My Household`s Liliana-san Volume 2 Chapter 5 Part 2
Thirty minutes flew by and the waiter brought them their meal exactly on time.
In contrast to Tatsuya who was absent-mindedly looking at the food being served, Liliana turned from her carefree attitude and made a serious expression asking if she could use the sights right before her as a reference for her future housework. It was really adorable that no matter the circumstances, she was always serious to a fault when it would come to things like that.
「Well then, please take your time with your meal. If you will need anything, please call the reception desk.」
When the food was finished being served, the waiter politely bowed down her head and left the room.
「The gestures and the way in which that waiter conducted herself just now were so elegant. I have to work extra hard so that I can serve Tatsuya-san even better in the future.」
「No, no, it’s her job, so it’s only natural that she has to be particularly careful about her etiquette. Liliana-san, you don’t have to go that far just for my sake.」
「But——」
「I think that the current sense of distance between us is just right. I think that being treated with such courtesy is too much, it’s like we are strangers or something like that. If you were to do that, it would make me feel really lonely, Liliana-san.」
Tatsuya was confident that if she was to always treat him with an attitude like that, it would soon enough break his heart to pieces and cause him to die of loneliness.
「I-I’m so sorry, Tatsuya-san! That was never my intention!」
「Yes, and I know that. And I know that you are really trying to do your best for me, Liliana-san. Thank you as always, for everything.」
If Tatsuya was grateful to her, then there was no reason for Liliana to apologize to him for anything.
「Tatsuya-san.」
「How about we get to eat now, while the meal is still hot?」
「Yes, that’s right. Let’s do just that.」
The dishes were arranged side by side instead of facing each other, and Liliana sat right next to Tatsuya to properly enjoy it all.
Sashimi, salt-grilled and candied freshwater fish, vinegared wild vegetables, tempura soup, rice and plenty of mountain herbs were served right next to one another, and their sight was so mouthwatering that their stomachs began to growl loudly before long.
Tatsuya then put his hands together, thanked for the meal and carried his chopsticks towards his mouth without any moment of delay.
「Hmm, yeah, it’s delicious.」
Although the dishes were all lightly seasoned, you could fully enjoy their original taste while being able to distinguish every raw ingredient that was put into them.
Unlike the warm and reassuring taste of Liliana’s carefully prepared home cooking that Tatsuya got so used to, it was a taste from which you could feel the craftsmanship behind it.
「Yes, it’s really delicious, Tatsuya-san. Not to mention that the arrangement of those dishes is also very elegant.」
「Yes. That’s right. But I guess it’s only expected from a store with such a long and established history.」
「It really makes me want to try and emulate some of those things back at home.」
「Yes, that is also true. But this is all because of years of training and experience, so it’s probably not something that can be achieved in a short amount of time.」
A proper judgment is a prime example of this. No matter how good someone might be at doing housework in general, good judgment is not something that can be fixed overnight.
「Yes, it certainly must be a result of daily accumulation of both skill and hard work over the course of time.」
While saying that, Liliana pouted her lips and sat down to close the gap between her and Tatsuya.
「Liliana-san?」
「Tatsuya-san, I still can’t serve this kind of good food to you, but I promise you that I will try my hardest. Not to mention that I can still do something like this just fine. Now, please say ‘Aaah~n’」
She smiled and picked up her sashimi with her chopsticks and presented it towards Tatsuya’s mouth.
「Ahh, umm, this is…… ‘Aaah~n.」
Tatsuya flinched for a moment because of the suddenness of this situation, but he then decided to just obediently leave himself to Liliana’s care. All she had going on for her was the pure goodwill, for which Tatsuya was really grateful.
「Fufu, how is it? Is it delicious?」
Being able to feed her loved one such delicious-looking food, it was that particular kind of joy that would make Liliana feel so happy that she could hardly contain herself at that moment.
「But I must say, it’s a little bit embarrassing to be fed like this by someone else, even when we are all alone.」
「Fufufu. It’s just the two of us here, Tatsuya-san. So there’s nothing to be embarrassed about, you know?」
「Well, yeah, I know, but I don’t like to be the only one who is embarrassed like that. So here, Liliana-san. This is a sign of my gratitude to you.」
Tatsuya then timidly picked up his own sashimi with his chopsticks, thinking that he can’t just go to the hot springs inn and have Liliana do everything for him, as per usual.
「Huh?」
She never thought it would happen to her. Liliana’s eyes opened up widely, but before she was able to voice any kind of concern or opposition here, the sashimi on chopsticks were already right in front of her mouth, moving closer and closer with every moment.
「You see, being serviced like that is not all that bad from time to time.」
「Y-Yes, I guess so. And thank you, Tatsuya-san. Well then, aaah~n.」
「Here you go.」
While Liliana hesitantly opened up her mouth, Tatsuya gently placed the shashimi inside of it.
「Mmm, mmm, it’s really delicious, Tatsuya-san.」
「Good to know. Oh, but now that I think about it, it might be too late now to ask when you have eaten it already, but I hope that you don’t mind eating raw fish like that?」
Tatsuya was perfectly aware that there were people out there in different countries and cultures who would never consider putting anything raw in their mouth, or consider serving raw food as a form of a waste. However, as far as Tatsuya remembered, Liliana had never actually shied away from raw food before, so it should have been fine here.
「Yes, there is nothing for you to worry about, Tatsuya-san. I had previously received a letter from my sister saying that the sashimi she had eaten for the first time in an in such as this was very delicious, and included a picture of a raw dish. Of course, it’s not like I was not reluctant to try it to some extent, but now that I actually ate it, I must say it tastes really good. It was really delicious, and since then I have stopped worrying about raw fish, there is no problem at all.」
「And it’s once again all thanks to your elder sister, isn’t that right, Liliana-san?」
「Yes~! I am am really proud to have such wise and dependable elder sister!」
Liliana answered with her chest puffed out in pride, perhaps because she was happy to be praised on behalf of her older sister.
「Well, in that case, here. You can have another bite.」
「Thank you very much, Tatsuya-san.」
When he brought another piece of sashimi towards Liliana’s mouth, she accepted it obediently this time.
Even though he just fed her, because Liliana was looking so happy and delighted, he felt a sense of accomplishment and joy welling up inside of him.
He would have liked to continue doing this forever, but eating that way quickly proved to be way too inefficient, so from then on out, while enjoying their meal as usual, they picked up one dish with their chopsticks and fed each other from time to time while smiling at one another.
And when the last piece of tempura was left on Liliana’s plate, Tatsuya’s spirit of service was ignited even further, thinking that repeating the same thing would be quite boring. They needed to spice things up a little bit here.
「Umm, Tatsuya-san…… this is the last time, so how about we do something like this?」
Liliana picked up her tempura and brought it to her own mouth.
「L-Liliana-san……!?」
Then, Liliana brought her face closer towards Tatsuya.
「Hmmnnh.」
Apparently Liliana wanted Tatsuya to grab that piece of tempura with his own mouth like that, and she was staring at him with a look of anticipation visible on her face.
Tatsuya was initially really surprised by such a bold request from Liliana, but then again, he did not refuse her.
「Munch……」
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