Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari
----------
However, Akira still decisively put down his spoon.
Kushida naturally noticed. She'd ordered herself a room-temperature mango juice and was leisurely sipping it through a straw.
'It's too cold to bear, isn't it!'
She'd specifically brought Akira here to see him squirm.
She just hadn't expected him to stop after only two or three bites. He was far too easily teased.
'Scrub! What a little scrub!'
"Only seven minutes left, Shimizu-kun, hurry up," Kushida glanced at the countdown timer on the table, then at the almost untouched parfait cup in front of him, her voice betraying an undeniable urgency.
Akira shook his head, tapping the rim of the cup with his fingertip. "Let's just pay the points honestly. After all, it's a couple's set, and generally, a normal person can't finish it within the time limit. Over a thousand points, I can afford it."
'He's giving up already?'
Kushida muttered to herself.
Eating just a few bites of parfait, how is that a punishment?
She hadn't had enough of his pained expression, where he wanted to endure but couldn't.
'Now that I think about it, Shimizu shouldn't be short on points, right?'
She suddenly remembered that she'd given him eighty thousand points last month—in other words, he wouldn't possibly force himself to finish it just to avoid paying.
"Kushida-san, so, you really want me to finish this parfait?" Akira suddenly spoke, his tone as flat as if he were talking about the weather.
'He figured it out? Well, he's not an idiot.'
'There's no benefit to eating ice cream, so why go all out?'
Kushida froze, her gaze instinctively sweeping over the countdown—only six minutes left.
She couldn't help but lower her head, her expression suddenly changing.
'Could it be that he wants me to offer a prize?'
'He must mean that!'
'This guy! He really won't do anything without a benefit!'
'I've already come out on a date with you, aren't you satisfied?'
'No, this time I have to make him eat until he's stuck in the restroom for half a day!'
She'd already made up her mind to make him eat the entire parfait—who told him to get so carried away recently, daring to say that "she was very kind to him"?
But clearly, he wasn't a fool. He wouldn't do anything without an extra benefit.
At this point, she could only go all out and offer some bait.
"Shimizu-kun, if you eat all the parfait... I can let you have a lap pillow for three minutes." She deliberately put on a shy expression, her voice timid, but her peripheral vision was fixed on the time on the table—only five minutes left.
'Five minutes! I don't believe you can finish it!'
'This guy must like me a little. If I offer the lap pillow bait, he'll definitely try his best!'
Sure enough, as soon as she finished speaking, she saw Akira freeze for a moment.
But the next second, what he said nearly made her explode with anger on the spot.
"Kushida-san, why are you rewarding me again?" Akira's tone seemed genuine, carrying real confusion. "You've already done enough for me. There's no need for this."
'! When did I ever reward him?'
'No way? Could there really be someone who can finish such a huge parfait in five minutes?'
She was lowering her head, secretly sneering, when she heard a "slurp slurp" sound of swallowing.
Looking up, Kushida was stunned again.
Akira had, at some point, picked up the largest spoon and was stuffing parfait into his mouth at an almost mechanical speed.
The pace of his eating was as fast as a competitive eater on TV, so exaggerated that she forgot to blink.
At least in reality, she'd never seen anyone eat ice cream like that.
"D-don't you feel cold? Doesn't your head hurt?!" She couldn't help but speak, her voice a little tight.
"Hmm... I'm fine." He immediately put down the spoon, his tone unbelievably calm. "It was quite cold at first, but my body has adapted to this temperature. Eating this in summer is actually quite refreshing."
'Is this guy serious? What does he mean his body has adapted?!'
She stared at his actions and realized he wasn't faking it—he was stuffing such large mouthfuls of ice cream into his mouth without even a frown.
'What kind of physical condition is this? Is this guy really a normal person? Now that I think about it, he really does wake up at 5:30 every day to exercise and run every day.'
When Horikita mentioned this last month, she was half-skeptical.
But she herself woke up early and took time to get ready. Every day, looking down from her window, she could always see Akira's figure on the track.
Rain or shine, ten laps a day.
In fact, these past few days, she'd developed a habit—the first thing she did when she opened her curtains in the morning was to see if he was there.
'Exercising... it seems to be somewhat useful? No! It's incredibly useful!'
'But it shouldn't have no side effects at all, allowing him to eat so aggressively!'
She remembered that when she ate ice cream, she always took small sips, and it would take her half a day to recover after one bite.
Looking at the scene before her now, she suddenly found it a bit unbelievable.
'Could it be that he deliberately bribed the waiter to cheat?'
As soon as this thought popped up, Kushida herself froze—if it were anyone else, she definitely wouldn't think that, but it was Akira.
Perhaps this wasn't some legitimate cold drink at all, but a tampered "fake ice cream." As for why it could remain solid, it was simply because some strange ingredients had been added.
The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. She simply picked up her own spoon and dug a small scoop from the rim of the cup, putting it in her mouth.
'So cold—! Damn it! What kind of shoddy shop is this? Why is it so much colder than the ice cream I usually eat!'
The icy sensation instantly shot from her tongue to the top of her head. She couldn't help but curse under her breath, her temples throbbing. She instinctively raised a hand to rub them.
The coldness of this parfait was clearly off the charts.
Kushida then fully understood that the shop's "eat-for-free" promotion was entirely intentional—who could wolf down such freezing ice shards?
'Black-hearted shop! They never intended for anyone to get it for free! It's freezing me! No, I have to give it a one-star bad review later!'
"Hm?" Akira across from her seemed to notice her action, stopping his spoon and looking over.
"Didn't you say you were feeling unwell and couldn't eat ice cream?"
"Uh... I couldn't resist a tiny bite, you know." Kushida immediately put on a wronged expression, like a kitten caught in the act, her fingers still clutching the spoon she hadn't put down.
"Oh, then be careful not to get a stomachache." Akira's tone was unreadable as he lowered his head and scooped another spoonful of parfait.
"It should be fine, I only had a tiny bite." She quickly waved her hand, then couldn't help but caution, "You, on the other hand, Shimizu-kun, eating so fast, be careful not to chill your stomach."
"Don't worry about me." Akira swallowed the ice shards in his mouth, speaking with a slight mist in his breath. "I've never been sick in my life. A minor ailment like a stomachache simply won't bother me."
As he said this, he brought another large mouthful to his mouth with the spoon, his expression unchanging.
Kushida watched the curve of his Adam's apple as he swallowed, and suddenly felt that his statement "never been sick" might not be an exaggeration—at least, his cold tolerance was indeed beyond what a normal person could achieve.
Why did she have another bad feeling?