Chapter 14
(A/N Notes: *Whispers* Poyo)
-
Inside Yasu's house was unusually noisy, that was due because different from usual, the house had quite an amount of people inside
The first two were the residents Hirano Yasu and his mother Hirano Kimiko, as the two were sitting in the kotatsu that they never bothered on removing, and Takeru had cleaned and changed the blanket, as they both searched for something to watch in the streaming app, and by that, it was for an anime or movie that caught their attention
The second was Hirano Ichiro, cousin to both Takeru and Yasu, who was also enjoying the kotatsu as he also looked at the tv screen and was not really interested in any of the content so far
And the last two, were Tanaka Takeru and Cicilia Carcano, a girl who lived in the neighborhood who had come from Italy, and who was currently making dinner with Takeru. Cicilia had blue eyes, with long pink and natural fluffy-looking hair in thin twin tails each held by an elaborated ribbon, and she had a pretty cute and good look, almost rivaling Yuriko, but she wasn't close to Yuriko in the body as she wasn't as tall or big in certain places as Yuriko
And why those two were the only ones cooking? Because the two were the most suited to do that out of everyone in the house, and they were making a pretty good job together even as they were only communicating with glares and saying "Huh" to each other, for now, things were calm
Then Ichiro's phone began rigging, when he saw who was calling him, he promptly picked it up and accepted the call
"Sakurako-san, is there something I can help you with?"
//I passed at your place just now, but you weren't there//
"Ah! About that, I'm at my cousin's house. And can you give me a moment"
//Sure//
"Thanks!" *Covers phone with his hand* "Continue on your attempt of the moaning joke and I will wreck with you in the most painful way possible"
"…"
Ichiro had turned his face to his cousin Yasu, who was really close to him as he was trying to make moaning sounds as Ichiro talked to a girl, Ichiro had his usual smile on his face but it was clear that he wasn't joking with his words. So Yasu moved away back inside the kotatsu without even showing a change in his facial expression
"Good… Sorry for the wait, so is there anything else I can do for you, Sakurako-san?"
//Well… Can I go to where you are right now?//
"Give me a sec. Hey, can my fiancée come here?"
"Hm? Sure" "Fine by me"
Kimiko and Yasu both readily agreed without a problem and went back to watching an anime that they found
"My aunt and cousin agreed, but the place is pretty far away"
//I see, then can you tell me the address?//
"Well, yes. But the place is quite far away from my place"
//It's fine, I came to your place by car as usual//
"I see, I see, then the address is…"
As Ichiro talked to his fiancée over the phone, in another place a certain girl was laying on her bed with a somewhat bored face, it was Yuriko
-
Inside Yuriko's apartment
-
"I really want to talk with Takeru, but he hasn't returned to his apartment yet… … … *Gasp* I can just call him on the phone! Yeah, let's do that"
Yuriko got up from her bed with energy and picked up and turned the screen on, she then searched on her contacts for Takeru's number, but then another realization came to her
"Ah!… … … I never exchanged contacts with Takeru… … …"
She stared at her phone for long seconds, before falling on her fours with a dejected face
"Why did I forget to do such a simple thing!!!"
Yuriko who in the past two weeks, had been hanging around with Takeru quite often and having small talks with him on the rooftop, completely forgot on asking for his number since she preferred and enjoyed talking to him in person much more than on phone, but she didn't know that yet
-
Back to Yasu's house
-
"… Yes, that's right, that's the address"
//I see, then see you soon, Ichiro-san//
"Yes, see you soon Sakurako-san"
And having given his fiancée his farewells, Ichiro turned off his phone, then he turned towards the kitchen where Taker and Cicilia were cooking
"Hey! Yasu's girlfriend and Yasu's cook! My fiancée is coming to have dinner with us!"
And he said that which triggered both Cicilia and Takeru
"I-I'm not Y-Y-Y-Yasu's g-g-girlfriend!!!"
"At least call me chef! And Don't just make us have to cook more with an extra visitor!"
Cicilia was triggered by her tsundereness, while Takeru was triggered because being called a cook was too casual for his pride, and because they would need to increase the portions when they were already halfway through
"Ah right! I'm sorry, it's Yasu's wife and top chef, right?"
"I-I'm not h-his w-wife!!!"
"That's better, but next time don't make us suddenly have to cook for one more person!… Woah! Be careful with that!"
"I don't want to hear orders from you!"
"HUUUUUUUHHHHH!?"
"HUUUUUUNNNHHH!?"
Cicilia and Takeru went back to cooking while glaring and saying "huh" to each other, due to Cicilia's bashfulness, and hidden excitement, from being called Yasu's girlfriend and wife
"…"
Ichiro looked at the two glaring at each other, before turning towards Yasu
"Lucky guy, you managed to find a nice girl who surprisingly likes you"
"Thanks, and yeah she's just like Takkun, hard in appearance but it's a total softie in actuality"
"Yeah"
To Cicilia's despair, or not, everyone in there, aside from Takeru, could easily see through her tsun side. And once again, things returned to the previous calmness. After a while, both Takeru and Cicilia finished most of the dinner contents and went to the living room as well as they waited for the remaining dishes to finish cooking
-
Around 30 minutes later
-
After resting during those 30 minutes, Takeru and Cicilia went back to the kitchen to finish the dinner, while Yasu, Kimiko, and Ichiro kept lazing around in the living room, then Ichiro's phone once again started rigging, and seeing it was Sakurako again, he picked it up and accepted the call
"Sakurako-san, what is it?"
//I just arrived in front of your cousin's house//
"Is that so? Okay"
Ichiro turned off the call, and got up from the kotatsu, he then went to the front door and opened it, revealing a cute blonde girl with amethyst eyes who was about to press the doorbell
That girl was Kogane Sakurako, she had natural bangs and shoulder-length straight side tails with a straight cut, while the rest of her pretty blonde hair was held in a semi-looped ponytail held on her right side, her expression was pretty blank similar to Yasu, but her eyes were much more soft and expressive than his. That girl was Ichiro's fiancée
"Ah! Ichiro-san, good to see you"
"Good to see you too, Sakurako-san. Please come in"
"Thanks"
"You're welcome"
With that, Sakurako entered Yasu's house, removed her shoes, and followed Ichiro
"Everyone! Please let me introduce you all to my fiancée, Kogane Sakurako"
"Nice to meet you all, I am Kogane Sakurako, and I will be in everyone's care today"
" "Nice to meet you" "
Takeru and Cicilia both turned their heads toward Sakurako and gave the same greeting before going back to paying attention to the dinner preparations
"Welcome to my house, Kogane-san"
Yasu gave a simple greeting to Sakurako without showing any change in his expression, leaving only Kimiko
"Aaahh… So you're that Sakurako-san Ichiro always kept boasting about, huh? You really got yourself a cute girl, Ichiro"
"Thank you, Aunt Kimiko"
"… Did you really always keep boasting to them about me?"
"Not really always, but yes. I do boast about having you as my fiancée whenever I can, or when I feel like messing with my maidenless friend"
"I see, I'm glad you think that of me, Ichiro-san"
"You're welcome, Sakurako-san. Now let's enter the kotatsu while the two over there finish making the dinner"
"Okay"
Ichiro once again approached and entered the kotatsu, with Sakurako following after him and also entering the kotatsu placing herself right beside him, then she leaned herself on him as she closed her eyes, Ichiro did felt slightly embarrassed by that even if it was a little, but different from Takeru, he was able to hide it. And seeing the two like that, Kimiko couldn't help but say…
"Fufu! You two are quite close, say Kogane-san do you like Ichiro?"
Without opening her eyes as she continued to rest on Ichiro's shoulder, Sakurako responded to Kimiko's question
"Hmmm… Well, I can't really say for sure if I like him in a romantic way, but compared to my previous fiancé, I do prefer Ichiro-san a lot more than him… So I guess that I do like Ichiro-san"
"I see, I see… *Muttering* Maybe I can use that for a story… By the way, have you two kissed yet?"
" "No" "
"Ah… I see…"
When Sakurako heard that she opened her eyes, and got into a straight position before she and Ichiro gave the same answer at the same time. While Takeru who also happened to hear Kimiko's question twitched when he heard that word
"What's wrong?"
"N-nothing"
"?"
His cheeks were slightly red as he answered with an obviously embarrassed tone, but Cicilia wasn't able to understand why he was acting like that. After some more minutes, they both finished making dinner, so they both called the others to eat
"Oi! The dinner is ready!"
"And you all better like it because it took a lot of effort do to all this!"
At hearing Takeru and Cicilia call, Yasu and Kimiko both got up with a jump as they shouted
" "Finally! A decent meal!" "
" "…" "
"… Ichiro-san…"
"They're failures as human beings aside from drawing manga and doujinshis"
"Oh, I see"
Seeing his cousin and aunt dash to be the first to eat, Ichiro also got up and helped Sakurako get up, then they also made their way to get the dinner before the son and mother duo ate everything. As everyone filled their plates one by one, they all went back to the living room to eat, since there wasn't a dinner table at the house
As they ate they had some meaningless talks with each, with Yasu, Kimiko, and Sakurako not really participating in the talk as they were paying more attention to eating the delicious food on their plates
"Hot! My tongue!… … … *Gasps* Ah! That's right! So Takkun? What's the name of the girl you're interested in?"
"… What're you talking about?"
"Don't try to avoid it, you know that I can easily read your face. And that I'll only make it worse for you if you don't cooperate"
"… … … Her name is Nanami Yuriko…"
Takeru clearly aware of what Ichiro meant by that, stayed silent for a few seconds, before answering Ichiro's question as he blushed a little and looked away as he said Yuriko's name
"I see, I see. By the looks of you it, you met her on your first day of school, so how well have you been getting along with her?"
"… We're getting along just fine…"
"*Grinning* Ooohh… That's great. So how far has your relationship with her gone?"
"… We're just friends…"
"…"
Ichiro squinted his eyes, as he noticed that Takeru was still hiding something, and he wanted to know what it was
"There's something more about your relationship with that girl. C'mon, spill it out"
"… … … I went on a d-date with Yu- Nanami-san last weekend… … … And at the end of our date she… … … K-kissed me on the cheek"
" " " " "!?" " " " "
Takeru's face grew redder and redder as he answered, and when he said that he got kissed by Yuriko, everyone who was listening, froze on the spot as they looked at Takeru with surprised eyes… And of everyone there, Sakurako, Cicilia, and Kimiko were the most surprised ones…
"…" "…" They were both surprised for very different reasons, while Kimiko on the other hand…
"…" Had finally found the inspiration she needed
-
(A/N Notes: Haiyah!)