...
After the three of them each ate a slice of watermelon, Shiina Mahiru prepared to leave. From the looks of it, Saiki was about to teach Kubo Nagisa how to cook, so she wouldn't need to prepare lunch herself.
"Shiina-san, you're heading back?"
Kubo Nagisa had assumed she and Saiki would be together from morning till night, so she hadn't expected her to leave at noon.
"Yeah, you two are about to start making lunch, right? I should head back first too."
Deep down, she really wanted Saiki to ask her to stay, but she felt too embarrassed to say it to him.
Shiina Mahiru stood up and said to Saiki, "Then Saiki-kun, I'm heading back now."
Saiki casually replied,
[Why don't you just eat here for lunch? We're preparing it anyway.]
(Shiina-san usually takes such good care of me anyway. Asking her to stay for lunch wouldn't be a big deal. I just don't know if she wants to. If she doesn't, there's no need to force it...)
"R... really?"
Shiina Mahiru said excitedly. Then she quickly lowered her voice and tried hard to force her already upturned lips back down, but it was still obvious to anyone looking that she was very happy.
"Then... since Saiki-kun said so, I won't hold back. But let me help out too!"
(She looks really happy.)
Kubo Nagisa watched Shiina Mahiru, who was desperately trying to hide her feelings, silently stepped closer to Saiki, and whispered, "Shiina-san seems super happy!"
[Yeah, probably because she's hungry.]
"How could you interpret it that way?"
Although Kubo Nagisa and Saiki's conversation was quiet, Shiina Mahiru still heard it.
A flash of resentment passed through Shiina Mahiru's eyes as she looked at Saiki.
Shiina Mahiru [It's definitely not because I'm hungry.]
(Why is she looking at me like that?)
Shiina Mahiru: "So what are you two planning to make?"
Saiki looked at Kubo Nagisa.
[What about it? What do you want to learn?]
Kubo Nagisa: "Hmm, anything you teach is fine, but make it something simple, okay!"
[Something simple, huh? Mm—]
Saiki opened the fridge, checked the ingredients inside, and said,
[Then let's make stir-fried udon.]
"Sure, sure! I really like udon!"
Kubo Nagisa said with a smile.
"Udon, huh? I've never had stir-fried udon before."
"But we're out of udon noodles at home."
Shiina Mahiru reminded them.
Saiki opened the refrigerator compartment—yep, the udon was indeed all gone.
"Sigh, it's all used up. Too bad. Should we switch to something else?"
Kubo Nagisa looked a little disappointed, then carefully thought back to what Shiina Mahiru had just said. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at Shiina Mahiru with a hint of suspicion.
Kubo Nagisa [What's up with Shiina-san? She knows Saiki-kun's house so well. She looks just like the lady of the house.]
...
[It's fine if we don't have any. Then let's start by making the noodles from scratch.]
Saiki took out flour from the kitchen.
[Alright, let's get started.]
"Oh!"
Saiki brought out the high-gluten flour.
[Kubo-san, grab that big metal bowl over there.]
"Okay."
Kubo Nagisa took a large metal bowl and handed it to Saiki.
[Making udon noodles? Just get the ratio right. Water should be around 40% or so!]
Saiki poured the high-gluten flour into the bowl and finally let Kubo Nagisa start kneading and folding it.
As for why Saiki wasn't doing it himself, it definitely wasn't because having a beautiful girl knead it would make it taste better or anything like that. No, the real reason was that since someone else was being taught, he couldn't just do everything himself. If he was going to do anything, it should at least be the easy parts.
"Okay."
After Saiki added the right amount of salt, Kubo Nagisa began kneading in the bowl.
Saiki explained as he went, adding water at the right moments so Kubo Nagisa could knead it more easily and prevent the dough from becoming too dry or too wet.
"Saiki-kun, my hands are so sticky. Did I add too much water?"
Kubo Nagisa felt like the dough was firmly clinging to her hands, impossible to shake off.
[No such thing. Just knead it harder with more force and it'll be fine.]
After a long while, Kubo Nagisa felt like her hands were getting sore. Only when Saiki finally said it was okay did she stop.
[Mm, it's passable, I guess.]
"Just passable?!"
[Stop complaining.]
Saiki shaped the dough neatly and set it aside.
[Next, let the dough rest for 30 minutes. In the meantime, let's prepare the ingredients.]
"Saiki-kun, what ingredients should we prepare?"
Shiina Mahiru asked while standing at the fridge door.
[Let's go with green bell peppers, carrots, onions, shiitake mushrooms, and a bit of pork.]
"Okay."
Shiina Mahiru took out the vegetable basket, brought the ingredients to the kitchen, and set them down.
"Awesome! I finally get to cut vegetables!"
Kubo Nagisa said excitedly.
"I've been waiting for this forever."
As she picked up the knife, Kubo Nagisa continued, "Saiki-kun, I'll start with the onion then."
Saiki seemed to recall something unpleasant. He remembered the last time Kubo Nagisa had confidently swung the knife down and nearly sliced off her own finger. He couldn't help shivering.
Shiina Mahiru had already placed the onion on the cutting board, skillfully peeled off the outermost layer, and was positioning the knife.
Kubo Nagisa [I may not have cut onions properly at home before, but I've practiced peeling onions hundreds of times. My onion-peeling skills are already top-tier!]
(Only your onion-peeling skills are top-tier, huh.)
[Hold on a second.]
"What's wrong?"
Kubo Nagisa: "You're not going to stop me from using the knife again, are you? Last time was an accident!"
[I just feel like it's too dangerous when you handle a knife. Better to teach you hand-over-hand. Hold your hand like this, and grip the knife properly. Cutting like this is safer.]
"Hand-over-hand..."
Kubo Nagisa murmured to herself. In her mind, she pictured Saiki standing behind her, slowly reaching out with his left hand to hold hers, his right hand close as warm breath brushed her ear while he said, "Make it into a cat's paw, okay?"
Then Kubo Nagisa's face flushed red, her heart racing wildly.
But in reality, Saiki casually took Kubo Nagisa's left hand without a care and placed it on the onion, then grabbed her right hand along with the knife and gently guided it.
Kubo Nagisa was still lost in her wild, wonderful fantasy, while in the real world she just stood there with one hand at her mouth, letting out a creepy "hehehehehe" laugh.
[That's terrifying!]
Shiina Mahiru: "Is Kubo-san okay? She seems kind of weird!"
[Probably nothing serious. People's imaginations these days are way too active.]
Kubo Nagisa finally snapped out of her fantasy. With slightly flushed cheeks, she looked at Saiki and happily shouted, "Okay! Then let's do it that way!"
Saiki looked at the extremely excited Kubo Nagisa.
[Mm, let's get started then.]
One minute later...
Shiina Mahiru stood behind Kubo Nagisa, controlling and guiding both of her hands.
Kubo Nagisa's cheeks puffed out in a sulky, grumpy expression—a huge contrast to her earlier eager, excited attitude full of anticipation.