Chapter 20: 9.1

Chapter 9 : She’s Starting to Stay – Part 1

On the train ride home, Amiru was talking less and less.

In a daze, she looked out the window. She didn’t actively take care of Shoichi as she did on the way there. Though she still remained next to Shoichi and chatted with him from time to time.

Shoichi could see from her expression that she was exhausted.

It seems Amiru knows after all.

About Yui’s remaining life expectancy. That explains–

Suddenly, Amiru tugged on Shoichi’s arm and told him, “Nee~, Sho-chan. What would you like for dinner tonight?”

“Eh? What are you talking about, today is…” As he was about to say this, Shoichi realized.

He realized that Amiru was smiling a little awkwardly.

She probably didn’t want to worry Shoichi. That’s why she acted as usual.

Taking care of people is her life’s purpose after all. I guess I should at least let her do that a little.

With this in mind, he decided to revise his response.

“You see, Amiru, I have a little request to ask of you.”

“A request?”

“Yeah… I’m not comfortable with you taking care of me all the time. I want to cook sometimes too. I want to prove that I can do it.”

“Eh… Sho-chan cooks?”

“Don’t look so anxious. That said, it’s my first time, and to be honest, I’m not sure if I can make it. So… Can we cook together?”

At these words, Amiru’s face lit up in a flash. Immediately, she nodded with a smile.

“Yes! Leave it to me, let’s make a perfect dish!”

Looking at her gesture, Shoichi exhaled with relief that his choice was not wrong.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

“Okay, since Sho-chan is a beginner, let’s make a simple fried rice today.”

“Eh, it’s just that? Something more elaborate is…”

“No, hear me out. The fastest way to improve is to learn how to cook one dish properly at a time. You will not get good at cooking by suddenly trying your hand at this and that. Don’t underestimate cooking~!”

After returning home, at the Kashima household.

With her chest heaving with pride–and acting a little bit carried away–Amiru put on the apron and encouraged Shoichi to put it on as well. The two of them washed their hands properly, and then started to prepare the ingredients.

“Fried rice is a very complicated dish. In particular, it takes skill to get the egg to cover the rice. In fact, you have to crack the egg into the pan first, then quickly add the ingredients and rice, and stir-fry them so that everything is coated–That’s hard for Sho-chan, right?”

“Ye-Yeah.”

“So I’m changing the order.”

Saying this, she defrosted the frozen white rice. In the meantime, she instructed Shoichi to chop the green onions. Shoichi struggled to move the knife, which he had never used before.

“Ah, you don’t have to perfectly cut them to size. It’s just an ingredient for the fried rice, so you don’t have to be so elaborate.”

“No, I don’t feel comfortable unless I have everything exactly as it should be.”

“Yahh~. Sho-chan, you’re so stiff~.”

Amiru laughed, and just as Shoichi finished chopping the green onions, she handed him a bowl and eggs and instructed him to crack them.

She then told him to mix the thawed white rice with the beaten eggs.

“Eh, can I mix them?”

“I told you we’d change the order. If you do this, you can fry the rice covered with egg, which is more convenient. While you’re at it, let’s add the seasonings, too.”

She added salt, pepper, soy sauce, and other seasonings. After that, she took out a can of tuna, and had him fry the tuna, green onions, and the egg rice mixture in a frying pan over high heat all at once.

“There, it’s done. Tuna fried rice is ready!”

“Eh, just like this…? That’s quick.”

“It’s easy if you try, right? Cooking is something anyone can do, as long as it’s not too complicated.”

“Ah, yeah. But isn’t having only fried rice for dinner a little lacking?”

“I thought Sho-chan would say that, so while Sho-chan was making fried rice, I cut up the ingredients for the stir-fried vegetables. Wait a minute, I’ll make it now.”

“…When did you…?”

Looking next to him, he saw that the ingredients, such as cabbage, carrots, and pork knuckle, had indeed been chopped. Amiru was frying them and seasoning them. This was the first time Shoichi had actually tried cooking, and he was amazed at how good she was at it.

“You’re doing pretty awesome.”

“I’m used to it, I’m just used to it~. Well then, let’s eat.”

Shoichi was prepared for it to take an hour, but it actually took less than 30 minutes. After saying “itadakimasu,” he took a mouthful of his homemade fried rice and exclaimed in surprise.

“This is unusually good… Did I really make this? I can’t believe it.”

“That’s right. If you follow the recipe, you can make a delicious meal.”

“Hmm. I see, when you think about it that way, cooking is kind of rational.”

“Hmm? Yeah, that’s right. Ratio-nal.” (T/N: The ‘rational’ here was written in hiragana, Shoichi’s was written in kanji.)

In a tone of voice that sounded like she definitely didn’t understand, Amir nodded repeatedly.

Then, she suddenly looked at Shoichi’s face and smiled wryly.

“Oh no, Sho-chan. You’ve got rice on your face.”

“What? Where?”

“Look, here.”

She then took a grain of rice from Shoichi’s cheek–and plopped it into her mouth.

“Even a grain of rice must be cherished… Eh, Sho-chan, what’s wrong? Your face is red.”

“N-No, it’s nothing.”

Just now, he felt like they had just done something outrageously embarrassing, but did Amiru not realize it?

Or perhaps–

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Maybe she’s still a little on the airy side.

That’s why she might not be aware of her own intensity and behavior.

Shoichi kept chewing on his stir-fried vegetables and stared at Amiru’s face with a bit of unease.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

After the meal, they took a break and Shoichi said that they were done for today.

“No more studying today. I’m also tired from the visit. Let’s do it another time.”

“O-Okay.”

For some reason, Amiru stood at the doorway with an unhappy look on her face.

She put on her shoes and told Shoichi, “Well then, Sho-chan. Good night.”

“Yeah, good night.”

But Amiru did not move an inch.

Eventually, she turned back to look at Shoichi again and told him in a slightly quiet voice, “You see, Sho-chan.”

“What is it?”

“Um… I’d like you to let me stay over today.”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

On the sofa in the living room, Shoichi was feeling restless.

He was somewhat cowering, holding his knees.

He even tried turning on the TV, but the contents did not enter his head at all.

Even if his ears didn’t want to hear it, they focused on the hallway on the other side of the door and the bathroom further down the hall.

There, Amiru was currently taking a shower. Shoichi shook his head in panic, as he could hear the sound of the water running.

“No, no, no, what am I thinking?”

He mumbled and turned up the volume on the TV to a pleasantly loud level.

He had accepted Amiru’s request, that was, to stay at the Kashima family’s house.

Normally, he would send her away, saying, “Don’t be silly, get out of here and go home.” A man and a woman of the same age, staying in a house without parents, would be extremely problematic.

However, the reason he did not reject the offer was because Amiru’s face looked really lonely. No, she must actually be lonely. There was no one at the house she was going home to.

Well, nobody’s there. Auntie isn’t either…

When he thought about that, it was very difficult for him to refuse.

But I never thought she’d ask to use the shower because we have school tomorrow–No, I could have guessed that.

Shoichi resented his lack of imagination.

Moreover, what about Amiru’s change of clothes–and just as his thoughts were racing here, the owner of the bright voice opened the living room door and burst in.

“Phew, that felt good. Thanks for the bath, Sho-chan.”

“Ah, yeah…”

“What? Look here… Ah! I don’t have makeup on right now, does my face look weird?! What to do, I should have worn a little makeup!”

“N-No, that’s not the case. If you hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have known how different it is from what it normally looks like… It’s just that…”

Shoichi was rather looking below Amiru’s face.

Her blouse and underwear were currently being washed. Therefore, Amiru was only wearing one school shirt that Shoichi had lent her.

Amiru was petite, so she was able to do that, and that shirt covered her body almost up to her thighs. She barely managed to hide the places that needed to be hidden. But it was really revealing.

Then, Amiru realized that she was being stared at and she giggled.

“Don’t look at me too much, I’m not wearing a bra and panties right now.”

“Don’t say that… In the first place, I said I’d lend you my jersey pants.”

“Ehh, can I wear that directly?”

“…That’s not a good idea.”

Not knowing what to say or how to answer anymore, Shoichi turned his attention back to the TV. Now that this had happened, the only thing to do was to avoid looking at Amiru as much as possible.

Unexpectedly, Amiru sat down next to Shoichi and started watching TV with him. Watching a comedy show, they were laughing and rolling around, their legs flapping up and down. It was really bad for his heart.

So Shoichi switched channels.

“Ah, Sho-chan, you’re terrible. They were just getting into the funny part!”

“Let’s just watch this. Look, they’re doing a special on UMAs.” (T/N: UMA: Unidentified Mysterious Animal.)

“Ahh, Sho-chan chose this, so it can’t be helped. Okay.” Amiru chuckled approvingly and they focused on the new program.

After a few minutes, Shoichi mumbled with a sullen look in his eyes. “What’s with this lame program? Bigfoot is a descendant of cavemen? That’s just a theory, not a definite one. And many chupacabra sightings? Certainly there have been many reports, and it’s important to believe in the existence of the occult. However, it’s also important to avoid making definitive statements. This is where they should report, ‘We believe we spotted it.'”

“…Sho-chan is so annoying sometimes.”

“I’m fine with being annoying! Because this is my passion!”

“Ahaha, you’re opening up. Yeah, on the contrary, you seem cool.”

Then Amiru laughed.

And after laughing for a while, she poked Shoichi’s shoulder.

“Phew, I laughed so hard that I got thirsty. Sho-chan, I want tea.”

“Ah, alright. I’ll go make a pot.”

As Shoichi stood up, she threw her voice at him as if she had just remembered something.

“Ah, what should I do? I haven’t done my homework yet.”

“Well, it’s fine. I’ll let you copy mine later.”

After doing so, and spending the rest of the evening relaxing together until nearly 9:00 p.m, Shoichi was relieved to see that Amiru seemed to be back to her usual self.

However, it was a careless mistake.

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