How To Melt the Ice Lady

“…Please excuse me.”

The intercom rang at the exact time we had promised, and when I opened the door, Fuyuka was standing there in her casual clothes.

It was only the second day since we had started to have dinner together. It was a sight that I still couldn’t get used to, or rather, couldn’t seem to get used to.

“This is the fees for yesterday and today’s meal.”

“Mhm, alright.”

As soon as she walked in the door, Fuyuka offered me a white envelope, which I obediently accepted.

Although this relationship would only last until the ball game in four days’ time on Friday, Fuyuka presented two arrangements to Asahi so that their relationship wouldn’t turn sour.

First, they split the cost of the ingredients, and Fuyuka paid a little more for the labor fee.

And second, meet up before cooking, and then dismiss after doing the dishes.

The former was the result of Asahi’s persistent efforts to persuade Fuyuka, who stubbornly insisted on paying the full cost for the ingredients.

Since Asahi himself would be eating too, it was only natural that they would split the cost of the ingredients.

As for Asahi, he was going to refuse because the effort required for cooking for two people was not that different for just one, but Fuyuka insisted, so he had no choice but to compromise.

And the latter was something related to Fuyuka’s policy, which had been decided without giving Asahi the right to decide or reject.

According to Fuyuka, it was the same reason why she didn’t leave until the dishes were done as she didn’t feel comfortable not being at Asahi’s house while he was cooking.

“You’re going to start cooking, right? Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Even if there is, I wouldn’t let you do it. Why do you think I’m cooking for two people?”

“…I still have my left hand.”

“You’re really stubborn, you know? Just sit there and read a book. In any case, It would be troublesome if you hurt your left hand too, right?”

Fuyuka would become obedient and understanding if you gave her a sound argument.

This was what I somehow noticed after getting to know her for a short period of time.

After another successful persuasion, Fuyuka gave a small nod of understanding and headed towards the living room with a novel in her hand with the same title as yesterday.

She then put the book on the desk in front of the sofa and came back to the kitchen.

“…Why did you come back?”

“It’s safe just looking, right? I won’t get in your way.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“I’ll stay here then. Kagami-san, please don’t mind me and go ahead.”

When this happened, there was no way to persuade Fuyuka because there weren’t any problems with it.

I don’t know if it was fun to watch people cook, but she was right, it was safe and won’t be in the way.

“If that’s the case, alright.” Asahi replied as he immediately started to prepare dinner.

Today I’m going to cook a selection of Japanese dishes which include salmon, miso soup, meat and potatoes.

Considering the time required for cooking each, the first step was to peel and cut the vegetables into bite-sized pieces for the meat and potatoes.

“…I see. That’s how you cut them, huh?”

“On the contrary, how do you think it will be cut?”

“…Using both hands?”

“Hey, I can’t let that slide. It’s too novel and too dangerous.”

“But it’s the most powerful way to do it.”

“I won’t pursue this too deeply, so at least learn the cat’s paw.” [TL: imgur.com/a/kFwbwIy]

Really, the more we talked, the more I worried about her in many ways.

At this point, It was pretty certain that she didn’t cook for herself on a regular basis, and pointing that out would only make her grumpy, so I kept my mouth shut.

However, at least I wanted her to learn the basic cooking techniques.

In that sense, it was a good thing that she started to observe the cooking process out of curiosity.

“Listen, first you need to put some olive oil in the frying pan.”

“Olive oil..?”

“This will prevent the food from sticking to the pan. It’s a different story if it’s a non-stick pan, but you’ll need olive oil anyway because it’s meant to surround the umami and moisture.”

Before I knew it, It had suddenly turned into a beginner’s course cooking class while steadily cooking.

Fuyuka seemed to be willing to learn how to cook, and listened intently to Asahi’s words.

It seems that she didn’t realize that this was just Asahi’s usual meddling, and she didn’t notice that she was being completely questioned about her own cooking experience.

‘Well, I guess it’s better to have a view of wanting to learn how to cook…’

When you live alone, you could never be healthy if you only ate canned and ready-made foods.

I cook for myself at least half of the week, if not every day. And ideally, you should also make your own bento.

As for the bento, I tried to make one for her in the same way as I did for dinner, but she politely refused, but there might be a reason why she refused.

If she learned to cook a little bit during this time, then she would be able to cook for herself going forward.

With this thought secretly in his mind, Asahi cooked dinner, explaining the cooking process one by one, without being asked to do so by anyone.

“This white stuff is called ‘scum,’ and if left unchecked, it will affect the taste of the finished product in a negative way. So it’s better to remove it frequently to adjust the taste. [TL: I had to research this one, though I know what it meant, I didn’t know the term. Link: bit.ly/3d4S39B]

“This is going to take a lot of work and time, isn’t it? How long will it take you to complete it?”

“Ten minutes, no, fifteen minutes, I think. Well, the rest is just simmering.”

“It takes about forty minutes to complete, huh? I’d like to make a bento, but I don’t think meat and potatoes would cut it.”

“…Sorry, but can you repeat that for a second?”

“I said, I want to make a bento, I thought I’d put meat and potatoes there.”

I couldn’t help but ask back at the unfamiliar string of words, but what came back from her was the same words as before.

I want to make a bento, Fuyuka said for sure.

It was certainly a surprise for Asahi.

“Yesterday, you said that you were gonna go to the cafeteria and that you didn’t need a bento. What changed your mind?”

“It’s something I’m not willing to do. However, it seems that the school cafeteria is not open on the day of the ball game, so I need to make my own bento.”

“With your injured right hand?”

“…My left hand-”

“Of course not, Why do you think I’m cooking for- this is the second time we had this exchange today, you know?”

Asahi sighed loudly as he placed a brightly colored fillet of salmon on the grill alongside the meat and potatoes.

Truly, Fuyuka’s stubbornness was quite the headache.

“I’ll make lunch for you that day, Himuro. Since it came to this let me be nosy until the end, I’ve got a spare lunch box, so don’t worry.”

“…Can I leave it to you?”

“You should have just let me handle it from the beginning.”

As I thought, if you give a proper reason, she will listen to you obediently.

However, was it some kind of habit that she always tried to do anything alone instead of asking for help at least once?

From the very beginning, she should have relied on me obediently. It was only natural, but I felt like it was proof that I hadn’t built that kind of trust with her yet.

‘I never thought it would be a conversation like I had with those two.’

The meaning of “making bento” was quite different, but oddly enough, the thing we talked about at lunchtime today came to mind.

Since it was the ball game, Asahi thought about cooking something extravagant as he quickly went to work making miso soup.