In his "previous life," Kobayashi had long been used to living alone. He had all the basic life skills maxed out—maybe not on the level of a professional housekeeper, but more than enough to take care of himself.
Now, with a ridiculously convenient superpower like telekinesis to assist him, housework wasn't just effortless—it was actually kind of fun. There was even a sense of novelty to it that he found himself enjoying.
As a result, in just a single week, Yomikawa Aiho had become completely dependent on Kobayashi in terms of daily life. Rather than looking like a guardian taking care of a child, it felt more like she'd hired a live-in caretaker for herself.
Even he couldn't help but feel as though the roles were reversed, and he was the one looking after a girl who couldn't live independently at all…Early Friday morning, Kobayashi got up right on time to make breakfast.
With telekinesis as such a handy support ability, he wasn't afraid of complicated dishes at all. In fact, he enjoyed trying out all kinds of elaborate recipes.
The night before, he had already prepared dumplings and soup, and had even used the apartment's various high-tech kitchen appliances to grind fresh soy milk. With all the ingredients prepped in advance, all he needed to do this morning was turn on the stove and start cooking—efficient and stress-free.
Incidentally, the kitchen appliances in the apartment had been specially sponsored by a research manufacturer, purely to collect user feedback. However, Yomikawa Aiho—accustomed to doing everything with a rice cooker—had never really used any of this high-tech equipment. It had all been left in a corner of the kitchen, gathering dust.
Now, however, Kobayashi had grown dissatisfied with just stir-frying and had set his sights on that pile of intimidating-looking machines. After a few days of tinkering, reading the manuals, and checking online tutorials, he had more or less figured out what each piece of equipment did and how to use it.
Among them, he found a compact dough-kneading machine and decided to challenge himself by making authentic hand-pulled noodles for lunch.
If the experiment was a success, he could let Yomikawa Aiho try some when she got home that evening.
While planning out the day's menu, Kobayashi swapped out the steamer trays. Due to limited space, home kitchen equipment tended to be on the small side, so to make enough soup dumplings, he would need to steam them in two batches.
After all, both people in this household were big eaters. Yomikawa Aiho might be a woman, but as a security officer and P.E. teacher, her energy expenditure was enormous. She could put away staggering amounts of food—especially when it was something he had cooked. During the first couple of days, he hadn't even managed to feed himself properly.
Lin Wang's current body belonged to a fourteen-year-old boy in the middle of a growth spurt. His stomach was a bottomless pit, which was precisely why he'd become so interested in cooking.
While steaming the buns, he used the coffee machine to heat soy milk, and at the same time, heated oil to pan-fry the dumplings.
Half an hour later, breakfast was ready.
Yomikawa Aiho still hadn't gotten up.
After checking the time, Kobayashi took out an oversized insulated lunch box and packed it while everything was still hot—half soup dumplings, half pan-fried dumplings. Then he filled a thermos with the freshly made "white coffee."
This was meant to be Yomikawa Aiho's lunch, which was why the portions were so enormous.
By the time he finished, it was already close to seven o'clock.
Kobayashi maneuvered his wheelchair to the door of Yomikawa Aiho's bedroom.
"Come to think of it, she's a P.E. teacher," he muttered. "She shouldn't need to be at school that early, right?"
As if responding to him, a scream suddenly rang out from inside the room.
"I'm late!!!"
Kobayashi quickly rolled back to give space. The door flew open, and a figure in pajamas, hair in complete disarray, burst out like a gust of wind.
"Morning, Nana-Kun!" Yomikawa Aiho greeted him when she saw the boy at the door, then immediately complained loudly, "Why didn't you wake me up?!"
"Does your school have P.E. classes first thing in the morning?" Kobayashi asked.
"It's not school—it's the security unit!" Yomikawa Aiho shouted as she whirlwinded into the bathroom.
In Academy City, the security forces were actually made up of volunteers. Strictly speaking, it was a part-time job; all security officers had teaching as their primary profession.
Among them, P.E. teachers and life-skills teachers were the most common, since their teaching load was relatively light.
Only they had enough time and energy to carry out security duties without interfering with their main teaching responsibilities.
Yomikawa Aiho was a textbook example. Precisely because she didn't have a first-period P.E. class in the morning, all the early-day tasks ended up falling to her.
Things like directing traffic during the morning rush hour, for instance.
From that, it was clear just how demanding the job of a security teacher really was—and why their generous benefits were fully deserved.
Yomikawa Aiho was clearly in a hurry. It took her less than five minutes to wash up. She didn't even have time to eat breakfast; after changing clothes, she was ready to dash out the door.
Kobayashi sighed, packed her breakfast into a disposable paper bag, and handed it to her along with the insulated lunch box.
"Oh!!! This is amazing! Thank you so much, Nana-kun!" Yomikawa Aiho was deeply moved. "I really couldn't manage without you!"
"Instead of thanking me," Kobayashi said, "you should stop staying up late and get up on time next time."
Last night—no, early this morning—they'd stayed up gaming until well past three A.M.
"By the way, we were both up until three," Yomikawa Aiho asked while putting on her shoes at the entryway, puzzled. "How are you even awake? Don't tell me you didn't sleep at all?"
"No, I slept," Kobayashi replied. "I'm probably just better at pulling all-nighters. And I can always catch up on sleep during the day. You, on the other hand—working so hard every day and still staying up late to play games—you really need to be careful not to wreck your health."
"Don't worry, this was just a moment of carelessness. Your big sister here is still young!" Yomikawa Aiho said as she opened the door and rushed off in a flurry.
Kobayashi returned to the living room, turned on the TV to the morning news, and ate breakfast by himself.
Since moving into Yomikawa Aiho's place, he hadn't stepped outside the apartment building even once. But with plenty to keep him busy, he hadn't felt bored, and staying indoors suited him just fine.
Absentmindedly watching the TV, Kobayashi thought, Maybe I should go out for a walk sometime? School's starting soon—at least I should scout the route ahead of time.
He had already come to deeply understand just how severe his "hopelessly bad sense of direction" was. Even taking a stroll inside the apartment building, he could get lost. The last time, he'd had to go door to door before finally finding his way home.
Since then, Kobayashi had spent three full days familiarizing himself with the building's layout and pathways. He felt that the timing was about right.
It was time to venture outside.
(End of Chapter)
If you like reading this, why not join my Patreon 30 Chapters Ahead
https://patreon.com/Omarfome