Chapter 102: Because He Doesn’t Care

……

“Mmm, it’s so sweet, eating watermelon in winter is really a wonderful experience na.” Takahashi Ayano bit into the watermelon and said with a face of enjoyment.

Next to them, Takahashi Mito and Hayakawa were a bit silent in comparison, eating watermelon with their heads down.

For the first time between the two BFFs, they felt that facing each other would be so awkward, and the more active Ayano on the side acted, the more constrained the two felt at this point.

In the kitchen, Aoi Natsuki was cooking soup, picking up a soup spoon and scooping up a spoonful to taste the saltiness, he was also able to receive fluctuations in the favorability values from Takahashi Mido and Hayakawa Keiko at this time, the higher the frequency of the fluctuations, it means that the two of them are in a more unstable mood now.

“I-I’ll go help in the kitchen.” Hayakawa’s cry broke the original atmosphere, getting up and walking towards the kitchen.

“I’ll go too.” The words came out almost immediately after Takahashi Mito, and when she responded, she had seen Hayakawa looking at her with a surprised look, and she herself had unconsciously left her seat.

There was no way around it, and then both of them went into the kitchen to help.

The kitchen was huge, not to mention the two of them, and even adding three or four more would be no problem at all, except that the number of helpers didn’t need to be two.

Aoi Natsuki also smelled that unsettling odor between the two, and after thinking about it, she had no choice but to give each of them a simple job.

Consider it an added dish.

Hayakawa picked up a cleaned potato, then peeled it, and later cut strips with a knife; after all, he had helped his mother with these things since he was a child, so naturally his grip on the knife was quite steady.

This regular sound of a kitchen knife falling on a cutting board fell on Takahashi Midu’s heart at the same time.

Somehow, a strong sense of triumph rose within her at this moment, having never thought of competing with Hayakawa for anything.

It was clearly not a match at all, but the state of affairs between the two felt like a battle for first place.

Hayakawa on the left is chopping potatoes, Takahashi Midu on the right is chopping tomatoes while Aoi Natsuki prepares the cornstarch, beats the eggs and heats the oil.

Planning on frying another order of fries for lunch.

“Enough is enough, there’s no need to eat so much.” Seeing the mountain of potato fries, Aoi Natsuki rushed forward to stop it, along with Takahashi next to her.

“I’ll take care of the back, I don’t need you guys anymore, you all go out.” Aoi Natsuki gave an expulsion order, and the two girls also heard it and peacefully put down their kitchen knives and left the kitchen.

Totally meaningless, these two.

Natsuki Aoi shook his head, then started the fries.

“Want another piece of watermelon?” A grinning Ayano raised her hand in greeting.

But neither of the two men in front of her paid any attention to her, which left her a bit baffled, “Eh?”

The two walked to the living room, one after the other, and sat down on the couch, left and right, and the air became very quiet once again.

All you can hear is the sound of potato fries coated in cornstarch and egg wash being dropped into the frying pan.

After a long time, Keiko Hayakawa slowly turned her head and said softly, “I’m happy oh ……”

Takahashi Mito was expecting a series of questions, but this sudden sentence interrupted her original train of thought.

“Happy?”

“Hmm.” Keiko Hayakawa pursed her upper lip, “But I will never lose to you!”

Takahashi Mito hadn’t understood what she meant just now, but after hearing the second half of this sentence, she understood instantly, did Hayakawa misunderstand that she liked Aoi again! Self, self ……

It would have been at this point that her character would have firmly denied the idea, but she was now silent instead.

Do you really like Aoi yourself ……

Takahashi Mito glanced in the direction of the kitchen with her afterglow, but that glance was simultaneously caught by Hayakawa, whose heart became more and more convinced of this fact.

But she didn’t feel sad, she even felt deserved, it was a normal thing for a guy like Natsuki to be pursued by other girls, and all she could do was to work hard to improve herself and do her own part of the job, and if there were any girls competing with her, then by all means, let them have their way! This moment she wouldn’t back down no matter what!

Hayakawa has changed.

In Takahashi Midu’s eyes, the originally timid Hayakawa now had a far more serious demeanor in her eyes.

She looked dumbfounded too.

When exactly did this start ……

It feels like the trajectory of everything in life is starting to feel like a train ride, and everyone around you is changing forever except for yourself.

Hayakawa, who was originally average in appearance, average in stature, and couldn’t even speak well, was giving her a light as bright as the sun at this moment.

At that moment, Takahashi Midu suddenly remembered what Sakurajima Apricot had said in the activity classroom not long ago.

Birthday Party ……

It really seemed like everything changed from the day of his birthday party.

Just what …… is happening ……

……

After the meal, Ayano rested for a while, then took Hayakawa upstairs again and continued to start teaching in the direction of manga.

Aoi Natsuki, who was washing the dishes in the kitchen, opened the system panel and looked at Hayakawa’s specialties column, and there were no new specialties displayed.

It’s really not that simple.

Haste does not make waste, this matter can only be taken slowly.

“Need, need help?”

Takahashi Mito’s voice came from the back.

Aoi Natsuki turned her head, and the other party was leaning her back against the door frame of the mobile door in a somewhat formal manner.

He lifted his right hand, which held the plate, and waved it around, then put this last plate in the cabinet in front of her, “You can be earlier next time if you want to help.”

“Well, then, that’s the kind of thing where I can guess.”

“You obviously could have come in earlier say.”

“But just now, just now ……” Takahashi Midu’s eyes glanced in the direction of the stairway, then sighed out of the tip of her nose and crossed her arms, “Never mind, you can have this.”

“What?” Aoi Natsuki wiped her hand with a tissue and came closer to look at it, it was a gift box tied with a ribbon, the style was quite exquisite.

“What is it?”

“Fountain pen.”

“Why did you suddenly give me a fountain pen?”

“Return the favor!”

“When’s the return gift?”

“I say are you guys a hundred thousand reasons! What are you gabbing about when I give you something, hold out your hand!”

Natsuki Aoi obediently spread his hands.

After that, Takahashi Mito placed the gift box in his hand, “This is a return gift for the gift you gave me at my last birthday party, and I’m quite a stickler for etiquette, so don’t ask any unnecessary questions, I won’t answer you even if I do!”

The tone was full of arrogance.

But this time, Aoi Natsuki didn’t get angry, because after knowing her for a long time, he also somewhat understood her unique way of speaking, Takahashi was actually an arrogant character, with one set of words on his lips and another in his heart.

He unwrapped the gift box in front of her, and when he opened it, inside was a very high-class looking fountain pen, with gilt foil stamping style lines on it, which must have cost quite a lot.

Taking the fountain pen out of the box, he took a closer look at it and casually said on his lips, “I guess I picked it out for a long time ……”

“How! Just, just saw it in the cupboard when I passed by! You mustn’t think too much of it! It’s just a simple return gift.”

Takahashi Midu’s reaction was huge, and it was clear that this was the first time she had given a gift to the same boy.

“Oh, thanks anyway.” Natsuki Aoi smiled faintly, then closed the gift box and tucked the whole thing into his jacket pocket.

“Favorability +2”

Aoi Natsuki noticed that at this time, Takahashi Mito’s favorability value also came to 60 points, a qualitatively similar leap just in this one month’s time.

Ya …… turns out that in the face of arrogant characters, choose to capture the method is the best ah, I used to be a little too shaft, really life or learn to live to the old ah.

Aoi Natsuki couldn’t help but feel inwardly, turning to see Takahashi still standing in place, “Is there anything else you want?”

“…… I was the one with the bad attitude about the zoo last time …… I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it’s something I’ve long since lost sight of, so you don’t have to worry too much about it.”

Shrugging it off, he turned and walked out of the kitchen.

The two just didn’t communicate anymore.

Looking at Aoi Natsuki’s back as she went up the stairs, Takahashi Midu’s heart felt like it was suddenly gripped by pliers, it was obviously just a very ordinary exchange of conversation, but she felt that it was even more difficult than having a big fight with her.

It was only later that she realized the reason for this.

It’s because.

He doesn’t care.

……

“Is it the sea? It’s not easy to see the sea in a big city like Tokyo.”

“It’s not much farther, I know a trail to sneak in, let’s pick there for fishing.”

Sakurajima Apricot, along with Natsuki Aoi, Hayakawa, and Rina, traveled to Tokyo Bay in a bus.

New Year’s Eve was a total of three days off, and Aoi had also gotten word that his parents would be returning from a recent business trip, and all the good news in quick succession made him wonder if he had regained the favor of the world.

The last time I had a conversation with my mom in a video, although I could hear the tone was slightly serious, I could still feel the strong mother-son bond in it.

It’s true that some feelings can transcend the negative favorability of the world configuration that this itself is set in.

Blowing in the wind, Lina kept wiggling her legs and pressing her hand against her straw hat, she was also looking forward to today’s fishing trip.

All the fishing tools were prepared by Sakurajima, this is also an accident learned the news, Aoi Natsuki naturally will not let go of such a good point of specialization, let Sakurajima apricot to influence Hayakawa, it is the same as letting multiple S-class beauty girl’s specialties go to accrue to Hayakawa, he is really a small genius.

Ayano had tutored Hayakawa for two days, and the two of them were still in contact at night, and since this was a hobby that interested both of them, the direction of this manga artist’s assistant was halfway realized.

Opening the system panel, Hayakawa’s specialty column already had the word “Manga” appearing, with a value of 2 points, which was not much, but still had a lot of room for improvement!

“Here we are, we’re heading back in the direction we came from now, there’s a small fork in the road there, we’ll go down that way, don’t worry, absolutely no one will notice.”

Sakurajima Apricot said as she packed her bags.

By the tone of her voice, she should not have been here too often.

How could I not have expected her to have such a hobby.

Followed Sakurajima down a small, hidden fork in the road, followed by a ten-minute walk to an embankment.

“Well, here it is.”

It did look hidden because of the dike in the way, and there were no people at all looking around.

“What is the purpose of fishing, do you know?”

“Well …… usual mind?” Aoi Natsuki replied.

Apricot Sakurajima shook her head.

“Patience?” Hayakawa replied right after him.

Still shaking her head, Sakurajima Apricot extended her right index finger and said to the few people, “It’s a caught fish you have to eat it, it’s a gift from nature.”

“This must be made up ……”

“That’s the purpose of my fishing, only if you have the desire to eat it, they will want to come up and be eaten by you, in itself it’s big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp, shrimp eat river mud, it’s all predestined.” Sakurajima Apricot said some more unspecified words, and then briefly explained the usage of fishing gear to a few people.

Leena was too young to let her watch from the sidelines.

Natsuki Arai touched the material of the rod and turned to ask, “How much would a rod like this probably cost?”

“It’s not expensive, it’s only 120,000 yen.”

“One hundred and twenty thousand!” Aoi and Hayakawa said in unison, and Rina on the side exclaimed as she held up her writing pad with an exclamation mark on it.

“This, is it so expensive ……” Hayakawa Keiko suddenly stood in awe of the fishing rod in front of her, this one rod was worth more than her entire year’s allowance, and if she broke it… …

It’s unimaginable!

Aoi Natsuki also feel shocked, no wonder it is this feel, randomly bring out is this level of fishing rod, plus the last time I met Sakurajima also drove six million dollars worth of Kawasaki h2, this guy, perhaps it is his side of the real hidden big rich ah!

Not only is she pretty, but her family is also very wealthy, so it’s hard to believe that she’s the real Chosen One.

“Okay, so we’re going to start talking about lures now, this is a Roadrunner soft bait, it looks like a minnow, but the whole body is made out of rubber, it’s usually used to catch some big fish.”

Apricot Sakurajima wiggled the lure in her hand, the Roadrunner soft bait looking like a slender, flat fish.

“If we can catch one today, then we’ll have a meal for the night.”

“Well, that set of hooks ……”

Hayakawa was just about to ask how this bait should be set, only to see Sakurajima Apricot just yanking the rubber minnow’s head right off in a raw tug, and then picking up her own hook, “Stab it in through the center part, with the tip of the hook at the top, it takes skill, I’ll teach you once.”

The rough action directly scared Hayakawa backward, and next to her, Rina similarly pawed at Hayakawa’s sister’s head with her hand, looking curiously at the headless bait with wide-open eyes.

After some instruction, a few people officially started their fishing time.

Sakurajima Apricot calmly looked at the water without saying a word, but she didn’t act casually like those old fishing men on the internet who maintained their immobility all the time.

“Sakurajima, how did you get into fishing? I thought you basically had no outdoor activities.”

“Because fishing is fun oh.” Sakurajima Apricot spread a smile.

Really? So Sakurajima has this kind of ordinary hobby too.

“Catching its prey in a pre-set trap with no penalty, realizing it has been duped when it bites the hook, and trying to work its way out of death, it has to yank its body hard, harder, the lacerations getting bigger and bigger, and eventually, after a long tug-of-war, it loses its strength, and also its not-so-long-life ……

Wouldn’t you say that’s interesting?”

Ha ……

You guys, you’re hopeless.