My love index is at its maximum.

As he came out of the kitchen and took out some ingredients from the refrigerator, Tsukasa Tazaki paused for a moment.

The remaining dozen or so potatoes were piled up in the corner like toys abandoned by a little boy. Several had already sprouted because of the damp weather. They were too old to eat now, so maybe I should buy some flowerpots tomorrow and plant them. Whether they survived or not, we'd have to wait and see.

Correct.

It all depends on fate.

With a slightly self-deprecating laugh, Tsukasa Tazaki opened the refrigerator and took out onions, loofah, and tofu. He glanced at them and saw three saury, which he then took out as well.

Cut onions, loofah, and tofu into cubes; slice beef; and chop ginger and scallions.

Heat oil in a pan, then sear the beef. Once seared, pour in a little cooking red wine and simmer over low heat for two minutes. The aroma of the wine and the aroma of the meat will blend perfectly. Finally, add the onion chunks and stir-fry over high heat.

我今年14岁

A little cute

She is a lively little girl

The phone rang a few times. Tsukasa Tazaki, holding the pot handle with his right hand, took out his phone with his left.

It was the landlady who called.

"Hello... Sachiko-nee."

"To! Saki! Tsukasa!"

The landlady's roaring voice came through the receiver.

"Sorry, sorry..." Tsukasa Tazaki tossed the frying pan, tossing the ingredients into the air before they fell back down, rolling and rolling, coating each piece of beef and onion with the sauce.

"Tomorrow is someone very important to me on my birthday, and I went to buy a birthday present today, which is why I'm absent from work."

"You should at least have told me!"

"I'm so sorry..."

"Forget it, should I ask for leave tomorrow too?"

"correct."

Sachiko Tono complained, "I, as your boss, have absolutely no authority in front of you..."

"How could that be? I respect Sachiko-nee the most. I'll hang up now, I'm cooking."

Tsukasa Tazaki hung up the phone, added seasonings to the pot, turned up the heat to reduce the sauce, and then removed it from the pot.

In another pot, the water has just boiled.

Add the cleaned clams and cook for a while. The broth will gradually turn white. Once all the clams have opened, remove them and set aside. Stir-fry the diced loofah in a hot pan until slightly softened, then add the tofu and the broth from cooking the clams.

Add two slices of ginger to remove the fishy smell and dispel the cold.

After the soup boils, simmer it for a while until the loofah softens. Then add the clams and cook together. The soup will gradually turn milky white.

The phone rang again.

"I've arrived. Come downstairs and take me upstairs."

Tsukasa Tazaki changed his shoes and went out.

The rain outside was very fine, so fine that it was almost invisible, yet it painted the asphalt road a deep, inky black.

Kuriyama Sakura stood under the dim yellow hallway light, holding an umbrella. Her shoes were wet, and the air smelled of the night rain.

"It's raining so hard." Tsukasa Tazaki handed her a towel.

"Thank you."

Kuriyama Sakura simply wiped the rain off her body. Her school uniform shirt was quite wet and clung tightly to her fair skin. A breeze carrying moisture blew from behind her, causing her single ponytail to sway gently, creating a unique and ethereal beauty.

The two walked back to their fifth-floor room along the narrow staircase. In the dark and damp space, her fresh fragrance was unmistakable.

"There's one last dish. Please have a seat."

After saying hello, Tsukasa Tazaki went into the kitchen to grill saury.

Kuriyama Sakura placed the grapes and cocktail drinks she had just bought on the dining table, crossed her arms, and looked around the musty-smelling rental room.

A small room with six tatami mats each...

The furniture was sparse; a small refrigerator stood by the kitchen doorway, facing a dining table covered with an orange-yellow tablecloth and four chairs. There was a stainless steel teapot on the table, and the daffodils in the vase were about to wither.

Apart from that, the room only contained a desk and a wardrobe.

She walked to the desk, reached out and touched the oversized pen holder on the left, which held various pencils, rulers, and ballpoint pens. Below it were erasers, correction fluid, transparent tape, and colorful safety pins.

A lonely desk lamp, the color of its lampshade... is yellow.

A mat was laid out near the window, and the bedding was neatly folded.

Everywhere you look, everything is in perfect order and without a trace of dirt.

pretty good……

Kuriyama Sakura returned to the kitchen doorway and looked at Tazaki Tsukasa, who was flipping the saury over: "You got a haircut?"

Tsukasa Tazaki turned to her and asked, "Is the look alright?"

"generally."

"You're lying."

"Hmph!" Kuriyama Sakura lowered her eyelids, her gaze shifting to the floor. There were no extra slippers in the room, so her bare feet were visible. Noticing that Tazaki Tsukasa's gaze also followed her to her feet, she subconsciously moved towards the wall, hiding her feet.

"You've already touched me, what are you shy about?"

Kuriyama Sakura raised her face, her beautiful, icy eyes glaring at him: "Shut up!"

Tazaki Shiro shrugged, took the saury out of the oven, casually grabbed a handful of chopped green onions and sprinkled them on, then grilled it for another minute before taking it out. The narrow kitchen was immediately filled with a delicious aroma.

Braised beef with onions, grilled saury, and loofah, tofu, and clam soup were placed on the table.

It wasn't a lavish meal, but the dishes were impeccable.

Kuriyama Sakura opened a bottle of cocktail drink and handed it to him, saying, "I wanted to say this last time at the Ninomiya house: although your character isn't great, your cooking skills are still commendable."

"What do you mean by bad character?" Tsukasa Tazaki took a sip of the plum-flavored alcoholic beverage, which had a very low alcohol content.

"Then tell me how you made Ninomiya angry. She hasn't sent any messages for three days!"

In the group chat of [Ninomiya, Kuriyama, and Tazaki], the cutie is always the one who initiates the conversation. As long as she doesn't speak first, the group is always as quiet as if it has sunk to the deepest part of the Mariana Trench.

Tazaki Tsukasa scooped up a bowl of clam soup and drank it without saying a word.

The soup tasted exceptionally sweet and delicious. After finishing one bowl, he scooped out another and drank it.

A silence, implying the passage of time, lasted for a moment.

During this time, Kuriyama Sakura ate a piece of beef, and only after swallowing it did she ask, "Tell me what you plan to do?"

Tazaki Tsukasa lowered his head and ate his food, saying as if shifting the blame, "She told me not to talk to her until she forgives me, what else can I do?"

Kuriyama Sakura slowly inhaled, held her breath for a while, and then slowly exhaled.

“You should know…” she said, “Ninomiya at least has a lot of feelings for you. Wherever you are, she can ignore everyone else and stare straight at you. Her eyes are shining, and she has a smile on her lips that everyone can see. Besides, she doesn’t try to hide it.”

"I know that already."

"and then?"

"Can I stop her from having feelings for him?"

Kuriyama Sakura stared intently at the glass bottle of the alcoholic beverage, looking at the label and the bottle neck, her fingers sliding back and forth across the neck.

Tsukasa Tazaki sighed, "She's never said she liked me, and even if she rejected me, I had no way to refuse her. Am I supposed to just find some excuse to yell at her and then we'll be strangers from now on?"

Kuriyama Sakura looked up from the glass bottle, then looked at his face and said, "It might not be such a bad idea."

"It's so hard to make up my mind." Tsukasa Tazaki picked up a piece of beef and put it to his mouth. "In these three days, I've thought about messaging her many times. I thought, I can say anything, whether it's harsh or sweet, as long as I get it out. But I've opened the chat window several times, typed a lot of words, and then could only delete them one by one, staring blankly at the empty chat box."

"How about I use your account to send it?" Kuriyama Sakura asked, staring at him with an unfathomable look in her eyes.

Those beautiful pupils seemed to see nothing at all, flat and expressionless, like the eyeballs on a mannequin's face.

Tsukasa Tazaki opened the Line interface on his phone and then pushed it to her: "If you can be ruthless, then you can send it."

Kuriyama Sakura looked at her phone, supporting herself with both hands as if holding the beverage bottle. She took a small sip through the straw, then frowned and pushed the alcoholic drink aside with a look of disinterest.

"It's difficult, isn't it?" Tsukasa Tazaki rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Who could bear to hurt such a cute girl?"

Kuriyama Sakura also rubbed her forehead, the two of them making the same gesture and with the same expression, both troubled by the same thing.

"Hey, how about..."

"what?"

What do you think of me having an affair?

"Oh?" Kuriyama Sakura was surprised for a moment, then squinted at his face: "You've been dating Ninomiya without Hanami-nee's knowledge?"

“Of course not.” Tsukasa Tazaki shook his head and said jokingly, “Whether it’s staying away from Ninomiya or secretly having an affair, it’s harmful to all three of them. In that case, why not just openly have an affair?”

"..."

If it weren't for the fact that she couldn't beat him, Kuriyama Sakura would have liked to punch this scumbag's nose flat.

"Just kidding, just kidding... Haha, how could that be..."

Tazaki Tsukasa gave an awkward laugh. "Knowing the teacher's personality, he'd probably bury me alive. Haha... Just take it as a joke, don't take it seriously. Eat fish, eat fish, this saury is quite fresh. Oh, by the way, there are some tangerines in the fridge, I'll go get them."

He turned around, took a lime from the refrigerator, cut it open, squeezed some juice onto the fish, and handed it to Kuriyama Sakura with a smile: "Saury with lime juice, a match made in heaven."

"Thank you."

Kuriyama Sakura picked up the pointed chopsticks, picked off a small piece of fish, and put it in her mouth.

The fish is tender and succulent, and the sourness of the lime juice not only removes the fishy smell and enhances the freshness, but also improves the texture of the fish in the mouth.

Take a small bite and savor it carefully; the salty, savory, sour, and bitter flavors spread throughout your mouth.

The sound of the wind was like transparent water seeping into the room, sounding like the sound of ocean waves coming from afar.

Kuriyama Sakura looked at the squashed green tangerine on the table with mixed feelings. She felt that the time that had passed had silently blended into reality, like a fire just starting in the next room, with a few wisps of smoke sneaking into the room through the tiny crack in the door.

Smoke that has no taste and no color.

what……