bag. And then I thought again.
「But why do Sasaki-san’s bentos always look so delicious?」
As I muttered that, I suddenly remembered what I talked about with Sakurai-san yesterday.
── I once asked Saki for tips on making delicious food… and what she told me was, “Cooking is all about feelings”.
「Unn, but I thought I put all my feelings into making it too…」
As I said that, I tried to recall all the bentos Sasaki-san had made for me over the past few months.
Sasaki-san’s bentos… yeah, that’s right. Now that I think about it, Sasaki-san’s bentos were not only tasty but also beautifully colorful and very lovely.
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That’s why I always looked forward to the moment of opening Sasaki-san’s bento with so much excitement.
(…Nnn? Always looked forward to it with excitement…?)
As I thought about that, I felt a certain sense of discomfort. But then, immediately…
── The desire to make something delicious for someone, to make them happy, that’s what makes the food taste so much better.
「…Ah!」
But then, right after making my own bento for the first time in my life… I finally realized something about Sasaki-san’s bentos. And the moment I realized it, my face started to turn redder and redder.
「Ahh, I see. So that’s why Sasaki-san’s bentos were always so colorful and beautiful… ahaha.」
And realizing that… I suddenly wanted to see Sasaki-san right away.
◇◇◇◇
A few hours later, during lunch break.
Today, I came to the rooftop with Sasaki-san for the first time in a while.
「Alright then… here you go.」
「O-Okay, thank you.」
And so, I quickly handed the bento to Sasaki-san.
「I tasted everything, so there shouldn’t be any problem with the flavor… but, I’d be happy if you don’t expect too much when you eat it.」
「Okay, got it. Then… waa.」
As Sasaki-san opened the lid of the bento, she immediately let out a voice of admiration.
As I mentioned in the morning, the bento was filled with meatballs, ginger pork, karaage, and so on… it was a hearty bento packed with a lot of meat.
「Fufu, it’s kind of a mischievous bento, just like Yamada, isn’t it?」
「A-Ahaha, well, I remembered that Sasaki-san is in a sports club and you said you love meat. So, thinking of those words from Sasaki-san… I ended up putting in a lot of meat, and it turned out like this.」
「I see. Well, it means you thought about me properly. Fufu, that makes me happy. Okay, then… itadakimasu.」
「Yeah, please go ahead.」
Sasaki-san said that and immediately started eating the bento I made.
「Nn, it’s delicious.」
「Eh, really? That’s good to hear.」
「Yeah, really, really. For a first bento, being able to make this much is amazing. So, really thank you, Yamada.」
「Haha, I’m glad you praise me so much. Then, I’ll start eating mine too… itadakimasu.」
And so, I decided to eat my bento together with Sasaki-san.
And as Sasaki-san continued to eat the bento I made, she repeatedly said “delicious” to me with a gentle smile.
Hearing those words from Sasaki-san made me happier and happier. And I also started to feel that I wanted to make an even better bento next time and make her even happier…