"Saiki-kun, where did you go just now?"
[I went to pay respects to the heavens and thank the gods for no rain, so we could enjoy playing outside today.]
Shikimori nodded in agreement, then immediately clasped her hands together on the spot and bowed toward the sky.
"Thank you, heavens. Thank you, gods. The weather is clear today..."
...
(You don't have to actually thank them. This... feels like an indirect way of thanking me.)
After finishing her bow, Shikimori smoothed her hair back into place.
"Okay, so next..."
Inuzuka Shu's eyes turned fierce as drool dripped from his mouth while he answered first: "Next... let's barbecue!!"
Nekozaki Kyo struck the same ferocious expression and wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth: "I didn't even eat breakfast, especially!"
Pic of the ferocious duo →
Note: The artist decided to post more pictures often because with so many characters, people might forget who is who, so more pics will help everyone remember.
[Look at how desperate the kids are—their tears are flowing uncontrollably from the corners of their mouths.]
Hachimitsu Yui: "Drool, drool..."
Izumi: "Beasts!"
"Haha... haha!"
Shikimori gave an awkward laugh from the side.
"Time to eat!!!"
(We haven't even started yet.)
A moment later, after everyone set up the grill, they took out the vegetables and laid them on the table.
Nekozaki Kyo happily pulled out a plate of meat slices: "Look, look! This is the meat I waited for on sale at the supermarket to buy!"
[You waited a long time, huh!]
Inuzuka Shu: "Oh, not bad. Looks good."
Hearing the praise, Nekozaki Kyo's face lit up even more: "Praise me more!"
Hachimitsu Yui: "Oh—really nice, really nice."
...
Everyone prepared the knives and cutting boards, separating the vegetables and meat.
Izumi: "Alright, let's divide up the work and cooperate from here!"
"Got it!"
Inuzuka Shu grabbed a kitchen knife first. His eyes and expression turned confident, his aura like that of a samurai in ancient times facing off in a duel. He picked up an onion and stabbed straight down from the front. Juice slowly flowed from the tip of the cut.
"Ah!!"
The whole sequence left Nekozaki Kyo's heart pounding in shock. Her expression was like that of a witness watching a murderer finish off a victim.
Nekozaki Kyo scolded: "With skills like yours, how dare you pull out a knife so confidently!!"
Inuzuka Shu got lectured and, for a moment, couldn't respond. He awkwardly said: "I thought in this situation I could handle it..."
[Yare yare daze. This scene feels way too familiar, like I've seen it somewhere before.]
Saiki held another onion and, watching the scene in front of him, recalled a certain purple-haired person holding a knife and grinning at him.
Hachimitsu Yui held up a peeled corn like a reporter's microphone for a live broadcast: "The suspect confesses honestly!"
Inuzuka Shu heard the slander and turned to say: "Don't say it like that—"
The spinning knife tip as he turned scared Nekozaki Kyo half to death. She immediately snatched the knife from Inuzuka Shu's hand, pushed him to the seat for people who can't cook and are just here to eat, and settled him down.
"We'll handle it. You just sit here and wait!"
Izumi then took out a knife and volunteered: "Then leave it to me!"
That one sentence made everyone's hearts pound even harder in fear.
Nekozaki Kyo: "There's an even more dangerous person here!"
Hachimitsu Yui: "Is this hell?"
Inuzuka Shu: "Izumi! Maybe don't... Just let Saiki do it. I remember he can cook..."
Shikimori whispered to Saiki beside her: "Hey! Saiki, you should talk Izumi out of it too!"
[Calm down. It's fine.]
Saiki had known for a while that Izumi could cook. His skills weren't as good as Saiki's family's, but they were still decent. He wouldn't end up cutting his finger or anything like that—at least, that wouldn't happen.
But while Saiki knew, the others didn't. They were terrified of Izumi handling a knife!
"Izumi, no!"
"God bless us."
Even Shikimori, standing nearby watching, got scared.
Under everyone's fearful persuasion, Izumi started slicing the onion with clean, practiced movements. Everyone saw how easily he did it and immediately knew he cooked at home often.
"So Izumi, you can cook."
Izumi, happy to be able to help everyone, said: "I help out at home a lot. I can make most dishes!"
Saiki said to the surprised Shikimori beside him:
[See? I told you it was fine.]
"Yeah."
Inuzuka Shu: "Saiki, you jerk! You knew from the start that Izumi could cook!"
[I knew, so that's why I said it was fine from the beginning. Alright, division of labor, division of labor.]
Saiki picked up another knife and started on the eggplant and green peppers.
Nekozaki Kyo: "That's rare. I thought Saiki was the only guy who could cook. Didn't expect Izumi could too!"
Izumi: "It's nothing special. My cooking isn't as good as Saiki-kun's level."
(You haven't even seen me cook and you're already praising me like that!)
"Guys who can cook get major points. They must be super popular!"
Inuzuka Shu casually said: "But Saiki's already popular enough. Remember last time he made a bento for that Kubo classmate? And it's not just her—there are other girls he's close with, like Hideyoshi-kun too..."
[I repeat once again: Hideyoshi is a guy.]
While Inuzuka Shu was talking, he suddenly felt an intimidating pressure and saw Shikimori glaring fiercely at him.
"I... Did I say something wrong!"
(You were wrong to open your mouth at all.)
Shikimori [In girls' conversations, Saiki really is quite popular. A lot of girls in class say that if Saiki could just drop that gloomy, aloof personality, they'd want to confess to him.]
(Oh? Then I'll have to keep it up from now on.)
Actually, even though classmates said that, there were other aspects. For example, in the girls' mouths, Saiki was also seen as a bit of a problem child type—because he hung out with Akihisa and the others.
...
With everyone's cooperation, the ingredients were quickly cut. They started the fire, skewered the meat and veggies, and began barbecuing.
Saiki took the drink Hachimitsu Yui handed him, sat to the side, and watched their barbecue while resting.
(Well... it's a bit of a hassle, but doing this once in a while isn't bad.)
Inuzuka Shu kept adding more meat to the grill: "Add a bit more."
"Good idea."
[Don't let the meat burn.]
"Don't worry, Saiki-kun!"
Izumi took on the role of barbecue master over there.
Saiki turned to look at Shikimori, who was still fiddling with ingredients nearby.
Shikimori [I want to make delicious food for Saiki to eat too, to prove my cooking is good.]
(I'm not a guinea pig.)
Saiki felt a little scared. After all, there had been cases before where a girl made food for a guy and it turned out awful. Just take some random example—like that one time Himeji made normal-looking food, but when eaten it was...
(But it's fine. Shikimori-san's cooking level should be good. The bento she mentioned making herself before looked pretty decent.)
Shikimori [Back when I ate with Saiki, I accidentally lied and said the bento was homemade. It was actually my brother's. Even if Saiki praised it, it wasn't really mine. I'm still not satisfied. I want to make Saiki say it's delicious with my own strength.]
Saiki: ._.
...