Discovery

Right now, I’m doing the dishes from today’s breakfast. Yuuma insists on doing it himself, but I forced him to let me do it since he’s handled way too much workload in the household. It took a while, but he eventually faltered to my stubbornness.

“And that should be it…”

I dried off my hands, grabbed my sling bag that was laying on top of the kitchen table that’s filled with an assortment of bowls and different types of ceramics, and headed towards the hallway.

“—retty good…”

“Really?!”

“…?”

I turn around and head towards the workshop, the source of the sounds. The door was opened for some reason, so I took a peek.

Inside, my dad is holding a nicely shaped bowl whilst analyzing it from top to bottom.

“Yeah… you’ve improved a lot kid…” My dad then bends to meet Yuuma at eye level, “I’m proud of you…” He then placed his right hand on his shoulder.

“…Thanks,” Yuuma replied.

“But don’t let that get to your head. You still have a lot to go.” Dad then put the bowl to the side.

“Okay!”

“…”

My dad is blocking his face, which makes me a bit annoyed. I wonder what kind of face you’re making now though…

I want to see it so badly!

It’ll be awkward if I come in now though…

I took out my Clairvoyance watch from my pocket, which currently displays nine on it.

“I need to start going…” I whispered.

There are a lot of orders that need to be dealt with, so I better finish this quickly so I can make it back by lunchtime.

I wonder what Yuuma’s going to make for lunch…

---

“Thank you for your patronage!” I said while bowing. I continue, “I would also like to apologize for my tardiness.”

“It’s okay—it’s okay…” The old lady waves, “Just be careful on your way back, okay?”

“Yes…”

As I said that, the old lady gave me a smile and closed the door.

“Haah…”

It took a while, but I’m finally done… if I rush home now, I might be able to make it to lunch and get to spend the entire day with him.

“Hm?”

I… want to see Yuuma?

It’s not like he’ll go away if I take a while to get back. His food is really good, but it’s not that I have to eat them or anything. I can just go to Siofra’s place and have lunch there.

I took out my Clairvoyance which shows that it’s currently twelve.

“Right! I still need to meet up with Siofra…”

I then look to my left, where there is a man and a woman clasping their hands together while smiling cheerfully. Then to my right more of them go to stores and buy things in the stalls.

‘Make sure you try your hardest, okay?’

“…”

I look at my right hand. I open and close it, and the memories of the lake from last night go through my mind.

“…”

I touched hands with Yuuma huh…

Now that I think about it, that time was really nice… It’d be nice if we could have that kind of night between the two of us again.

“…”

I put both of my hands on my face, breathing heavily while my face gradually became warm.

“…This is what it’s like huh…”

---

Right now, I’m at my friend’s house learning how to make tortellini soup. According to Sofi, this is apparently a relatively easy dish for starters.

Truth be told, my legs hurt a lot and I really want some sleep, but I really want to try making something half-decent so Yuuma can try them out.

“Hey Celice,” Sofi muttered as she was cutting onions, “Why are you suddenly interested in cooking?” Sofi looks at me as she puts the knife down.

“Is it weird that I’m suddenly interested?” I tilt my head.

“Not really… If anything, I’m really happy that you want to learn something from me…” Sofi puts her hands on her hips, “It’s just that, you never showed any interest before. If anything, you seemed uninterested in even try cooking, so what happened?”

“…”

“Why is your face turning red?” Sofi tilts her head.

“Ehh?! R-Really…” I broke away from her, scratching my right cheek.

“Hmm?” Sofi smirks, “Could you be…”

“Sofiii~” I grab her shoulders, shaking her violently.

“Iff youuu tell meeee wh-ho, then I’ll staay quieeet.” She said whilst still being shaken.

“Promise?” I stopped my shaking, looking straight into her eyes.

“You’ve known me for a long time, and you still can’t trust me?” Sofi gazes away whilst pouting, “I’m sad now…”

“O-O-Okay! I trust you! Don’t be mad at mee~!” I pull her shoulders to me whilst I try to motion my head to make eye contact with her.

“Then tell me…” Sofi distances her head from me.

“Okay… I’ll tell okay…” Sofi then moved her head towards me. I then continue, “B-But before I say anything, promise me you won’t be shocked, okay?”

“Okay. I promise.” Sofi said in a serious tone.

“O-Okay… The person that I like is Y-Yuuma—”

“HAAAH?” Sofi blurted out, “That Otherworlder?!”

“D-Didn’t you promise me?!”

“If it’s him of all people, then of course I’d be shocked!” Sofi yelled out.

“Why are you this upset towards him anyway?” I ask.

“No, I’m not really upset,” Sofi said, going back to her usual demeanor.

“Then why did you yell?!”

“Wouldn’t it be funnier that way?” Sofi crosses her arms.

Not to me!

“But still… that Otherworlder huh…” Sofi leans on the kitchen table, “What do you see in him anyway? He seemed kind of useless to me…”

“Don’t say that…” I let out a sigh, “It might be surprising, but he probably knows more about food than you.”

“Haah?” Sofi leans forward, “I-I won’t deny that he’s good at criticizing, but I’ve never seen him cook once!” Sofi shouts out.

“You should try his cooking!” I grab Sofi’s shoulder and lean forward, “His food is Honeymaw levels of quality! It’s like getting to eat expensive food for free!”

“O-Okay… I get it, I get it…” Sofi chuckles as she pushes me slightly, “But, is that really the only reason why you like him?”

“Of course not!” I let go of my hands from Sofi and placed my right hand on my chin, “But… It’s a bit hard to mention the part that I fell for him…”

“What do you mean by that?” Sofi placed her left arm on her hips.

“How should I say it…” I close my eyes, “It’s like… seeing him giving his all makes me want to catch up to him…”

“…?” Sofi tilts her head.

“Uhhh… I don’t really get it either you know?” I cross my arms and close my eyes, “He can be really cute at times, but he’s also super reckless… He always gives it his all to be good at something, but he goes overboard in dealing with it… And I… want to be good enough to help him out, you know?”

“…”

“Sorry… It’s kind of hard to be sure of myself right now…” I scratch my head while letting out an awkward laugh.

“Celiiice~!” Sofi suddenly hugs me.

“Wah!”

“How can you be this cuute~?!” Sofi starts patting my head.

“W-Whaat?”

“That Otherworlder… I’ll go talk to him about this and make sure he’ll get a beating if he makes you cry!” Sofi proclaims.

“Wait, wait! I haven’t even said anything to him!” I replied.

“Whether he knows or not, I’m still going to warn him!” Sofi let go of me and walked past me.

“Sofii~!” I pull on her arm, “I’ll talk to him myself, so please don’t talk to him~!”

“I was just joking! Stop pulling on my arm! You’re actually hurting me!” Sofi yelled out.

“Try anything weird and I’ll dropkick you…” I let go of her arm.

“Calm down Celice…” Sofi lets out a sigh, “I’m surprised someone like you is into romance…”

“What did you say?!”

“Nothing, nothing…” Sofi brings up both her hands, “But well…”

Sofi then pats me with her right hand.

“…?”

“Good luck.” Sofi brings up her left thumb, “If you get rejected, I’ll be here to comfort you.” Sofi flashes a smirk.

“Oi!”

“Hahahaha~!”