Just as Amane was feeling a bit awkward, she heard Horikita's sigh.
Then she saw Horikita extend her hand towards her.
"Horikita-san..."
"Carrying so many things by yourself, you won't be able to pick out ingredients properly, will you? Besides, leaving you alone here will definitely cause trouble. As neighbors, we should help each other out."
It was the first time Amane had heard Horikita say so much.
A smile appeared on her face.
"Is there something wrong with you staring at me?"
Horikita's face seemed to be slightly flushed.
"Horikita-san really has a sharp tongue but a soft heart."
"Stop joking around and hurry up and choose your ingredients."
"Yes!"
After a period of shopping, Amane and Horikita returned to the dorm together.
Beep.
She took out her key card and swiped it lightly.
The door opened.
Amane walked into the room first.
"Horikita-san, you must be tired. Please come in and rest."
After Amane put down her belongings, she immediately went to help Horikita Suzune.
"So you *do* know I'm tired..."
Horikita Suzune's voice was a bit heavy.
Well.
Perhaps her hands were heavy too.
At this moment, Horikita already regretted her momentary hot-headedness.
How could she have wanted to be a good Samaritan?
Horikita Suzune!
This is what you get for being a good Samaritan.
Horikita Suzune carried a bag of flour in one hand.
And a large bag of rice in the other.
Even though it was still the cool early spring, Horikita Suzune's forehead was covered in sweat from exhaustion.
"Horikita-san..."
Amane, feeling a little guilty, offered Horikita a juice.
"Hmph."
Horikita unceremoniously opened the juice and drank it in large gulps.
There was no trace of her usual cold demeanor.
Being this exhausted, who could possibly maintain a cold facade?
"Hehe."
Amane looked happily at Horikita Suzune, who was leaning against the doorway, panting heavily.
"Miyako-san, are you really not going to offer a hand?"
Horikita shot Amane a dagger look.
The message, "If you dare to just stand there and not move, I will twist your neck," was conveyed to Amane.
Amane quickly stepped forward to take the rice and flour.
She lifted them easily with both hands, then placed them in the kitchen.
"Miyako-san, your arm..."
Horikita's gaze was drawn to Amane's fair arm, exposed to the air.
It looked like a girl's arm, but it must have been a disguise, right?
The overly fair skin made it easy to overlook the firm yet inconspicuous muscles.
But if compared up close, it was probably a whole size stronger than her own arm.
Yet, those damned streamlined muscles presented a perfect look.
Horikita Suzune felt no jealousy.
None at all!
"Are you talking about this? I used to be the ace of the Kyudo Club, you know~"
Hearing Amane's words, Horikita first nodded in acknowledgment.
If the other person was skilled in kyudo, it could explain why a girl's arm possessed such strength.
But very quickly, Horikita's gaze began to shift downwards.
"Miyako-san's figure, is it really okay for practicing kyudo?"
Wouldn't something obstruct the bowstring?
"Horikita-san, that's so mean!"
Amane covered her chest, her face red.
"Sorry..."
Indeed, it wasn't good to tease someone about such a thing.
Horikita caught her breath slightly.
Then she remembered that bag of rice.
Originally, Horikita was afraid Miyako would be embarrassed to ask her to carry heavy items, so she boasted that even an extra forty or fifty jin wouldn't be a big deal.
But Amane, that stubborn idiot, had loaded her up to the maximum.
Even a mule shouldn't be used like this, right?
"Miyako-san, why did you buy so much rice at once? Couldn't you have bought smaller bags instead?"
Buying too much rice makes it prone to insects in the summer, and the taste also changes with long-term storage.
"Eh? Are there small bags of rice?"
Amane's dumbfounded expression made Horikita's initial thought that she was trying to be lazy vanish.
Could it be that this guy really didn't know about small bags?
Horikita opened her own shopping bag and took out a single-serving package of rice.
"Miyako Amane-san, you couldn't possibly not know about this, could you?"
Amane took it and looked.
It turned out there were two-kilogram small packages of rice, thoughtfully labeled as serving two to three people.
"So there's such a convenient thing! I had no idea, hahahaha..."
Amane's laughter abruptly stopped.
"Why aren't you laughing anymore? I think your laughter is very pleasant, Miyako-san. Truly Amane-like."
A glint of coldness flashed across Amane's face, quickly, repeatedly.
Horikita Suzune carefully inspected the high-end knives Amane had purchased.
"Horikita-san, you, you, you need to calm down..."
"I am very calm. Look, Miyako-san, you're sweating from the heat, just like I was when I carried over forty kilograms of things earlier."
One bag of rice was a standard 15 kilograms, and the flour was 25 kilograms.
This didn't even include what Horikita herself had bought.
For a girl, being able to carry it back was already quite an accomplishment.
"Horikita-san, how about I treat you to pizza?"
Hearing "pizza," the expression on Horikita's face softened slightly.
"Then I'll eat a lot. Where are you going to buy it? I don't remember the cafeteria having pizza?"
Horikita put away the knife, intending to hand it to Amane.
"There's flour in the kitchen."
Click.
Amane seemed to hear a strange sound.
"If I'm not misunderstanding, Miyako-san, you mean... you're going to make me pizza from scratch, starting with kneading the dough?"
Horikita carefully and seriously confirmed with Amane.
"Mm-hmm, mine is really delicious, you know. Eh, Horikita-san, where are you going?"
"I still have some matters. Thank you for the hospitality, I'm leaving."
Horikita coldly went to the door, put on her shoes, and left.
Before Amane could even try to stop her, all that was left was the cold door.
"Does Horikita-san not like pizza?"
Amane felt a little regretful.
If she had known, she would have said dessert or something.
Well.
There's no such thing as a regret pill in this world.
Next, she would start decorating her little nest.
Amane was bustling with activity, tidying up her place.
Horikita's side, however, was quite desolate.
"How can my neighbor be such an idiot with no common sense? Sigh."
Horikita Suzune lay on the bed in her simple blue and white room.
She had been dead tired from the walk.
Even though she had trained a bit before, it was still a bit much for her.
But the physical fatigue would pass with some rest.
However, the mental torment Amane inflicted on her gave her a headache.
How do you make someone without common sense acquire common sense?
The answer is—give up trying.
Horikita Suzune drowsily drifted into slumber.
When she woke up again,...
But she was woken up by a knock on the door.
Horikita Suzune subconsciously picked up her phone and glanced at it.
"I actually slept for so long?"
It was already eight o'clock in the evening.
She had slept for almost eight hours.
It must be Miyako's fault!
"Who is it?"
Horikita came to the door and looked out through the peephole.
A silly-looking girl holding a small pot smiled at the peephole.
"It's Amane~"