Satou was woken up the next day by noise.
He felt someone humming softly by his ear.
Satou rubbed his eyes, turned his head, and saw Erina Nakiri lying beside him, a book on his pillow, and several other novels beside the pillow. She rested her chin in her hands, humming a soft tune while flipping through the pages.
Her calves were crossed and swinging back and forth, and a faint smile was on her face, indicating she was in a very good mood.
Satou was a bit speechless and said, "Erina, you're up so early, reading novels?"
"Hmm?"
Erina Nakiri turned her head in confusion and found Satou looking at her. Her heart immediately flustered, her face flushed, and she quickly closed the book.
"Ah. Satou, are you already awake?"
She asked.
"Mmm, you woke me up."
Satou said somewhat helplessly, "By the way, are you up this early to secretly read novels?"
"No…no such thing! I don't read these kinds of romance novels!"
Erina Nakiri quickly hid the book under the pillow.
Satou rolled his eyes and asked, "Then why are there so many novels here?"
"Uh…I felt the pillow was too low, so I wanted to find books to prop it up, that's all!"
Erina Nakiri hid all the novels under the pillow, making her side of the pillow very high, and said with a firm tone.
"Alright, now I'm going to sleep. I can still sleep for another hour!"
She said, then lay down, resting her head on the high pillow.
"I say, Erina, isn't your head uncomfortable on that pillow?"
Satou asked, speechless.
Erina Nakiri: "…I feel quite good."
"Alright."
Looking at the Tsundere who was very unforthcoming, Satou could only express his helplessness. Anyway, these books were actually borrowed for her.
However, within a few days, Satou began to regret helping her borrow books.
Because this girl always refused to admit that she liked reading romance novels. Every time, she would secretly read them at four or five in the morning, and she liked to hum a little tune, which seriously affected Satou's sleep as he lay beside her!
So, in the following days, Satou began to take action: he would deliberately stay up very late each time. After a few days of this, Erina Nakiri finally couldn't get up, and Satou's ears were much quieter.
However, the after-effect was that now Erina would lie in bed every day and Satou had to pull her up.
One evening, Satou and Erina Nakiri went to Polar Star Dormitory because the dried beef and smoked pork were almost ready.
During the gathering, everyone ate the freshly made dried beef and smoked pork, as well as fresh vegetables just picked from Isshiki Satoshi's garden, and drinks brewed by Ryoko Sakaki.
The dried beef and smoked pork were lightly grilled over charcoal, then sliced and eaten.
"It's really delicious," Satou said in surprise, not expecting that the Frozen Wild Buffalo meat was very suitable for making dried beef, which was tough but not hard, and very chewy.
The smoked pork was also very tasty, smoked with pine wood, carrying a faint pine aroma, with a delicate and compact texture, and a prominent smoky flavor.
Tadokoro Megumi, Ryoko Sakaki, and others all praised it endlessly.
Even Isshiki Satoshi was surprised and said, "Satou, the quality of this batch of meat is very superior.
The beef is tender, and the pork has a good balance of fat and lean.
This is my first time tasting such delicious finished products."
"Thanks to Satou for sharing, we were able to eat such delicious dried beef and smoked meat," Ryoko Sakaki said with a smile, taking a sip of her drink.
"You're too kind.
Thanks to you all for lending us the place, and everyone also treated us with vegetables and drinks," Erina Nakiri said with a smile.
Yoshino Yuuki glanced at her and muttered, "Hmm, now Miss Erina keeps saying 'we'.
Anyone who didn't know would think you were already married."
"Eh?"
Erina Nakiri's pretty face instantly flushed.
"Isn't that right?
You all look like a family now," Yukihira Soma also chuckled and teased.
Tadokoro Megumi sat to the side, looking a bit disappointed.
"But Satou, you really should thank Ryoko.
All of your beef was her responsibility, and she was very attentive, constantly checking to see if any had fallen on the ground or been stolen by stray cats," Yoshino Yuuki said with a smile.
"Really?
I'm truly grateful," Satou said, looking at Ryoko Sakaki in surprise.
"Not at all.
You entrusted me with it before, so of course I had to do my best," Ryoko Sakaki said, her cheeks slightly flushed.
"Moreover, the one who was truly attentive should be Megumi, right?
She would go check every night before bed, and if it rained, even if she was somewhere else, she would immediately rush back to see if it got wet."
"Eh?"
Tadokoro Megumi, who was sitting nearby, suddenly turned completely red and stammered, "It's just because Satou usually takes such good care of me…"
"Megumi, thank you," Satou said to her, feeling a bit moved.
Although it seemed like a small matter to him, Tadokoro Megumi had always kept it in her heart and treated it as a top priority, silently dedicating herself to it, which made him very grateful.
"It's nothing," Tadokoro Megumi quickly said, lowering her head, feeling warm inside.
Even Satou's casual word of thanks made her feel very happy, making her feel that all her efforts were worthwhile.
I really am useless, she sighed in her heart, thinking this.
"Was this smoked by Ibusaki Shun?
No wonder the smoking is so excellent."
Satou said to Ibusaki Shun, "Thank you, Ibusaki Shun."
"It's nothing.
This batch of your pork is very high-quality.
I also wanted to see what the final product would be like using such pork, and it turned out to be exceptionally outstanding," Ibusaki Shun said lightly.
"Since everyone has shared their dishes, I will also bring out a newly made dish for everyone to taste," Yukihira Soma smiled slightly, then took out strawberry jam paired with squid legs, and before Yoshino Yuuki could react, he stuffed it into her mouth.
Yoshino Yuuki's face showed a horrified expression, and she immediately ran out of the room, obviously to vomit.
Erina Nakiri looked at her back with some sympathy, feeling a sense of empathy.
"Miss Erina, would you like to taste some?"
Yukihira Soma chuckled strangely and walked towards Erina Nakiri, like a pervert.
"Miss Erina has grown up eating all sorts of delicacies since childhood, so she definitely can't tolerate such a terrible taste," Tadokoro Megumi said with a forced smile, clearly having also suffered Yukihira Soma's cruel hand.
Erina Nakiri's face instantly flushed, feeling inexplicably guilty.
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