Chapter 12: 12

12th Meal

Breakfast With the Next-Door Neighbor

The following morning. I woke up unusually early and was standing in the kitchen when the intercom rang.


“It's open, you can come in—!”


I called out in a louder voice to the entranceway just off to the side. Then the high school girl next door, Asahi Mahiru, entered, and with a reserved voice, she said, “E-Excuse me…”


“I’m sorry, Onii-san. It's so early in the morning…”

“No problem. I've already lit the fire, so you can eat in my room. Ah, do you want something to eat?”

“No, I bought some bread.”

“I see.”


After a brief exchange of words, the girl walks into the living room, holding a bowl of curry and a bag containing six slices of bread. She had come to my house for breakfast in order to finish the leftover curry from yesterday, as I had expected...


“I-I'm really sorry…”

“It’s fine.”


I chuckle at the high school girl who is sitting on her knees apologetically.


I knew this was going to happen, and I didn't do anything to stop it, so I’m sorry too. It's a hassle, isn't it, coming all the way next door to eat, I mean?”

“N-Not at all! The curry turned out to be very tasty…and…”

Asahi-san broke off her words and then she wore a mixed expression of happiness and sadness on her face.


“...It tastes better with someone else than eating alone, isn’t it…?”

“!”


After hearing it, I believe it is a good thing.


Come to think of it, she told me that she has been living alone ever since she was in the first grade of junior high school. A child of twelve or thirteen years of age, who is just a little older than an elementary school student, is all alone, away from her parents. How could she not be lonely?


For me, who just got to know her, the girl named Asahi Mahiru has a strong impression that she’s cheerful and energetic. Because of that she even has a friend who is so fond of her. She probably has a lot of friends at school as well.


But even so, she’s alone at home.

(Sleeping alone, waking up, and eating a cold bento. huh…?)

As well as her eating habits, perhaps what is not good for Asahi-san is her living environment itself.

From a college student's point of view, even a high school freshman is still a kid. Well, From an adult's point of view, I'm probably still a kid too, but that's beside the point.


—What's wrong with a high school student relying on the college student(adult) next door?


“...You should consider what you want to make this time.”

“Eh…?”

You are reading story A Man Who Cooks For Himself And A High School Girl(WN) at novel35.com

I continue to the high school girl who looks up at me.

“I told you, I'm going to teach you how to cook. You’ve only been able to make curry, so I need you to learn how to do a lot of other things, right?”

“I-Is it all right? I-Isn’t it a bother to you…?”


Asahi-san then gaze at me with a slightly expectant, but cautious, sly look.

“I don't see how that's a nuisance. You learn how to cook, and I get to taste it. It's a WIN-WIN situation, isn't it?”

“S-So you just want something to eat!?”

“Yeah. After all, I'm just a poor college student.”

“...Fufu. I see, is that so?”


After giggling Asahi-san then cheerfully said, “I understand!”


“Then I want to make beef stroganoff next!”

“No, that’s too difficult for your level. I don't know how to make it myself, and I don't even know how to make it in the first place.”

“Everything is a challenge! Don't worry, Onii-san will teach me how to make it and I'm sure it will be delicious! Just like this curry!”

“What's up with that absurdly high level of trust? You should at least be able to make a curry that has potatoes in it.”

“Wha-!? That mistake was just a coincidence! ‘Wrong brush for the wrong job,’* you know!?”

“It’s more like, ‘The Monkey Trying to reach the moon.’”*

“Why’re you treating me like a monkey!? Then eat this curry with me, Onii-san! If we finish this curry, I'll make you a potato curry next time!”

“I’m good, I don’t like curry in the morning…”

(Tired: I’m lazy to explain the first just click here. But, the second one means trying to accomplish something beyond one's abilities and then fails.)


I don't mean to sound like I'm worried about her eating habits, but I usually don't eat breakfast very often. It's not that I don't have an appetite in the morning, but rather that I frequently sleep until just before leaving for school. However, it seems that the high school girl, who’s full of vitality, does not allow me to do so.


“You should eat a good breakfast! Food is the source of your health!”

“I never expected you to say that to me. How do you eat so much after waking up, Asahi-san...? ”

“Fufun~!I'll take another serving! Curry tastes even better the next day, after all! I mean, Onii-san, you don't have to call me 'Asahi-san.' Please call me Hima-chan instead!”

“Ehh…No, I think I’ll pass.”

“You don’t have to look so disgusted about it, you know!?”


Today’s an unusually noisy morning. But this kind of thing is not bad.


—Just eating breakfast with my next-door neighbor.


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