Chapter 37 Shopping

Shopping

“What do you want to eat today?”

While pushing the shopping cart with the basket on it, Haruki asks Sou, who is standing next to her.

“Yakumo-san, it’s okay. I feel bad that I made you cook for me. And you said that every day. It’s okay! I can do it myself.”

Without answering Haruki’s question, Sou moves forward, matching the shopping cart.

Sou and Haruki are in the supermarket closest to Sou’s house. The air conditioning in the supermarket is on full blast. That’s why it’s much cooler than outside.

“So you want to eat instant food like before, right? Like cup ramen. I didn’t miss it. There were lots of cups of ramen and cups of yakisoba in your kitchen.”

Seeing through Sou’s thoughts, Haruki gives him a stare.

“That’s not true. I wouldn’t eat something so unhealthy.”

She hit the nail on the head. But out of hopeless pride, Sou makes a show of it. But it’s obvious, his eyes darting from side to side.

“You can’t lie, Amane. It’s all in your face.”

Haruki continues to stare. She looks a little annoyed.

“Umm, I’m not lying.”

Sou makes a desperate excuse and looks away from Haruki. It’s pronounced.

“Anyway! From now on, I’ll cook Amane’s meals as long as I can. I’ll never back down.”

Haruki tries to forcefully end the conversation. We can feel her strong will.

“But….”

Sou tries to object but hesitates in the middle. He cannot find the words. Sou’s limited vocabulary is obvious.

“So, what do you want to eat today?”

Haruki ignores Sou’s words and asks the same question as before. She gives the impression that she does not want to argue. Surprisingly, she is stubborn.

“…I-I want to eat omelet rice….”

Unable to find an answer, Sou gives up after a few seconds of silence and states his request for dinner in polite language. He seems to be completely defeated by Haruki.

“Fufufu, it’s nice to be honest!”

Haruki smiles kindly and happily. She seems to be in a good mood after receiving Sou’s request.

“Well, I have to get the ingredients for the omelet rice. Hmm. First, onions, carrots, and other vegetables.”

Pulling the cart to the produce section, Haruki first reaches the section where onions are displayed. Of course, Sou joins her.

“Hmmm. I wonder which one is better in quality….”

Picking up the stacked onions one by one, Haruki closes her eyes and looks at the front and back. Check if they are clean and the color is okay.

“Okay. This one. Let’s take this one.”

After checking and examining a few, she chooses one and puts it in the basket of the shopping cart.

Next, she goes to the section where the carrots are displayed. She browsed them just as she did the onions.

After a few minutes, she chooses the carrots that look the freshest.

Meanwhile, Sou remains silent and watches Haruki browse. That’s all he can do.

“Now vegetables seem to be no problem. I’m sure Amane has ketchup in his fridge. All that’s left is eggs and chicken.”

After finishing their business in the produce section, Sou and Haruki move forward and put a carton of eggs in the basket, then head to the meat section.

After going straight through the produce section, they turn right and pass the fresh fish section, where the meat section is located.

“Hey, I want to ask you something. Is that okay?”

In the meat section, as Sou sees Haruki checking the expiration date on a package of chicken meat with a serious look on her face, there is something that is bothering him, so he calls out to her.

“Yes? What is it?”

Haruki puts the package of chicken meat she was holding in her right hand back into the fridge and turns her attention to Sou.

“Hmm, it was something about Nakatani-san.”

Haruki frowns and closes her eyes.

“Hmm, is it Mizuki? What about her?”

Her tone drops a little and shows her displeasure. It’s probably because he talked about another girl when it was just the two of them.

“I saw Nakatani-san receive a confession today. Does it seem like Nakatani-san gets a lot of confessions from guys?”

“Yes. Well, yes. Mizuki is very popular. I think she’s received countless confessions since she entered the school. But she seems to reject them all.”

“I see… That must be hard. She gets confessions from so many guys she doesn’t like or have any interest in. It must be really annoying.”

Giving him a sympathetic look, Sou speaks his honest thoughts. Just thinking about it from Mizuki’s point of view is exhausting.

“By the way… I’ve got some confessions too, you know. I got so many confessions that I can’t even remember why anymore. I also rejected them all without mercy.”

For some reason, Haruki talks about her boastful story as if he were competing with Mizuki. Perhaps embarrassed, she turns away with a slight blush on her face.

“Oh, ah! I see….”

Unable to react to Haruki’s sudden remark, Sou gives a blunt answer.

Guessing that the conversation will go in a different direction if it continues like this, Sou brings the topic back to tonight’s dinner.

Haruki doesn’t seem to mind the sudden change of topic and continues her search for chicken meat.

Although he has no knowledge at all, Sou helps her look for chicken meat.

(Still, why does Mizuki have such a bad impression of being so popular? It should boost her self-esteem at least a little bit.)