Chapter 15: The Angel’s Grace? (2/2)

“You took care of me after all.”

“Didn’t I tell you that you don’t have to worry about that… ooh, there’s a croquette.”

One should never underestimate the croquette.

It was often sold as a side dish and commonly sold, but it was tedious to make, and infamous for being the most tedious dish to cook at home.

One had to steam the potatoes, fry it, add ingredients like beef and onions, shape it, cool it, coat in batter and deep fry it… It was a bunch of ordinary, yet tedious steps.

Amane, who could not cook, saw how much of a hassle when his mother made it.

Thus, his mother was often unwilling to do so whenever he asked of it.

“I simply fried the frozen stuff together.”

“So you made fried chicken too?”

“Yes.”

The only fried food Amane ate while living alone were the side dishes from the shops, and he was really grateful to receive handmade ones.

If he were any greedier, he would have asked to eat it when it was fresh and crispy together with rice.

“… I do want to eat something freshly made though.”

Out of hygienic concerns, she would cool the food before putting them into the tupperware, and he had to reheat it before eating. An oven could replicate the crispiness, but it was nothing like the texture fresh out of the pan.

Of course, that too would be delicious, but the best would be if he could eat it fresh out of the pan.

He merely blurted out his own wish without any other intent, but he might have been a little too loud, for Mahiru frowned.

“You want me to enter your house?”

“I didn’t say that. You shared food with me, and it’ll be too much if I ask you to do that.”

To shake off all suspicion, he shrugged and denied so. Mahiru put her palm under her chin, looking down.

She seemed to be thinking of something and did not look at Amane in the eyes.

“… Half.”

“Hm?”

“If we each contribute half of the ingredients’ cost, I will consider cooking for you at your house.”

Mahiru finally said so, and the vigor in her words left Amane’s flabbergasted.

It was merely a joke…or a notion he accidentally blurted – but he was taken aback by how she seriously considered and agreed to it.

Typically, would anyone cook in the house of a boy she was not well acquainted with?

Even if that was more efficient, he was still of the opposite gender, and they were not on close terms. Surely she would be uneasy.

“Look, I’m more than happy to share half the costs, since I’m getting too much from you… won’t you find it dangerous?”

“If you do anything, I will crush you. Physically. Irreversibly.”

“Woahh, you scare me.”

“After all, even if I do not do so, you will not try anything. You do understand my position at school, no?”

“If I do anything to you, I’ll be dead meat.”

There was a vast difference in popularity between Amane and Mahiru, the latter a weak girl at that. If Mahiru said that Amane did something to her, there was no doubt Amane would never be able to step foot into the school again.

He knew the consequences of social suicide.. After all, he was no fool, at least not one without restraint.

Or rather, he himself had no such intent.

“And also.”

“And also?”

“You do not seem interested in people like me.”

The conclusion, coupled with the serious face, had him smiling wryly.

“What if I say you’re my type?”

“You would have talked to me incessantly, and I would keep my distance.”

“So I guess you recognize that.”

“Well, I do know you are a safe person for now.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

I guess that’s fine,’so he thought, but he really had no intention to do anything to Mahiru, so he did not deny it.

Naturally, he would seize upon this opportunity for dinner fresh off the pan. While putting on the title of the harmless boy, he also gained the privilege to eat together with her.