“What? Your junior complimented me on my sandwich?”
On my way to work the next day, I told Yuika about what happened when I was eating my sandwich.
“Yeah. At the end she said something like “I won’t lose”. So I guess she was pretty impressed.”
“I see. I just made it quickly, but it’s nice to hear her say that.”
“You’re good, Yuika.”
“Well, yeah.”
In a good mood, Yuihua added, “So,” and continued.
“I’d like to know what you think of the sandwich.”
By the way, the sandwich was given to me as a practice for my praising skills.
Of course, I was thinking about it.
I presented her with a heartfelt compliment.
“Yeah. It was good.”
“… Anything else?”
Huh? Was that not good enough?
I thought it would have conveyed a straightforward, manly feeling if I said it was delicious rather than tasty.
I had no choice.
I should use the compliments I had stocked up on just in case.
“The shrimp sandwich was especially good.”
“What?”
“Huh?”
“That’s it?”
“… Ah”
Yuika’s eyes were a mixture of surprise and pity.
“Don’t you have anything more?”
“You still want me to compliment you?”
“That’s what you said. Let’s hear it.”
That’s true, but I’ve complimented you a lot, haven’t I?
The shrimp and chili sandwich that I mentioned earlier, if I were to compare it to a baseball game, it would have been a major homerun at the ninth inning.
That’s not good.
I can’t think of anything more to say.
“Hmm~. Other … Maybe I want to eat … every day.”
Then Yuika became even quieter than usual and fell silent.
What is it this time? What’s up with her reaction?
This girl sometimes had a look in her eyes that showed no emotion at all, and that was a problem.
“Maybe the way I praised you was not good enough?”
“It’s not bad, but you shouldn’t say ‘I want to eat this every day’ to anyone but your junior.”
“Why? I’m just being honest.”
Then, without changing her expression, Yuika took out her phone and started playing with it, ignoring me.
When I tried to look at her phone to see if something was wrong, Yuika took a half step away.
… What’s with you, all of a sudden? You … must be lonely.
When I was worried that she might be angry, Yuika resumed her conversation.
“I’ll make it for you again sometime.”
“Is that okay?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to. And thanks for the … compliment.”
It was hard to read her expression as she talked while looking at her phone, but she didn’t seem to be angry.
I didn’t know what Yuika was thinking, but for now, it was a relief.
“Oh, yeah. Next time, pull out the broccoli.”
“Yeah, okay. I just need to add a lot of broccoli.”