Time had flown by in the blink of an eye.
At the Academi, where the sun shone brightly, the sound of the school bell echoed, signaling the end of the daily schedule.
Thus, it was time to head home, filled with laughter all around.
As I stepped out of the classroom, hand in hand with Iris and Ariel, I came face to face with Lily, who was standing with a haughty demeanor at the door.
“Oh my… Hello, Lily.”
“Hi, Lily.”
Ariel and Iris greeted her, and Lily returned the smile, welcoming them.
“Hello, Iris. Ariel. And… Sera.”
Today, Lily’s gaze seemed even more intense as she stared at me.
I walked over to her and crossed my arms.
Lily’s body stiffened for a moment.
For some reason, her breath seemed a bit ragged, but I shrugged it off and smiled at her.
“Shall we go?”
“Huh? Sera? Where to?”
Ariel, looking puzzled by my actions, took a step closer to Lily and me.
Before I could respond, Lily stepped in front of me and addressed Ariel.
“Sorry, Ariel. I have a promise with Sera today.”
“Huh… promise?”
“Yeah. We decided to go to Sera’s room today.”
“What?!”
Ariel’s eyes began to widen in shock at Lily’s words.
When I looked at her in confusion, Ariel spoke with a desperate expression.
“I… I want to go too!”
“No.”
But Lily’s reply was overly firm.
“You said it yourself, Ariel. A promise made between the two of us should be kept. Just the two of us.”
“Ugh…”
Ariel’s expression darkened as she recalled her earlier remarks.
After hesitating for a while, she eventually let her head drop in defeat.
I felt a twinge of sympathy for her.
‘…Is she upset because we’re just the two of us?’
Honestly, if my close friends made plans without me, I’d feel hurt too.
But just as I was about to offer her some comforting words,
“Then let’s go, Sera.”
“Eh?”
Lily grabbed my hand and pulled me outside without giving me a chance to say goodbye.
“I also… want to go to Sera’s room…”
Ariel’s voice, muttering by herself, faded away until it became barely audible.
*
“…….”
Lily stared at me with a puzzled expression while holding a fist-sized chunk of meat.
“Why are we at the market?”
As Lily pointed out, this was a grocery store.
I had been shopping for various ingredients with her.
All to teach Lily how to cook.
“I’m going to cook.”
“Y-You’re going to cook?”
I smiled as I dropped pasta noodles into the basket, causing Lily to react more strongly than I expected, mumbling to herself while blushing.
“Sera’s cooking…”
After finishing up the checkout,
On our way back to the Giseuksa,
We walked hand in hand through the Academi.
Before long, we arrived at my Giseuksa.
As I opened the door to my room, I found Lily staring at me blankly at the entrance.
“Come in, Lily.”
“…..Okay.”
I pulled her hand and guided her toward the door. Lily walked into the room, obediently following my lead.
I walked over to the refrigerator, and Lily, her cheeks unusually flushed, began looking around my room. She sat on my bed and started to fidget with the blanket.
“Here… today… just the two of us… -”
Once again, she murmured something I couldn’t quite grasp.
‘…Is she really feeling unwell?’
This was certainly a different vibe from her usually poised and aloof demeanor.
Yet the little hums escaping her lips and her occasionally appearing girlish smile seemed to suggest she was in a good mood after all.
Well, if that’s the case, it’s probably fine.
I looked at the gently smiling Lily on the bed and said,
“Lily, do you want to wash up first?”
“What… what?!”
Upon hearing my words, Lily jumped up from the bed in surprise.
Her face bore an expression of confusion and a hint of something like expectation.
“Wha… already? Now… wash up?”
“You have to wash to be able to cook.”
“….!!”
Lily shuddered as if jolted awake.
Then she took a few ragged breaths and slowly removed her school jacket, hanging it on a hook.
She approached me and said in a voice thick with rising tension,
“Sera… let’s wash together.”
Her intense gaze overwhelmed me momentarily.
“Uh…? W-Well, should we…?”
Well, it shouldn’t be a big deal.
Since this isn’t too difficult, I mindlessly accepted her suggestion.
Then, inexplicably, Lily began to unbutton my school uniform as if she had become quite bold.
After that, she pulled me close, burying her face in my white shirt and inhaling deeply.
“Okay… now I forgive you…”
With that bewildering remark, she kissed my cheek lightly and started pulling me toward the Yokshil.
…Huh?
“Lily?”
“Yes?”
As I called her with a perplexed voice, she turned to look back at me.
“I just wondered if we really needed to go to the Yokshil.”
“….What?”
“There’s a sink here.”
I pointed to the sink in the kitchen. Lily stared at me blankly for a moment.
“……”
“Lily?”
After a prolonged silence between us,
Eventually, Lily broke the quiet with a soft voice.
“…Wait, were you suggesting washing hands?”
“Uh…? Isn’t that it..?”
I mean, you have to wash your hands to cook.
“……”
“Uh… uh?”
What… what’s going on?
I could swear I felt a change in Lily’s demeanor just then…
N-Not my imagination, right?
“….Why am I doing this…”
Lily, who was stirring noodles with chopsticks in front of boiling water, grumbled to herself with a hopeless look.
I smiled gently at her.
“You have to cook!”
“Exactly, but why am I cooking…?”
She waved the chopsticks again, grumbling.
This really isn’t good.
Lily was showing zero enthusiasm for cooking right now.
I understood why.
After all, Dania’s older sister must have been making delicious meals daily before.
There wouldn’t be any reason for Lily to want to cook.
But that simply wouldn’t do.
Since Lily has feelings for Robin, cooking was an essential skill.
For her love, I had to teach her.
First, I needed to boost Lily’s will to learn.
I glanced at Lily and carefully suggested,
“If Lily becomes good at cooking, she’d be really adorable…”
“…!!”
Lily displayed a significant reaction to my words.
Great. It was registering with her.
Just a little more persuasion, and I thought she’d be ready to go.
“Isn’t the person Lily likes likely to want to eat her cooking?”
After a moment of hesitation, Lily looked at me with a spark of renewed energy in her eyes.
“My… cooking…?”
“Yeah, a girl who cooks well is attractive, right? I’m sure whoever likes you would love it!”
From then on, Lily stared at me thoughtfully for a while but finally turned back toward the kitchen with a determined look.
“…Then teach me, Sera.”
Seeing Lily say so made me let out a small smile.
The power of love seems remarkable.
I can convince her just like that.
…Though it was a bit uncomfortable that the one she liked was Robin.
‘No, no, Hera. You promised to support her.’
I shook my head several times to clear my thoughts and approached Lily.
“Okay. I’ll handle the boiling noodles, so can you prepare the sauce?”
I had decided to teach her how to cook pasta.
Well, even from just the ingredients, it was clear enough. It was pasta.
As long as the ingredients were available, it was relatively simple to make, delicious, and had a fancy appearance.
Named, Aglio e Olio.
It had been one of the dishes I had eaten the most while living alone.
I wasn’t sure if this type of food existed in this world, so I didn’t know the exact name, but I thought it would likely be popular due to its generally appealing taste.
I began guiding her through the process step by step, showing her the ingredients and sauces to use.
After preparing the basic oil sauce, I activated a heating spell to warm the pan.
“Now, just place the boiled noodles in here and mix it well.”
“Okay.”
As she got started, Lily seemed to find enjoyment in the process, her expression lifting considerably compared to earlier.
She had been quite fierce a moment ago; maybe that was just my imagination.
While Lily diligently mixed the noodles, I placed the meat I had bought on the cutting board and took out a knife.
“Sera, I’ll handle the cutting.”
Lily stepped in and took the knife from me at my words.
“Okay. But… are you good at cutting?”
Looking at me with a confident expression, Lily said,
“Sera, I’m a Grand Master.”
…That sounded a bit alarming.
But I figured it would be best to let her try.
With an air of casualness, Lily gently smiled and placed the knife on the meat, giving it a little pressure.
But.
Crack!
“What…?”
A startled voice escaped Lily’s lips.
Looking at her hand, alongside the meat was the cutting board, which had been sliced through as well.
‘…I had a feeling this would happen.’
As Lily stared at me in shock, I let out a short sigh and walked over to her.
“Lily… You need to hold the knife differently when cooking.”
I stood closely behind her, resting my chin on her shoulder and holding her hands to guide her in holding the knife properly.
‘Lily… her hair smells nice…’
The soft scent wafted from her silver hair as it danced near my face.
I pushed the fragrance out of my mind and leaned in closely to her ear, softly explaining.
“Instead of relying purely on strength, try to move the knife smoothly like this?”
As I guided her hand through the motion, the meat cut through much more easily than before.
“Want to give it a try?”
“…..”
“…Lily?”
Noticing something off in the atmosphere, I turned to Lily.
Her ears had turned as red as a bright chili pepper.
Lily had been acting strangely all day today.
…Was she really not feeling well?
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