At this moment, Yoshii Akihisa's eyes were fixed blankly on the drink in front of him. His mind was racing, trying to recall how to handle this situation, when suddenly two versions of himself appeared: a little devil Akihisa and an angel Akihisa.
The little angel Akihisa hovered nearby, with words floating beside him expressing his thoughts: "If I tell the truth, it'll hurt Himeji-san's feelings."
Meanwhile, the little devil Akihisa held a knife and fork: "Do you want to die?"
(For the first time, I feel like what the devil is saying is actually correct.)
Himeji Mizuki saw that Yoshii Akihisa still hadn't made a move and asked: "Aren't you going to eat it, Yoshii-kun?"
Yoshii Akihisa scratched his head: "No!! If I just eat it like this, it'd be such a waste, haha…"
Himeji Mizuki lowered her head, looking a little dejected: "Am I causing you trouble?"
"No no no, how could that be? It's not like that at all. I'm really happy."
The angel Akihisa: "Just happy about the sentiment."
The devil Akihisa: "More like the sentiment alone is enough."
Himeji Mizuki looked down and asked: "Really? Then why haven't you started eating yet?"
Yoshii Akihisa froze: "This…"
Himeji Mizuki saw him freeze and said: "So I really am causing you trouble?"
"No, I said no already. It's just…"
Seeing that he couldn't explain it clearly, Yoshii Akihisa shot a pleading look toward Saiki, who was watching from the sidelines. [Help me out, Saiki-kun.]
Saiki looked helpless.
(Yare yare, I told you, if you'd just been honest from the start, we wouldn't be in this mess now and it'd be easier to speak up.)
Saiki turned to Himeji Mizuki and asked,
[Himeji Mizuki-san, can I ask you something?]
Himeji Mizuki: "Mm, sure. What is it?"
[Did you taste the lunch box you made for Akihisa yourself?]
Himeji Mizuki: "People always say that tasting while cooking makes you gain weight, and besides…"
Himeji Mizuki shyly glanced at Yoshii Akihisa beside her: "I wanted Yoshii-kun to be the first one to taste it."
(So that's how you've managed to stay alive until now.)
[I see. I can understand that feeling. When you make something delicious for someone else, of course you want them to be the first to try it. Mm, Akihisa, you shouldn't let her feelings down. Go ahead and enjoy it properly.]
Yoshii Akihisa: [Saiki!!!]
Yoshii Akihisa looked dead serious. [This is bad. Now there's no way out anymore.]
The little devil Akihisa and little angel Akihisa answered in unison: "Only death awaits."
Yoshii Akihisa: [Why are the angel and devil agreeing on this?!]
(See? This is what happens when you don't just say it clearly.)
Saiki said to Himeji Mizuki,
[Himeji-san, could you go buy me a bottle of mugicha? I finished mine.]
Himeji Mizuki stood up: "Okay, no problem. I'll go get it for you right now."
Saiki waved in thanks.
[Thanks.]
"Saiki, thank you."
Yoshii Akihisa teared up and grabbed Saiki's arm in gratitude.
"But what do I do about this lunch box?"
[What else can you do? Dump it, or you can choose to eat it.]
Yoshii Akihisa: "Will I die if I do?"
Saiki: ...
[Well…]
"Akihisa~"
From the side, Yuuji weakly placed a hand on Akihisa's shoulder. He looked like he was on the verge of death, his color scheme returning to a healthy grayish tone with some sad BGM playing in the background.
(Why does it feel like a farewell scene?)
"Akihisa, let me tell you something good. Listen carefully. Since ancient times, most spices have been used to detoxify. And in the days before refrigerators, their strong antibacterial properties played a huge role in preserving food."
"And people often say that in a dish made by a girl with her own hands, love is the best spice of all."
Yoshii Akihisa: "So… you're saying…"
"That's right, Akihisa. You're going to use that spice called love to detoxify it."
After saying that, Sakamoto Yuuji collapsed again.
Saiki, listening to this nonsense from the side,
(Yare yare, any normal person would think this sounds completely wrong no matter how you spin it. Seriously, even for Akihisa…)
Yoshii Akihisa suddenly had a revelation: "So this is a test from the heavens!"
[No, I don't think that's what it means.]
"Don't worry. No matter how bitter it is, I'll endure it for love. As long as there's something called love's antidote, I can definitely make it through."
With that, Yoshii Akihisa started devouring the food.
[Hey, wait, hey…]
Yoshii Akihisa completely ignored Saiki's warnings and kept shoveling food in. Perhaps from the very first bite, he had already lost consciousness and couldn't hear Saiki anymore.
Yoshii Akihisa's consciousness appeared on an unfamiliar street. With his usual smile, he greeted the countless fast-moving black hands coming from behind. "Ehehe…"
In reality, Yoshii Akihisa's hands were still in the position of shoveling food. After finishing the entire meal, he collapsed.
Sakamoto Yuuji: "Love has no antidote~"
Hideyoshi: "Akihisa, you're a true warrior."
Tsuchiya Kouta weakly pressed his hands together: "A prayer."
[Seriously, are you an idiot?]
Himeji Mizuki came back with the drinks, handed one to Saiki, and asked: "Eh, how come even Yoshii-kun is lying on the ground now?"
Saiki took a sip of the drink.
[Oh, don't worry about it. He just ate his fill and wanted to lie down for a bit.]
Himeji Mizuki: "I see. Eating until full and then sleeping… careful, or you'll turn into a pig~"
After Saiki secretly used his restoration ability to heal everyone,
Hideyoshi: "By the way, where's Shimada?"
Saiki looked toward the fountain area.
[Who knows…]
...
Shimada Minami sat in front of the fountain holding two lunch boxes, troubled: "I went to the trouble of making these specially. I should've just been honest and given it to him."
(It's not too late yet.)
Saiki stood on a tree branch, hiding his body behind leaves, secretly observing.
The now-recovered Yoshii Akihisa clutched his hungry stomach and happened to walk nearby: "I didn't expect Himeji-san to have something she's bad at.
Ah!! I'm so hungry. After all that chaos, I'm even hungrier. Why? I clearly ate everything."
(Of course. To save your life, I deliberately used restoration to revert your body to how it was yesterday—still in a state of not having eaten anything.)
Shimada Minami also noticed Yoshii Akihisa behind her, but thinking he had already eaten Himeji Mizuki's lunch box and shouldn't be hungry anymore, she hesitated.
At that moment, Shimada Hazuki happened to pass by, saw Yoshii Akihisa, hugged him, and asked: "Idiot big brother, have you seen my big sister?"
Yoshii Akihisa: "No, I haven't seen Minami either. I don't know where she went…"
"Growl growl~"
Yoshii Akihisa's stomach made an untimely sound.
Shimada Hazuki asked curiously: "Idiot big brother, you didn't eat lunch?"
Yoshii Akihisa: "Because of some circumstances, I wasn't able to take in any calories."
"So you're really hungry right now."
Yoshii Akihisa regretfully rubbed his stomach: "Sigh, if only I had accepted Minami's lunch box back then."
...