Chapter 27 Convenience Store Bento and Homemade Bento

Convenience Store Bento and Homemade Bento

——I ate lunch on the rooftop every day.

It’s June now. It’s summer, and it’s a little humid, and I know it’s cooler and more comfortable in the air-conditioned classroom.

In fact, the rooftop is an unpopular place, even though it’s open to students with all the safety measures in place. Every time I come here, only a few people use it.

However, because of the lack of people, Takeshi and I prefer to go to the rooftop.

We enjoyed spending our days together, talking about trivial things without having to worry about the people around us.

Well…it was a long time ago.

“Wow. Takeshi-kun, that’s a new product at the convenience store, right? Looks delicious~”

“Is that so? Giant Hamburger Steak Bento looks good…Well, it was pretty expensive.”

“Eh~? Takeshi-kun, I thought you didn’t have any money.”

“My mom pays for my lunch these days.”

The small talk made me lose my appetite.

I naturally didn’t feel like having fun. More importantly, I started to feel a little sick, probably because I was sitting next to Kaori for the first time in a while.

Now we were sitting side by side on the bench.

From the end, it was Takeshi, Kaori, and me. The bench isn’t that big, so it’s a bit cramped for three high school students. The distance between us was so close that the sweet smell of Kaori wafted through the air.

Come to think of it, Ichika was convinced that Takeshi was cheating because he had that “Sweet Woman Smell” on him, right?

I see…I didn’t really care before when I liked her, but now that my feelings have cooled down, I understand. Kaori’s perfume smell is quite strong.

At least it wasn’t a smell you wanted to smell during lunch.

“I mean, you start bringing lunch from the convenience store too. Just like me~”

“Well…I’m a high school student now. I guess it’s time to stop bringing homemade lunches from my mom, haha.”

“I get it~ My mom is too noisy too, so I yelled at her not to make it, haha…I’d rather she not make it than listen to her complain about how hard it is to make it all the time…”

…Is this a normal reaction for a child with parents?

If it were me, I would be sincerely grateful to have someone make my lunch.

Well, I don’t have parents, so I don’t really know how I feel about it.

In the first place, I don’t care what these two think.

More importantly, speaking of…I now remember that my lunch today was different than usual.

(Hana-san made a side dish for me yesterday.)

She made it for me with the leftovers from dinner, and it was the standard menu; two small hamburgers, a sausage, broccoli, and so on. I heated it up in the morning and put it in my bento box.

It looked like a bento box from a bento shop.

Since I always eat bento at convenience stores, it looked even more delicious.

I think I can eat it without being bothered by Kaori’s smell.

(Bon appétit!)

I thanked Hana-san for making it in my heart and took a bite.

I also had the hamburger steak last night…Hana-san said, (Sorry I made it from leftovers. I’ll make it right tomorrow.) But it was still delicious. I’m very happy because it’s homemade, even though it’s leftovers.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to relate to what the two people mentioned earlier said about their parents being noisy.

That’s how much I appreciated the lunch she made for me.

“Hmm? Speaking of which, Takumi…aren’t you eating a convenience store bento box today?”

Just as I started to eat.

Kaori next to me was so busy with Takeshi that she didn’t notice me…but Takeshi quickly noticed the change in me.

“It looks so delicious! Give me some.”

And without waiting for my answer, he took one of the two hamburgers and ate it.

(…damn…)

Even though it looks like a bento shop product, the contents are Hana-san’s homemade bento.

Her son, Takeshi, might recognize it from the taste——