Translator: Haruto.

“We’ve returned.”

“We’re back!”

Hibari and Yuito are finally here. Yuito enters the living room carrying two bags of takeout food in his hands, and Hibari… is carrying a bag from the supermarket.

“Thank you so much, Hibari-san. I hope we’ll get to chat again!”

“It was nice talking with you.”

They seem to be on friendlier terms now. Hibari’s wearing the same serious expression as always, though.

Poke, poke.

“Hm? Ah…”

I turn around since I felt someone poking my back, and see Rina with her eyes narrowed, obviously displeased. She’s looking at Yuito and Hibari.

“…Why are they acting like they’re the best of buddies?”

“No idea.”

Unlike her, I don’t mind if Yuito and Hibari become friends, but you know, those two actually look more like two girl friends enjoying a nice chat…

“…Urk.”

“If you’re that curious, why don’t you just ask them?” I suggest, and Rina averts her gaze.  

“I… I don’t want to interrupt them when Yui-kun looks like he’s having so much fun…”

“Yeah, you’ve always been that kind of girl, huh…”

Protecting Yuito’s smile is priority number one to her.

“Then, all you can do is keep watching over him.”

“…Urk.”

“Oh, come on, don’t look at me like that. You really are a handful, Rina-san…”

“I’m totally not a handful!” Rina exclaims, sticking her tongue out.

That’s exactly the kind of thing that makes her a handful… but I’ll just keep that to myself since I don’t want to get her all riled up on me.

“What are you guys talking about?”

“Ah, Sis. Look over there.”

Mahiro has joined our little chat.

“Rina-san doesn’t like the fact that Yuito and my maid are getting along.”

“I never said that!”

“I’m actually more curious as to why you two got so close all of a sudden,” Mahiro says with a smile.

Rina has a complicated look on her face as she responds, “We’re not close, okay?”

“You two have been talking to each other a lot more since the school camp, though.”

“That’s because he’s Yui-kun’s friend…”

“Really?”

“Sis, can you please stop grinning like that?”

“You should just be honest, Rina. Tell him he’s piqued your interest.”

“Sis!!” The two beautiful sisters keep chatting away.

Just one thing, though… why am I, the villain, being sandwiched between the two heroines…? Yuito, it’s time to reclaim your rightful place.  

I stand up and walk over to Yuito and Hibari.

“Hey, welcome back, Yuito. I’ll do the rest so let me take those bags from you. Thank you for accompanying Hibari.”

“Okay, here you go.” Yuito hands me the bags with our food inside them.  

I told him I’d take care of the rest, but honestly, all that’s left is to take the sushi out of the bags and serve it.

“What did you buy, Hibari?”

“I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to prepare a couple more dishes.”

Well, it’s true that sushi might not be enough to fill the bellies of six people…

“Could you lend me a hand, Yuuji-sama?”

“Y-Yeah, of course,” I answer while throwing a glance at Yuito.

He’s currently talking to the two sisters. This time, he didn’t offer to help before I could accept.

I roll up my sleeves and head to the kitchen with Hibari.

“What are we making?”

“A salad and some small side dishes that go well with sushi. I don’t want you to eat nothing but carbs and gain weight, Yuuji-sama.”

“Urk… Alright…”

I wish I could eat lots of carbs all the time without gaining weight…

“Is there a vegetable you don’t like, Yuuji-sama?”

“Eggplants and bitter melons.”

Those are the two only vegetables I do not like. I’m not a fan of the texture of eggplants and that weird dryness in the mouth you get when they haven’t been prepared properly. As for the bitter melons, honestly, they’re just too bitter for me. I don’t even like being close to them.

“Very well, I’ll add them to the salad.”

“That’s totally not something you put in a salad. And more importantly, I might actually cry if you serve that kind of thing on the table.”

“I’m just kidding. I’d already planned to make miso soup with salmon, accompanied by a bit of tofu and a mizuna lettuce salad. The ingredients are in this bag.”

“Awesome.”

The taste of salmon and the warmness of the miso soup will go great with the sushi, and the tofu and the mizuna lettuce salad are super light on the stomach.

We both begin cooking right away.

I’m in charge of the salad. Although, I really just have to cut the ingredients and mix them.

We keep working on our task for a while until—

“You know, you two are like a married couple.”

“Huh?”

That comment came from Tajima who’s sitting at the table and resting his chin on it.

“It’s like you’re showing off how close you guys are… I totally don’t have a chance… Ugh…” he says.

“I thought you’d already given up.”

“Don’t mind him, Kasashima. He’s just a moron,” Satojima interjects.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Why’re you calling me a moron?! Did I say something dumb just now?!”

Choosing to let Satojima take care of his overly excited friend, I try to resume cooking, but I feel like someone else is watching me. I glance in front of me and make eye contact with Yuito.

“What’s up, Yuito?”

“Ah, no, um, I just felt a little jealous watching you two…”

“You did?”

“Thank you very much,” Hibari says.

“You’re welcome, hehe.”

“Huh?! Why in the world did you just thank him?!”

Umm, I definitely haven’t turned into one of those dense protagonists, right? It’s just some sort of inside joke, right…?

I can’t help but wonder… what happened in those 40 minutes that Hibari and Yuito were away?

It felt like quite a grand feast once the sushi, the miso soup, the salmon, the tofu, and the salad were all finally served on the table. Honestly, one of the best things about studying with other people is getting to eat together with them like this. I invited Hibari to join us at the table, of course, but she preferred not to.

The afternoon half of our study session ran for longer than the morning half, which meant that we eventually began losing focus and our pencils moved more and more slowly, but then—

“Okay, that’s all for today’s study session. Great job, everyone… That doesn’t mean you should slack off, though. Remember to keep reviewing the material and solve as many practice problems as you can before the actual test,” Mahiro advises, putting an end to our study session.

After seeing them off at my building’s entrance, I return to the apartment. Hibari’s washing the dishes.

“Haa… I’m exhausted. I sure put my brain to work today.”

“You did well, Yuuji-sama. It was a proper study session.”

“For a moment, I thought we wouldn’t get any studying done.”

I kind of expected Yuito and the two sisters to get into the same routine as always, but they were pretty quiet throughout the whole thing. I guess they know when to work hard and when to flirt around.

“You seemed to be on friendlier terms with Yuito than when you left. Did you realize what a good person he is after talking to him a bunch?” I ask Hibari.

“We didn’t talk all that much, actually.”

“Really?”

“Yes, in fact, it was a bit hard to keep the conversation going at times since he’s not you.”

“Since he’s not me?”

“That’s right.”

Well, I’m happy she thinks it’s easy to talk to me.

“By the way, while I’d like you to study a bit more… Do you remember the promise you made before you left for the school camp?”

“Promise…? Aah, yeah…”

Next time, I’ll take you somewhere you’ll enjoy even more than the amusement park or the mall.

Of course I remember it. I mean, it was one of the first requests Hibari made once she started being more open with me about her feelings.

“Just leave it to me. Let’s make even more fun memories together.”

“Yes, let’s.”

I’m still the only one who’s gotten to see Hibari smile softly like this, and for some reason, that makes me a little proud.

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Announcement:
We picked up two new projects. Here they are if you want to check them out:

1. How the Listless Gyaru Yukikawa-san Started Coming Over After Class.

2. The Strongest Old Man in the Parallel World ~I Only Got Physical Skills So I Had to Form a Party but It Turned into a Harem~