...
Once back home, Saiki immediately took a shower, came out, sat on the sofa, turned on the TV, took out some coffee jelly, and started enjoying it.
[Yare yare, today was really exhausting. Went out to watch a movie and eat dessert, then got invited to a classmate's house for a huge meal, and after that I had to walk Shikimori-san home before coming back. Sigh, I'm seriously worn out.]
"Ding-dong… ding-dong"
[Coming.]
Saiki got up, walked to the door, paused for a second, then opened it.
[Shiina-san, is something the matter? Your foot shouldn't be healed yet, right?]
"Mm, it's pretty much better now. I can walk around already."
[No way. Even with the medicine, normally it should take three or four more days to heal.]
"Don't worry, Saiki-kun."
Shiina Mahiru held out a box of stew: "Saiki-kun, I made too much stew for dinner today and thought I'd bring some over to share with you. Do you want to try it?"
(Even though I already ate two hours ago, but…)
[Then thank you, Shiina-san.]
Saiki took the lunch box.
(Guess I'll have it as a late-night snack.)
"You're welcome. Then I'll head back now."
Shiina Mahiru watched Saiki accept it, then turned to leave after he closed the door, showing a pure smile that bloomed like a flower.
...…
Midday on the weekend, very relaxed. Saiki held a manga in one hand, flipping through it, while the other hand held just a pen, writing homework without even looking at the notebook.
[Weekend time: spend 10 minutes finishing homework, then enjoy the rest freely. This is the joy of the weekend.]
"Ding-dong… ding-dong"
Saiki opened the door.
[Shiina-san, why is it you again? Is something up?]
Shiina Mahiru broke into a smile: "Aren't you going to invite me in to sit for a bit?"
Saiki hesitated for 0.1 seconds before stepping aside. [Come in.]
"Then excuse me."
Saiki closed the door.
Shiina Mahiru sat on the sofa and spoke: "Saiki-kun, are you planning to go out again today like yesterday? Am I interrupting you?"
Saiki sat on the sofa and continued reading his manga. [No, I'm not going out today.]
"Yesterday you went out with Shikimori-san, right?"
(How do you know that?)
Saiki closed the manga. [Shiina-san, do you have something you want to say?]
Shiina Mahiru thought for a moment, then shook her head: "I don't really have anything. I just came to chat with my neighbor. Is that not okay? If Saiki-kun doesn't want to talk about it, that's fine. I won't force you."
Saiki thought about it.
[I went out with Shikimori-san and the others. There's nothing I don't want to say about it.]
Shiina Mahiru asked nervously: "Then what kind of relationship do you have with Shikimori-san? Are you two dating?"
[No, we're just classmates and friends.]
"So how do you feel about Shikimori-san, Saiki-kun?"
Shiina Mahiru continued asking: "It feels like the way Shikimori-san acts toward you isn't like an ordinary classmate, and it seems like Kubo-san is the same way too."
[This…]
Saiki scratched his head. What exactly is there to say about this?
[We're just classmates!]
"No other thoughts?"
[What other thoughts could there be?]
Shiina Mahiru seemed to breathe a sigh of relief: "I see. Now I understand."
"Actually, the reason I came to find you was also to ask if there's anything you need me to do. You've helped me so much, and I still want to repay the favor."
[No need. You already brought food yesterday. That can count as repayment.]
"How can that be? A life-saving favor can't just be repaid with one bowl of food…"
Saiki spread his hands like a little bear. [But I really don't need you to do anything.]
Shiina Mahiru looked around Saiki's home: "Then how about I help you clean the house?"
[My place is very clean. It doesn't need much cleaning. But if you want to clean it once and call that repayment, that works.]
"This…"
Of course Shiina Mahiru didn't want to repay everything with just one cleaning, but she still felt uneasy about it in her heart, and there was always this feeling…
"It's already midday, Saiki-kun. Have you eaten lunch yet?"
Saiki checked the time. It was past 11, about time for lunch.
Saiki walked to the kitchen and took out a bowl of rich beef instant noodles.
[I'm just about to eat now. Shiina-san, do you want some?]
Shiina Mahiru looked at Saiki in slight disbelief.
"No, Saiki-kun… I remember you're really good at cooking, right?"
[I'm decent. Is there a problem?]
"It's not a problem, but why are you eating instant noodles?"
[Because it's convenient!]
"I don't mean it like that. I mean, since you cook so well and handle ingredients so nicely, I thought you usually cook for yourself and don't eat this kind of thing. After all, it doesn't seem very nutritious."
Saiki picked up the kettle to boil water.
[That's true, but it's just lower in nutrition. And I'm usually too lazy to cook. I don't eat instant noodles every meal.]
(Back when I lived at home, I couldn't even eat instant noodles. Now that I'm out on my own, I definitely want to eat more. I think the flavors are really varied and delicious.)
(Your own cooking, no matter how good, gets tiring eventually.)
Shiina Mahiru grabbed the hand Saiki was using to hold the kettle, her eyes sparkling: "How about you don't eat it? I'll cook something for you instead."
Saiki gently pushed Shiina Mahiru's hand away. [No need, it's too much trouble. Instant noodles are fine.]
Shiina Mahiru refused to give up: "But instant noodles really aren't healthy, and they can easily breed bacteria and attract bugs."
Saiki chuckled. [Don't worry, Shiina-san! Bugs like that are absolutely impossible in my house. And I clean the trash every day.]
(How could there be bugs? There's no way I'd let something like that appear in my house. Absolutely not. I swear it's impossible.)
Shiina Mahiru saw how confident Saiki was and didn't say anything more. Then she noticed something black moving near Saiki's feet.
Shiina Mahiru couldn't help but point it out: "Um, Saiki-kun… there seems to be a cockroach by your foot…"
Saiki glanced over, then quickly looked away as if he'd seen something filthy.
(▔□▔)/(▔□▔)/(▔□▔)/
[Hm, yeah, it's a cockroach alright.]
Saiki: ...
[Nani!!!]
Saiki barely held back the urge to teleport to Malaysia and "slowly" ran behind Shiina Mahiru.
[How is this possible? I just cleaned yesterday, and I've only eaten two buckets of instant noodles.]
Shiina Mahiru looked a little surprised at Saiki, whose face stayed calm but whose body was trembling slightly and betraying him.
"Saiki-kun, no way… are you scared of cockroaches?"
[Scared? How could I be scared? I just find this kind of thing a little gross. It's not fear, just purely that this thing is disgusting.]
Even though Saiki explained calmly, the slight trembling in his legs still gave him away.