16 A Bento Box Filled with Feelings
“Well, well, Suzuna-san. What’s the meaning of this?”
“Ah, yes…”
I was sitting on a bench in the courtyard… or rather, I was made to sit.
On my lap was a bento box Kokona-chan made for me.
And Riri-chan was standing over me, glaring.
Her brow was furrowed, and her expression was severe.
To understand how this happened, we need to go back about ten minutes.
◇◇◇
“Here, you can eat it. And don’t forget to tell me what you think.”
Kokona-chan placed the bento box on my desk and wouldn’t leave my side.
This was what she used to do to Shindo-kun until yesterday.
I couldn’t understand why I had become the target of her attention.
“Um… I just wanted you to improve your cooking for Shindo-kun’s sake…”
I certainly didn’t encourage her to improve her cooking skills for me.
“Kokona realized something.”
“Yes…?”
“Ever since we were little, Onii-chan has been Kokona’s ideal. I wanted him to acknowledge me. That’s why I was jealous of you, always being so close to him.”
“I see…”
What is this conversation?
“So, all this time, I’ve been desperately trying to keep Amatsuki Suzuna from taking Onii-chan away. It became an obsession from a young age.”
Well, obsession or whatever…
Why does she sound so philosophical?
“But you know, you made me realize something. That kind of thinking only holds me back… no, it even limits Onii-chan’s possibilities.”
“Huh…?”
I don’t remember talking about Shindo-kun’s possibilities.
“I’ve woken up. I was in love with the idea of being in love. I was using that as an excuse to push you away.”
Kokona-chan gave a self-deprecating smile.
Her expression seemed much more mature than her age, as if she had taken a step from girlhood to womanhood…
“K-Kokona-chan…? Let’s calm down, okay? You’re not making any sense.”
“Heh… I suppose the Kokona from yesterday would have thought the same.”
Ah, this is bad…
She’s entered some higher dimension.
She’s hearing my words, but not listening.
Her eyes are looking far away.
“Come on, just eat it. I worked hard on it.”
Kokona-chan urged me to eat.
But I was breaking out in a cold sweat.
I felt a sense of crisis, like I was deviating from the Kokona route.
But a more frightening problem emerged.
In the corner of my eye, I saw Riri-chan in the center of the classroom, smiling at me.
“(Should I go over there?)”
Even though she was mouthing the words silently, I could understand what she meant. And despite the smile, I could tell she was angry.
Perhaps my interpersonal skills have improved, or perhaps my understanding of Riri-chan has deepened.
Either way, it should be a good thing, but the timing was terrible, and I couldn’t be happy about it.
—Screech
I quickly stood up.
“Amatsuki Suzuna…?”
“I have something urgent to do…”
“Eh, what about my bento?”
“I-I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you later, I’m sorry, but I have to go!”
“H-Hey…!”
I brushed off Kokona-chan’s attempt to stop me and ran out into the hallway.
◇◇◇
And now.
I had fled to the courtyard when Riri-chan appeared.
…In smiley-angry mode.
“Hey, what’s going on? Didn’t you work so hard to get Kokona to make a bento for Shindo?”
“I did…”
“Then what’s that on your lap?”
“Kokona-chan’s bento.”
“What’s the meaning of this?!”
That’s what I want to know.
Which cog in the wheel went haywire and caused this to happen?
This was giving me a major headache.
“I… I can’t forgive this…”
Riri-chan gritted her teeth.
“Um…”
“What?”
“Why are you angry, Riri-chan?”
Kokona-chan giving me her bento is an incident.
But it should be a trivial matter for Riri-chan.
So why is she making such a fuss?
“That’s because…!”
“Because…?”
Riri-chan started to say something, then turned away.
“…You’re so dense, Suzuna.”
“Eh…?”
“It’s frustrating when things don’t go as planned, especially after hearing about it from a friend.”
Riri-chan always wants to hear everything from me.
And she gets upset if there’s something I don’t tell her or something she doesn’t know.
I feel like that’s been happening more and more lately.
“I’m sorry. But I’m also troubled by this bento.”
“…You didn’t do this on purpose?”
“There’s no reason for me to do this on purpose, is there?”
I answered her question with a question, but I didn’t understand why Riri-chan was suspicious.
There’s no merit to me receiving Kokona-chan’s bento.
Unless I’m desperately hungry, maybe.
“…Shindo.”
Riri-chan muttered the name, as if she was hesitant to say it.
“Kokona-chan?”
“The older brother!”
It was Shindo Minato, the protagonist.
“What do you mean…?”
“You liked Shindo, didn’t you, Suzuna? You thought that if Kokona stopped giving him lunch, you’d have a chance to give him lunch again, didn’t you?”
That’s… well…
“You’re overthinking it, Riri-chan.”
“What?! You can’t deny it. It’s a fact that you liked him.”
Riri-chan often brings up the topic of Amatsuki Suzuna liking Shindo.
I’ve explained many times that it’s a thing of the past, a mistake typical of childhood friends.
But she always seems unconvinced.
“I can deny it. I don’t have any feelings for him whatsoever.”
I answered from the bottom of my heart, a place of pure nothingness, without a single ripple.
I don’t feel any romantic attraction towards him.
I just want him and the heroines around him to be happy.
…Ignoring the fact that for some reason, I’ve only managed to trigger the collapse routes so far.
“…Can I believe you?”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
Those were my true feelings.
“You’re not lying?”
“I’m not.”
We stared at each other for a while.
Riri-chan muttered, “Okay, I believe you,” and sat down next to me.
“What are you going to do with that?”
She pointed at the bento box on my lap.
“…Well, I guess I have no choice but to eat it. I promised to tell her what I thought.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the food itself, so I guess it can’t be helped.”
She seemed to have given me permission to eat.
Lunch break was limited.
I opened the bento box, ready to eat.
“Ah, that’s annoying.”
Riri-chan’s voice, looking at the contents next to me, was ice-cold.
“Eh, w-what…?”
I understood at a glance.
Kokona-chan’s cooking had improved.
The tamagoyaki was properly yellow, the hamburger was solid.
And she even managed to make asparagus wrapped in bacon.
It was a remarkable improvement overnight, no matter how you looked at it.
“No, this is unacceptable.”
However, Riri-chan was pointing at a piece of tamagoyaki nestled in the corner of the bento box.
“Eh… do you hate eggs, Riri-chan?”
“That’s not it, it’s the shape.”
The shape…?
It was a little lopsided, but it was shaped like a heart.
“What’s this supposed to be?”
“…Showing off her skills?”
“This is definitely strange. She was going to give this to you, Suzuna, right? So why go through all this trouble to make it cute…?”
Riri-chan’s mood continued to worsen.
What should I do? No matter what I do, the situation doesn’t improve.
“Well, I’ll just try it…”
“No.”
She closed the lid of the bento box.
“Um, Riri-chan…?”
“You can’t eat this.”
“But I can’t tell what it tastes like if I don’t eat it.”
“You just have to tell her what you think, right? Then I’ll eat it.”
“Eh…”
What kind of thought process led her to that conclusion?
“You can’t eat this, Suzuna. You’ll be tainted.”
“It’s not poisoned or anything…”
“You’ll be tainted by Kokona!”
“Eh…”
Riri-chan was in a particularly bad mood today.
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