CHAPTER 12 : Can She Really Only Cook 'Simple' Dishes?!

After his long, peaceful sleep, Yuu had been awakened by the sounds of the birds chirping nearby, along with the light peeking from his curtains. He remembered the sensation on his arm and the warmth he shared with the girl he loved as they slept together. However, he immediately came into and realized that the girl, Aoi, was already out of the bed, in fact, out of the room.

𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘦? 𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨…. 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨?

A few questions popped on top of his head as he slowly stood up. He tidied up his bed and did a few stretches to wake his body up. He opened the door and started walking downstairs. As he was walking down the steps, his nose tingled from the smell coming from the kitchen.

"Oh, Yuu. Good morning. Wait a bit, breakfast will be ready soon."

"G-Good morning? Wait, why are you cooking?"

"Why, you ask. Didn't we talk about this yesterday?" Aoi answered with a bewildered face as Yuu saw her continue cooking the scrambled eggs.

"Now that you mention it…." he didn't say anything else, or rather, he couldn't. He was too mesmerized by the sight of Aoi cooking in an apron with her hair up in a ponytail, so instead, he just went to the sofa by the living room and simply waited by looking at the news.

The news he got when he opened the TV was luckily what he'll be needing, or rather they'll be needing for school days. In short, it was the chance of rain. The TV showed that the chances of rain for the day is 50%.

50% 𝘩𝘶𝘩… 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢….

That's true, Yuu had never left his umbrella even once. Even if it has 0% chance of rain with a cloudy sky, blocking the sun, he had never left it. Reason for it was it was given by someone he loves, and to think that the same girl is now standing in the kitchen, happily cooking with her apron on, not only as his girlfriend, but as his fiancé.

"Yuu— can you help me prepare the plates?"

"Yes, coming."

Yuu immediately turned the TV off as he was called by Aoi, who was done cooking. They prepared their food and placed it on the table.

"..." after the two of them sat before the table in front of their foods, Yuu seemed to be troubled about something as he stared at the plates and bowls lined up in front of him.

"Are you sure you can only cook 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 foods?"

"Eh? What are you saying? Aren't these simple?" Aoi only replied in a calm voice.

Yuu thought to himself, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦? as he looked at the plates and bowls lined up. What is lined up are fried salmon, Miso Soup, a bowl of rice, some tamagoyaki, a tea for her and a coffee for him.

The coffee and Miso Soup he could understand why there is one in front of him now. What he can't explain is how she had a salmon cooked, he remembers, or rather, he knows that they didn't buy any fish yesterday. Forget being punctual, prices of salmon aren't low. Yuu took a quick glance at the kitchen and noticed something unusual, and… unexpected.

𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺?! … 𝘔𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦́ 𝘪𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦… 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨….

What he saw in the kitchen is a whole salmon, perfectly filleted, leaving a minimal amount of flesh on the carcass, which would take a lot of skill. Along with that, the kitchen was used cleanly, even the sink had no dishes, which is pretty much kitchen etiquette that even he knew. Even so, it was too clean and too beautiful to look at.

"Well… let's leave it at that, shall we? Let's eat." Yuu had chosen to not bother asking her how she could do such feats, so he suggested eating.

The two had started eating. Slowly eating down the fish, sipping down on the Miso, reducing the rice, and enjoying the tamagoyaki.

"Ah~ that was delicious!" Yuu exclaimed as he sipped down on his cup of coffee.

"Really. I'm glad." Aoi said with a relieved tone along with a slight sigh of relief.

"..." Yuu stared blankly at her while sipping down on his coffee, with slight redness of his cheeks peeking out.

"I-I'm gonna take a bath!" Yuu stood up and sipped the remaining coffee down and marched straight to the bathroom.

"Take your time." Aoi picked up the mug and started washing the dishes.

𝘎𝘦𝘦𝘻. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵….

Yuu took about 5 minutes in the tub, thinking about Aoi, until he realized that they had classes today so he finished up his bath, changed the water and started drying himself up with the towel.

"Aoi, it's your turn." Yuu called him as he continued wiping his hair with the towel as he came out the bathroom door.

"Yeah." Aoi, remembering as well that they have classes, rushed into the bathroom.

Yuu changed into his uniform in his room and went back downstairs, and to the changing room of their bathroom.

Their bathroom consisted of two rooms, one as the main bathroom, and the other as the locker room along with a sink and a stupidly large mirror.

He took the toothbrush from the one drawer of the sink and filled a mug from the same drawer and started brushing his teeth. A few seconds later, the door from the bathroom opened and there exited a freshly bathed Higabana Aoi.

"..." Yuu stared at this mesmerizing sight, showing Aoi in her bathrobe with a towel on her head. Neither side minded this, but they for sure are blushing. Aoi then walked towards him and took her toothbrush from the drawer and started brushing her teeth.

A few seconds in, Yuu spitted the contents of his mouth and started gargling the water, and spitted it as well.

"Mmm." Aoi gestured her hand at him as Yuu gave her the same mug of water he used. Aoi then started gargling as well, and both had finished. They returned their toothbrushes and slowly walked outside, until Yuu realized something.

"We're acting quite the newly wed couple, huh…."

"Well, aren't we gonna be the future as well?"

"That's right."

"Then, I'm gonna change my clothes."

"Sure."

After the short, but meaningful exchange, Aoi had went upstairs into her room to change into her uniform.

𝘍𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘩𝘶𝘩…

"Let's go?"

After a few minutes, over an hour before their classes starts, the two had left their house.

"You have the key, right?"

"Yeah."

Yuu had locked the door and asked Aoi about the key as they exited the gates. Apparently, Yuu doesn't like keeping stuff as important as that. They had two keys, one hidden for an emergency, and the other on their hands, specifically Aoi's.