"Strange… Nana-kun…"
Yomikawa Aiho murmured to herself, then immediately remembered—half-asleep—that she'd vaguely heard Kobayashi mention going out to buy groceries.
Which meant Kobayashi wasn't home right now.
"Ah!" Yomikawa Aiho jolted fully awake. "Sorry, sorry! I'm coming to open the door!"
Apologizing all the while, she hopped out of bed and hurried to the entrance without even bothering to put on her slippers.
Besides, the visitor was a girl. There was no need to fuss too much about appearances.
And last night—or rather, early this morning—she'd fallen asleep fully dressed instead of changing into pajamas, so she didn't even need to change back now.
"I'm really sorry," Yomikawa Aiho said, showing none of the authority one might expect from a teacher or an adult. Knowing she was at fault, she kept apologizing. "I slept too deeply and completely forgot that you were coming today, Toumi-chan."
"No, no, I'm the one who disturbed you, Yomikawa-sensei."
After mentally resetting herself, TigerPeak responded with patience and politeness.
After entering the apartment, she glanced around the room.
"Sensei, hasn't Kobayashi come back yet?"
"Nope." Yomikawa Aiho checked the time and answered casually. "He's probably lost."
"…Huh?"
"Don't worry," Yomikawa waved her hand dismissively. "Getting lost is perfectly normal for Nana-kun. There's nothing to worry about—he just needs a bit more time."
Using that as a segue, she even briefly recounted how Kobayashi had once managed to get lost inside the apartment building itself.
After inviting Torahachi to sit down, Yomikawa Aiho hurried to the bathroom to wash up, then went to the kitchen to prepare some tea and snacks for her guest.
A moment later, however, she could only return with an awkward expression—and two cartons of milk.
"…No wonder Nana-kun rushed out to the supermarket," she muttered. "There really isn't any food left at home…"
Of course, Kobayashi had already prepared the dough and the broth in the kitchen—but when a guest came over, she couldn't exactly serve them a bowl of ramen right away, could she?
Besides, Yomikawa Aiho didn't even know how to make ramen.
Seeing her embarrassment, Toumi didn't mind at all. Instead, she placed the large insulated container she'd brought onto the table.
"I made strawberry cake. It can be our snack."
The reason she'd brought such a large container today was simple—there were a lot of strawberry cakes inside.
"I made them myself," Toumi said. "They might not taste as good as the ones from a shop, but if you don't mind, please try some."
The truth was that the strawberry cakes sold in cake shops were released in limited quantities every day and were almost impossible to get. Driven to desperation, Toumi had decided to make them herself—this way, she could eat as many as she wanted.
After all, the last time she'd visited Kobayashi, there'd only been a single piece of strawberry cake, which had been painfully awkward.
That incident had stuck with her ever since.
Now, she'd gone all out and made a full twenty-four pieces. Even if the three of them ate together, there'd be more than enough.
"That's wonderful!" Yomikawa Aiho's eyes curved into happy crescents. "I haven't even had breakfast yet."
She herself had told Kobayashi not to eat breakfast, so naturally, there hadn't been anything prepared for her either.
—And with nothing else in the house that could be eaten as-is, she would've gone hungry if Toumi hadn't brought cake.
Then again, if Toumi hadn't come to visit, Yomikawa Aiho probably wouldn't have woken up this early in the first place.
Chilled with dry ice, the cakes were at their peak flavor. Yomikawa Aiho praised them enthusiastically as she ate, clearly enjoying herself.
"Kids these days are amazing," she sighed sincerely, like a thoroughly useless adult. "Every one of you cooks better than the last!"
"Huh? Kobayashi can make cake, too?" Torahachi asked.
"I've never seen him make one," Yomikawa replied, "but Nana-kun once said that as long as he has a recipe, ingredients, and kitchen tools, he can make any dish."
"That impressive?" Torahachi sounded unconvinced.
To finish this strawberry cake, she'd gone so far as to sneak into a cake shop and work there, spending a whole week secretly learning the techniques.
"I'm not exaggerating," Yomikawa said smugly. "Right now, all our meals—breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, even midnight food—are handled entirely by Nana-kun."
Toumi frowned slightly. Something about that felt… off.
Without holding back, Yomikawa Aiho washed down three pieces of cake with milk, finally staving off her hunger for the time being.
Toumi wasn't hungry yet, so she only plucked the strawberries off the cakes and ate those. With twenty-four cakes divided evenly among three people, each person got eight. After finishing her own eight strawberries, she still wasn't satisfied. Hesitating briefly, she reached toward Kobayashi's share.
"Well, you're not here, are you? Strawberries are the crown jewels of a cake!"
After taking in enough calories, Yomikawa Aiho finally shook off her half-asleep haze.
Since there was nothing in the house besides milk that could be used to entertain a guest, she shamelessly went to the apartment of a junior colleague on the same floor and "borrowed" a pile of snacks.
Unfortunately, since they were all adults—and drinking buddies at that—the snacks were mostly the kind meant to go with alcohol. She wasn't sure whether they suited the tastes of a young girl.
Fortunately, Toumi wasn't picky about food. She had a particular weakness for sweets, but as long as something wasn't outright terrible, she could eat it without batting an eye.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Yomikawa Aiho suggested, "How about we play some games?"
Aside from that, there really didn't seem to be any better way to pass the time in this house.
At that moment, Yomikawa Aiho had completely forgotten her role as a teacher. Perhaps it was because she felt relaxed at home, or perhaps because she was still mentally exhausted, but she no longer seemed like a "guard" or an "educator." Instead, she was more like an easygoing older sister with a similar temperament, enthusiastically entertaining a visiting girl.
In truth, Yomikawa Aiho knew very well that Torahachi Toumi hadn't come all this way just to see her.
The real person she'd come to visit was Kobayashi Nana—the boy her own age.
In Yomikawa's eyes, Kobayashi and Toumi had a good relationship. Even though Toumi had accidentally injured Kobayashi during the hospital murder incident, after apologies and forgiveness, the two had already "turned from enemies into friends."
During his subsequent hospitalization, Toumi visited him frequently.
—So, until Kobayashi came home, it was up to her to properly entertain this young guest.
(End of Chapter)
If you are enjoying the story and would like to read ahead Join my Patreon
https://patreon.com/Omarfome