COTE Volume 1– SS –Two people with a bad relationship
That happened on a certain day. The upcoming lunch break caused Class D to sink into a chaotic state.
What started it was Ike yelling “I don’t have points~”.
As a result of having used up the important personal points, everyone was in a shortage of points. Even the anxiety over next day’s breakfast continued.
Of course, if one didn’t want to have an extravagant lifestyle, there were also free meals to choose from.
But there were things in this world that you didn’t want to eat even if they were free.
Especially for those who were used to eating junk food, a healthy meal with potherbs as main dish was insufficient and not delicious enough, and they were very easy to get tired of.
Hirata, who couldn’t bear to watch this situation anymore, together with the healing female heroine Kushida Kikyo, implemented a certain plan in the classroom in the weekend.
It was called “bring your bento day”.
It meant literally those words, everybody had to prepare their own bento.
I guess the reason was saving food expenses while also being able to interact with the class.
“Did everybody bring their own bento~?”
When the lunch break arrived, Kushida tried to confirm that.
“I brought it! Let’s hurry and eat it together, ~Kushida-chan!!”
The high spirited Ike was bouncing vivaciously. He wasn’t one of those characters who would usually prepare their bento, but he looked like he woke up early and prepared it in order to get closer to Kushida.
This bring your bento day was not compulsory. After all, they couldn’t make everybody participate in it unwillingly, and there were also students who still held great amounts of points. The participants didn’t make up half of the class.
“So you have also brought your bento.”
Horikita Suzune, who sat beside me, silently took out a small bento box.
“I didn’t do it because of this farce…this activity.”
Because I saw her bringing bento regularly every day, this was like usual for her.
“Then everybody, let’s go to the courtyard.”
Hirata and the others took along the participants and left the classroom.
On the other hand, Horikita didn’t show that she wanted to chase after them, it looked like she wanted to eat the bento inside the classroom.
“Horikita-san, don’t you want to eat together?”
Kushida, who saw this situation, stood in front of her and used her cute hand to prevent Horikita from starting to eat.
“What?”
“Since Horikita-san also made a bento, let’s go eat it together.”
“Allow me to refuse. I’m not interested.”
“Eating with everybody will make it taste better.”
“The taste won’t change according to the number of people. Now that you know that, can you pull back your hand?”
Horikita didn’t plan to listen to Kushida’s words and rejected her.
After all, this person never thought about eating bento together with her classmates.
Seeing Kushida being a bit lonely, I decided to lend a helping hand.
Of course, even though I didn’t know whether I could succeed or not, I didn’t do a frontal attack. After all, even if I did a frontal attack and requested Horikita, she wouldn’t agree either.
“Kushida, you also brought your bento?”
“Yes. I put a bit of effort and enthusiasm to do it.”
“Although I’ve not seen Kushida’s bento, but compared to Horikita, Kushida is better at cooking.”
“Hey~ that’s not true. After all, Horikita looks like she is very skilled.”
“I don’t think she’s clumsy, but Kushida seems to be better.”
We echoed one another with Horikita in the middle.
“I’ve not said anything since the very beginning, but an insignificant neighbor sure is acting high-and-mighty.”
She glared at me with a sharp gaze. It looked like it somewhat got its results.
“Then are you implying you are better at cooking?”
“I definitely wouldn’t know about that. After all, I’ve never competed with anyone. But it was unexpected since because of that I was considered inferior to her.”
“Then why don’t you try to prove it? And Kushida also brought a bento.”
Normally Kushida didn’t particularly bring a bento. So there weren’t many opportunities.
“What a boring and obvious provocation.”
However, as if she was speechless, Horikita sighed and lowered her head.
…It didn’t work?
“But, I can. I can prove it once so you can see it. Only that, can we agree that you will stop bothering me after that?”
She obviously knew it was a provocation and yet she deliberately accepted.
It looks like she didn’t want to lose without fighting. Her competitiveness kicked in.
She stopped her wand from opening the bento box, grabbed it and stood up.
My eyes met with Kushida’s for an instant, as if we were transmitting the message “it’s going smoothly”.
Being later than Hirata and the others, we three went together towards the courtyard.
Apart from Class D students, there were a lot of other students congregated there.
“So many people here.”
All the benches had people sitting on it, there were no empty seats.
“It’s a pity. Since there are no empty spaces, then it can’t be helped. Let’s compete next time.”
“Do you want to run away?”
“If there are no empty spaces, then it can’t be helped right? Time is limited and I don’t have the time to wait for a seat to become vacant.”
As if it was mocking Horikita’s words, a bench was vacated.
“...You obviously didn’t need to be in such a hurry.”
Was it because she was careless that she said what she was thinking? Horikita looked very dissatisfied.
Kushida sat on the bench.
I though Horikita, after seeing Kushida doing that, would sit beside her, but in the end she sat with her back facing Kushida. It must be because she didn’t want others to think she got intimate with Kushida.
“Then I’ll be going to the dining hall.”
There was no problem in following both of them to this place, but unfortunately, I didn’t bring a bento.
After all, it would be useless to stay here.
“Wait a moment. If you are not here, who’s going to judge?”
“Judge… did you really plan to decide who’s better?”
“It was you who proposed that. I just wanted to prove I’m not inferior to her at cooking.”
She implied “That’s why I came to the courtyard”. She was really tough.
“Then hurry up and eat.”
On the other hand, Kushida looked very satisfied because she managed to get Horikita to come to the courtyard successfully. She hummed a song while she took out her bento box. That box was so small I couldn’t help but wonder if that was enough for a person to eat.
Horikita took out a triangular shaped envelope from her bento.
“Wow, that’s awesome, Horikita-san is really formal! It looks like those that are sold in stores!”
It was a sandwich. Originally it should’ve been wrapped with a plastic film as the envelope, but Horikita used a sandwich shaped packaging with a zipper.
“That wasn’t bought from a store, was it?”
“Look closely. It’s not something you can buy.”
She glared at me with a slightly dissatisfied expression. Of course, I was also aware of how the bento bought in the stores looked like. It was only that she managed to make it look so good that was inevitable for anyone to think like that.
On the other side, how about Kushida? It looks like Horikita was also curious and tried to peek Kushida’s.
“It’s not like I did it to show other people, so I find it a bit embarrassing.”
It seemed that she cared about our gazes, Kushida was hesitating a bit.
“It’s okay if you want to admit defeat like this. After all, forfeiting is also a very good reason.”
“Uuh~ Then I’ll do my best and take it out and show it to you. Please see.”
Kushida, being a bit humble, opened the small lid.
What it could be seen was a delicate and perfect looking bento. It could be considered the standard sausages and fried eggs, and with a bit of vegetables.
If one could make her bring this bento, then one would be looking forward to every day’s lunch break.
“It would be better if I could put a bit of extra effort in it.”
Even if she said that, considering the dormitory utensils and coupled with the current point shortage situation, this was the highest quality bento.
Especially the cooking skill that was reflected from the heat control shown by the fried egg could be considered the cream of the crop.
“Then, em, examiner Ayanokouji-kun. Please.”
She handed her bento box to me. If this scene was seen by Ike, I would definitely be assassinated by him.
Only that she handing her bento like this, what should I eat?
“What do you want to eat?”
In this situation, I really need to choose the fried egg, the thing that shows the cooking skills the best. Kushida handed to me a cute pair of chopsticks. I used them to pick a piece and sent it to my mouth.
“How, does it taste…?”
Using granulated sugar instead of salt as seasoning also deserved praise. It was really delicious.
But I still couldn’t let the evaluation be reflected in my expression.
“I more or less have grasped Kushida’s ability.”
I grabbed a piece of sandwich already ready to be ingested and put it in my mouth.
“…I see.”
After eating the sandwich, I closed my eyes.
“How about it, Ayanokouji-kun?”
“Which one is better? Be honest.”
“But, that thing. Can I say my honest impressions?”
Of course, both of them nodded. So I replied honestly.
“Your styles and the ingredients you both used are by itself different, it’s impossible to compare. If there was one that tasted better or worse, then I could’ve determined which one was superior, but both of yours were first-class.”
So far, I could only say both of them were delicious.
“Excuses… even though I wanted to say that, but it may really be that case.”
If they couldn’t accept this verdict, then it would be like asking which tasted better, Japanese food or western food.
“It’s a pity, Kushida-san, it seems that both parts have lost their fighting spirit.”
“Even though I didn’t plan to lose to you, ok, let’s say it was a draw.”
Kushida showed an expression of thinking “it’s okay like this”, and put her mind at rest.
If I rashly decided the victor here, and also I determined Kushida’s victory, Horikita would hate Kushida even more. As a result, it would be impossible for them to become friends.
But then again, although the two of them had opposite personalities, there was no need to doubt about their cooking skills.
Kushida is certainly someone very popular, if Horikita were to have a better attitude, she would also attract interest from the opposite sex.
“That said, Kushida-san. Didn’t you have something you wanted to tell me?”
“Eh? By that what are you referring to?”
“If you didn’t, then it’s okay. I just wanted to confirm that.”
However, I wasn’t slow to the point of not understanding her words.
Although this Kushida girl was liked by everybody and she also liked them back at the same time. But her attitude towards Horikita was different.
Even though I didn’t know the reason, she had a reason to hate Horikita.
I was really curious about the reason why she kept restraining herself and wanting to keep having contact with Horikita.
But after Kushida showed me a smile, she replied with her usual tone.
“There’s nothing at all. It’s because I just want to have a peaceful relation with Horikita.”
Such an ambiguous response.
It looks like Horikita also understood the topic wouldn’t make any progress, so she didn’t question any further.
The wind blew towards us.
“Ah, it’s cherry blossom…”
When they heard my words, the two people turned their heads.
The cherry blossom petals were dancing in the air.
“It’s really elegant.”
Horikita, who had been maintaining an expressionless face, showed a smile after seeing the cherry blossom.
“It was not in vain of coming purposely to the courtyard.”
Maybe I’m the first person who managed to see these two people smiling at the same time.
It would be great if one day these two could shake hands and be in a relationship where they could show a real smile to each other at the same time.
While thinking about this, I also imagined about the school life in the future.
(This SS happens in vol 1 or 2, after Kushida reveals to them that she hates Horikita.)
