CH 12

Act 1 - The Hungry Idol Part

4-1 The reason for the dream

"Rintaro....... Are you okay?" (Yukio)

"Mm......? Yeah, I'm fine." (Rintaro)

"I don't think so, though." (Yukio)

Yukio, sitting in the seat in front of me, looked into my face with a worried expression.

The time was past 10:30 when I turned on my phone.

It seemed that the third period was next.

Considering the fact that I couldn't remember anything up to this point, it seemed that I had slept from the time I arrived at school until now.

"What's wrong with you? You seem to be getting more and more tired every day for the past few days." (Yukio)

"Nothing, I just started my part-time again yesterday, but I was busy with packing....... Sorry, but can I copy your notes later?" (Rintaro)

"It's okay, but......are you moving?" (Yukio)

"Yeah. There's a little bit of a situation....... The school will be close by, so if I can get through this, life will be a lot easier." (Rintaro)

"Oh, I see. Then, I'd better not ask you to hang out for a while." (Yukio)

"Sorry for that." (Rintaro)

"Don't mind. I think you should go to the infirmary and get some sleep. You still look sleepy." (Yukio)

"No, I've been perfect attendance. I don't want to end that record here. So I'll sleep here." (Rintaro)

"What are you talking about? You can't sleep even if you're attending." (Yukio)

"What......?" (Rintaro)

"Look, the third and fourth period is home economics cooking class."

――――I completely forgot.

"This is a Translation Content of pemudatunawisata[dot]my[dot]id. so, read only on there, kay~"

"Bujangga, pemudatunawisata[dot]my[dot]id. Hehe~"

I went to the home economics room and looked at the menu on the blackboard.

It seemed to be hamburger steak, egg soup, and a salad.

Since rice is included, it will make the stomach feel fuller.

Shot, I've taken out to the usual I made a lunch-box.

"There are no...... absentees, right? I'm going to ask you to work in groups of six now. The ingredients have been placed on each table, so please cook according to the instructions I will give you. The group that finishes the dish can have it first."

As soon as the home economics teacher gave the instruction, the classmates who had been standing in a random line began to move in a hurry. A group of six, huh...... honestly, that's a pain in the a*s.

"Hey, Rintaro, let's make a――――" (Yukio)

"Inaba-kun! Would you like to join our group......?"

"Eh......?" (Yukio)

A group of five girls called out to Yukio who was next to me.

There was one girl in the mix who had been apparently in love with Yukio for some time.

I believe it was――――yes, Miyamoto. I see, the other four seem to want to support her love.

"B, but......" (Yukio)

"Go ahead. Even if two of us get together, gathering the four others is more hassle, right?" (Rintaro)

"W, well, it's true...... I've been wanting to see Rintaro cook after a while now, though." (Yukio)

"I'll show you when you come to my place again." (Rintaro)

"Yeah...... okay." (Yukio)

With a somewhat depressing look, Yukio joined the group of five girls.

He's probably the only high school boy in this class who doesn't like being asked out by girls.

Well, me too, I guess.

(Now then......, Shall I look for a place where I can mix with them?)

I turned my back on Yukio and his group and look around.

Groups of only girls, groups of only boys, and other groups have already gathered six members.

But there's no need to rush. There are thirty-six of us in this class, so we'll always be able to fit into one of the groups.

"Ah, Shidou! If you haven't decided yet, why don't you join our group?"

"Mmm?" (Rintaro)

When I turned around after being called, the first thing I saw was a dazzlingly fresh face.

Kakihara Yusuke, a legitimately handsome guy who is known to be the most popular among the second-year girls.

According to what I heard, he was recently scouted by a modeling agency.

We've been in the same class since freshman year, and my impression of him is that he's just a "nice guy". He's so nice that I feel uncomfortable getting along with him. When I'm around him, all the ugly parts of me come to the fore.

"Kakihara-kun. Are you sure okay with me?" (Rintaro)

"Yup, of course. There were just five of us here. So there's one left." (Yusuke)

"Oh, really? Well, I guess I'll take your word for it." (Rintaro)

"Thank goodness! Here, this way." (Yusuke)

Kakihara took me to a table where the four members who had already gathered were sitting.

"The last member has been found! Thank goodness." (Azusa)

The woman with long black hair who gave me a gentle smile was Nikaido Azusa. She is the representative of Class 2A.

She's a beautiful Japanese woman with a different orientation than Rei, and although she seemed to be bad at sports, she excels in study to the point that I'd never seen her ranked lower than fifth in a regular exam last year.

"Oh! Umm......I'm pretty sure, right! Shidou-kun! I'm sorry, but I still can't remember the names of my new classmates." (

The brown-haired gal sitting next to Nikaido is Nogi Honoka.

She always wears her school uniform sloppy because the school rules are lax, drawing the eyes of boys. I didn't see her name in last year's regular exam rankings, so I don't get the impression that she can study well, but she has good athletic skills. I often see her wowing the students around during gym class.

"Well, whatever the case may be, the gender ratio is now just right!" 

The man who smiles cheerfully is Doumoto Ryuji.

He's the biggest guy in the second year, and he's in the judo club. So, he is the number one guy you don't want to fight with. Incidentally, I only have the impression that he slept during class. According to what I heard, he almost got a red mark in the regular exam last year.

Kakihara, Nikaido, Nogi, and Domoto. These four are the people who are in the highest caste in my eyes. I often saw them four together, and they seemed to hang out together on their days off as well.

Why do I know so much about them――――I'm not a stalker, but this much information is probably common knowledge among the second-year students.

This is how prominent they are.

This's a group of good-looking boys and girls.

And the last one before me was――――.

"Ri...... Shidou-kun, nice to meet you." (Rei)

"......Otosaki-san. Yeah, nice to meet you." (Rintaro)

Otosaki Rei. Well, there's no need to explain anymore, is there?

She was probably asked by Kakihara. As an unspoken rule, people in the lower caste are not allowed to talk to people in the upper caste.

Inevitably, the only people who can talk to Rei, who is in the top caste, are those who are in the top caste as well. Of course, there is no clear rule, it's just that it's somehow difficult to approach them.

"Well, let's all six of us do our best. Let's see...... is there anyone good at cooking?"

Kakihara, who had naturally taken on the role of leader, looked around and asked.

But no hands went up.

I have a certain amount of confidence in my cooking skills, but I wasn't going to raise my hand here.

The most important thing in socializing with classmates is to be in the right position.

There is a possibility that there are people who don't like to boast or show off, so after a few tempos I'm going to reply, "I don't think I'm bad at it...... but if you ask me whether I'm good, I'm a little bit good".

I also don't want to be labeled as useless.

And Rei. Don't look at me with eyes like "Hurry, raise your hand".

"Aa...I've made hamburger steak and that sort of thing before. It's not really my specialty, though." (Azusa)

"That's great, Azurin! The other day you brought me homemade cookies and they were so delicious! I was so surprised!" (Honoka)

"Y, you're overreacting, Honoka."  (Azusa)

"Nope....... I saw in those cookies the qualities that will make you a good wife in the future. I'm totally sure of it because I said so!" (Honoka)

"Geez!" (Azusa)

So this is how girls joke around. It's a little hard to keep up with.

I pretended to be smiling happily, but I also raised my hand fearfully.

"I can do the basics too, I guess....... It's not like I have zero knowledge." (Rintaro)

"Yeah, that helps. It's not that I'm not good at it, but I've mostly only assisted. Then let's have Azusa and Shidou take the central role. For Honoka and Ryuji...... umm." (Yusuke)

Kakihara's eyes, with an indescribable expression, turned to Nogi and Doumoto.

"Stop it! Don't give me that hopeless glance from the start!" (Honoka)

"Right, she's right! Yes, we indeed only specialize in eating, but it hurts to be judged from the start!" (Ryuji)

"What do you mean by "we"⁉ I'm confident I can do better than you!" (Honoka)

"Bullshit! You burned the tip of your hair last Valentine's Day!" (Ryuji)

"Th, that was just a coincidence!" (Honoka)

Certainly, these two had been in the same class since freshman. It's no wonder they're so close.

'Leaving these two......how about you, Otosaki-san?" (Yusuke)

"Me? I hardly ever cook――――." (Rei)

Unpalatable. When I thought so, my mouth was opened.

"Speaking of which! I heard that you always make your own lunch, Otosaki-san? That's impressive! It must be hard every morning, right?" (Rintaro)

"Ah...... Y, yes. I make my own lunch." (Rei)

"So you can cook. You don't have to be so modest." (Yusuke)

I looked into Rei's eyes and reminded her "Don't make a scene". As expected, she sensed something and nodded several times in a way that only I could understand.

"B, but...... I'm not so confident with hamburger steak, maybe." (Rei)

"In that case, I'd like you to focus on Shidou-kun and Azusa, as I said at the beginning. It would be great if you could help with each of them, Otosaki-san." (Yusuke)

"I understand." (Rei)

Then, following Kakihara's instructions, we moved on to our respective tasks.