My love index is at its maximum.

Her smile, a blend of liveliness, surprise, friendliness, and elusive charm, was quite playful, evoking a wonderful, heart-fluttering feeling, like encountering a newborn fawn while walking through a spring forest.

Kuriyama Sakura flashed a wide smile: "Just call me Sakura."

"Um...is it okay?"

"Why not?"

“My family is very poor,” Shiori Ninomiya smiled, “I’m afraid you’ll pick up my scent.”

Kuriyama Sakura held up the orange juice can with a puzzled look: "What does it taste like?"

"Just like in the movie Parasite, the rich can smell the rich, and the poor can smell the poor."

“That makes some sense.” Kuriyama Sakura nodded slightly.

Shiori Ninomiya brushed the breadcrumbs off her palms and said with a distress, "During the fifteen years I spent in Hokkaido, everyone in the small town liked me. Whether in elementary school or middle school, I had a smooth school life. Therefore, I always thought that nothing could be more dazzling than me except for the sun shining brightly on the sea in the morning. But after coming to Tokyo, I realized how stupid I was. Not to mention anything else, I don't understand anything about the latest clothes and cosmetics. Everyone else is discussing them, and I can only sit quietly to the side and listen to a bunch of terms I've never heard before."

Tsukasa Tazaki emerged from the kitchen, grabbed a can of cola, and gulped it down. Before returning to the kitchen, he curiously glanced at the girls talking on the balcony for a few seconds, during which time they remained silent.

The rain outside continued to fall, and under the flashing neon lights of the nearby hotel, countless raindrops raced toward the ground in colorful artificial light.

Kuriyama Sakura placed the empty orange juice jar on the windowsill and crossed her arms: "People always tend to hide their small and shallow dark side and never talk about it to anyone. So, I'm glad you told me this."

"Happy?"

“Yeah, that means we can be good friends, doesn’t it?” Kuriyama Sakura chuckled.

“But I’m just a concubine.” Ninomiya Shiori sighed, her gaze lowered as she stared at her toes. “When I was bullied today, I started to reflect on this issue. If it were my ex or the main wife, how would they have handled it? Then I saw it. My ex directly defeated the enemy, and the main wife was even more remarkable, making the enemy surrender with just a few words. I’m really... far from being able to do that.”

Kuriyama Sakura listened to the sound of the rain, her fingers lightly tapping her arm: "Takashi Tazaki and I are the same kind of people, so you don't need to worry about any difference in status."

Shiori Ninomiya raised her head, twirling her slightly curled hair with her fingertips while staring intently at her face.

Her long ponytail cascaded down her back, light and soft against her skin. Her eyelashes were long and delicate, and her eyes were like two pools of autumn water, so clear that one dared not touch them. Her soft, slender fingers tapped rhythmically on her arm, the deep sound blending wonderfully with the surrounding rain, conveying an ethereal quality.

After observing for a moment, she asked in confusion, "What does 'a type of person' mean?"

“To put it simply, my thoughts are almost exactly the same as his.” Kuriyama Sakura smiled meaningfully, looking directly at her: “Including what type of person we like, our tastes are pretty much the same.”

"Huh?" The little cutie stared wide-eyed, looking completely bewildered.

"You remind me of Hoshino Hanami, who is ten years younger."

"So what?" The little cutie was even more confused.

“That bastard Tsukasa Tazaki stole my only friend, so…” Kuriyama Sakura suddenly took a step and pressed Ninomiya Shiori’s body against the wall, grabbing her wrists and hoisting her high up: “The big one was taken away, so naturally I have to find a way to take the little one back.”

Shiori Ninomiya: "..."

"Kiki, come save me! Your concubine has been molested by the main wife!"

While Tazaki Tsukasa was engrossed in cooking in the kitchen, his hand trembled, and he hurriedly peeked out. He saw two beautiful girls pressed together in an extremely ambiguous position. Both of them had flushed faces, and their delicate white collarbones were faintly visible under their slightly disheveled collars.

The three of them stared at each other for a few seconds, then he asked with a strange expression, "What are you two doing?"

"Kiki, come save me!" the little cutie cried out breathlessly. "Your main wife can't steal your girlfriend, so now she's trying to take advantage of your concubine."

Kuriyama Sakura licked her soft, glistening lips and smiled gently.

It was an intimate smile that was irresistible. Tsukasa Tazaki blinked hard and mentally ranked this smile, which he had never seen before, as the fifth level.

but……

Did they pick up the wrong script?

Shouldn't this level of smile only be shown to oneself?

Chapter 119 A Rainy Night in June, A New Chapter for the Three (2)

In the time it takes to cook a dish...

The first wife and the second wife then embraced.

Tazaki Tsukasa felt that he had lost more than if he had lost a billion yen.

"Kiki, hurry up and cook."

Shiori Ninomiya broke free and looked towards the kitchen doorway: "Don't just stand there spacing out."

Kuriyama Sakura straightened her clothes slightly and ordered, "I'm hungry. Bring out the dishes you've prepared."

Tazaki Tsukasa's lips twitched slightly, forcibly suppressing the urge to make sarcastic remarks to her.

Ultimately, he was still grateful to the little tablet. She was willing to humble herself to care for the little cutie, and today's incident certainly wouldn't repeat itself.

As for whether Little Flat is truly a lesbian... Tsukasa Tazaki thinks it's unlikely. After all... he and Little Flat have shared a glass of orange juice; a true lesbian would never do such a thing.

Kuriyama Sakura had been watching his face, and noticing his hesitant lips, she knew he already knew what she was thinking. Feeling quite pleased, she slightly curled her lips and said, "Do you need me to repeat what I just said?"

Tazaki Tsukasa nodded in response: "It will be ready soon, please wait a moment, Minister."

Kuriyama Sakura sat on the sofa with her legs crossed: "I'll give you ten minutes."

"..."

I really wanted to grab her proud, delicate chin and ravage her.

No, how could I have such a naive idea?

Tsukasa Tazaki returned to the kitchen and, while chopping potatoes, wondered if spending too much time with high school students had made him feel younger.

After cutting the potatoes, he rejected this reason.

It's purely that the pervert wants to see the beautiful girl's angry yet helpless expression; why make so many excuses?

While I was cutting chicken into pieces, Shiori Ninomiya ran in and asked, "Is there anything I can help with?"

"Let's prepare some pickled vegetables, and also check if the miso soup is flavorful enough."

OK!

Shiori Ninomiya ran to the gas stove and lifted the lid of the pot. Steaming white vapor wafted out, along with the aroma of red and white radishes. She sniffed with her delicate nose and couldn't wait to taste the soup with a spoon.

"How does it taste?" Tsukasa Tazaki turned around and looked at her. Her slightly curly long hair was casually tied into a ponytail, which looked gentle and comfortable in the narrow kitchen, giving it a very homey feel.

"It's a little bland..."

"Really?" Tsukasa Tazaki took the spoon and tasted it. "It's alright. I've had soups that are even weaker than this."

"What's a lighter soup?"

"The chicken's bathwater."

"Eh?"

Shiori Ninomiya's dazed look is just as adorable as Shikami Hoshino's hand-sucking antics.

Tsukasa Tazaki explained, "It's chicken soup without salt."

No sooner had she finished speaking than Kuriyama Sakura's disgusted voice came from outside the kitchen: "What have you been through to make chicken soup sound so nauseating?"

"Haha... I think this analogy is so funny." The little cutie then asked, "So, does adding salt to chicken soup mean waiting for the chicken's sweat?"

“A flawed analogy.” Kuriyama Sakura explained in a serious tone: “Sweat glands are a unique structure of mammals, and birds like chickens don’t have them. So chickens don’t sweat; they can only dissipate heat by increasing their breathing and circulating air.”

Tazaki Tsukasa didn't participate in their discussion. After cutting the chicken into pieces, he boiled a pot of water to blanch the chicken pieces, then drained them. Next, he put oil in the pan again and fried the potato chunks until golden brown on both sides, then removed them and set them aside.

Ninomiya Shiori put some of her pickled cucumbers and cabbage into a small dish, then returned to the gas stove and whispered in Tazaki Tsukasa's ear, "Is Kuriyama-san really a lesbian?"

The sound was so pleasant and melodious that it lingered in my ears for a long time, as if a beautiful and joyful emotion seeped from the depths of my ears into my brain.

Even the most indifferent person would become gentle and pleasant upon hearing this voice.

"Don't worry, she's not like that." Tsukasa Tazaki put the chopped onions and ginger into the pan to sauté, and as the ingredients sizzled in the oil, he said, "The lilies thing is just an excuse. She's not good at communicating with people and doesn't know how to express kindness, so she just makes up an excuse for herself: 'I'm doing this only for myself.' Of course, this excuse is really stupid and funny. Isn't she afraid of scaring you... By the way, bring me the chicken nuggets and potatoes."

Shiori Ninomiya handed him raw chicken pieces and cooked potato chunks, her tone somewhat strange: "Do you two really know each other that well?"

"That's not true."

Tsukasa Tazaki poured the chicken pieces into the pan and said while stirring them, "We're just similar in personality, plus we're both smart, so we can usually see through each other's thoughts at a glance."

"She just said that she's the same kind of person as you."

“That’s right. She and I are the kind of people who are only interested in things that interest us, and we don’t care about things that don’t interest us.”

"Huh?" The little cutie was confused again. "Isn't everyone like this?"

“You have this typical mindset of someone who hasn’t been through the harsh realities of life.” Tazaki Tsukasa casually tossed the blame onto her, then explained under her astonished gaze, “There are two kinds of people in this world: those who are interested in things they’re not interested in, and those who are not interested in things they are interested in.”

"You're making me dizzy."

"Let me give you an example. Yui Kichikawa, the female captain of your kendo club, do you think she's interested in kendo?"

Shiori Ninomiya thought about it carefully and replied, "Although she has never trained at the kendo club, I heard that she practices at home every day, so she must be very interested in kendo."

Tsukasa Tazaki put the potato chunks into the pot and shook his head: "She told me herself when she was twelve that she hated kendo. Especially in the summer, when it was so hot and humid, she felt like a ham being put into an oven."

"Then she also..."

"So she's someone who's 'interested in things she's not interested in.' If she does something, even if she doesn't like it at all, she'll put all her energy into doing it to the best of her ability. If it were me, unless I like it or have a reason to like it, I'd just give up."

“I think I understand.” Shiori Ninomiya smiled and shrank her neck slightly. “Then I’m the kind of person who is ‘not interested in things that interest me’.”

Tsukasa Tazaki turned to look at her: "Why do you say that?"

The little cutie held a soup bowl in her hands, staring intently at the white radish soaked in the soup: "Winning over a cold and handsome guy is something I'm interested in, but he has a girlfriend, so I can only pretend to be uninterested. Isn't that a perfect fit for your theory?"

Tsukasa Tazaki nodded and silently added curry sauce to the pot.

Shiori Ninomiya took a bite of the white radish and put down her bowl. Her lips were tightly closed as she stared intently at her two feet, which were pressed together. Her feet were white, small, and had ten beautifully shaped toes.

A whistling wind blew into the kitchen through the gaps in the exhaust fan blades, slightly lifting the bangs of the two people.

The last dish, curry chicken and potatoes, was ready, and all the dishes were served. The other dishes were grilled squid, sea urchin sashimi, braised beef with onions, mitsuba salad, red and white radish miso soup, pickled cucumber, and pickled cabbage.

The sound of rain pattering outside the window filled the air. The three of them sat on the floor around a small dining table, their hands clasped together. Kuriyama Sakura noticed that Tazaki Tsukasa's hands were not very fleshy, and his finger bones were long and slender, like those of a pianist.

"I'm starting to eat."

After expressing gratitude for the food, begin enjoying your dinner.

Kuriyama Sakura took a bite of the grilled squid and gave a food-appreciation look: "The flavor is light, like Kansai style."

“I also think it’s bland.” Ninomiya Shiori put the half-eaten beef into her bowl and chewed it carefully. “But it tastes very good. Kiki could definitely be a chef in the future.”

Tsukasa Tazaki silently ate his rice.