The Gal Next to Me Is Trying Too Hard to Make Me Fall in Love With Her
“Wow! Amazing!”
Today’s dinner fills the table.
White rice, miso soup, simmered daikon radish, boiled eggplant, and ginger-fried pork. It seemed a little brown, so I prepared shredded cabbage and tomatoes to accompany the ginger-fried pork.
Seeing this, Amagi reacted enthusiastically.
Her eyes sparkled as if she were a starving dog about to pounce on her food.
“Are you forcing yourself to be happy? If you’re trying to be considerate of me…”
“Of course not! Have more confidence in yourself, Saeki!”
She looked back and forth between the food and me, her red eyes shining brightly.
Her heavy breathing showed that she was eager to eat.
“Well then… I’ll dig in!”
“Let’s eat!”
Her voice was cheerful, but her hands were polite.
There was a certain elegance to the way she picked up her chopsticks, and her eating manners were beautiful.
Is this how you eat, Amagi-san?
“What’s the matter? Saeki, aren’t you looking at me too much?”
“Ah! I’m sorry! Your eating manners were so elegant that I couldn’t help but…”
“Really? Well, it’s better to be neat than messy. Do you dislike it, Saeki?”
“Not at all! I actually like it!”
Saying that, I despaired at my own clumsiness with words.
Amagi blushed as I turned pale. She blinked rapidly, opened her mouth slightly, and froze.
“No, that’s not it! It’s more like there’s a gap between your appearance and your behavior, or something like that! Good manners aren’t something you can learn overnight, so I think it’s amazing that you’re working so hard to improve yourself!”
“Well, it’s not just about studying, but don’t keep praising the weird parts! Ugh, I’m so embarrassed… I’m really not used to hearing that kind of thing…”
She glared at me with half-closed eyes, but her expression seemed somehow happy.
She ate the pork ginger stir-fry, ate the rice, swallowed, sipped the miso soup, and cleared her throat. Her cheeks still felt warm.
“Alright, now it’s my turn! Come on, Saeki, don’t be shy!”
“Huh?”
“Saeki’s cooking is so delicious! It’s so amazing, I thought it was from a restaurant! Especially this radish simmered in soy sauce, chilled in the refrigerator, the flavor soaked in, and the rice goes perfectly with it! I can’t eat anyone else’s cooking anymore!”
“…Ah, thank you.”
Meals at my parents’ house are like a war.
Five younger siblings who are always hungry. Three older siblings who act however they want. They’ll do anything to fill their stomachs.
So, it’s been a while since someone praised my cooking to my face like this.
It’s annoying to be told to blush and then actually blush, but I’m happy nonetheless.
There’s no helping it.
“Ahhh I can’t do this!! Seriously I can’t do this!!~~~~”
“What!? What’s wrong!?”
I thought she was praising me, but now she’s covering her face with both hands and starting to cry.
Confused by her sudden change in mood, I raise my voice.
“The face of someone I love when they’re happy is too precious!! This isn’t a counterattack!! I’m just getting beaten up!!”
“Even if you say that…”
“…Alright, let’s take it off. Then Saeki will blush too…”
“I-If you do that, you don’t get dessert!”
“There’s dessert too!?”
“I made some pudding on a whim yesterday… Want to eat it later?”
“Yeah!!”
She was full of energy and smiling broadly.
However, her eating manners remained refined, and she smiled and said, “It’s delicious!” every now and then.
I can’t help but keep my eyes on her instead of my own meal.
“I have a great idea. When we get married, let’s open a store together!”
“Guh!? Guh-guh!! Married… Stop saying weird jokes out of the blue!”
The heart-stopping words made me choke.
I tried to take a sip of tea to calm down, but “I’m not joking,” … Oh, my clothes are soaked.
“Um… I know I may be repeating myself, but are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“What?”
“I understand that you fell in love with me because I saved you. But Amagi san, you don’t know anything about me, do you? Yet you’re clingy, saying you love me, and even coming into my room… There’s a possibility that I could be the kind of person who would take advantage of your feelings, right?”
When I said that, Amagi’s eyes widened in surprise.
But in the next moment, she regained her usual smile, revealing her confident white teeth.
“That’s right, I don’t know anything about you. But isn’t that something to look forward to?”
“Look forward to?”
When I asked her that, Amagi put down her chopsticks and came closer to me on all fours.
She reached out her hand, and her fingertips touched my mouth.
Her index finger wiped away a grain of rice that was stuck to my cheek. She licked it off and smiled innocently.
“From now on, I’ll be able to find lots of things I like about Saeki and like him even more, right?”
I was speechless in the face of her dazzlingly positive thinking.
I was simply happy to be liked by someone who could say such things to my face, and my face grew hot. I clenched my teeth in defiance, but I couldn’t help but look away in embarrassment.
“Ahh, blushing! Saeki, you’re blushing!”
“Is that bad? Anyone would blush if they were told something like that!”
“Hehehe~♡ I win~♡”
She tapped my cheek with her index finger.
“Anyway, if you were the kind of person who would take advantage of someone’s feelings, I wouldn’t be worried about that. At that point, I already knew you were a kind person!”
“…Can I trust you? All men are beasts.”
“Oh, then after dinner, I’ll take a shower and be ready. I’ll go get some clean underwear first!”
“Lightweight!? Please have a little more modesty!”
“Turn off the lights please…♡”
“That’s not the kind of modesty I’m talking about!”
I slurp my miso soup while glaring at Amagi, who laughs like a bell ringing.
It’s a completely different meal from the war-like meals at my parents’ house, just a fun and warm time.
I’ve been eating dinner alone for the past six months, so this time feels even more comfortable.
“Just so you know…”
“Yes?”
“It’s only light for Saeki, okay? I’ve never done it before, you know?”
“I-I don’t know anything about that!”
“I’ll give it all to Saeki for the first time—♡”
If this keeps up… I wonder how long I can keep my sanity.
Maiban