"There are like 10 of them... Using a whole carton of eggs for one meal's bento is incredible. But they look delicious, can I have one?"
"Sure, sure, go ahead. There are plenty. Ah, Sero, that pickle looks delicious? Homemade? Can I have some?"
"Ooh, sure. Then I'll take some of that fried chicken I've been eyeing. You can tell just from the looks that it's tender and tasty."
"Then... can I have a xiaolongbao?"
"Sure, Ojiro. Ah, Sato, if you're eating scotch eggs, there's sauce on the side, help yourself."
"The gyoza looks tasty... but we have classes in the afternoon too, I'm a bit concerned about garlic smell..."
"Ah, Hagakure. These gyoza are the garlic free kind for bento, so no need to worry about smell?"
"Alright, I'll take it!"
"Th, then may I have some of the beef shigureni? Actually, I've been curious about it since earlier..."
Like that, we spent an enjoyable bento time, sometimes exchanging banter. I love times like this.
Delicious food is great, it makes people get along in no time.
In my case, maybe the impact of my bento's appearance and me finishing it all played a part too, but it's certain that it became the trigger for us to open up. Even though it's only been a few days since school started, we've become friendly enough that boys and girls in the class can mix and have nice bento talk together, so no problem at all.
Well, in my case, maybe the 'past life, male' values still remaining within me also make it easier to talk with boys.
It's been like that since elementary and middle school. Even with things that other girls might not keep up with, not just having little interest but even avoiding as topics, I could join the boys and talk passionately, so I think the starting point of my friendships was more with boys than girls.
While girls were talking about teddy bears, dress up dolls, cute decoration accessories, I was blooming with topics about transformation heroes and card games... I even remember playing soccer, baseball, basketball with the boys.
When I won a local card game tournament once, I had a flood of applicants wanting to become my disciples as a duelist.
And the deck I used then was a fanservice deck packed with cute girl type monsters... It's amazing I won with that. I was mischievous back then...
Well, as I aged, I gradually came to understand girls' values too, so by around the middle of middle school, I had completed as a high spec (?) tomboy girl adaptable to both.
Instead, by that time, my body shape could no longer be called tomboy, so the majority of boys inevitably treated me as a girl. That was a bit lonely.
I've already accepted that my current life's gender is 'female', and I think my personality is female too.
But, it's also true that 'male' remains somewhere in my heart.
I was confessed to by boys several times in middle school, but I turned them all down.
It wasn't because I didn't like them, or didn't feel like romance... It was simply because I couldn't see boys as the 'opposite sex'. As objects of romance, as partners to spend a thrilling youth with, I just couldn't imagine it.
That said, if it were girls, would I feel that way... that's also subtle, you know... There's definitely a part where my values are pulled by my body.
I've often found girls cute when looking at them, and it's not like the remaining "male" part inside me never reacts. It took me quite a long time to stop feeling nervous and guilty when using the girls' changing room or girls' bathroom. But still, they don't become objects of romance for me.
So then the question becomes, what exactly do I want?
If I can't see either boys or girls as potential romantic partners, what path will I take in the future? I've thought about it many times, whether I'll end up living my whole life alone, but never found an answer.
That answer still eludes me even now.
I can see Ojiro, Sato, and Sero as fun guy friends to have silly conversations with.
I can see Hagakure and Yaoyorozu as chatty friends who engage in that girl-specific physical contact.
You could say that's just because they're friends and leave it at that... but I can't help feeling like I've ended up with this half-baked sense where male and female values are mixed together.
While I have a personality that makes it easy to get along with boys, I've been warned many times by girls that I lack a sense of danger and am too defenseless and careless since I don't mind wearing light clothing.
I seem somewhat masculine, yet somewhat feminine... but ultimately, I can't be defined as either.
I've been going along like this for a long time, just letting things be... but now, a stone is definitely being thrown into my pond. By this boy I've been spending time with after school almost every day lately.
...Hehehe.
"Hey, what are you grinning about again? Was Sero's pickles that delicious?"
"Ah, no, that's not it. Sorry, just laughing at my own thoughts."
"Hmm, and what exactly are these thoughts... Judging by that happy face earlier, I'd say it's definitely about a boy, Towa-chan! Young love!"
"Eh, r-really?"
...Hagakure, I can't tell if she's sharp or just guessing, or maybe just saying whatever comes to mind...
"That's not it, there's absolutely nothing like that going on right now... Actually, even in just these few days we've known each other, I'm starting to realize you really like those kinds of topics, Hagakure."
"Of course! I'm a flower of a high school girl, so love stories are my favorite! Come on, are you sure there's nothing? That grin earlier really made my radar go off!"
"You need to recalibrate your love story radar. Currently, my lover is the extra-large frying pan at home (with non-stick coating) and the food I cook with it."
"Fumiko, you... Even as a guy, I have to say, what kind of girl says that? That's as sad as office ladies saying 'work is my lover.'"
"She's right, Towa-chan. High school only happens once! Let's live through this lemony sweet-and-sour youth era!"
"My youth tastes like demi-glace sauce."
"This is the first time I've seen a girl who genuinely lives by 'appetite over appeal' like this..."
...No wonder I have trouble being treated like a proper girl when I talk like this.