3 bar menu

Chapter 93 Part 2

When they arrived and got off the taxi, charged with only basic fare as one would expect, stood in front of them were a twin of towering apartments.

Both apartments were 10 stories high, but apparently the one on the right was for singles and the one on the left was for families, with the top half for families with boys.

There was a park adjacent to the building, and on the other side of the road, there seemed to be a residential district for sale, with about 10 detached houses in the same shades of dark brown and cream, although the details were different.

Given that they were covering the entire area with a blue sheet, it was probably under construction.

The surrounding area was surrounded by greenery, and that one seemed to be the only housing lot that had been built relatively recently.

In a timely manner, they took the elevator straight to the 10th floor without being seen by anyone, and room 1001, a corner room, was Sayaka’s residence.

「Now, come on in.」

「「「Pardon the intrusion!」」」

「「Oh, so spacious!」」

Leaving aside Riko, who had been there many times, including overnight stays, Yuu and Eimi, who were visiting for the first time, let out a word of admiration.

It seemed to be a 1 LDK apartment.

Although the kitchen sported a size that was just right for someone who lived by themselves, if you combine the separate dining room and living room, it would be about 20 tatami mats wide.

It was a luxurious room for one person to live in, and it could probably accommodate at least one more person.

「It’s a rare chance so, I’ll go ahead and take a look at your house, Saaya-senpai.」

「Ah, me too.」

「Huh… Ah, wait!」

The one who opened the door without hesitation was Eimi.

Yuu also had his interest piqued, so he followed her.

The bathroom and toilet were separated from each other, not like the modular baths that were often found in single-person apartments, and they were by no means inferior to the ones used in the apartment Yuu was living in.

The bedroom was a western-style room about 8 tatami mats in size, and in addition to a dresser and chest of drawers arranged by the wall, it was furnished with an imposing king-size bed.

They only opened the door and peeked inside, not brazen enough to jump into the bed as expected, but coupled with the fact that it gave off a nice rose-like fragrance, Yuu, who imagined Sayaka sleeping there in her slovenly appearance, ended up getting a little horny.

「Hey! Both of you! Come over here and sit down!」

「「Yes~.」」

Ending up getting scolded by Sayaka, who went a little red in the face, perhaps finding it embarrassing as expected, Yuu and Eimi returned to the sofa in the living room, where Riko was watching them with a look of exasperation.

「It’s a nice room, isn’t it? Not only is it clean and tidy, it’s also very classy.」

「Fufufu, it makes me happy to hear you say that, Yuu-kun… Or so I’d like to say, but it’s not me that usually cleans and tidies up the room, it’s the commuting maid.」

Sitting on the L-shaped sofa in the living room, Yuu looked around the room.

Also, their seating orders on the sofa were as follows.

Eimi

Riko

Yuu, Sayaka

As a punishment for opening the door without permission, Eimi ended up getting separated from Yuu, and was sulking a little.

Incidentally, they had just quenched their thirst with a cup of cold green tea prepared by Riko, who knew her way around the apartment.

On the wall hung a Japanese painting depicting a mountain village, and in the corner was a houseplant, probably Sansevieria, judging from its striped leaves that looked like a tiger’s tail.

In the corner of the room was a cathode-ray tube television about 24 inches in diameter.

A silver mini-component player sat on a sturdy, horizontal sideboard with half drawers and half glass doors in a heavy dark brown wood grain finish. On top of it was a picture frame showing a family of four.

Looking at the color box next to it, the lower section was lined with thick technical books and new books on economics and management, while the middle and upper sections were filled with paperbacks and manga.

Excluding his elder sisters, Yuu had never been in a teenage girl’s room before… or rather, his elder sister from before his rebirth was so modest that she was not very girlish, and as for Elena, her room was a messy one, so they couldn’t serve as reference at all.

Sayaka’s room was quite different from the image of an adolescent girl living by herself, and seemed to exude an elegant, adult-like cleanliness.

She said that this was because she was having a commuting maid come every other weekday to do the housework.

If I were to look at her room at her parents’ home, I wonder if I’d be able to catch a glimpse of Sayaka’s personality.

I hope that such a day would come in the future; so Yuu thought.

「Still, it feels kinda weird. For the four of us, including Yuu-kun, to be together in this room like this, even though usually it’s just me and Sayaka.」

「Yes… True enough.」

Sayaka and Riko smiled at each other.

They were still in their school uniforms, but unlike the student council office, they could relax in this place.

And then, having Yuu sit next to her, Riko’s heartbeat was growing faster and faster.

When Yuu picked up his glass and gulped its content down, his Adam’s apple moved up and down.

Riko, who was watching from the side, casually shortened the distance between her and Yuu, who was sitting right next to her, keeping a delicate distance where they barely touched each other.

Then, Yuu deliberately leaned closer to her.

「Ah!」

Even though she was the one who closed the distance between them, Riko blushed when their bodies came into contact with each other.

The way she sometimes got embarrassed merely from such a thing, even though they were in a relationship where they had been connected in the bodies numerous times, was so adorable.

When Yuu rested his head on Riko’s shoulder like a spoiled child, Eimi raised her hand.

「Interruption! I believe it’s not the time to make out yet~.」

「Mm. I believe it’s exactly as she says.」

Sayaka nodded her head with a solemn look on her face.

◇ ◇ ◇

After chatting and joking around for a while, the clock showed that it was about turn 4:00 p.m.

「Ah, yes. Yuu-kun, as you told me to, all the ingredients have been bought and put in the fridge. But is it really okay?」

For tonight’s dinner, when Sayaka was about to order something from a restaurant, Yuu told her that it was a race chance, so he would make it for them.

The plan was to make a hamburger steak.

Elena had passed the threshold of adulthood (18 years old) in this world, but since she liked kids’ menu, he often made curry, hamburger steaks, spaghetti, and so on at home on weekends, so he was used to it.

Though, he had to entrust the whole cake to the girl’s group.

As far as Yuu was concerned, he would like to go shopping with them, but that was by no means a good idea, so Sayaka asked the maid to go shopping at the supermarket in advance.

Incidentally, the cost of ingredients was split among the three of them, excluding Sayaka.

Although Sayaka felt bad about it, she had offered to hold the party at her apartment, asked the maid to go shopping and even paid the taxi fare, so Yuu, Riko, and Eimi discussed and decided on it as soon as they arrived.

「It’s fine. I also make it myself at home on my days off, so please leave it to me. By the way, I’m thinking about asking one of you to help me, but is there anyone that can cook?」

The one who quickly looked away was Sayaka.

「I’ve cooked rice and miso soup, but…」

The one who said so weakly was Eimi.

「Leave it to me. I can do everything.」

The one who puffed out her featureless chest was Riko.

「Then, let’s cook together, shall we?」

「Ufufu. Sure.」

When Yuu took Riko’s hand, she smiled happily.

「In the meantime, Eimi and I will work on something else.」

「Y, you’re right…」

Sayaka, who was apparently incapable of doing housework, sported a refreshed look on her face, while Eimi looked a little frustrated.

◇ ◇ ◇

「Kuh…the onions are stinging my eyes. Tears are…」

「Here. Let me wipe them away for you.」

「Thank you.」

*Chop, chop, chop* Yuu was chopping the onions skillfully, but as tears began to leak from his eyes, Riko wiped them away with a handkerchief.

After washing the rice and setting it in the rice cooker, they decided to split the task with Yuu handling the main dish, the hamburger steak, and Riko handling the garnish, the vegetables and soup.

The figure of Riko wearing a stylish apron with a navy-blue moonlit night design on top of her sailor suit uniform was pretty nice.

She was taller than Yuu and had long, slender legs.

Since her long, quirky hair was tied into a single bundle and swept forward over her shoulder, her slender nape was exposed, so Yuu’s eyes ended up getting drawn to it all the time.

Simply put, she was a serious and level-headed older sister type, and most of the time, she plastered a cool expression on her face, which was equipped with silver-rimmed glasses, but since got into an intimate relationship with Yuu, she had been showing him various expressions.

As for Yuu, he was also very fond of Riko.

As such, in the kitchen, which was not very spacious as it was designed for one person, they were having fun cooking, with Yuu touching her buttocks when passing behind her or deliberately leaning his body close to hers.

As Yuu was doing this, Riko had gotten used to such things, so she sported a mischievous look and leaned her body close to his.

While intently watching Yuu and Riko flirting as they cooked, Sayaka and Eimi were making birthday decorations on a corkboard.

A large 『Happy Birthday!』 message made of colored papers.

Below it, they added 『6/1 Komatsu Sayaka』, followed by 『6/30 Hirose Yuu』, and below that was Riko, who was born in September, and Eimi, who was born in December.

After decorating the perimeter with sparkling stickers and masking tape, they would process and paste the photos they planned to take today on the bottom half of the corkboard.

For the time being, the corkboard would be kept in Sayaka’s apartment, but they wanted to use it again for birthday parties in September and December.

While Yuu was taking off the heat from the onions he had sauteed in a frying pan, Riko began to work on the carrot glace and kofuki imo (Japanese powdered potatoes).

It required a considerable amount of work, but once you grasped the trick, it was not so difficult to make hamburger steaks.

Once you kneaded the ingredients well into hamburger patties, took them with your hands that had been chilled with ice water, then did a catch ball with it using both of your hands to remove the air.

And after you flattened and formed them into oval shape while smoothing out the surface so that they did not lose their shape, the preparations were done.

While Yuu was doing this, he noticed that a sweet smell was coming from the carrot glace that Riko was making.

「Oh, it looks delicious. You’re good at cooking, aren’t you, Riko?」

「Well… At home, my mom is busy with work, so I’m responsible for most of the housework. You’re also more skillful than I imagined, Yuu-kun. You would make a good son-in-law, don’t you think?」

「Hahaha… A son-in-law, is it?」

It seemed that in this world, men who could cook were homely and preferred.

「I think… It doesn’t really matter who is it that cooks once you get married, regardless of whether you’re a man or a woman. I want to serve my wife the dishes I’m good at, and conversely, I want to try her homemade cooking. Ah! That being the case, I guess you and I have a perfect affinity when it comes to cooking, Riko…」

「I, I, I suppose so. I want to try your cooking, and conversely, I want to cook for you, too, Yuu-kun….」

Perhaps because the words 「marriage」 and 「affinity」 were suddenly mentioned, Riko went red in the face and turned her head down.

However, she took a piece of the carrot glace, which was located at the end of her gaze, with her chopsticks, *fuu, fuu* blew it to cool it down, and then held it out to Yuu.

「Do you want to taste it?」

「Yes, I do.」

「Here, say a~n.」

「A~n…. Mmm, so tasty!」

「Really?! Thank goodness.」

Eimi, who ended up witnessing that scene, deliberately said…

「Ah~, I’m starving. I wonder if dinner is ready yet~?」

「Y, you’re right… I’m really looking forward to Yuu-kun’s hand-kneaded hamburger steak~. Yes.」

Noticing that the two were staring intently at him, Yuu continued making hamburger steaks with a wry smile on his face.