Chapter 35

Right now, Ichiro was sitting year-round kotatsu inside Yasu's home, which different from usual was bustling with activity, and also clean, alongside him in the living room were YAsu and his mother Kimiko, who were both lazing in the year-round kotatsu as well, as they tried to find something to watch.

While in the kitchen, Takeru and Cicilia could be seen bickering with each other as they cooked dinner for everyone. As for why Ichiro wasn't helping… It was because the two found him to be too annoying as he always tried to joke with them so that they would get embarrassed, so they sent him away from the kitchen.

Then as Ichiro was lazing around, he heard his phone ring, and he saw that Sakurako was calling him, which made him attend the call really swiftly

"Sakurako-san, is there something I can help you with?"

//I passed by your place just now, but you weren't there//

"Ah! About that, I'm at my cousin's house. And can you give me a moment?"

//Sure//

"Thanks!" *Covers phone with his hand* "Continue on your attempt at the moaning joke and I will wreck with you in the most painful way possible"

"…"

Ichiro turned to face Yasu and showed him a wide smile on his face, but his eyes weren't smiling, and his voice tone was also very serious as well. Yasu who clearly saw the danger of trying to continue with his prank, immediately gave up and went back inside the kotatsu without any change to his eternal expressionless face.

"Good… Sorry for the wait, so is there anything else I can do for you, Sakurako-san?"

//Well… Can I go to where you are right now?//

"Give me a sec. Hey, can my fiancée come here?"

"Hm? Sure" "Fine by me"

Kimiko and Yasu both readily agreed without a problem and went back to watching an anime that they found

"My aunt and cousin agreed, but the place is pretty far away"

//I see, then can you tell me the address?//

"Well, yes. But the place is quite far away from my place"

//It's fine, I came to your place by car//

"I see, I see, then the address is…"

Ichiro then gave Sakurako the address to Yasu's house.

//I see, so to confirm the address is…//

Sakurako then repeated the address Ichiro gave her, to make sure that she didn't get anything wrong.

"… Yes, that's right, that's the address"

//I see, then see you soon, Ichiro-san//

"Yes, see you soon Sakurako-san"

And having given his fiancée his farewells, Ichiro turned off his phone, then he turned towards the kitchen where Taker and Cicilia were cooking.

"Hey! Yasu's girlfriend and Yasu's cook! My fiancée is coming to have dinner with us!"

And he said that, which triggered both Cicilia and Takeru.

"I-I'm not Y-Y-Y-Yasu's g-g-girlfriend!!!"

"At least call me chef! And Don't just make us have to cook more with an extra visitor!"

Cicilia was triggered by her tsundere-ness, while Takeru was triggered because being called a cook was too casual for his pride, because they would need to increase the portions when they were already halfway through, and also because he was also a tsundere.

"Ah right! I'm sorry, it's Yasu's wife and top chef, right?"

"I-I'm not h-his w-wife!!!"

"That's better, but next time don't make us suddenly have to cook for one more person!… Woah! Be careful with that!"

"I don't want to hear orders from you!"

"HUUUUUUUHHHHH!?"

"HUUUUUUNNNHHH!?"

Cicilia and Takeru went back to cooking while glaring and saying "huh" to each other, due to Cicilia's bashfulness, and hidden excitement, from being called Yasu's girlfriend and wife

"…"

Ichiro looked at the two glaring at each other, before turning toward Yasu

"Lucky guy, you managed to find a nice girl who surprisingly likes you"

"Thanks, and yeah she's just like Takkun, hard in appearance but it's a total softie in actuality"

"Yeah"

Much to Cicilia's despair, aside from Takeru, everyone could see that she liked Yasu, even if she was able to hide her expressions more effectively. Ichiro would still see through her since he was really good at reading people.

.

.

.

About thirty minutes had passed, since Sakurako called Ichiro. Just like before he was still lazing on the kotatsu alongside Yaus and Kimiko, while Taker and Cicilia had returned to the kitchen to continue cooking. Although Ichiro looked pretty calm on the outside, inside he was feeling quite excited to see Sakurako again.

And then he once again heard his phone ring.

"Sakurako-san, what is it?"

//I just arrived in front of your cousin's house//

"Is that so? Okay"

With that, Ichiro got up from the kotatsu as he turned off his phone, and then went to receive Sakurako. When he opened the front door of Yasu's home, he was greeted by the sight of his cute fiancée, just as she was about to press the doorbell.

"Ah! Ichiro-san, good to see you"

"Good to see you too, Sakurako-san. Please come in"

"Thanks"

"You're welcome"

With that, Sakurako entered Yasu's house, removed her shoes, and followed Ichiro to the living room

"Everyone! Please let me introduce you all to my fiancée, Kogane Sakurako"

"Nice to meet you all, I am Kogane Sakurako, and I will be in everyone's care today"

" "Nice to meet you" "

Takeru and Cicilia both turned their heads toward Sakurako and gave the same greeting before going back to paying attention to the dinner preparations

"Welcome to my house, Kogane-san"

Yasu gave a simple greeting to Sakurako without showing any change in his expression, leaving only Kimiko to introduce herself

"Aaahh… So you're that Sakurako-san Ichiro always kept boasting about, huh? You really got yourself a cute girl, Ichiro"

"Thank you, Aunt Kimiko"

"… Did you really always keep boasting to them about me?"

"Not really always, but yes. I do boast about having you as my fiancée"

"I see, I'm glad you think that of me"

"You're welcome, Sakurako-san. Now let's enter the kotatsu while the two over there finish making the dinner"

"Okay"

Ichiro returned to the kotatsu, with Sakurako also joining him as she entered the kotatsu by sitting right next to him. Then Sakurako closed her eyes and leaned on Ichiro's right shoulder, almost as if she was preparing to take a nap. Ichiro didn't show anything else on his face aside from a happy smile as he looked at Sakurako, but inside he was feeling a bit embarrassed by Sakurako's accidental bold actions.

Seeing the two like that Kimiko couldn't help but make a curious face and ask…

"Fufu! You two are quite close, say Kogane-san do you like Ichiro?"

Without opening her eyes as she continued to rest as she leaned on Ichiro's right shoulder, Sakurako responded to Kimiko's question.

"Hm?… Well, I can't really say for sure if I like him in a romantic way, but compared to my previous fiancé, I do prefer Ichiro-san a lot more than him… So I guess that I do like Ichiro-san"

"I see, I see… *Muttering* Maybe I can use that for a story… By the way, have you two kissed yet?"

" "No" "

"Ah… I see…" <Or maybe not, they aren't still giving that doki-doki feeling>

When Sakurako heard that she opened her eyes, and got into a straight position before she and Ichiro gave the same answer at the same time. While Takeru who also happened to hear Kimiko's question twitched when he heard that word.

"What's wrong?"

"N-nothing"

"?"

His cheeks were slightly red as he answered with an obviously embarrassed tone, but Cicilia wasn't able to understand why he was acting like that. After some more minutes, they both finished making dinner, so they both called the others to eat

"Oi! The dinner is ready!"

"And you all better like it because it took a lot of effort do to all this!"

At hearing Takeru and Cicilia call, Yasu and Kimiko both got up with a jump as they shouted.

" "Finally! A decent meal!" "

" "…" "

"… Ichiro-san…"

"They're failures as human beings aside from drawing manga and doujinshis"

"Ah!… I see"

After saying that, Ichiro got up and then helped Sakurako get up as well so that they could get some food before the duo of failures as human beings ate everything by themselves. And the one thing that surprised everyone, when the two returned was the amount of food that Sakurako had picked, since she gave the feel of a sheltered rich girl with good manners.

So when she sat down with a plate mountain of food, everyone, aside from Ichiro, couldn't help but make surprised faces.

"… Kogane-san, are you sure, you can eat that much?"

"Yes"

After giving that short reply, Sakurako took a bite of the food that Takeru and Cicilia cooked, and her face immediately brightened up as she began eating with a similar enthusiasm as Yasu and Kimiko. While those three were busy eating their food, Ichiro was talking to both Takeru and Cicilia to make them reveal some embarrassing secret they had.

"Hot! My tongue!… … … *Gasps* Ah! That's right! So Takkun? What's the name of the girl you're interested in?"

"… What're you talking about?"

"Don't try to avoid it, you know that I can easily read your face. And that I'll only make it worse for you if you don't cooperate"

"… … … *Sigh* Her name is Nanami Yuriko…"

Takeru clearly aware of what Ichiro meant by that, stayed silent for a few seconds, before sighing in surrender, and answering Ichiro's question he blushed a little and looked away as he said Yuriko's name

"I see, I see. By the looks of you it, you met her on your first day of school, so how well have you been getting along with her?"

"… We're getting along just fine…"

"*Grinning* Ooohh… That's great. So how far has your relationship with her gone?"

"… We're just friends…"

"…"

Ichiro squinted his eyes as his smile only became even more suspicious, as he noticed that Takeru was still hiding something, and he wanted to know what it was.

"There's something more about your relationship with that girl. C'mon, spill it out"

"… … … Fine… I went on a date with Yu- Nanami-san last weekend… … … And at the end of our date she… … … Kissed me on the cheek"

" " " " "!?" " " " "

Takeru's face grew redder and redder as he answered, and when he said that he got kissed by Yuriko, everyone who was listening, froze on the spot as they looked at Takeru with surprised eyes… And of everyone there, Sakurako, Cicilia, and Kimiko were the most surprised ones…

"…" <I-i-i-i-t's normal t-t-to give a k-k-k-kiss at the end of a d-d-d-date!?!?!?"

"…" <Huh? If Nanami-san kissed Tanaka-san's cheek even though they're friends. Then does that means that it's normal for me to kiss Ichiro-san's cheeks since I'm his fiancée?…>

They were both surprised for very different reasons, while Kimiko on the other hand…

"…" <I've struck gold!!!>

Had finally found the inspiration she needed.

As for Yaus and Ichiro… Yasu as usual didn't show any reaction on his face, but he was taking mental notes of everything that Takeru just said so that he could use it as a reference for his manga. And Ichiro… was doing his best to not show the surprise on his face.

"…" <I've dating Sakurako-san since April… And Takkun who's still refusing to confess to Nanami-san, already got kissed on the cheek… … … An I being a coward and embarrassed to kiss Sakurako-san, or is that girl too bold for Takeru's safety?"

Ichiro was feeling both defeated and worried from the fact that Takeru was getting along with a girl bold enough to kiss him on the cheek, less than a month after meeting him.

"… … …" <Me and Sakurako-san kissing?…>

As the weird silence in the living room continued, Ichiro had a sudden thought of him and Sakurako kissing, and he couldn't help but feel embarrassed, to the point that even his cheeks were turning slightly pink, as he did his best to hide his embarrassment. Then as Ichiro was too concentrated on hiding his embarrassment and on forgetting that sudden thought of his, Sakurako occasionally glanced at him, as her cheeks also turned pink.