episode_0012

About 30 minutes later, when I returned from running errands for my mom and went up to my room, a familiar scene was unfolding.

“Akiya, you did something wrong. I won’t tease you like that again, so let go of your anger, okay, okay?”

“Hmph… !”

Aki, with her cheeks puffed out as if she was pouting, is turning her body towards the wall with her arms crossed, and teacher Kim Yuna, who was tutoring Aki and me, is clinging to Aki, begging her to please forgive him.

“… … Um.”

I don’t know what happened while I was gone, but I have a rough idea of why this situation unfolded.

From what I can see, Aki must have been upset because teacher Yuna Kim was teasing her.

It’s already been almost 4 months since Teacher Yuna Kim started tutoring us, and since we started talking and became friends, things like this have become common, so it’s obvious to me.

“Teacher, did you make fun of Aki again?”

I deliberately made a loud noise and sat down in my seat.

At that moment, the eyes of two women come to me.

One of them, Aki, pretended not to notice me and snorted, and Teacher Yuna Kim gestured to me as if she was in trouble and that something was going well.

“Space! Good timing, come here and comfort Aki… !”

“Please soothe me, what can I do?”

“You two are dating. Just tell me you love me or give me a kiss or something to comfort me, right?”

“The teacher caused the accident, so why did you have me clean up after it? . No, and we’re not dating… ?”

Since people around me asked so many questions, I answered with words that were now stuck in my mouth.

“Just a very close childhood friend.”

“… … .”

-Tingling.

Aki turns slightly and begins to look at me without saying a word.

For some reason, my gaze stung a little.

“Okay, whether you’re childhood friends or girlfriends, you two are close friends, right? So, instead, do something, huh? Universe, universe~!”

“… … Ugh.”

I’m already feeling awkward because of what happened earlier, but you asked me to comfort Aki.

I wanted to stay away, leaving the teacher to take care of it, but if Aki continues to sulk like this, it is as obvious that no progress will be made, including tutoring.

There isn’t a separate person who causes an accident and someone who takes care of it, and it was annoying to use a dump, but there’s nothing we can do about it. I can’t waste the day like this, so I have no choice but to do what I have to do.

I intentionally cleared my throat to attract attention.

“Hey, Aki… ?”

“… … Why?”

“I’ll buy you something delicious later, so can you let go of your anger?”

“Wooju~chan, I’m not even a child, but just for food-.”

“How about I buy Aki what he wants?”

“… … Then, can I have Tanghulu?”

“No, you can’t do that because it’s too bad for your health. Instead, everything else is fine.”

“Chi, then everything is not okay… ? Uju~chan is a liar.”

Although Aki is verbally harsh, he seems to have calmed down after hearing that he will buy him something sweet, and he stops crossing his arms and turns in this direction.

I looked at Teacher Yuna Kim with a look that said, ‘Enough is enough, right?’, and Teacher Yuna Kim took advantage of the opportunity I had created to sneak closer to Aki.

“Akiya, will you forgive me? ?”

When teacher Kim Yuna, who is much more mature than us, comes out in a low posture, Aki sighs as if he can’t bear to get any more angry.

“… … Don’t play pranks like that again. Teacher Yoona.”

“Wow, okay! Thank you, Akiya!”

“Please say thank you to Uju~chan, not me. If it wasn’t for Uju~chan, I would still be angry… .”

“Oh, I see. Thank you, Universe~”

“Yes, well… .”

“Okay, then shall we start again from where we left off? Woojoo, can you read this passage out loud?”

“Well, when X plus Y is 6 and X Y is 7, the root of … .”

* * *

“Yes, this should be enough. Do you have any more questions?”

“No, I don’t have one. Aki, what about you?”

“I don’t have one either, Teacher Yoona.”

“Really? Then let’s end today’s class with this.”

The current time is 7 PM, and the extracurricular class ended later than usual.

Teacher Yuna Kim gathered the textbooks used in class and put them all together and then stood up. Aki and I also collected our workbooks and followed her out of the room.

“Mom, class is over~”

“Teacher Yoona, Woojoo~chan’s mother is not home right now.”

“Oh, really? Where did you go?”

“Yes, I received a text message earlier saying that he was going to go out with his father and that he would be late. I told them to eat dinner together too.”

“… … ?”

What is it, I haven’t heard that story.

I was confused by the sound, which was something I had never heard before, when Teacher Yuna Kim nodded.

“Aha, then shall we say hello and end it? Universe, Aki. you did well today. Rest well and see you next Friday~?”

“Goodbye, teacher.”

“Teacher Yoona, be careful!”

Clap, thud-.

After leaving a brief greeting, Teacher Kim Yuna left through the front door.

As the number of people changed from three to two, the noisy house suddenly became quiet, and after seeing off, Aki and I looked at each other.

“Wooju~chan, what should we do now?”

“Huh? What should I do?”

“What is it? Of course it’s dinner. Watashi (me) said that earlier, right? Woojoo~chan’s parents came late so we had to eat dinner together.”

“Oh, indeed. It was like that… .”

I was so nervous that I was alone with Aki that I was in a daze without realizing it.

‘… … If it were the same, I wouldn’t be nervous.’

Maybe it’s because something like that happened earlier, but I’m not like myself… … .

“Wooju~chan, is there any leftover rice at home?”

“I’m not sure. Why is that? Could you please cook me some food?”

“Yes, Watashi, you are good at cooking now. I learned it directly from my mom!”

“Oh, really? It’s amazing… .”

The only things I know how to cook are ramen and kimchi fried rice.

When I looked at him again with sincere admiration, Aki puffed out his chest and smiled, as if he felt proud.

“Normally I don’t do this for just anyone, but since Wooju~chan is special, I’m doing it special!”

“Yes, thank you! But what kind of dish should I cook?”

“Hmm, I think I should check the refrigerator first. Uju~chan, can I open the refrigerator?”

“Of course it’s okay. You can open it however you want, Aki.”

We moved from the living room to the kitchen.

Rattling-.

Aki opened the refrigerator door with fairly familiar movements, looked around, and said, ‘Yeah…’ He tilted his head and made a ‘?’

“Wooju~chan, there’s not much in the refrigerator?”

“Uh, really? Didn’t your mom do the grocery shopping? ?”

“It would be difficult to do this… . Do you have any food?”

“Wait a minute, let me check.”

I approached the place where there was a rice bowl with a large brand logo on it.

I pressed the button and opened the inside. Then, the empty inside of the rice container is seen.

“Akiya, there’s no food?”

“Oh, there’s no food? Uju~chan, Uju~chan, is your rice cooker a pressure rice cooker?”

“Huh? What kind of rice cooker?”

“… … Come out for a moment, Wooju~chan.”

Aki looked around at our rice cooker, touched the underside of her chin cutely, and said, ‘Umm…’ .’ he let out a sigh.

“It’s a thermal rice cooker. Ugh, if I do this, it will take at least an hour just to cook… … . Uju~chan, are you really hungry?”

“Slightly. Aki, what about you?”

“Well, Watashi is not so good… .”

Growling-.

Someone’s belly clock rang loudly.

Of course, it wasn’t my boat, but the sound came from Aki’s boat in front of me.

“… … .”

“… … .”

It’s a disaster.

Aki’s cheeks turned bright red.

To be considerate of Aki, I pretended not to hear anything and naturally turned around and played with the magnet on the refrigerator.

“… … Should I just order dinner?”

“Ugh, uhm… . Well, I think that would be good… .”

The sound of Aki muttering comes from behind.

He must have been quite embarrassed, as his voice was almost crawling.

‘… … If I told you it was cute, wouldn’t you be angry?’

Thinking to myself that my childhood friend was really cute, I took out my cell phone from my pocket and opened a delivery app that allowed me to order food.

When I was young, I went out to play with my mom and dad, but after I turned ten, I thought, ‘Wooju, you’re all grown up now, so you can be alone, right? “No, I’m not alone anyway, I’m with Aki-” and the two of them go around having fun together.

In other words, it’s not uncommon for Aki and I to be alone together like this. So, I have become quite accustomed to ordering food through delivery apps.

“Aki, what do you want to eat?”

I asked deliberately without looking.

Aki paused for a while, then muttered softly in a tone of voice that would sound awkward to anyone who heard it.

“Well, anything… ?”

“Anything… . Then shall I just order pizza?”

“Ugh, okay… .”

“Let’s see, the order button is… . Ah, that’s it. I ordered it. They say it takes about 40 minutes.”

“… … Woo, space~chan.”

“Uh, why?”

When I saw him calling my name, I thought he must have felt embarrassed, so I turned around without thinking about it.

Naturally, our eyes met, and Aki’s cheeks were still gaping.

“That… . Speaking of which… .”

“A while ago?”

“… … Ha, at school. I never thought Uju~chan would say something like that in front of a friend. Are you really surprised?”

Aki hesitantly took a step closer, making a gesture that seemed like he was trying hard to hide his embarrassment.

“You know. That’s probably because Uju~chan likes Watashi that much… … ?”

“… … Huh?”

“Si, there’s no use acting like a fool. Watashi: I heard everything. Uju~chan shouted out loud that he was going to marry me… !”

“Uh… .”

It’s not wrong, but why is the story mentioned earlier in this context?

I was briefly worried about my dark history that came out of nowhere.

‘… … Oh, no way.’

Is he doing this to force a change of topic because he’s embarrassed about making noises in his stomach? I had a suspicion.

“Wooju~chan, tell me honestly. Uju~chan, I like watashi… … ?!”

“… … .”

When I saw Aki’s tension rising to a slightly excessive level, my doubts turned into confidence.

“I see you’re not saying anything, right? Right, yeah, huh~?”

‘… … Foot.’

Normally, I would have been embarrassed and just glossed over it, but since my childhood friend’s intentions for doing this were clearly visible, instead of being embarrassed, I ended up finding Aki cute.

So, I decided to go along with Aki’s desperate attempt to take the initiative.

“Ah… . Really, is that the story again? I told you to stop… .”

“Hmph, you’re not going to stop?”

“That was just something I said without thinking, how long are you going to keep doing it?”

“Um, Uju~chan, until I die?”

“Are you saying that you will stay by my side until I die?”

“Of course, Uju~chan is Aki’s!”

Aki says things I don’t know if he’s trying to make fun of me or if he’s sincere.

As I looked at Aki, I pretended to be in pain and twisted my whole body, but inside I was thinking about something else.

“Wooju~chan, I was very touched. Just like this, Aki decided to marry me… … ! Although I didn’t say it, I really… .”

“Stop, please stop… . Aki… !”

“I don’t like it, but are you going to continue with Watashi~?”

Akiga deliberately becomes more mischievous to hide his shame.

That childhood friend of mine.

“Eight… ! universe… Chan~!”

“Oh… . Aki? Now, wait a minute. It’s dangerous if you just cling to me… ?”

“Wooju~chan, you’re tall! … … Hehe, eight, eight~!”

‘… … Oh, it’s cute.’

Because it’s so cute.

Stop, I feel like I’m going to have other feelings… … .