My love game with them that will lead to certain death

"Well, that's... well, I want to make cookies for someone special to me..."

"the person I like?"

Toru Narumi tilted his head and threw a straight ball to Yuigahama, who had a somewhat embarrassed expression.

“No, no, that’s not the case… Well, it hasn’t gotten to that point yet!”

Is this a denial or an affirmation? The look in Ms. Yuigahama's eyes, which seem to be guilty of something, but always linger on Hikigaya Hachiman, should give us the answer.

"I just want to express my gratitude to those who helped me... that's all! Yeah, express my gratitude."

"This commission is easy, we accepted it."

Yukinoshita Yukino closed the book, looking confident like a seasoned bounty hunter.

"In short, it would be enough if I could teach you, Yuigahama-san, how to make cookies."

"Um--"

Seeing Yukinoshita Yukino standing up as if she was planning to go somewhere, Toru Minghai felt something was wrong.

He recalled something that happened when he visited Yukinoshita's house as Haruno's boyfriend in high school.

The younger sister helped in the cooking, and the finished product she served to the table made him vomit and have diarrhea in the toilet of Yukinoshita's house for the whole day.

Can something that can be sold on the market as an emetic really be used as a teaching demonstration?

Chapter 8: Love Fortune Cookie (Part 2)

Half an hour later, the home economics teacher.

"Sh ...

Ming Hai Che put down his whistle and looked at the plate of black shells with red tints in them in front of him. He was speechless for a moment.

These are the cookies that Yukino Yukinoshita made by herself within the specified time.

Although the food made by Ms. Yuigahama Yui, who was competing with her in the cooking competition, looked a little crooked, at least it was clear from the outside that it was a real thing.

"Since this is just a simulation, could you please not simulate the feeling of tasting this thing so accurately, Master System?"

No response came to my mind, it seemed I was being ignored.

Is Yukino Yukinoshita's cooking skills so bad in real life? Or is this a special setting in the simulation?

"Well...I didn't perform well this time. It's not my true level."

Miss Yukinoshita Yukino narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked at this dish that was difficult to describe in words. For some reason, her remarks gave people the feeling of a seasoned scumbag (stomach-nourishing.ver).

"But it should be enough for Yuigahama-san's reference."

"No matter how you look at it, it's far from enough!"

Hikigaya-san complained at the right time, but of course this only earned her a cold, merciless look from Yukinoshita-san.

"It's a completely flawed view to make such a statement without even trying it, Hikigaya-kun."

"No, no, no, this thing will kill you if you taste it."

The dead fish eyes boy complained in his mind, and the pink-haired girl who met his gaze expressed the same opinion with a slightly embarrassed look.

However, in this atmosphere, Toru Minghai on the side picked up a piece of black object as black as charcoal from the plate without any care.

Then throw it into your mouth very naturally.

"M-Murami-senpai! Someone come and save us!"

Hikigaya firefighters, go! Find the nearest water source!

"Oh, I just happened to be writing a story about dark cuisine recently, so I had the chance to try it out, so it's okay - ugh."

The curly-haired young man tilted his head and smiled brightly, but along with his reassuring smile, there was also white foam overflowing from the corners of his mouth.

"Stop talking, the water is here, open your mouth!"

"I'm fine. I'm in good spirits. Gulu Gulu—"

While Hikigaya poured water into the curly-haired young man's mouth without any explanation, Miss Yuigahama hurriedly took out her cell phone, ready to contact the hospital to have the man taken for gastric lavage.

Fortunately, thanks to the emergency treatment of Hachiman Bodhisattva, Toru Minghai successfully escaped from danger.

The lady who was the instigator at the side shook her shoulders guiltily. For the first time in her life, she began to doubt her cooking skills.

"Sometimes if your cooking skills are really not good enough, why not just go to the store and buy ready-made food?"

Hikigaya Hachiman wiped the non-existent sweat from his head. It was really too much for a person like him to be so active in the social atmosphere.

"Oh, but if you want to convey your feelings with something you made yourself, then it's understandable."

The curly-haired young man who had drunk half a bottle of mineral water calmed down and glanced at the pink-haired girl who was busy fanning him.

"After all, if you don't say something in time, it might be too late."

The latter looked flustered as if he had been caught, and immediately made a booing gesture to the dead-eyed boy behind his back.

There was no way around it, it was too obvious that this kid had been staring at Hikigaya ever since he entered the Service Club.

"Indeed...if you don't do some things now, you may not have the chance to do them in the future."

Yukinoshita Yukino agreed with a calm tone, and swallowed the pill with water without the other two noticing - of course, even if they noticed, they would just think she was just taking vitamins.

"But what if this doesn't achieve the desired effect? ​​What if it's meaningless from the beginning? Even so, will Yuigahama-san still insist on conveying her feelings?"

"what……"

Yukino's question startled Yuigahama Yui, who was still trying to evade the question. Hikigaya Hachiman, who had been observing the expressions, also noticed something strange.

Ming Hai Toru suppressed the nonchalant look on his face and glanced at the black-haired girl with a cold expression standing next to him.

The girl, who was as cute as an oriental doll but had a cold expression, stared at the cooking table with eyes as calm as a pool of stagnant water.

But what emotions are lurking beneath the calm surface?

Ming Hai Toru was very curious.

"Ah, based on my understanding of Yukino, I thought you would say something like, "It's useless to avoid problems. Facing your own weakness is the beginning of becoming stronger." "

He stood beside Yukino, joking in a nonchalant tone while rolling up his sleeves to join in the work of making cookies.

Rather, this is what the "original" Yukinoshita Yukino would say.

She never runs away and always faces challenges head-on. Even if she seems to be too upright, she will never deceive herself.

If there is any factor that can shake such a strong Yukinoshita Yukino, it can only be...

"...I just think more deeply about the meaning of doing this after that."

The girl stared at the dough she was stirring in her hands, but she seemed to be looking at something very far away.

"Even if I convey my feelings, what will happen next? Build a good relationship and then confess? Date? How can I be sure that the other person is someone who shares the same values ​​as you and is willing to face all kinds of problems and choices with you? If we have a disagreement and need to separate, how can I convince myself to accept the loss of those sunk costs? If..."

She stopped talking, but Ming Hai could guess the second half of her sentence.

If one of the parties wants to "leave" in the future, how should they face such a separation?

Toru Narumi could understand the change in Yukinoshita Yukino's result-oriented thinking.

Perhaps only when you are about to lose something will you become so anxious and worried.

For Yukinoshita Yukino, this precious thing is "health" or even "life".

For Yuigahama Yui, this is just a girl's worry full of young love, which is "whether she should express gratitude to someone she has a crush on."

But for Yukinoshita Yukino, this is a realistic question of "whether or not to try to establish new interpersonal relationships before her life may come to an end."

Very cruel, but also very serious.

"I know. I know. I've thought so, too."

As the atmosphere gradually became less pleasant, Toru Narumi, who was putting the cookie baking tray into the oven, spoke.

"For example, if you work as a security guard after graduating from university, you can avoid taking 20 years of detours."

"Pfft."

His lighthearted and humorous tone successfully made Yuigahama Yui chuckle softly.

"And since everyone will die eventually, it's better to be reborn at the age of 20, at least 50 years ahead of your peers. You can even go underground and grab a good location near the mountains and rivers."

“Why are you still thinking about grabbing a property when you’re already buried?”

This also made Hikigaya, who was good at complaining, grin and join the team that made the conversation light-hearted again.

"In a nutshell."

The curly-haired young man put on gloves and brought out the baking tray. He symbolically blew the whistle hanging around his neck to announce the end of his time, and then brought the cookies to the other two.

“Just like people who love cooking enjoy both the food and the cooking process.”

Hikigaya Hachiman and Yuigahama Yui, who smelled the fragrance, twitched their noses at the same time and moved closer to the cooking table.

“The pursuit of meaning itself is also the meaning of taking action.”

"........."

Yukinoshita Yukino picked up a cat head-shaped cookie and took a small bite.

When you look up, you can see the curly-haired young man's refreshing, clean and handsome smile, as if it can tolerate all negative and dark things.

Although it was a little hot, the crispy texture and the aroma of milk that was about to overflow from her lips and teeth but not too choking made her frown relax.

Surprisingly, Yukinoshita Yukino didn't hate the taste.

"We're all going to die in the end anyway, so why don't we all share Yukino's cookies and get together to sing an unforgettable night."

Of course, Tang Minghai's words, who suddenly fell ill, still made everyone almost choke when swallowing their cookies.

Cookies don't bring any romantic vibes, absolutely not.

Chapter 9: A Hero Who Can Save Me If I Call Him (Part 1)

To capture a person's heart, you must first capture his or her stomach.

This is a cliché, and although Toru Narumi does not completely agree with it, he remembers that he did develop excellent cooking skills during his relationship with Yukinoshita Haruno.

The reason is...love is a long-term battle.

Even if you survive the ambiguous period of getting to know each other, a successful relationship is not the end of victory.

After dating, if you can no longer find new things in the other person that attract you, you may feel tired and bored over time, and the love will be exhausted and end in a breakup.

Yukinoshita Haruno is well aware of this, so even after they started dating, she still maintains a curious sense of mystery and ritual.

For example, she remembers their anniversary, prepares surprise gifts at appropriate times, and develops new hobbies so that people don’t get bored - in short, she is a very competent girlfriend.

But for Toru Narumi, who didn't care about intimate relationships, this seemed a little too competent.

Out of a sense of responsibility to maintain the relationship and an inexplicable desire to win, he also began to play a similar role as a good boyfriend and "compete" with Yang No - the first thing he did was to master cooking skills, a skill that could benefit him even if they broke up.

"Apart from your preaching as a senior, I am beginning to understand why my sister dated you in the first place."

Because of this, after successfully completing Yuigahama Yui's commission (mainly the demonstration completed by Narumi), Narumi found it difficult to face such a serious Yukinoshita Yukino.

"Although you may seem frivolous and unreliable, you will help me out at critical moments... I will reluctantly recognize you as a trustworthy assistant."

However, Ming Hai's thin sense of morality only made him feel slightly guilty for a brief moment, and then he told the truth.

"No, I just wanted to leave a good impression on Yuigahama-san."

"...?"

"Yukino, you're such a bad cook, so I can take this opportunity to show off. It's always good to make a good impression."

"…Yuigahama-san is still underage, you beast-senpai."

"I know, but she's cute. I can wait two years."

"Let me take it back. You are the worst, Senior."

After the commission was completed, Hikigaya Hachiman and Yuigahama Yui went to throw away the garbage together, while Narumi Toru stayed in the home economics classroom as an assistant to help Yukinoshita Yukino clean up the mess.

While Ming Hai collected the coal lumps made by Yukinoshita Yukino, he tagged her in his mind as "this character cannot cook" and made up his mind to keep her more than five meters away from the kitchen.

"Should I take you back today?"