When was the last time he'd had a peaceful, ordinary day?
Strictly speaking, it actually hadn't been that long ago, but so much had happened recently—so much that Lin Ye always felt as though a very, very long time had passed.
So today, unaffected by the drawbacks of his superpower, he felt like he could relax just a little, savoring this brief moment of ease and relief.
'Ring-a-ling…'
The bell signaling the lunch break rang out.
Lin Ye sat in his seat, waiting for the other students of the International Class to leave first.
Generally speaking, it was always he and Yukino Yukinoshita who stayed until the very end, the two of them leaving the classroom one after the other and heading for the Service Club.
For days on end this had basically been the routine, which was why quite a few people had taken notice of the pattern in their behavior.
But although these classmates cared and had let their imaginations run, they didn't say much about it.
Lin Ye was now a member of the Service Club, so it was normal for him to cross paths with Yukinoshita. Still, as Miura Yumiko's boyfriend, for Lin Ye to be this close to Yukinoshita as well—they always felt there was something off about it.
Of course, the rumors circulating about Lin Ye around campus were hardly minor. They also knew that Lin Ye was on close terms with a certain first-year junior girl.
All at once, they felt like Lin Ye had changed quite a lot! He used to be an invisible nobody in Sobu High's International Class—aside from the single label of being an exchange student from the big country next door, there had been nothing else to him at all.
But now,
all of a sudden he'd come alive, as if he'd become the center of attention.
He was very close with Sobu High's ice queen, Yukino Yukinoshita, had become the lover of the school's blonde beauty, Miura Yumiko, and was also very close with a cute little junior girl.
Somehow it all gave off the distinct feeling of a youthful protagonist, as though Lin Ye were the male lead of some work of fiction.
As these thoughts drifted along, the small number of boys in the International Class also left the classroom, leaving only Lin Ye and Yukino Yukinoshita.
Yukino Yukinoshita stood, picked up the bento she'd made, spared Lin Ye no more than a glance, and headed toward the classroom door.
Lin Ye quickly caught up and, in a natural motion, took the bento the girl was carrying.
Yukino Yukinoshita put up a slight struggle, refusing, but she couldn't out-stubborn Lin Ye and in the end accepted it anyway.
The two walked down the hallway, the occasional student passing by and casting curious glances their way.
Yukino Yukinoshita ignored them, paying no mind to others' stares—and Lin Ye needless to say cared even less.
Before long, the two of them arrived at the Service Club.
Not long after, Yui Yuigahama and Iroha Isshiki arrived too.
"Senpai, Senpai, I made a bento especially for you today!"
As she said this,
Iroha Isshiki took out a bento box.
'Click…'—the bento box popped open.
The golden egg roll was plump and springy, still trembling faintly the instant the lid opened. Grilled meat skewers glistened with oil, yet paired with green broccoli they somehow gave off no greasy feeling—only a mouthwatering allure.
Several hours had already passed, yet the aroma still wafted and lingered everywhere.
Yui Yuigahama's eyes practically lit up.
This looked really delicious!
Thinking back on the three girls of the Service Club, it seemed she was the only one who still couldn't make delicious dishes.
The moment that thought struck her, Yui Yuigahama felt utterly deflated, her mood soured.
A girl really did need to master good cooking skills!
Yui Yuigahama noticed Lin Ye's astonished reaction. For Lin Ye, being male, to be so amazed by Isshiki's bento—that would surely earn her a lot of goodwill!
"Senpai, what do you think? Not bad, right! Heh heh heh."
"Auntie's cooking skills are quite good."
"Of course they—that's my… uh…"
Iroha Isshiki's words came to an abrupt halt, her expression freezing over.
"H-how could this be my mom's cooking? This is my—"
"When you lie, you unconsciously clench your left hand into a fist."
"Uh,"
Iroha Isshiki's gaze shifted, only to see that her left hand wasn't clenched at all, but relaxed and open.
"Senpai, you tricked me."
"You're the one who lied."
Iroha Isshiki gave a displeased huff. "Fine, my mom made it, but I helped too!"
"With the plating, right."
"Senpai, would it kill you not to say that out loud?!"
"It really might. If I don't expose you, then Yui Yuigahama here is going to be heartbroken."
Others hadn't noticed, but Lin Ye had—just now Yui Yuigahama had definitely started entertaining the idea of learning to cook again.
If there were no other club activities in the Service Club today, chances were he'd end up having to teach Yui Yuigahama how to cook properly all over again.
That was a development Lin Ye did not want.
If this afternoon's Service Club activity really did turn into a cooking lesson, he figured he'd better find an excuse to make a run for it, to avoid becoming a taste-tester.
Yui Yuigahama's dark cuisine could genuinely poison a person to death.
The moment the pink bun heard the topic turn to her, she immediately shook her head over and over in denial. "N-no, not at all! Why would I be sad? This has nothing to do with me. Iroha-chan being good at cooking just makes me happier, really—"
But her words carried very little conviction.
Of the four people present, probably only Yui Yuigahama herself believed what she was saying; neither Yukinoshita nor Iroha Isshiki bought it in the slightest.
"Senpai, I'm so sorry to have disappointed you. I'm not that good at cooking. Today's bento was basically all made by my mom—my cooking is about the same level as yours. Aah, aah, aah…"
Iroha Isshiki shook her head and sighed repeatedly.
This left Yui Yuigahama frozen in awkwardness.
If her cooking was about the same as Yui's, then Iroha Isshiki's cooking probably wasn't anything to write home about either.
Inexplicably, she felt a little cheered up.
"We can start eating. Lunch break is limited."
That said, Sobu High's lunch break was still quite long—plenty of time for students to finish eating and still have a good rest afterward.
Lin Ye didn't refuse Iroha Isshiki's bento, and Yukino had prepared a bento for him too.
Faced with the lavish bento Yukino had prepared, Lin Ye accepted it and dug in.
"Why don't you three share some of the food?"
As big as his appetite was, two full-sized bentos were a bit much. Lin Ye wanted the three girls to share the load, so as not to waste food.
"I've got enough."
Yukino Yukinoshita spoke up first. To keep Lin Ye from portioning food onto her, she even shifted the position of the bento box in front of her, making her thoughts and resolve clear.
"I-I don't need any either. Senpai, eat more."
Iroha Isshiki gave the same answer.
She neither wanted to eat the food her mother had prepared for Senpai, nor did she want to eat the bento Yukino-senpai had prepared for Lin Ye.
Yui Yuigahama wanted to voice a refusal too. Both Yukinoshita and Iroha Isshiki had declined, so she had no standing or right to accept.
"Student Yuigahama, let me give you some."
"N-no, I really don't need it."
Yui Yuigahama shook her head in refusal over and over, but compared to the other two, Lin Ye knew Yui Yuigahama was easier to persuade.
"I can't finish it all, and then it'll go to waste. Student Yuigahama, you don't want the food Yukino and Isshiki's mother prepared to go to waste, do you?"
Of course she didn't.
Wasting food was shameful.
Yui Yuigahama absolutely did not want that.
"I'll give you just a little, please."
Yui Yuigahama glanced left and right and, seeing that neither Yukinoshita nor Iroha Isshiki said a word, could only agree in the end, faced with Lin Ye's enthusiasm and persuasion.
"I-I understand, just a little bit then."
"Mm."
Lin Ye divvied it out,
but the amount he gave Yui Yuigahama really couldn't be described as "just a little bit."
Lin Ye gave Yui Yuigahama nearly a third of the portion, so much that Yui Yuigahama cried out for him to stop, stop.
This was already a huge amount of food.
"That's too much—I can't… I can't possibly eat it all."
Yui Yuigahama looked at the brimming lunch, the pressure in her heart skyrocketing.
This much food—how could she possibly finish it all on her own?
"Lin-kun, why don't…"
"Get the other two to help."
Lin Ye's hint stopped there,
and Yui Yuigahama understood too. She began pleading, and in contrast to how Iroha Isshiki had refused before, it was the rather cool Iroha Isshiki who couldn't hold out against Yui Yuigahama's coaxing and accepted some of the food.
"Delicious…"
"Auntie's cooking is really delicious."
After praising the food made by Iroha Isshiki's mother, Lin Ye immediately went on to praise Yukino Yukinoshita's cooking as well.
"Yukino's cooking is really good too."
Iroha Isshiki gave a light huff—Senpai, this kind of man who wanted to please both sides, was truly a fickle one.
At a time like this, he ought to properly praise just one of them, not compliment both sides.
"So is my mother's cooking better, or Yukino-senpai's cooking better?"
Iroha Isshiki wouldn't let it go, continuing, "Senpai, you know what I mean."
She was hinting.
In fact, in a spot where no one else could see, she had already reached out with her foot to touch Lin Ye—all of it a reminder to him.
"The result is obvious. Of course Student Yukinoshita's cooking is more delicious."
"Why?!"
Iroha Isshiki was quite displeased.
She'd hinted so heavily, and yet Senpai gave her no consideration at all, still taking Senpai Yukinoshita's side instead.
Iroha Isshiki was unhappy, dissatisfied.
"Because Student Yukinoshita's cooking is something I could probably eat for a lifetime, while Auntie Isshiki's cooking is something I couldn't eat for a lifetime."
As the words fell,
Yui Yuigahama's eyes went as wide as they could go.
She never expected that Lin Ye would dare to say something like that.
Her first instinct was to look toward Yukino, only to see Yukino's cheeks slightly flushed, a tiny hint of bashfulness there—and in the blink of an eye, that trace of shyness vanished completely, as if it had never appeared at all, like an illusion.
Yui Yuigahama blinked and looked closely, seeing only the cool, aloof Yukino. She felt she'd probably just hallucinated a moment ago.
"Th-that works too! If Senpai wants to eat it, I can have my mom make food for you for a lifetime."
"Your dad would probably be reduced to tears—and besides, I don't want an extra daughter who's the same age as me."
"Pfft,"
In that instant, Yukino couldn't help but laugh.
Yui Yuigahama coughed uncontrollably—she'd never imagined Lin Ye's remarks would be this bold.
He'd just called Isshiki a daughter,
and Iroha Isshiki herself was startled by Lin Ye's earth-shattering declaration too. "Senpai, you… you… you actually have your eye on my mother?! No, no, absolutely not, this absolutely will not do."
She shook her head vigorously, her little head practically rattling like a pellet drum.
It was as if she truly believed it.
Lin Ye didn't bother explaining; he knew perfectly well this was all Iroha Isshiki's acting.
A moment later,
Iroha Isshiki pouted, unhappy,
while Lin Ye turned his focus to his own lunch.
Seeing that Lin Ye was ignoring her, Iroha Isshiki slowly began on her own lunch too.
She felt her mother's cooking tasted a little better than usual today—could it be because of Senpai?
She couldn't help but think so.
Yukinoshita and Yui Yuigahama began eating their lunches one after another as well.
The noon sun hung high overhead,
golden sunlight streaming in,
and the spacious Service Club room took on a faint air of tranquility, with only the occasional soft sound of chewing.
After a little over twenty minutes,
all four of them had finished eating one after another.
Lin Ye didn't leave this noon; instead he sat in his seat scrolling through his phone.
Before long, he felt Yui Yuigahama's gaze upon him.
"What is it, Student Yuigahama?"
Lin Ye asked.
Was there something on his face? There shouldn't be!
Lin Ye turned off the screen and looked at his own reflection on the phone, but saw nothing unusual on his face.
"No, no, no,"
Yui Yuigahama shook her head over and over.
"Really?"
"Really,"
"Out with it! Acting like that, there's definitely something on your mind."
At Lin Ye's insistence, Yui Yuigahama ultimately couldn't hold back and spoke up. "Doesn't Student Lin usually head out after finishing lunch lately? Today you didn't go out, so I… found it just a little bit strange."
So that was it.
The one controlling his body yesterday at noon had been Haruno Yukinoshita.
What had Haruno done with his body?
Probably gone off to tease Isshiki, most likely.
"I didn't feel like going out today, so I'm just resting in the Service Club."
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm,"
"Senpai, Senpai, how about we spend this lunchtime together?"
Iroha Isshiki suddenly piped up with an invitation.
For her, she needed to seize every possible moment of time to spend with Lin Ye.
Lunchtime was such a great opportunity—and it would be even better if it were just her and Lin Ye alone in the Service Club.
Iroha Isshiki thought about it happily, though she also knew that just wishing for it was utterly impossible.
"Refused."
"Don't refuse so bluntly!"
"I'll just stay in the Service Club."
"Why?!"
"The girl I like is right here in the Service Club."
The moment those words were out, the atmosphere in the room shifted.
Even Yui Yuigahama's expression changed ever so slightly.
Yukino Yukinoshita shot Lin Ye a quick sidelong glare, expressing mild displeasure at his current straight-ball behavior—but deep down, she was actually rather pleased, rather happy about it.
It took Yui Yuigahama quite a while to recover. She knew the girl Lin Ye spoke of definitely wasn't her—it had to be Yukino Yukinoshita.
She recalled how Lin Ye had once confessed to Yukinon, and yesterday morning, it seemed Lin Ye had confessed to Yukino Yukinoshita once again.
In the times she didn't know about, Lin Ye had probably already confessed to Yukinon several times. So among the three girls currently in the Service Club,
the girl Lin Ye would call the one he liked had to be Yukinon—no one but Yukinon.
It definitely wasn't her, and it definitely wasn't Iroha-chan either.
The pink bun thought quietly to herself.
...
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