What does it have to do with me if they hate vests?

Of course, one cannot tell the secrets that concern the deepest part of one's heart.

But this loneliness can also be expressed in another way.

"I just kept wondering...whether I might be a little too willful."

"Aha?"

The Yamada Fairy made an exaggerated sound, and she looked at Shiki with an almost helpless expression: "Are you serious? Are you going to talk about your willfulness in front of me?"

After hearing what she said, Shiki remembered the fairy lady Yamada who was described by her brother Yamada Chris as "only willful except for her good qualities".

Suddenly he couldn't help laughing.

"Really? If you want to complain, just say it. I won't be angry with what you say." The girl said coquettishly in an angry tone that was completely different from her own speech.

"No, actually I really feel that I am a bit willful... The Toyotsu Festival itself was something I came up with on the spur of the moment, but in fact, apart from soliciting sponsorship, I did almost nothing."

Shiki shook his head and said to the girl, "The main part of the festival was organized by Yukinoshita-san, and the stalls and other things were built by the students organized by the Student Council. The layout of the auditorium and the various props were all solved by Shiina-san and the Art Department. Even the communication with the school and the publicity to the students were all done by Amakusa Shino... The Student Council President took the initiative to do it."

Because the students of Toyonosaki showed unprecedented enthusiasm in the preparations for the Toyotsu Festival - after all, this school has no shortage of people who like to watch the fun and join in the fun - the preparations were smoother and faster than Shiki had expected at the beginning.

With the help of free manpower, the entire preparation process actually did not cost too much budget. Maybe 20 million yen was not needed at all, and just a few million yen would be enough. To be honest, this amount of funds was not difficult to raise. Even if Amakusa Shino was willing to swallow her pride and negotiate cooperation with the surrounding shopping streets in the name of the Toyosaki Student Union, those stores could raise the money by sharing the cost.

"It was clearly me who brought up the trouble, but in the end I was able to sit back and watch others work hard over my willful words. It felt really weird..."

"That's not the case! People did it because it was Shiki who said that. Even with what you said, how many people can make Miss Yukino believe and work hard for it? Isn't it because of Shiki's matchmaking that the people from the art club appeared there? Not to mention the sponsorship fee, which looks simple but actually involves a lot of messy problems! You solved the worries of many people from the beginning, didn't you?"

Yamada Fairy seriously retorted: "From your description, only Miss Amakusa Shino is truly perverted!"

“…Well, although it seems to be true, I feel a little sorry for President Amakusa when I say this.”

Si Ji couldn't help scratching his slightly hot face.

He actually didn't feel any guilt about this. It was just that being in this strange world, carrying a secret that could cause endless troubles once it was exposed, made his mentality a little strange. In the past two years, he was extremely busy with work and had no time to think about it. As a result, as soon as he had some free time this year, the suppressed loneliness broke out all of a sudden, and he couldn't help but complain under other excuses.

Now that I think about it, it does feel a bit strange. I am obviously a relatively cautious person, so why would I lose my composure in front of the Yamada fairy?

"Shiki, you have never let anyone down. On the contrary, you have always supported me, the great future light novelist!"

Yamada Yao said to him in high spirits: "So you can definitely stand up straight and show your pride!"

At this moment, Shiki felt that the girl seemed to be glowing, which was subtly inconsistent with him, a dark creature.

"Thank you, Emily." He pulled the corners of his mouth, trying to show his usual smile, but for some reason he couldn't smile today.

The more sincere the girl's words were, the more he could feel his own hypocrisy in comparison.

An inexplicable fear overwhelmed his heart: If she knew his secret, would she still love him as much as she did now?

Rather than being even more uncomfortable when that time comes, it would be better to——

"But I am such a hypocrite and despicable person..."

A warm embrace with a faint sweet milk-like scent interrupted Si Ji's self-abusive words.

The girl gently hugged Si Ji's head with extremely gentle movements: "Please don't say such bad things to the person I like anymore."

"There is no perfect person in this world. Everyone has their own flaws. My name is not something that can be given to others casually, so I have long been prepared to accept your shortcomings, Four Seasons. The only problem is this," the girl asked softly, "Four Seasons is Four Seasons, right?"

"...Ah, yes, I am Washimiya Shiki."

After all, Washimiya Shiki is his original self, and perhaps the one who is closest to his nature. This is the only thing Shiki can be sure of.

"That's fine!" The fairy said cheerfully, "I like Si Ji. If you can't even accept a person's shortcomings, I think that kind of feeling can never be called love. So it doesn't matter. Si Ji is very sensible now, so it doesn't matter if he can be a little willful!"

Feeling the warmth and softness in the girl's arms, Si Ji suddenly felt like crying - he had never felt this way in the past two years, even in the most difficult and desperate times.

Perhaps it is because I know that I will become weak, so I don’t want to build too deep feelings with others. Why has it turned out like this?

This child might be the one who can become my mother...

Chapter 186...Mom?

Si Ji looked up at the sign of the small shop in front of him.

It was obviously not one of those standard signs made in a unified manner. The words "Guhe Bakery" were painted on the handmade wooden sign with some unknown paint. It was obvious that the person who wrote it had some skills in calligraphy, but there was a big difference between painting with a brush and writing with a pen, so the words on the sign were subtly... ugly?

Against the backdrop of the surrounding light box signs, which are mostly neon tubes or simply covered with a layer of plastic cloth, this sign, which was made entirely by hand by an amateur, has a unique sense of intimacy.

Looking at the sign with the words "Open" hanging on the handrail at the door, Si Ji pushed the door open and walked in.

This is the home of Furukawa Nagisa, the director and only member of the drama club. He came here naturally to hand over the completed script to the other party and to collect the other party's opinions.

After all, she is the one who will perform this play at the Toyoin Festival, so her opinion on the script is very crucial.

Interestingly, Shiki didn't notice it at first, until later when he looked through past admission applications under the pretext of checking out former members of the drama club, and discovered that the director of the drama club actually lived on Hiksazaka Shopping Street, not far from Washimiya Ryo.

It's not surprising if you think about it carefully. Furukawa Nagisa is not in good health and often has to take leave to recuperate at home. As a result, she didn't attend classes enough throughout the entire semester last year, and she was held back a grade and was unable to graduate.

In this case, Nagisa Furukawa's family certainly couldn't let their daughter commute to a school that was too far away every day, so they would definitely choose a school close to home, so it made sense for her family to live near Toyogasaki.

“Welcome~”

As soon as I walked into the store, a soft welcome came from the direction of the cashier.

Si Ji looked over there and found that the person standing there was a brown-haired girl with a high ponytail who looked gentle and lovely.

The other person looked quite young. If she was not an employee of the store, she was probably Nagisa Furukawa's sister or something like that.

"that--"

Just as Si Ji was about to speak, the other party had already walked over to him enthusiastically.

"What kind of bread does this customer want to buy?"

"Forehead……"

The unique butter aroma in the bakery made Si Ji swallow his saliva. Although he didn't particularly like that type of bread, it seemed that he hadn't eaten it for a while. After all, whether it was the fairies or the snow girls raised at home, they seemed to be more keen on cakes and not very interested in bread.

This resulted in Si Ji not having baked much bread recently, so when he suddenly smelled this fragrance, he naturally couldn't help but feel hungry.

Moreover, just by smelling, he could judge with his level 8 cooking skill that the butter and wheat flour used in this bakery were of very good quality and might be worth trying.

So the question that was already on the tip of my tongue, "Excuse me, is Nagisa Furukawa at home?", turned into "Do you have any recommendations?"

The ponytail girl seemed very happy about his active inquiry, so she introduced the small bread placed in the place with the words "Special Sale" hanging on it: "Today's is this."

"Sanae Surprise Bread?" Shiki tried hard to identify the product name under the line of special sale.

He noticed that the writing style of this line of words was very similar to the ugly words on the sign at the door, so they should be written by the same person: "Who is Sanae?"

"Ah, that's my name." The girl replied softly.

"What's the surprise?"

"It's 'unexpected'." The girl said with a gentle smile, narrowing her eyes.

four seasons:"……"

What kind of crap literature is this.

He picked up a small piece of bread and sniffed it gently, but still couldn't tell what was so special about this bread. If he had to say something, it was that it had a barely detectable smell of soy sauce.

Could it be salty bread? Curry buns with curry fillings seem to be popular recently, maybe this is similar? Since it tastes like soy sauce, the filling should be meatballs or fish floss? In any case, stuffing with soy sauce as a seasoning shouldn't be too bad... It can't be sashimi dipped in soy sauce, right? Even if it is sashimi, the heat from the toasted bread can toast it.

“Please give me a surprise bread.”

Shiki took out some coins and bought a small loaf of bread for 100 yen.

The other person took the coin carefully, and for some reason looked very touched.

Shiki thought that he was being overly suspicious. As a baker, he wouldn't be so moved just because his bread was finally sold, right? If that was the case, then it would be a miracle that Furukawa Nagisa could grow up this big.

What bad intentions could there be in a mere small piece of bread?

So he picked up the bread and took a bite, and then his expression became strange.

"……I see."

First of all, theoretically speaking, the bread is pretty good, with a very soft texture, the right amount of salty seasoning, and even the baking time is very subtle. The crust has the rich cereal aroma that only comes out when the wheat flour is baked to perfection.

The problem comes with the filling.

The olfactory correction brought by the Four Seasons Level 8 Cooking Skill was not a problem. Inside was a piece of soy sauce senbei, which is the kind of hard and crispy pancake that is brushed with soy sauce on both sides when baking, giving it a bit of a yaki-yaki feel.

——Just tell me if it’s seasoned with soy sauce.

Just like that, the outside is soft bread crust, and the inside is crispy soy sauce pancake. It is soft and hard at the same time when you take a bite. I can't say that the taste of the two complement each other, I can only say that it is bullshit.

Especially for Si Ji, as an experienced cook with level 8 cooking skills, his sense of taste and smell have also been corrected. Although he does not have the side effect of being unable to eat ordinary food like the Divine Tongue, when he eats food that tastes delicious separately but conflicts with each other when put together, the sense of disharmony is stronger than that of normal people.

"How does it taste?" the girl asked, looking at him expectantly.

Whenever he could sense a hint of malice from her, even if it was just a mischievous teasing, Si Ji would criticize her directly and not tolerate her bad habits.

But even though he possessed a level 10 business skill, he didn't sense any malice from the other party. The girl named Sanae seemed to really think that his idea was very good, and was looking forward to him giving her some feedback.

In the end, Siji could only stiffen his neck and swallow the food in his mouth, revealing a stiff smile: "Well done, don't do it next time."

"But if I don't do it, how can I collect customers' opinions and improve my own ideas?" The girl said with some embarrassment, holding her face.

No, no, no, you should quickly realize that your creativity has gone down a strange alley. Don’t continue walking towards the abyss!

"Swashimiya-kun?"

Just when Shiki was thinking about how to persuade the other party to give up this matter, a crisp voice suddenly rang out, and then Furukawa Nagisa's figure appeared in the door behind the cash register.

She looked at Shiki's appearance and said happily, "It's really Washimiya-kun!"

"Nagisa, is this someone you know?" asked the girl Sanae.

"Yes, they are friends from school." replied Nagisa Furukawa.

"It's great to be able to make friends," Sanae's eyes flashed with tenderness, "Go play with your friends, and leave the store to me."

"Okay, thank you, Mom." Furukawa Nagisa nodded.

"……Mother?"

Shiki looked at the young...woman Sanae's face, which was so young that it seemed almost the same as Furukawa Nagisa's, and suddenly felt like he had been cheated.

Chapter 187: Taken back as a test subject

"I'm sorry to trouble you to make this trip."

After the dazed Shiki explained his purpose, Furukawa Nagisa took him to her room.

The two-story building of Furukawa Bakery is the property of the Furukawa family. Half of the lower floor is the bakery, and the other half is a kitchen used to make bread. There is no place for meeting guests.

There was a small living room on the second floor, but it seemed that it had not been used for a long time and was almost becoming a storage room, so the girl took him back to her room.

But considering that the person's mother is just downstairs, there is no need to worry about anything strange happening - unless Si Ji's rationality suddenly evaporates and his animal instincts become unleashed, and he wants to have a mother-son affair or even have a mother-son dinner or something.

"It's okay. I was just asking for your opinion on behalf of Emily...ah, the Yamada Fairy who gave you the script."

There were no chairs in Nagisa Furukawa's room, and Shiki was embarrassed to sit on the girl's bed. Fortunately, Nagisa Furukawa quickly took out two cushions and placed them on the floor.

"Please take a seat. For drinks, is black tea or milk all you need?"

"Boiled water will do." Si Ji sat on the cushion and nodded to the girl.

Speaking of which, it seems that there is no trace of Furukawa's father in this house, but it seems normal when you think about it - Aunt Sanae looks about the same age as Furukawa Nagisa, so you can imagine how cruel Furukawa's father is. Whether he attacks elementary school students or junior high school students, it is enough for him to spend the rest of his life in jail.

Shiki secretly took this as a warning: After all, Yamada the Fairy is only fourteen years old...

"Here." Furukawa Nagisa handed a glass of boiled water to Shiki, and then asked hesitantly, "Is hot water really all you need?"

"Well, drinking more hot water is my motto." Shiki took the cup handed over by Furukawa Nagisa, whose father passed away long ago: "Thank you, my condolences."

"...?"

The ahoge on Furukawa Nagisa's head turned into a question mark, but after a moment he was relieved and said with a faint smile: "Just like what Ms. Yukinoshita said, Washimiya-kun sometimes says some strange things."

"I feel like the minister must have said a lot of bad things about me." Si Ji took a sip of hot water and said disapprovingly.

"That's not true. Ms. Yukinoshita thinks highly of Washimiya-kun."

However, Nagisa Furukawa defended Yukinoshita.

"Really? I don't believe it." Si Ji said with a straight face.

"Washimiya-kun unexpectedly likes to fuss over trivial matters." Furukawa Nagisa said with a helpless smile.