Melonbooks SS: Loneliness in a Lover's Absence, and a Secret Practice

Mahiru has had a lot of free time on her hands now that Amane started working part-time.

To be precise, she had plenty of things to do. From her assignments, to revision sessions, exercising, housework, and even attending to her beauty. However, something akin to a void opened up in her heart; she felt as if nothing was there.

Mahiru knew full well that Amane would fill that void, but she was all the more surprised to find that she felt lonely after being apart from him for only a few hours. This revelation left Mahiru bewildered.

Naturally, Mahiru knew that Amane would return to her and that he'd started working with some kind of goal in mind, so she had no intention of blaming or stopping him. However, despite her being on her own, there were times when Mahiru had unconsciously tried to call out to Amane as if he were still sitting beside her.

Even Mahiru herself acknowledged that it could be a sign of a serious problem, but she tried her best to carry on as normal. She spent as much time as she could making dinner while she waited for Amane's return in efforts to not worry him. Though Mahiru wasn't intentionally trying to act like the ideal woman, she acted in efforts to not hold Amane back or become a burden to him.

Conscious of her affection for Amane, which was so passionate that calling it an obsession wouldn't be strange in the slightest, Mahiru whispered, "I wish I could loosen up a little more…" under her breath and gently took off the apron she was wearing.

A sweet fragrance had completely permeated through the house, and while

that in itself was no problem, the smell had stuck to Mahiru, too. She had to take a bath to carefully remove the scent before Amane returned home. All she could do was deodorize herself lightly when she didn't have much time to spare, but today, she had enough leeway to take a proper bath.

Mahiru looked back at what she was baking while it was half-done and beginning to cool down, then she glanced at the clock on the wall and confirmed that she had plenty of time left. After which, she sighed.

Amane was yet to return home.

Even after Mahiru would finish baking her sweets, it would take her some time to return home to wash herself and prepare dinner.

I wish I could call this convenient.

Mahiru was secretly practicing how to bake cakes at home in preparation for Amane's birthday, but her obsessive and perfectionist nature was beginning to surface, and she still hadn't made a batch that she was satisfied with.

Amane being a part-time worker and returning home late was convenient in that regard, but there was no avoiding the loneliness that it brought. Engrossing oneself in cooking was a valid method to distract yourself from such loneliness.

Mahiru wanted to please Amane as she did so. She made prototypes to practice, pursuing a taste that Amane was bound to be delighted by. But as she had expected, it was too early for her to handle such a recipe by herself.

Despite their reduced size so Mahiru could fine-tune the taste, no matter how small she made the portions it was natural to worry about gaining excess fat after eating cakes with plenty of chocolate day after day.

"...I am a little concerned about it," Mahiru fretted.

Of course, it'd be wrong for her to claim that she'd gain weight as soon as she ate them, but since she had been eating sweets almost every day since she began to practice, Mahiru was still worried that it would accumulate. Now that Amane had set out to become someone he could be proud of, Mahiru could not let herself become careless no matter the reason.

Mahiru quietly murmured, "Let's get Chitose-san and Kido-san for taste testing," as she rubbed her stomach before heading to the bathroom, strongly determined to give herself a firm massage in the bath.