Chapter 28 A Mother's Taste and an Ungrateful Son

A Mother’s Taste and an Ungrateful Son

To be honest, I don’t want Takeshi to know about my relationship with Hana-san yet.

No, of course, I know that. If my goal is to hurt Takeshi, it would be better to let him know about my relationship with Hana-san.

Takeshi has a surprisingly strong mom-con, so I’m sure he would be damaged in no small way by my closeness to Hana-san.

And I’m sure that Takeshi will blame Hana-san. If that happens, it’ll turn into a fight between mother and son, and Hana-san will be hurt.

But that’s still…to be done later if possible.

I want to enjoy my peaceful days with Hana-san, if only for a little while longer.

At least after this wound is healed.

It’s hard for me and for Hana-san to get over these guys in a few days. The medicine called time is still not enough.

So I didn’t want to be found out.

But…Takeshi has been eating Hana-san’s homemade food since he was born.

“…Hey, Takumi. What’s wrong with this bento? It’s different from the usual.”

He doesn’t say it’s good or bad.

It just looked like he was trying to remember something.

Did he notice it?

No, but we haven’t gotten to the heart of the matter yet, so let’s try to avoid that as much as possible.

“I bought this from a bento shop today. It’s surprisingly tasty, and I’m surprised, too.”

“Bento shop? Didn’t you make it?”

“Me? No, no, no, there’s no way I can make a bento box.”

“That’s right…but, hmm. It tastes like something I’ve eaten before.”

Obviously, he’s suspicious.

I don’t think he thinks it’s Hana-san’s handmade bento…but if things keep going like this, he’ll find out soon enough.

Takeshi is surprisingly smart. He tends to be thought of as an idiot because of his attitude, but he is the type of guy who is to the point and quick-witted.

“Hey, tell me where you got this. I’ll buy it too…by the way, tell me how much it cost.”

Damn!

It is possible to tell the right place, but the difference in containers, menus, etc. will probably give away the lie.

Should I give up now?

It was only a matter of time before he found out…For now, let’s buy some time by giving him a fake bento shop name. The first thing to do is to tell Hana-san about today’s incident——so she can prepare for it.

“Is it that good? Let’s see, hmmm…it’s good? It’s not that it’s ordinary, it’s more like it tastes like a homey…bento shop.”

Kaori, who took a bite of Takeshi’s hamburger steak, shared her thoughts with us with a pale smile on her face.

“Why go to the trouble of buying it? What, Takeshi likes this kind of homey taste? That’s kinda surprising and funny, haha.”

For me, it’s the taste of a warm home.

For Takeshi, it’s the taste of his mother.

But for Kaori, it is just someone else’s home cooking.

I wonder if this is a more objective impression…Hearing the unbiased impression, Takeshi’s eyes widened in surprise.

“——That’s true. I’ve only had it somewhere…yeah, it doesn’t taste good. It’s too common, so I’ll just go to the convenience store.”

…How can you say that about your mother’s cooking?

Even if you don’t know it, I think it’s unfair. Even if you can’t express your gratitude for her cooking, you should be grateful for it.

Maybe because he was in front of Kaori, he said some pretty harsh things, including being arrogant.

It’s typical for Takeshi to want to be cool in front of women. He can’t even honestly say “It’s delicious” because his strange pride gets in the way.

(But then again, Kaori is really…scary.)

It’s probably unconscious.

But that is why it’s scary. The comments that tickle a man’s pride are scary.

She makes it impossible for Takeshi to make calm decisions. If it weren’t for Kaori, he would’ve been able to see through my lies, but…she made him agitated and he was interrupted in his thinking.

But, well, I’m glad…he didn’t find out.

“Convenience Store Bento…it tastes a little strong, doesn’t it?”

“That’s what makes it so delicious, right? Haha.”

“Well, I guess. It’s just right for you.”

Takeshi and Kaori continued to eat while having such a conversation.

They probably don’t know yet.

That they would soon get tired of the taste of convenience stores and eating out.

And the home-cooked food you want to eat more than anything else is actually hard to get…didn’t you know that?

(Yes…it’s delicious.)

I tasted the only hamburger steak left little by little——