Watching Yui Yuigahama cheer so excitedly, Kotomi Izumi sighed helplessly. Only then did she remember why she had come to Yui's bedroom in the first place.
"Let's put that aside for now. Have you seen my clothes? I remember throwing them on your bedroom floor yesterday afternoon," Kotomi Izumi asked.
"Kotomi, these pajamas look really good on you."
Yui Yuigahama might be a little airheaded, but she was not always stupid. The moment she heard Kotomi asking about her clothes, she naturally guessed that Kotomi was planning to change and go home.
Yui still wanted Kotomi to stay at her house for another night, so she deliberately tried a tiny scheme and pretended not to understand.
Unfortunately, the dumpling was not cunning to begin with. Even after working hard to come up with something that could barely be called a scheme, she still could not hide it from Kotomi at all.
Kotomi Izumi immediately heard the tiny ulterior motive hidden in Yui's words.
So much so that Kotomi almost did not have the heart to expose the little scheme Yui had struggled so hard to come up with.
For such an innocent, silly dumpling, managing even this much scheming had already required tremendous effort.
Normally, Kotomi Izumi might have pretended not to notice and simply stayed at Yui's house for another day. Then, when it was time for school the next morning, she could get up a little earlier and go home to pick up her schoolbag.
But not this time.
She had already been away from home for an entire day. Even though she had called home last night, Aimi was definitely extremely unhappy by now.
Kotomi had long since sensed Aimi's feelings toward her and understood them perfectly well. She simply felt that now was not the best time to respond to those feelings.
The biggest reason was that Kotomi worried responding to Aimi now might affect her high school entrance examination results.
Kotomi Izumi naturally knew that after she had been away from home for an entire day, Aimi had to be feeling extremely unhappy.
If she still did not go home today, then when Monday came, Kotomi would have to face Aimi's "wrath."
Even if it was not actual fiery anger, Aimi would definitely act aggrieved and sulk at Kotomi for a while.
Thinking of that, Kotomi Izumi firmed up her decision to go home. She spun lightly in front of Yui, as though what she was wearing was not an ordinary pair of pajamas but some magnificent outfit.
"I think these pajamas suit me too. But no, I'm planning to go home in a little while. I'll leave these pajamas here and wear them again the next time I come over."
"Stay one more night... Last night you slept with Yuka. You didn't even sleep with me..."
After realizing that Kotomi had seen through her little scheme, Yui Yuigahama lowered her head with an aggrieved expression and quietly pleaded with her.
If I sleep with you tonight, there's no way I'll be able to walk normally tomorrow morning... Kotomi Izumi thought, the corner of her mouth twitching.
"All right, all right. I know you're still feeling wronged because of that, but the last few times I stayed over, I slept with you."
"Yuka has wanted to sleep with me for ages. As her future sister-in-law, I couldn't exactly refuse a request like that, could I?"
Kotomi Izumi stroked Yui Yuigahama's head as she comforted her.
After Kotomi explained it that way, Yui Yuigahama, who had been getting a little hung up on the matter, finally nodded. She reached out and hugged Kotomi, though her voice still carried a trace of grievance.
"You promised, okay? Next Tuesday, you're coming to my house again."
When she remembered that Kotomi had just said she would let her "eat meat" again next Tuesday, a little anticipation crept into Yui's voice.
"Okay, okay. I'm someone who always keeps my promises. If I've agreed to something, I definitely won't go back on my word."
Kotomi Izumi hugged Yui back and patted her on the back reassuringly.
Yui held Kotomi for a long while before reluctantly letting go. Then she got out of bed and walked toward the wardrobe while telling Kotomi where her clothes were.
"I folded your clothes last night and put them in the wardrobe."
After saying that, Yui Yuigahama opened the wardrobe and carefully carried Kotomi's clothes out with both hands.
Her top, skirt, and stockings were all folded perfectly neatly.
They were arranged so carefully that, to Yui, these few garments hardly seemed like ordinary clothes at all. They looked more like incomparably precious treasures!
When Kotomi Izumi saw that the clothes she had casually tossed onto the floor yesterday afternoon had been carefully folded by Yui, the corners of her lips curved upward.
She felt happy inside, though she still could not resist saying,
"You silly dumpling. You could've just hung them on hangers. Why did you fold them so carefully? I can't even remember the last time I folded my clothes this neatly."
After all, most of the time, Aimi was the one who folded Kotomi's clothes for her.
"Hehehe, it wasn't a big deal. It didn't take that long."
After receiving Kotomi's praise, Yui Yuigahama giggled happily.
Even though it had only been a casual compliment from Kotomi, to Yui it felt like an incomparably precious gift.
She even thought somewhat self-consciously, Am I really as good as Kotomi says I am?
By this point, Kotomi Izumi had changed out of the pajamas and put her own clothes back on.
She had originally intended to leave immediately, but then she remembered that Mrs. Yuigahama, Yui, and Yuka had not eaten breakfast yet. So she said to Yui,
"Yui, what do you want for breakfast? Aunt Tomoka probably isn't awake yet, and Yuka will definitely be hungry once she gets up. I'll make breakfast."
Yui Yuigahama froze for a moment after hearing that, then hurriedly responded as though she had been granted some tremendous favor.
"I-I-I-I-I-I... I'll make breakfast! Kotomi, you don't need to do it yourself. What do you want to eat for breakfast?"
"Silly dumpling, don't take the question I asked you and throw it back at me. I said I'm making breakfast, so I'm the one making breakfast today."
Kotomi Izumi spoke with a hint of domineering insistence. Then she gave a wicked grin and added half-jokingly,
"Of course, if you keep refusing, I'll just assume you don't like the breakfast I make. In that case, I guess I'll have no choice but to go straight home."
"Ah... Just thinking about it makes me so sad. I've always been pretty confident in my cooking. I never thought Yui might actually dislike it~"
Kotomi Izumi deliberately kept her voice aggrieved as she spoke. Afterward, she even wiped the corner of her eye with the back of her hand, pretending to brush away tears that did not exist.
But Yui actually took Kotomi's words seriously!
Or rather, Yui believed every single thing Kotomi said because she trusted Kotomi one hundred percent.
Chapter 1375: Seriously Working on Her Deadline
"N-No, that's not what I meant! I only said I'd make breakfast myself because I didn't want you to tire yourself out, Kotomi," Yui Yuigahama hurriedly said, shaking her head.
After hearing that, Kotomi Izumi smiled and lightly tapped Yui on the forehead, teasing her.
"If you don't want me getting tired, then eat a little less meat~"
"Hehehe..."
Hearing Kotomi say that, Yui Yuigahama gave an embarrassed giggle.
"All right, I'm going downstairs to make breakfast. What do you want?" Kotomi Izumi asked.
"Tamagoyaki."
"Will tamagoyaki alone really fill you up? How about adding some miso ramen?"
"Okay!"
Yui Yuigahama nodded, filled with anticipation.
She had eaten Kotomi's cooking before. Only someone who had tasted Kotomi's food could understand how difficult it was to stop thinking about her cooking afterward.
Kotomi Izumi went down to the first-floor kitchen. After putting some water on to boil, she turned toward the refrigerator to get several eggs.
Generally speaking, miso ramen required pork-bone broth. But when making miso ramen at home, people sometimes did not have enough time to prepare pork-bone stock from scratch.
Because of that, a Japanese food company had made the pork-bone broth used in miso ramen into concentrated soup cubes.
When making miso ramen, all you had to do was put one of those pork-bone-flavored soup cubes into the pot beforehand, and the broth would taste fairly similar to actual pork-bone stock.
Of course, if you tasted it carefully, you could still tell the difference between concentrated soup cubes and stock that had been properly simmered.
But those soup cubes existed specifically to save time. You gained something and lost something.
If they truly tasted identical to the broth served by ramen shops, then there probably would not be many ramen shops left patiently simmering their own stock. Wouldn't it be easier just to throw a soup cube into the pot?
Kotomi Izumi knew how to prepare the pork-bone stock required for miso ramen.
The problem was that simmering pork-bone broth simply took far too much time.
If they wanted to eat breakfast quickly, using a concentrated soup cube was much more suitable.
As Kotomi Izumi gradually became more skilled at cooking, her habits in the kitchen changed as well.
In the past, she would always finish one dish before starting another because she was terrified that if she got flustered, she might accidentally add salt to something that needed sugar, or perhaps burn a pan.
Now that her cooking skills had steadily improved, Kotomi had begun trying to prepare two dishes simultaneously.
At first, she had worried whether she would be able to keep up with everything.
But now that she actually tried it, well... there had been absolutely no reason to worry. The moment she started, everything came naturally.
Before long, the tamagoyaki and miso ramen were ready.
"Yui, breakfast is ready."
As Kotomi Izumi spoke, she carried the plate of tamagoyaki to the dining table.
"The ramen is already in the bowls. I used shiitake mushrooms, carrot slices, chashu, fish cake, and eggs for the toppings."
"Be careful when you carry the bowls, okay? Don't burn your hands," Kotomi Izumi reminded her.
"Mm-hmm, I understand."
Yui Yuigahama nodded.
She carefully carried Kotomi's bowl of ramen to the dining table first, then went back for her own.
There was actually quite a bit of food in the Yuigahama family's refrigerator.
But considering Kotomi's appetite, it really was not that much.
To avoid the awkward situation of accidentally eating more than half the contents of the Yuigahama family's refrigerator in a single morning, Kotomi Izumi deliberately restrained herself during breakfast and did not eat very much.
After finishing three bowls of miso ramen, Kotomi Izumi put down her chopsticks.
Yui happened to finish eating at around the same time.
"Yui, I'm heading home now," Kotomi Izumi said.
"I'll see you off."
Yui Yuigahama stood up and escorted Kotomi to the front door.
"Then I'll be going. There's still ramen broth left in the pot. Once Aunt Tomoka and Yuka wake up, make two bowls of ramen for them."
"You know how to make ramen, right?"
"If the broth is already prepared, then yes," Yui Yuigahama said with a nod.
From this alone, it was clear that miso ramen itself was not particularly difficult to prepare.
The only troublesome part was the pork-bone stock that it required.
After saying goodbye to Yui, Kotomi Izumi went straight home.
After greeting her father and mother, who were eating breakfast in the kitchen, Kotomi Izumi headed upstairs.
The moment Kotomi pushed open the door to her bedroom, sure enough, Aimi was still sleeping in her room.
Kotomi Izumi smiled faintly at the sight.
She figured that if Aimi really liked sleeping in her room that much, she would simply stop caring about it. Aimi could stay there for as long as she wanted.
Besides, Kotomi had a girlfriend now, so under normal circumstances she no longer needed to watch adult videos late at night.
Naturally, that also meant she no longer had to worry about Aimi staying in her room and making it impossible for her to watch adult videos at night.
Kotomi Izumi quietly entered the bedroom and glanced at Aimi, who was still sleeping soundly on the bed.
Then she started thinking about what she had planned for today.
—Work on her manuscript.
The only thing Kotomi Izumi could currently think of doing today was working on her manuscript.
Of course, there was also the possibility that while working, her attention would slip for just one second and she would suddenly start playing Monster Hunter.
Games like Monster Hunter, APEX, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel were especially dangerous because once she started playing them, it was extremely easy to lose track of time.
She might originally open one of them intending to play for just a little while, distract herself, and relax.
But then she would get increasingly absorbed in the game, and by the time she came back to her senses, several hours would have passed while her manuscript had not progressed in the slightest.
"This is the first time I've ever asked Editor Asuka to let me delay a deadline. I should hurry up and finish drawing the latest chapter of Chainsaw Man."
"Otherwise, if the next deadline arrives and I still haven't finished Chapter 8, Editor Asuka might lock me in a little dark room and force me to work on it until I'm done."
Kotomi Izumi muttered helplessly to herself as she changed out of her clothes and put on her pajamas.
Since she had decided to stay home and work on her manuscript all day, that also meant she had no intention of going outside.
She might as well change into pajamas in advance.
After putting on her pajamas, Kotomi Izumi turned on her computer.
Relying on her formidable willpower, she managed to stop her mouse from clicking on Steam.
She connected her drawing tablet, adjusted herself into a comfortable sitting position, and confidently declared inwardly,
All right, I'm going to work hard now. Ideally, I'll spend the entire day getting Chapter 8 of Chainsaw Man to ninety percent completion!
Two minutes later.
Kotomi Izumi opened Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel and even came up with a perfectly righteous excuse for herself.
"I'm not really in a creative mood right now. I'll play a few games with Galaxy-Eyes first. Then I'll study how to use a Dragonmaid deck."
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