When I reunited with my arrogant childhood friend, she had become a talented and beautiful girl – Even though she has probably forgotten about me and I don’t want to be toyed with, for some reason she keeps getting involved with me!?

[AKANE POV]

***

“…I’m glad. You ate it all. Hehe.”

I returned home and, while washing the lunchbox alone in the living room, I recalled what happened during lunch break.

If anyone saw me grinning to myself while doing the dishes, they’d definitely think I was weird.

But, somehow, seeing the empty lunchbox made me so happy.

To be honest, I didn’t do a good job with the first lunchbox I made.

The fried chicken was burnt, the octopus-shaped sausages had their legs torn off, and I couldn’t even make a proper rolled omelette. The other side dishes were so bad that they couldn’t even be put in the lunchbox, so I had to fill the gaps with frozen food.

I was so embarrassed by how it turned out that I decided to have him eat it in a spot where no one else could see.

I knew what kind of reaction Itsuki would have when he saw the lunchbox I had made.

But I wanted him to see it and eat it because I had tried my best to make it.

Indeed, Itsuki’s reaction when he saw my lunchbox was as expected, and I felt so awkward that I tried to give him the lunchbox his sister made, but he ate my lunchbox instead.

Even though I said things like, “You don’t have to force yourself,” deep down, I was really happy. But I was scared to hear that it tasted bad.

However, as if to blow away all my anxiety, Itsuki said the fried chicken I made was delicious.

At that moment, I remembered how hard I had worked the night before to prepare it and how I struggled to fry it after waking up early in the morning. I felt so happy as if my efforts had been rewarded.

I wondered if I could make him happy if I got better at it. I thought about that.

“I’m home!”

At the same time I finished the dishes, my sister came home.

“Welcome back, sis.”

“Oh! How was the lunchbox?”

“Y-yeah… somehow, he ate it all.”

The moment I said that, my sister let out a sigh of relief and patted her chest.

Maybe she was worried, too, since she had been helping me the entire time.

“I see. I’m glad. I’m glad.”

“Thanks. If you hadn’t been watching over me, it might have turned out even worse.”

“Yeah, yeah. When you first asked me to teach you how to make a lunchbox, I was surprised… but, wow, Akane…”

She grinned and looked over at me.

“W-what is it?”

“Nothing~? What did Itsuki say?”

“Um, he said the fried chicken was delicious. Oh, and he seemed excited when he saw the octopus-shaped sausages.”

His excitement when eating the octopus-shaped sausages was clearly different. He was so thrilled.

“Oh, really?”

My sister chuckled with a look that seemed to say she knew it all along.

The idea for the octopus-shaped sausages came from my sister. I thought they might not be well-received because they seemed childish, but they turned out to be a big hit.

…Even though the legs were torn off.

“I see, I see. Itsuki hasn’t changed when it comes to liking childish things.”

My sister seemed to enjoy talking about it.

But I couldn’t help but sense something… undesirable in her expression.

“…You’ve been paying more attention to Itsuki than I thought, huh?”

“Huh? Not really?”

“…Come to think of it, Sis, when you’re confessed to, you always say you can’t forget your first love from elementary school and turn them down, right?”

“That’s… true. But it’s just an excuse to reject them.”

“Speaking of elementary school… when Mom and I argued, Itsuki and I—”

“Ah, it’s already this late! I have to go clean the bathroom!”

“Sis!?”