My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As Expected

Page 637

"Ah—I'm sorry. So you did this? I understand now. No wonder it turned out like this."

"Hey, what do you mean?!"

Uh, it doesn't mean anything. Just the literal meaning.

At that moment, I recalled the taste of the charcoal biscuits I ate the first day Yuigahama came to the Service Club. The iron-like hardness that pierced my teeth, the intense bitterness that stung my tongue…

She's the kind of person who'd turn baking cookies into charcoal. So, it's no wonder her omelet turned out like this. I really want to give her the title of "Alchemist of Hellish Cuisine."

"So, even if we take a step back and assume it's food, it looks more like scrambled eggs than an omelet, right?"

The shape of this omelet is too irregular; it's more like a mushy mess. Calling it an omelet is a bit too immodest. To put it bluntly, it's shameless.

"Hmm, that's right. But, but, when I was frying it..."

Yuihama poses as if she's holding an air fryer in her left hand and air chopsticks in her right, rolling up an egg crepe.

"I want to roll an egg crepe, but I can't roll it at all..."

"Oh—I see."

Indeed, this step is the biggest challenge in making omelets. If you're too slow, the omelet will burn; if you're too hasty, the egg mixture won't be set before the chopsticks break it up.

This repetition resulted in this visual violence. There should be these amoeba-like terrifying alien creatures in science fiction movies.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

Upon closer inspection, perhaps I went too far, because Yuihama, who was holding the bento box in one hand, already had tears welling up in her eyes.

I'd feel guilty if I made a girl cry. I'll say a few words in her defense.

"Well, to be honest, the focus of food is more on the taste than the appearance. Caviar is considered a high-end ingredient, but it looks like a bunch of tiny black worms."

"Wow, now that you mention it, it seems that's true..."

Yuihama shuddered, probably because she really imagined a swarm of small black insects.

However, food tastes are indeed more important than its appearance, just like caviar is considered a delicacy. The same goes for natto and octopus.

In other words, as long as object X tastes good, that's all that matters, theoretically speaking.

"...But for an autistic guy, will this taste good?"

"...We can only gamble on a miracle."

“…………”

Seeing that she didn't complain, Yuihama seemed to have no objections.

We both looked at the lunchbox again.

The object called "Omelette," which gleams eerily in the sunlight, exudes a strong aura of terror, making one hesitate even to taste it.

—The incident dates back several days.

"By the way, Yuigahama-san. Have you been cooking lately?"

During their lunch break, while the two were having a pleasant lunch together in the clubroom, Yukinoshita asked this question.

"I remember you said before that you were obsessed with cooking."

Yukinoshita is right; I also remember Yuihama saying something similar.

I remember it was some time after she came to the Service Society.

She brought that horrible heart-shaped cookie over, saying it was to thank us for our help.

—No, you know I've recently fallen in love with cooking, right?

—Wow, cooking is so much fun! Next time I'll try making bento boxes. Ah, let's have lunch together then, Yukino!

That's probably what she said.

Faced with Yukinoshita's question, Yuigahama's answer was—

"Huh? Cooking? Uh... yeah, feels like I'm learning?"

Incidentally, when she said she was "learning," she meant she was occasionally watching her mother cook, not that she was seriously training.

Yuihama, however, got carried away and said something like that.

"Ah, yes, yes, yes! Next time I'll prepare a bento for Yukino too! Don't worry, despite my appearance, my cooking skills have probably improved quite a bit!"

Yukinoshita looked slightly uneasy, but finally nodded in acceptance of her suggestion.

"Really? I'll look forward to it."

Yuihama thought to herself about those words and that smile under the snow.

I absolutely had to make a delicious bento box, which startled Xue.

We must meet her expectations.

The final product is this "omelet".

"Uh, why would you tell such a blatant lie?"

"Hmm."

My comment caused Yuihama's face to fall, and she tried to defend herself in a barely audible voice.

"Oh, oh—I didn't mean to lie...it's just that I've been watching my mom cook lately, and I feel like I can do it too..."

"Ah, how superficial..."

You're one of those people, aren't you? The type who, after watching gameplay videos online, mistakenly believes their skills have improved. A common type (prejudice) in the FPS community.

"Waaah... I'm so sorry..."

Apologizing to me won't help.

However, Yuihama herself should feel guilty for causing Yuki to have expectations due to her careless words. Although it was entirely her own fault, she doesn't really deserve any sympathy.

"However, if this stuff tastes good, then it'll all end well. Looking at the results..."

"Ah! You're right! If this stuff tastes good, then everything will end well! Looking at the results..."

—If this stuff tastes good.

""well……""

Our sighs overlapped perfectly, as if we had rehearsed them beforehand.

"...By the way, what will Yukino think when she sees this?"

Yuihama's expression grew even more melancholy.

"Because Yukino seems to really hate this type of lie, right...?"

"what……"

Indeed, Yukinoshita is a cold-blooded woman whose motto is "absolute justice." She'd likely be quite harsh on such a careless remark. Add to that this pitiful omelet, and one can only imagine how venomous her criticism would be. Even just imagining it is terrifying…

"No, but this omelet might be delicious, there's a slight possibility."

"Yes, yes! It might taste delicious! There's even a slight chance!"

There is a slight possibility.

In other words, there is only a sliver of a possibility.

"well!"

Without further ado, Yui sat down next to me and picked up her chopsticks with her right hand.

It seems she's finally decided to try it. She's a woman who dares to gamble with the slightest chance of winning, a true model gambler.

"Go ahead..." Yuihama tried to pick up the omelet, but the almost jelly-like object slipped between her chopsticks.

"…………………………………………"

The images were so shocking that we looked at each other, speechless.

Oh no. That sticky feeling that slipped from my chopsticks... It feels like if I ate it, all my organs would malfunction. Not only that, but my body would be possessed by some kind of deadly poison without me even realizing it.

"No, no problem. It should be fine..."

Yuihama's eyes welled up with tears as she told herself, "If it's this painful, I shouldn't eat it..." What, is it that the food I made is causing her so much pain? I sighed and extended my right hand to Yuihama.

"what?"

"...Just eating the bread from the welfare center isn't enough. I can even test it for poison for you."

"An autistic man. But... but..."

Despite not wanting to test the food, I reached out my right hand to Yuihama, who looked guilty, and almost snatched the lunchbox from her.

"I'm sorry. Thank you."

Yuihama whispered, and I nodded to her, picking up my chopsticks and reaching for the "omelet".

Use your wits to scoop it up.

"..."

Under the tense gaze of Yuihama, he poured it into his mouth...

—Afterwards, this incident (in my mind) was named the "Yuigahama Handmade Bento Incident".

I won't go into detail about the taste of that omelet. Just thinking about it makes me depressed, and it's difficult to describe in words.

That day after school, at the Service Society office.

"...I said, under the snow, let's assume."

I asked a question to someone reading a book under the snow.

"Imagine a friend promises to treat you to a fancy French meal, but then suddenly offers you a mini 4WD tire as food. How would you feel?"

The final metaphor is subjective; it doesn't have to be a "tire." You can use something more impactful as a metaphor. The taste of that omelet was beyond description, even a tire couldn't do it justice.

Faced with my sudden question, Yukinoshita tilted her head cutely, as if asking, "Why are you suddenly asking this?"

"Of course, we should break off all contact with them."

Her answer was firm and resolute.

I think so too...

This is what Yuihama said about that horrible omelet.

"Ah—when it comes to bento boxes, omelets are a must, right? And, I'd like to say, omelets have to be super sweet to be delicious."

"I saw online that adding milk when making omelets makes them more tender."

"But we ran out of milk in the fridge, so—"

—It seems she used coffee milk instead.

Seriously, this idea is so casual. "If you don't have milk, just add coffee milk. Coffee milk is sweet and can be used as sugar." This idea is both incredibly casual and incredibly dangerous.

If you feed her that kind of thing, Yukino might really break off her friendship with Yuihama.

Yuihama's cooking is just that terrifying.

In short, forgetting the promise with Yukinoshita would be best for them both, but Yuihama thought the exact opposite—

"Effort is a good solution, provided the approach is correct."

Yukino once said that.

Hmm, that sounds like the kind of correct statement that woman would make. And in this dire situation, Yuihama seems to have remembered her correct statement.

"Is hard work a good solution...?"

As we were leaving after the Service Club's activities, Yui suddenly muttered something when it was just the two of us left.

"I've made up my mind, you autistic guy."

she says.

"I'm going to do special training to make a bento that Yukino will say is delicious."

She clenched her fist and declared loudly.

"Yeah—good luck. See you tomorrow."

I left those words coldly and embarked on my journey home.