CH 31

“Well, I’m off then. …”

“Yeah, see you later.”

Today was the day Kaede was having a sleepover at Chinatsu’s house. Even though she said “I’m off”, she didn’t leave the house at all and kept glancing at me.

The look in her eyes was like that of an anxious mother who was leaving her child at home unattended.

“Hey, …you’re going to be late.”

“Ah, yes…but”

“What is it?”

“Lunch is in the fridge, but for dinner….”

I knew she was worried, or rather, I was already a high school student, so there was no need for her to be so concerned.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make something easy.”

“You wouldn’t say cup noodles, would you?”

“…..Ah, I won’t, okay?”

I said without making eye contact with Kaede.

“Mou~, a cup of noodles isn’t enough to fill a high schooler up, you know?”

“Then I can have another one then.”

“…. are you deliberately trying to get me mad at you?”

“…. half-joking.”

Hmm? Kaede raised her eyebrows and narrowed her eyes as she said, “I can’t help it”, and said she’ll let it slide this one time.

Since Kaede started preparing dinner, I get full even if I didn’t eat cup noodles.

When she once caught me eating a cup of ramen, she scolded me for it being bad for my health.

However, at that time I was thinking that I should be allowed to eat what I wanted to eat, but now I had already become a captive of Kaede’s homemade cooking, so whenever I stare at an unopened cup of noodles I think I would rather eat Kaede’s cooking than this.

“Then I’m off….”

“Have fun.”

“That’s …of course.”

“Tell me about it when you’re back.”

“Fufufu~, yes!”

She closed the front door with a big smile on her face. When the door slammed shut, I felt a little sad and lonely.

I had no part-time job today, so I could stay home and relax, but lately I’ve been looking for a day to watch anime, which I’ve been addicted to.

As I was watching anime, I was thinking that it had been a very long time since my room felt so spacious and quiet.

(I’m hungry….)

It was already around noon when I thought so.

I opened the refrigerator and microwaved the lunch that Kaede had prepared for me.

“Umm, the milk…”

I looked in the refrigerator, but there was no milk.

“Kaede? There’s ….no milk”

I ended up asking Kaede out of habit. It made me feel weird and I scratched my head.

I felt somewhat out of character, but I had no choice, so I prepared lunch with a glass of water instead of milk.

“Mmm, yummy.”

As usual, I ate a very tasty meal, but at the same time, for some reason, I felt relieved.

Even after finishing dinner, it was still quiet, and I could usually see that cute expression on Kaede’s face right away, but today I couldn’t see it.

On the contrary, it was strange that we were not in the same room.

I tried to played games to distract myself, but it didn’t work at all.

I wondered if this was what love was all about, but it was like this with my ex-girlfriend. I would wait for her to send me a text message, but she would never read it immediately.

(I think she might have arrived at Chinatsu’s house by now. …)

I was still thinking about Kaede. I really like her, I thought to myself. I had never once thought how satisfied I was with living together with Kaede.

And I was so satisfied, I didn’t realize how much I would miss Kaede just because she was gone for a day. ….

“I mean, I hope Chinatsu won’t teach Kaede anything weird. …”

I was worried… and muttered while staring at the ceiling.

“Should…I go shopping?”

I lifted my heavy back, grabbed my wallet and eco-bag, and decided to go to the nearby supermarket.

Cup noodles were not enough to fill me up, even though I wanted to watch Kaede get angry at me, because an angry Kaede was very cute, but I didn’t want to worry her, and most of all, I wanted to be able to cook for myself too.

I locked the front door and went to the supermarket to do some shopping.

(What should I get… no good, I can’t think of anything at all. Is it this hard to decide on a menu ….)