Tea and Despair Ex-Girlfriend
“Gochisou-sama (tl: thank you for the meal). The food was delicious.”
Mom brought me tea after we finished eating. It’s a flavored black tea called Rose & Strawberry.
It is a black tea flavored with rose wine and dried strawberries to enhance the fruity taste of wine and strawberries. It’s my mother’s favorite and is served when she entertains important guests.
“I’m glad you liked it. This is also one of the best teas in my collection. It’s flavored with wine, but the a🬀cohol is gone, so even an underage girl can drink it. It tastes great unsweetened, but a little sugar will make it more delicious.”
By the way, my mother has a very British taste and likes to drink Scotch whisky and gin. On cold days she likes to make hot cocktails by adding a teaspoon of brandy or wine to a cup of tea.
Even though brandy tea doesn’t smell like a🬀cohol at all and actually enhances the flavor of the tea. My mom wouldn’t let me drink it. Well, just smelling it made me happy.
But, I was so touched when my mother searched everywhere to find a similarly flavored tea for me. That’s when she found Rosé & Strawberry Tea.
“Delicious. The flavor is rich, and yes, this goes better with sugar than without!”
“I know, right. By the way, what kind of tea do you like, Ai-chan? For me, if it’s pure tea, my choice is Darjeeling tea.” (tl: a black tea made from tea leaves grown in the Darjeeling region of West Bengal, India. This tea is of such high quality that it has earned the nickname “The Champagne of Teas”.)
“I like Darjeeling too. Lately, I’ve also been getting into Japanese black tea. For flavored teas, I like apricot and tropical fruit teas….”
“Oh my! You have good taste, Ai-chan. How about we go to the place I recommended? There is a cafe next door where you can taste the teas you are interested in while eating scones and cookies.”
“I’ve never heard of such a fascinating place! Please take me there.”
Ichijo-san was really like at home when she talked to my mother.
“I’m so happy. I’ve always wanted a daughter. Please always be good friends with Eiji, Ai-chan.”
“Yes!”
And then the ladies talk about their hobbies and I can only laugh at them.
“Well, that’s all for now.”
After enjoying tea for half an hour, Ichijo-san wanted to leave my house.
“I’ll take you to the station.”
“That’s okay. I’m having fun, and if you come with me, it’ll be very hard for me.”
She laughs mischievously. Although she is fooling herself, her true feelings are quite clear.
“I see. Well, take care.”
Is it okay to let Ichijo-san go home alone after she tried to die earlier? I feel a little uncomfortable.
“It’s okay. Now we know each other. So I have a reason to come back.”
Well, whenever you want, you can come back here, Ichijo-san, this is your home too.
I wanted to say it, but I stopped myself because I didn’t want her to misunderstand.
“Hey, Senpai?”
“Yes?”
“We’re friends now, right?”
“Of course we are. In a way, we’ve become best friends in one day.”
“I’m so happy. I’m looking forward to working with you from now on, Senpai!”
She greeted my mother and brother politely and then left.
I leave Kitchen Aono. It was probably the best two hours of my life. Remembering the face of my first best friend, I walk to the car that will pick me up.
“We’re friends now, right?”
I asked Senpai in a low voice so that he couldn’t hear me.
“I’m here to pick you up. Ojou-sama.”
The driver, Kuroi, looked at me worriedly.
“Thank you.”
It was time to become a caged bird again.
Miyuki’s PoV
I came to Kitchen Aono to apologize to Eiji. I’m afraid to enter. I always felt comfortable there but now it feels like there is a wall in front of me.
While I was wondering what to do, I felt someone coming out from inside, so I hastily hid.
It was a girl wearing the same school uniform.
The thieving cat from before.
With that thought, I stared at her face and realized that she was someone I never expected to see.
“Ichijo, Ai?”
Why is the school’s idol here?
She comes from a famous family with both knowledge and education. She entered the school with an almost perfect score, the highest score ever, on the entrance exam, and she is a perfect student who can also play sports.
And yet, I heard that she was famous for hating men and always rejecting their confessions.
I didn’t want to believe it. But I knew better. I know very well the color of people who are madly in love with someone.
She definitely had the face of a woman in love.
I could easily guess who she was in love with. It was Eiji, my childhood friend and lover. Why, why, why? Why Eiji of all people!
There was no way I could win. She is a girl from another dimension, different from me in every way.
If I don’t do something quickly, Eiji will be taken away from me.
With this thought, I tried to move quickly to meet him.
But then the door opened.
Eiji’s mother came out.
“Oh, Miyuki-chan. What are you hiding in a place like this?”
She smiled her usual smile.