Chapter 7: The Angel’s Naggy (1/2)

“I’m returning this. It’s really delicious.”

The following night, Amane brought the borrowed tupperware along as he visited Mahiru’s house.

Though Amane was truly bad at doing housework, he was fine with washing. It was proper etiquette to wash and return after all. So he thought as he brought along the thoroughly washed and dried tupperware.

He could not say that he had a tough time washing it however.

Mahiru might have expected Amane to ring the bell at this time, for she opened the door without checking.

She was dressed in a bordeaux red knitted one piece dress, and narrowed her eyes slightly.

She glanced at the tupperware container and said, “It is impressive that you washed it well.” She praised him as she would to a child, causing him to frown unconsciously.

“Thank you for doing this much. This is for you.”

Mahiru received the tupperware, and that would be fine, but she then passed another tupperware container to Amane’s hands.

As expected, or so it seemed, it was warm.

Inside it was probably fried pork and eggplant. It was a little colder, so the lid was not covered in steam. He he could see the eggplants, the cooked meat, and sesame seeds sprinkled on top through the lid.

Looking at the color, it seemed the sauce was made from miso. The slightly charred eggplant and glossy meat looked appetizing.

This really looked delicious, he thought.

But he could not understand why she brought him food again.

“…No, erm, I’m just here to return the tupperware.”

“This is tonight’s dinner.”

“I know that, but,”

“Just to ask, you have no allergies, right? I do not care about your food preferences.”

“Not really? But if I keep taking more from you…”

How would it turn out if he was to have two consecutive dinners from her?

Amane was utterly grateful, especially given his improper balance in nutrition, and Mahiro’s cooking skills were far superior to girls her age. The taste would be remarkable.

So too would the food inside the tupperware container be delicious.

But it would be an utter tragedy if the people from his school were to see this. Of course, the tragedy would befall Amane’s calm high school life.

Each apartment here was designed to accommodate a person, but the rental was expensive considering the facilities and geographic location. He never saw any schoolmate aside from Mahiru nearby, and he did not need to worry about them being spotted, but he was apprehensive about such a relationship being exposed.

“I made a little too much for myself. I will be glad if you accepted some of mine.”

“…Well, I’m glad to accept this, but usually, this gives others a wrong impression that you like them.”

“You think so?”

“Nope, not at all.”

Are you an idiot? Given that she was making such a face, Amane had no reason to think that much.

Furthermore, it was impossible to imagine the beautiful prodigy Mahiru showing any goodwill after witnessing how useless Amane was at cleaning up.

It was true that receiving dinner from a cute neighbor would be fitting for a romcom manga plot, but there was no love or comedic elements. No love, no comedy in their conversations. Just to note, Amane had no rice at home.

The only aspects present were the Angel’s vicious words and her pitiful compassion.

“It should be fine then…You are planning to buy some bentos from the convenience store or some side dishes at the supermarket, no?”

“How do you know?”

“The kitchen did not look appear to be used properly, and there were a lot of disposable chopsticks from the convenience store and supermarket on the table. Also, anyone can tell without thinking, given how unhealthy you look.  Your face clearly looks unhealthy.”

She saw through everything with just a single trip to his house, and Amane’s face twitched. It was an undeniable fact however, so he could not say anything.

“…Now then, I shall be returning.”