Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16818093087669863852/episodes/16818093092792753219
I was put in charge of cooking and was to be the head chef, and I immediately started deciding on the menu and showing off my cooking skills after school the next day.
Since the gas stove and temporary kitchen were not yet ready in the classroom, I brought Noeru and the other members of the honors group to the home economics room this time.
“As a prelude, I think our dishes will be the most cost-cutting item at the festival’s coffee shop, which has a limited budget.”
“Haa? Haruki ……the main course for the customers, right? It’s the main thing, right? Why do we need to cut costs the most?”
“No, in the first place, there are no customers looking for food at a school festival cafe, and in our case, it’s more like a cosplay cafe.The only people who come are creepy boys looking for girls’ cosplay, or parents who are tired from the school festival and want to take a break”
“What’s with your weak attitude, Kajimoto-kun! Does that mean you can cook whatever you want!”
“That’s not what I said. Can Noeru and Yunohara please shut up now?”
“”Haa?!””
Ignoring the two people who are nagging at me like a mother-in-law, I get down to business.
“The main thing I want to say is about the direction of the menu. The main menu for a coffee shop at a school festival should be drinks, and most of the food should be egg dishes. Meat dishes are out of the question.”
“Nah!”
I know I sound like I’m completely rejecting Noeru, but the fact is, I am.
In my class, the work was divided into groups, and each group worked hard on their respective tasks, so I can understand why the honor student group who was in charge of cooking wanted to make something a little more cool and make meat dishes. But…in the first place, people around me didn’t expect me to cook at a school festival.
Especially when it comes to the honor student group, which can be called a collection of honor students, it becomes natural for Yunohara to provide excellent food.
It was Noeru (in a sense, a coward) who took advantage of this situation and proposed an impossible task: a meat bowl.
“Anyway, now that I’m the head chef, I want everyone to be conscious of the cost. The reason why I mainly focus on egg dishes is the cost performance of 10 eggs for 200 yen. For example, an omelette can be served for only a few tens of yen in raw material costs. Besides, if the egg dish is cooked well, it can be considered tasty, and worst of all, it can be fooled with ketchup.”
“I-I see. …… When I think about it, Yukikawa-san’s suggestion of only serving meat dishes seems like crap.”
“Hey! What are you suddenly betraying? Don’t just take Haruki’s opinion at face value, everyone! What you should be making is meat!”
“No, you just want to eat meat yourself. ……”
Thus, almost unanimously, it was decided that Noeru’s menu would be completely eliminated, and the menu would consist of drinks, egg dishes, and a few apologetic sweets.
“It’s a good thing we asked Kajimoto-kun to be the head chef.”
“If it had been just us, all we could have done was agree with Yukikawa-san.”
“That’s right.”
The honor student group seems to have a lot of reserved girls, except for the belligerent Yunohara.
Well, if anything, Sayu is also of that type.
“Kajimoto-kun got the second highest score after Yukikawa-san on the quiz the other day, and he still manages to organize everyone very well. Was he the class president at his previous high school?”
“I was wondering about that!
Was your last high school in Tokyo a famous one?”
The girls in the honor roll group all start to question me about my previous high school.
Previous high school ……?
“Well, it wasn’t that big of a deal. The previous high school was a normal high school, too,…… and I was just as shady as I am now.”
“Oh, really?”
“Hey, what’s the name of the high school? Maybe it’s affiliated with a prestigious university?”
“I’m sure it has a high deviation score.”
Although I’m fully aware that they don’t mean any harm, I honestly wish they wouldn’t ask me too much about previous high school.
Because …… in my previous high school, …… I was.
“– hey you guys.”
The moment I looked down, Noeru got up from her seat and interrupted the conversation.
“This is the place to talk about the festival. Can you ask Haruki any questions through me?”
“Yes, that’s right! Let’s talk about cooking rather than Kajimoto-kun’s personal life!”
As Noeru and Yunohara told, I managed to return to the previous topic at that moment.
I was completely saved by Noeru. ……
Noeru is the only person from this side of the world who knows about my past of not attending school.
But Noeru helped me even after I had been denied her opinion.
How can I put it, she’s an adult only at times like this.
Anyway, I’ll have to thank her later.
☆☆
The discussion and cooking practice in the home economics room was over, and while the honors students were leaving, Noeru and I were on our way to the staff room to return the key to the home economics room.
“Thanks for earlier, Noeru. Thanks to you, I didn’t have to go through that.”
“No, I’m sorry Haruki. I couldn’t help you right away. I’m sure they were just asking to praise you. They probably thought you were being modest, so they kept asking. That’s why you don’t have to feel bad.”
“I know, I know. I know they didn’t mean anything by it.”
But …… I still don’t think people understood why I transferred to this school.
At this time when preparations for university entrance exams are starting in earnest, I transferred to a new school, and I live alone without any family members relocating…If you used your head a little, you would have figured out that there was something going on.
“You know, Noeru…”
“What is it?”
“Why did you help me? I just denied your opinion right before that.”
“…. that’s not true. You’re mine”
“Eh?”
“Because you’re my only cook… you’re already mine. You’re in trouble just as I’m in trouble. You’ve already been a student for a long time too.”
Noeru muttered as she looked away from the window.
A series of…words…does this girl know what it means when she uses it?
“I’ve told you before, I’m not going to ask any more questions about your past. There are some things it’s better not to know, and I don’t need to know them. But.”
“But……?”
“I have a different interest in knowing more about you than I did before ……. So, could you tell me a little bit about yourself?”
I don’t really understand, but Noeru scratched her cheek shyly when she said that.
I was saved by Noeru earlier.
And in the future, something like today might happen, and I’ll probably need to talk to Noeru soon.
“Not just a little bit, I’m going to tell you everything now. About me.”
“All ……?”
“Yeah, I’ll tell you all about me. I was actually at …… Tokyo’s Star World High School.”
“Eh…. star world?”
In the corridor where the sunset shines through the window, an open-chested conversation began.
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