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Chapter 27: A Meager Lunch (EC)

Chapter 27: Chapter 27: A Meager Lunch (EC)

Only after Kotone Asaba went to buy bread did Kobeni Higashiyama finally realize what she had agreed to.

Her eyes immediately widened. She looked down at the lunch in her hands and gradually turned into a little steam engine all over again.

But she had already agreed, so there was no way to back out now. At that moment, her heart was filled with nervousness, embarrassment, and uncontrollable anticipation.

Even buying bread took Kotone Asaba several minutes, because there were many students buying bread as well, and the cafeteria shop had almost sold out for the day.

Because Kotone Asaba’s eyes were far too distinctive, he easily drew attention wherever he went.

Some students had already confirmed through his eyes that he really was Kotone Asaba, but none of them came over to bother him.

After buying two bags of bread that looked decent enough, Kotone Asaba returned to Kobeni Higashiyama.

At the moment, Kobeni’s face was still completely red, and her mind was filled with thoughts of what was about to happen.

As soon as Kotone Asaba came back, he saw the unusual look on Kobeni’s face. He had a pretty good idea of what was going on. Although Kobeni’s personality was just like this, judging from her previous reactions, this Affinity trend was clearly not heading toward friendship or family affection, but romance.

And he already liked Kobeni. He had liked her even before he crossed over, so he sincerely wanted to help her, such as helping her solve the problems with her family.

If he only cared about obtaining Codex rewards, then there would be no need for him to do anything extra. He could simply focus on winning her over.

"Do you want to eat in the cafeteria? Or should we find somewhere outside to sit?"

Kotone Asaba asked Kobeni Higashiyama.

Right now, the cafeteria was too crowded. Even finding an empty seat would not be easy. But the rooftop, the athletic field, or any outdoor area with benches would all work for eating lunch, though the rooftop was usually locked.

In any case, as long as they were not eating inside the classroom, there generally were not many restrictions. Eating in the classroom was definitely out of the question. Lunch break was less than an hour, and if someone ate in the classroom, the smell might still not be gone by the time class started.

"Th, then... then let’s go outside..."

This time, Kobeni had an even harder time speaking smoothly.

"Don’t panic so much. If you feel too embarrassed, you can use the lid of the lunchbox to separate some for me."

Kotone Asaba spoke up, trying to ease Kobeni’s nervousness.

If he insisted on eating with Kobeni in such an intimate way, perhaps her Affinity would rise even further. But rather than force things just to raise her Affinity, he cared more about how Kobeni felt.

"O, okay!"

Kobeni followed behind Kotone Asaba in tiny steps. She seemed so nervous and embarrassed that she had already forgotten she was supposed to be the one leading the way.

Along the outdoor path, there was a long bench every short distance. Many students could be seen sitting on the benches and eating lunch with their friends.

There happened to be an empty bench in front of them, so Kotone Asaba brought Kobeni over and sat down there.

Kobeni felt shy just sitting beside Kotone Asaba. When she opened the lunchbox, she hesitated for a moment. "Um... I should be the one using the lid instead..."

After thinking about it, she realized she was the one who had suggested this to make up for her mistake in the first place. How could she let Asaba use the lunchbox lid?

"It’s fine. I don’t mind."

"No, no! This is clearly my fault... How could I make Asaba put up with that..."

In this situation, Kobeni was unusually able to speak her mind.

Kotone Asaba could not help feeling a little surprised by that. "All right."

In any case, he did not care whether he used the box or the lid. Since Kobeni had already said that much, there was nothing else for him to say.

Next, Kobeni seemed to divide the lunch equally in half, but in reality, she gave most of the meat dishes to Kotone Asaba.

There had not been much meat in the lunchbox to begin with, yet she still gave most of it to Kotone Asaba.

Seeing this, Kotone Asaba could not help feeling a little sad for Kobeni. The lunch Kobeni’s family had prepared for her was almost entirely vegetables, and even the portion of vegetables was not very large.

The nutrition in this lunch is way too poor...

"Sorry. It looks pretty shabby..."

At that moment, Kobeni apologized to Kotone Asaba in embarrassment.

"Not at all. Isn’t my bread even shabbier?"

Kotone Asaba tactfully avoided that topic and smoothly handed one of the bags of bread he had bought to Kobeni.

Good thing he had bought extra bread. At least the bread would add some nutrition and help fill them up.

Immediately afterward, he said, "Wait here for a moment. I’ll go buy two drinks."

Eating only lunch and bread without anything to drink would be a little dry, and this also helped steer the conversation away from the shabbiness of her lunch.

"Oh, okay."

Kobeni nodded blankly.

"By the way, what drink do you want?"

Kotone Asaba asked.

"A drink? Um... I’m not sure... Just buy me whatever Asaba wants to drink...?"

Kobeni had almost never had drinks like that. Her family simply did not give her the means to buy them. Only when there was an important family gathering did she occasionally get to drink something, but there was nothing she especially liked.

So she did not know what to say and completely handed the decision over to Kotone Asaba.

"All right. I’ll go take a look."

There was a vending machine not far away, and with Kotone Asaba’s eyes, he could spot it at a glance.

He considered it for a while in front of the vending machine, then bought two bottles of juice.

Although he did not know what Kobeni Higashiyama liked to drink, juice should be fine.

Kotone Asaba returned to the bench with two bottles of juice and handed one to Kobeni.

"Thank you!"

After taking it, Kobeni looked at it for a while before recognizing that it was juice. She had never had this kind of juice before.

Looking at the half portion of lunch, the bag of bread, and the bottle of juice in her hands, Kobeni did not quite know how to describe what she was feeling. She almost never got to eat such a plentiful lunch.

...

A little over ten minutes later.

"It’s delicious! It’s so delicious! The bread and juice are both really good!"

Just like when she had eaten ice cream last time, Kobeni wore an expression of complete happiness.

Maybe it was because her lunch was too shabby, or maybe it was because she had gotten tired of eating that kind of lunch every day, but Kobeni felt that bread with juice tasted much better than her own lunch. On top of that, the bread even had filling inside.

[Kobeni Higashiyama Affinity +5%]

"I’m glad you like it."

Seeing Kobeni look so happy, Kotone Asaba’s face also showed a faintly relieved expression.

At the same time, Kobeni’s feelings were a little complicated. The lunch she had brought was not as good as the bread and juice Asaba had given her, yet Asaba had still eaten all of his half.

Deep down, she understood. Asaba probably did not say anything because he was considering her feelings.