Chapter Seven

Lunch Box

“Hey, Asahi! Chii told me you cooked for him the other day! Is that true?!”

The morning classes had come and gone, and Asahi was about to dig in to his lunch box when Hinami burst into his class with her typical enthusiasm. It was unusual that she had come to talk to him herself, to say the least—she normally spent the lunch period flirting with Chiaki.

“Yeah, I did. Something wrong with that?”

“Yeah, there’re tons of things wrong with that! God, did you ever stop to think about what you did?!”

Whenever she acted in this way, Asahi knew that whatever she was hung up about would be far beyond his realm of understanding. He turned to his friend, who was obviously feigning obliviousness while opening his own lunch box.

“Uh, yeah,” Chiaki finally sputtered. “Apparently now she’s all hell-bent on making my lunch for the upcoming competition.”

“And how is that my fault, exactly? I don’t see how I’m the bad guy here,” Asahi responded.

“You just don’t get the intricacies of a maiden’s heart, do you? Sigh. Girls hate it when their boyfriends compare their cooking to others’.”

“This would all make sense if you’d compared her cooking to your ex’s or your mom’s, but why me?”

“Hinami’s gonna take it the wrong way no matter who it is. But I just can’t help it—the beef stew you made was out-of-this-world good. My mouth’s watering just from remembering it.”

On one hand, Asahi was happy that he’d praised his food. On the other hand, though, Chiaki was merely adding fuel to the already raging fire.

Hinami was glaring at both of them and quickly spat out, “You’re just good at it because your parents are chefs or whatever—that’s cheating! I bet Chii considers my cooking absolute trash next to yours now. He probably doesn’t even want me to prepare him lunch anymore because of you!”

“Hey, don’t put words in my mouth. I never said your food was bad,” Chiaki interjected.

“Yeah right. Show me your box, Asahi—I wanna see what you’ve got.”

“It’s nothing special. I just ended up packing last night’s leftovers. Look for yourself—you can try some, if you want,” Asahi said plainly. He opened the lid, revealing the remnants of the stir fry he’d prepared the previous night. Tears immediately formed in Hinami’s eyes upon seeing it.

Chiaki was aware that Asahi wouldn’t lend Hinami his chopsticks to sample the food, so he swiftly picked up his own pair, grabbed a portion of the stir fry, and placed it in Hinami’s mouth. Asahi quickly noticed their classmates’ reactions to the scene—the boys were audibly sighing, and the girls’ voices only increased in volume as they gossiped. He was already quite used to third wheeling when he was around the couple, but they weren’t the type to show public displays of affection in the classroom itself. It made for quite the spectacle.

“So what do you think?” Asahi asked.

“I-It’s good, okay? But...” Hinami muttered.

“I told you it wasn’t anything special.”

“Yeah. It’s good, but that’s pretty much it.”

“What did I say? You blew my cooking skills way out of proportion.”

Hinami had always considered Asahi’s cooking as untouchable because her boyfriend was constantly singing its praises. That, in combination with her gullible personality, allowed her imagination to run wild—she had some preconceived notion that Asahi was some sort of super chef due to his upbringing. It had caused some sparks between them before this moment, as well, but, fortunately, this misunderstanding was instantly resolved the moment his food had touched her tongue.

“So, um... can I still make you lunch for the competition, Chii?” Hinami asked meekly.

“Yeah, I’d love that. Not really sure why you’re asking permission in the first place, though,” he answered.

“R-Really? Even if my cooking’s not as good as Asahi’s?”

“Of course. His food’s good and all, but your cooking will always be number one in my heart,” Chiaki replied. He paused for a second—as if to piece together his next words—and finally declared, “After all, what really matters is the love you put into it, not the taste.”

The room instantly fell silent. The boys were pissed at being within earshot of the world’s cheesiest line in existence, and Asahi was simply trying to mind his own business. He let out a heavy sigh; he’d already gotten used to being the odd man out and all, but he didn’t especially appreciate being treated as the villain in their juvenile lovey-dovey routine. Though he normally bit his tongue and did his best to bear it, there were certain things he just couldn’t let slide.

“Um... Sorry about all that, Asahi,” Hinami finally told him.

“It’s okay; I don’t really mind. Question for Chiaki, though—were you talking about my food when you said that? Do you really think love is more important than how it tastes?” Asahi asked, turning to his friend.

“Hm... Lemme think about it, and I’ll get back to you later.”

“Playing dumb ain’t gonna get you out of this one. Fine, whatever, I’m out. From now on, Hinami can do all the cooking for you.”

“Come on, dude! Don’t be like that! Please, O great chef Asahi, be merciful!” Chiaki pleaded desperately.

Seeing such a sudden change in his attitude and his panic left Hinami and Asahi in peals of laughter.

*

The doorbell rang exactly at the appointed time. Just as they’d promised earlier, Fuyuka arrived at Asahi’s place for dinner.

“Sorry to intrude like this,” she said as she walked past him.

I’ll never get used to seeing her at my place, he mused to himself.

“Here. This is compensation for yesterday’s dinner,” she said brusquely as she thrusted a white envelope toward him.

“Oh, right,” he answered somewhat absentmindedly as he received it.

There were only four days left until Friday—the day the sports festival was to take place. Fuyuka and Asahi had agreed that, during this short amount of time, she would come over to have dinner with him. She had insisted on a strict set of guidelines first, though: the first was that she would be the one to pay for both the ingredients and the amount of time Asahi spent preparing their dinner. The second was that she would arrive just prior to dinner and only leave after he’d finished cleaning the dishes—she didn’t want to appear as though she was only visiting for the food.

Asahi had managed to change the first rule slightly after some convincing. She had initially been dead set on paying for everything, but he’d managed to convince her to only pay for her half. He’d be eating as well, after all. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as successful on waiving the extra money she gave him for the labor. He was reluctant to accept it—it wasn’t much tougher to prepare food for one more, but she had refused to budge after a long argument.

As for the second rule... Fuyuka was intent on watching him cook and staying until the dishes were taken care of after dinner. He figured it must be some sort of personal rule that she was steadfast in abiding by, and—much like the first rule—trying to debate her on it would make little headway.

“Looks like you’ve already begun with the meal preparations. Can I help you with anything?” she asked.

“I’m good. Even if there was, there’s no chance I’d let you. You can’t use your hand, remember? That’s the whole reason I’m doing this.”

“I may not be able to use my right hand, but I can still use my left one.”

“Would you stop being so stubborn? Just wait in the living room till I’m done. I’d prefer it if you didn’t use your hands at all.”

One of Fuyuka’s good traits was that she would agree with his decisions if he provided her with a sound argument. She nodded, headed to the living room, and pulled out the same romance novel she’d been reading for a while now. A short time later, however, she changed her mind and returned to the kitchen.

“What is it now?” he asked in a slightly exasperated tone.

“I’d rather watch you cook, if you don’t mind.”

“Uh... nah, I don’t really mind. But—”

“Then I’ll stay out of your way. Don’t mind me.”

He couldn’t think of a retort, so he finally conceded and allowed her to spectate. He’d never really understood the appeal of watching someone else cook, but he bit his tongue. True to her word, Fuyuka made herself as small as possible in the kitchen. After a while, he all but completely forgot that she was there in the first place as he devoted his focus to the dishes for the evening. Dinner was grilled salmon, meat and potato stew, and a few Japanese staples for side dishes. He began by peeling and dicing vegetables into even, bite-sized chunks. Fuyuka watched as he skillfully brandished the knife and noted, “Ah, so that’s how you’re supposed to use it. Very interesting.”

“Huh? What other ways did you think you could use a knife?” he replied.

“I was under the impression that you’d need to grip it with both hands,” she explained after an awkward pause.

“What are you, some kind of swordsman? That’s actually a dangerous way of handling it, so I wouldn’t recommend it,” he quipped.

“But don’t you need to summon all of your strength whenever you cut things? Therefore, wouldn’t using both hands be the optimal way to get the best results?”

“Well, be sure to position your hands like this at the very least. That’s so you don’t get injured when you do it.”

Asahi was already aware of her lack of culinary experience, but her remark really showed him that her situation was worse than he’d initially thought. He decided he should teach her at least some of the basics to prevent future disaster. Still, despite her seemingly obvious questions, Asahi would never laugh at her lack of knowledge.

“Okay, check this out—you gotta make sure you oil your pan before you cook anything,” he demonstrated to her.

“Why is that?”

“So the food doesn’t stick to the pan.”

“And why would that be so bad?” she asked.

“The food’s more prone to burning if that happens. Plus, it locks the moisture in the food—that’ll make your dish taste better. ”

“I see...”

“Although I’ve seen some new no-stick pans made out of special teflon recently. They don’t need as much oil to get the same results. Actually, some don’t even need oil at all,” Asahi continued to explain as he prepared dinner.

Fuyuka was completely immersed in his impromptu lesson. She listened to his every word and studied his every move. Unlike in the past, where she had been quite skeptical of his help, this time she fully accepted his tips.

Good thing she isn’t staring holes into me for once...

Fuyuka had always been a no-nonsense, straight-to-the-point type of person. If she found his rambling about cooking to be boring or pointless, she would have no trouble telling him to shut up. The fact that she hadn’t yet clearly showed that she had interest in the topic. Asahi didn’t blame her—although one could easily survive off of takeout and ready-made convenience meals, having some cooking skills under one’s belt was still a good idea. Preparing fresh food at home every now and then was a nice break from the heaps of processed junk.

“This white part here tastes really bitter, so you should always remove it before you start. Otherwise, it’ll spoil the taste,” he informed her.

“This sounds like something that’d take a fair amount of time and skill to do. How long does it usually take for you?”

“Like 10 to 15 minutes maybe? Depends on how high the heat on the pan is and all the other stuff you need to get ready. I guess if you’re not used to the whole process, it’d be somewhat difficult to grasp how much time you’d really need,” he responded. He also felt the need to stress the importance of having a hot pan when cooking, so he went off on a slight tangent.

Fuyuka, for her part, took in his every word with intense concentration. After he’d finished his explanation, she seemed to be deliberating about something in her head. “Hm... Based on that, I think I’d take around 40 minutes to do everything... I can’t imagine a meat stew would be the best of dishes to make for a lunch box, though,” she mumbled, mostly under her breath.

“You say something?”

“I said that I wanted to make lunch for myself, but I’m unsure if your meat stew recipe would properly fit in my lunch box.”

Asahi didn’t bother to hide his surprise this time as he gawked. “You? A boxed lunch?”

“Perhaps I was just hearing things, but it seemed you were being incredibly rude to me just now,” she snapped.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way or anything, just—”

Before he could continue, Fuyuka turned her face away and promptly cut him off. “It’s not as if I want to do this, but I don’t have much of a choice—apparently, the cafeteria isn’t going to be open during the sports festival.”

“And how, exactly, do you intend to prepare it? Surely not with your right hand.”

“With my left hand, as if it wasn’t obvious.”

“Fat chance. This is the second time I’m telling you to take it easy on your hands. That’s why I’m cooking for you, remember?” he chided as he placed the salmon fillets over the grill. “I’ll just make you lunch for that day. We’ll consider it the last time I cook for you. I won’t be taking no for an answer, by the way.”

“Are you sure about that?” she asked after a brief pause.

“Yeah, I am. Just say yes. You know I don’t bite.”

As she had before, she yielded when presented with solid reasoning. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder why she was still so dead set on trying to do everything by herself first. There was still a long and winding road ahead of him when it came to fully gaining her trust, but he was sure he was inching ever closer to doing so.

So I’m gonna be making her lunch, huh? Who would’ve thought that we’d end up like those dorks Chiaki and Hinami... he thought to himself as he reminisced about the interaction he’d had with them that morning. Although the intent behind the meals was worlds apart in each case, it was essentially based around the same core concept—making food for someone else.

As he continued to prepare the night’s miso soup and other dishes, he pondered his options for her future lunch.

*

“Asahi, Hina told me the other day that she wants to visit your place sometime. You mind if—?”

“Never in a million years.”

Chiaki sighed, and Hinami—who was stuck to his side—let out a small groan. Recently, the two had been spending almost all of their lunch period and afternoons together... along with Asahi, of course. Although Asahi did tend to hang out with them, the three of them were together far more often than usual as of late. Plus, the two lovebirds were being particularly irritating that day.

“Why d’you have to be so blunt about it? I just wanna see your place. That’s all,” Hinami protested.

“Yeah man, c’mon. You’re fine with me coming over, so what difference does it make if she tags along?” Chiaki added.

“I’d rather not have you two acting like Romeo and Juliet and start spouting cheesy lines in my house if I can avoid it,” Asahi snapped.

“Wait, we can’t be lovey-dovey there?”

“Of course you can’t. I’d rather kill myself.”

“What do you meaaaan?” Chiaki whined.

Asahi didn’t bother to reply to his friend’s protests. He knew Chiaki wouldn’t really understand his reasoning anyway. For him, his own home was a sacred place, his personal haven to relax and escape from the world. Although he was accustomed to seeing his friends hug and kiss at Chiaki’s place, they clearly weren’t aware that that sort of behavior would be an unwelcome nuisance in any other person’s home.

I’d rather experience hell itself than have them suck face in my living room, to be honest.

“Okay, then what if I come over without Chii?” Hinami asked.

“Uh, no? Hey, Mr. Boyfriend, please say something,” Asahi replied, turning to his friend for help.

“Why can’t she? You’re not making sense right now,” Chiaki—contrary to what Asahi was looking for—added.

“Dude, she’d be going to a guy’s place without you... Hello, that not ringing any alarms for you?”

Asahi tried to refuse them multiple times, but it soon became clear that neither of them understood the issue with a girl—one who was already in a relationship, no less—visiting his place by herself. Hinami continued to pester Asahi, and Chiaki stubbornly and naively backed her up. Hinami’s obliviousness to the situation was bad enough without her boyfriend doubling down simply for the sake of supporting her and to watch Asahi squirm with discomfort. It also became apparent to Asahi that neither of them were willing to back down on the issue.

“What do you even wanna do at my place, anyways?” he protested. “There isn’t much to do besides playing games, and you don’t exactly strike me as the gaming type. Wait... don’t tell me that you just want to come over to eat?”

“Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Exactly, I wanna try your cooking!” she exclaimed cheerfully.

“Didn’t you already do that the other day?”

“But those were just some reheated leftovers! I want a taste of the real deal. Something fresh, something fancy—like that beef stew Chii’s always raving about! The good stuff!”

“Well, at least you’re honest...” Asahi grumbled.

“Please, chef Asahi! I’m practically on my knees here!” Chiaki shouted out. He gave Asahi such an earnest look that his friend found it impossible to refuse. Asahi’s hesitation was primarily because he didn’t want to see them clinging to each other; he didn’t particularly mind the idea of having Hinami around or cooking for the three of them.

“Okay,” Asahi sighed. “But if you two start getting up to any funny business, I’m kicking you out.”

“Does that mean I can come?!” Hinami asked eagerly.

“Sure.”

“Nice! I did it, Chii! He said yes!”

“That’s great, Hina! I know you’ve been dying to try his cooking for a while now. I’m so happy for you!” Chiaki applauded.

Hinami struck a few silly victory poses. Seeing her radiant smile was rather refreshing, but Asahi’s mood was slightly dampened when he realized what he’d brought upon himself. He wasn’t too confident she understood the no PDA rule, or if she could even uphold it.

“It’s decided, then! If I get the MVP award tomorrow, I’ll be sure to give it to you!” Hinami suddenly blurted out.

“Uh, no thanks. You know the school would get flooded by rumors if you did,” he declined.

“Oh yeah—you’re supposed to give the prize to whoever you have feelings for or something, right?”

The MVP award had been a hot topic at their school recently—especially among the girls. Given Hinami’s explanation, it didn’t take a genius to figure out why. In fact, the gossip surrounding the coveted award had reached such a fever pitch that even “The Ice Queen” was ignored.

The award itself was a brooch with three roses delicately engraved inside. Because of the romantic symbolism of said flowers, the student population considered presenting the brooch to another to be a declaration of love.

“I’m already going out with Chii, so who cares if I pawn it off on you. You could even take the opportunity and hand it to someone else who catches your eye—see if you get lucky,” Hinami joked.

“Oh, okay. Not like I care much about any rumors or some silly urban legend about romance in the first place,” Asahi said flippantly.

“Damn dude, that’s harsh. You'd make a lot of girls cry if they heard you saying that kind of stuff,” Chiaki warned.

“You should listen to him, you know. How d’you expect to be popular with the ladies otherwise?” Hinami added.

“Oh piss off, you two.”

In Asahi’s eyes, it was just an award tied to a tangle of rumors—rumors that he didn’t care even the slightest about. Although his friends felt he was being harsh, he was right from a logical standpoint.

“Are you even sure you’ll be able to nab the prize, Hina? I heard that there’s going to be a lot of competition in the basketball competition,” Asahi added, hoping to change the topic slightly.

“Hmm, I think so. Normally Himuro would be a serious problem, but seeing as she’s injured, I’m not that worried overall.”

“Is Himuro really that good?” he asked incredulously.

“I’m not exactly sure, but she apparently wiped the floor with the school’s basketball team,” Hinami answered.

“Damn. Considering you’re nationally renowned, the fact that you’re scared of her really says something.”

“Correction—I was nationally renowned!” she retorted.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

In her childhood, Hinami excelled at the sport. She was a part of a basketball team that competed on the national level and eventually grew to be a pretty prominent figure. Asahi thought she and Chiaki—who was quite skilled at soccer in his own right—were squandering their potential by not joining any sports clubs in high school. They had their reasons, though, so he’d never really pushed the issue.

“You better look forward to tomorrow, Asahi! I’m gonna bust my ass just for you!” Hinami exclaimed.

“In that case, I’m gonna give it everything I’ve got too! That way, we have a better chance of giving him the prize,” Chiaki added enthusiastically.

“I’m glad the two of you are so hyped about all this, but you don’t really need to try that hard for me,” Asahi grumbled. He knew that they weren’t joking—they genuinely would “bust their asses” to earn the MVP award just so they could hand it off to him. But what would happen if they both managed to win it? It would be strange to accept two brooches, not to mention it would be wasted on someone like him. His mind was wandering at this point, and he suddenly recalled something that Hinami had just uttered.

Hm, they really consider Himuro to be out of the competition...

He’d also overheard the other girls in his class chatting earlier about how they finally had a chance at the award now that Fuyuka was no longer in the competition, so it was clear that everyone had written her off.

“I wonder if she’ll be able to make it...” he muttered to himself.

“What’re you talking about?” Chiaki, who’d managed to catch what his friend had whispered, asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just ignore me,” he answered as he packed up the remainder of his lunch and shoved it back into his bag.