Madam, believe me, how can I be a minotaur?

Yuta Yamada sat down as he spoke.

Seeing his actions, Makoto Asano didn't know what to say.

Yes, I'm a guest, so it's not good for me to do chores, but shouldn't you, as her boyfriend, be helping out?

Makoto Asano shook his head inwardly, preparing to sit down with Yuta Yamada.

But he suddenly caught sight of Eriko Miyajima's movements in the kitchen.

He saw Eriko Miyajima, wearing an apron, roll up her sleeves, tie her hair in a knot in front of her chest with a hair tie, and then take off the diamond ring on her left middle finger, carefully putting it away.

"That's a beautiful ring."

Makoto Asano said seemingly unintentionally.

Hearing this, Eriko Miyajima smiled sweetly, looked up at Yuta Yamada, and explained to Makoto Asano, "Yes, it's really beautiful, because it's the engagement ring Yuta gave me—"

But before she could finish speaking, Yuta Yamada asked blankly, "Huh? Ring? What ring?"

The sweet smile on Eriko Miyajima's face disappeared, and Makoto Asano fell silent.

Seriously, buddy, how did you manage to win over Eriko Miyajima like this?

Why don't you start a class? I'd definitely be the first to sign up.

Casting a pitying glance at Yuta Yamada, who still didn't know what was happening, Makoto Asano sat down.

At this time, Yuta Yamada finally understood what the two were talking about.

He wasn't really that stupid. After realizing that his words had upset Eriko Miyajima, he whispered an apology to his girlfriend, and then started chatting with Makoto Asano about the ring.

Taking this opportunity, Makoto Asano learned more about their story.

Yuta Yamada and Eriko Miyajima were both from Chiba, and they were high school classmates.

Because they weren't in the same class, they didn't meet until their second year of high school, at the school's sports festival.

The reason they met was also quite interesting. Because they weren't very good at sports, they both coincidentally chose to feign illness and sneak off to the school nurse's office to slack off on the day of the sports festival.

That's how they met each other, then slowly got to know each other, and finally got together.

However, unlike Yuta Yamada, who had always had good grades and eventually got into a university in Tokyo, Eriko Miyajima's grades declined sharply after she started dating, so she didn't go to college and stayed in her hometown after graduation to help manage her family's small shop.

During the four years that Yuta Yamada went to college in Tokyo, they kept in touch with each other via phone, and only had the opportunity to meet when Yuta Yamada returned to his hometown for holidays each year.

For all couples in the world, long-distance relationships are a difficult test, and the outcome for most long-distance couples is usually a breakup.

But Yuta Yamada didn't want to end this relationship.

After graduating and finding a job, he planned to bring Eriko Miyajima to Tokyo and settle down here.

At that time, he used his entire first month's salary to buy a necklace and a diamond ring, and then secretly took a day off to go home and see Eriko Miyajima.

Eriko Miyajima was naturally very happy that her boyfriend appeared in front of her at an impossible time.

But when Yuta Yamada invited her to go to Tokyo with him, she hesitated.

This was no small matter, and she had to consider it carefully, preferably after discussing it with her family before making a decision.

At this moment, Yuta Yamada took out the ring, knelt on one knee, and said to her seriously.

"Eriko, I know I'm not mature enough yet, and it may take me a long time to give you a good life."

"We will experience all sorts of things in the future, there may be arguments, and there may be other conflicts, but I swear, I will only love you in this life."

"I promise to work hard, work hard to earn money, and when I buy a house in Tokyo, I will marry you."

"Eriko, are you willing to go to Tokyo with me, and walk towards our future together?"

Women are emotional.

After hearing Yuta Yamada's heartfelt confession, Eriko Miyajima cried and nodded vigorously.

Yuta Yamada also took the opportunity to put the ring and necklace on her, and brought her to Tokyo.

During their chat, Eriko Miyajima in the kitchen didn't say anything, she just kept her head down and worked, seemingly not hearing anything.

But in reality, her face was already flushed, and she was too shy to look at the two people at the table who were occasionally glancing at her.

Makoto Asano quietly watched Yuta Yamada tell his story with a sweet expression, and Eriko Miyajima's flushed cheeks.

While marveling at the beauty of their love, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

But that was all, he couldn't give up the mission and give up seducing Eriko Miyajima because of this.

Because it also related to his future.

Call him selfish, call him lacking empathy, none of that would change his determination.

The old him, who only had the fate of eating gutter oil but worrying about the whole world, was dead.

Now he was Makoto Asano, the blonde bull warrior from Tokyo.

No one could make him give up his happiness.

Thinking this way, Makoto Asano suppressed the trace of guilt in his heart and successfully convinced himself.

At the same time, Eriko Miyajima finally prepared dinner.

The meal could be considered lavish, with each person having a grilled fish, several boiled shrimp, several pieces of teriyaki chicken, tamagoyaki, vegetable salad, and a bowl of tofu miso soup.

Although they all looked like simple home-cooked dishes, this was already richer than most ordinary Japanese families' dinners.

After all, since Makoto Asano was invited to their home, the meal couldn't be too shabby.

Yuta Yamada had already picked up his chopsticks, saying "I'm going to eat" to try the taste.

But Makoto Asano seemed to be appreciating the aroma of the dinner, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

Then he said to himself, "Hmm~~ What a lavish dinner, it looks delicious..."

Saying this, he opened his eyes again and smiled, nodding to Eriko Miyajima beside him, "Thank you for your hard work, Miss Miyajima."

[Eriko Miyajima's affection +2, Pure Love Value +20]

Eriko Miyajima smiled and said, "It would be great if it suits Mr. Asano's taste."

At this time, Yuta Yamada belatedly said, "Ah, thank you for your hard work, Eriko, don't be busy, go and rest for a while."

Eriko Miyajima took off the black apron around her waist and shook her head with a smile, "It's okay, Yuta, you and Mr. Asano eat first, I'll go get you some sake."

Saying this, she walked towards the master bedroom and soon came out with two bottles of shochu.

Seeing that Eriko Miyajima put the shochu on the table but didn't intend to sit down, Makoto Asano felt a little puzzled, "Miss Miyajima, aren't you going to sit at the table and eat with us?"

In fact, at most Japanese family tables, especially when entertaining important guests, women are not allowed to sit down and eat until the guests and all the men have finished eating.

But because he rarely interacted with people in the past and there were no women in his family, Makoto Asano didn't know about this, and he still adhered to the concept of women eating at the table from his previous life.

Therefore, when he asked Eriko Miyajima to sit down and eat with a matter-of-course expression, both Yuta Yamada and Eriko Miyajima showed surprised expressions.

Chapter 9: Rapid Progress

Eriko Miyajima still sat down at the table at Makoto Asano's request, but she felt a little out of place after sitting down.

She looked at Makoto Asano blankly, seemingly not knowing why he insisted so strongly that she sit down.

But unexpectedly, she felt his respect for her.

[Eriko Miyajima's affection +3, Pure Love Value +30]

Makoto Asano, hearing the notification sound, naturally noticed Eriko Miyajima's gaze, he didn't say anything, just gave her a sincere smile.

For some reason, seeing Makoto Asano's smile, Eriko Miyajima's heart suddenly felt a little flustered, and she hurriedly looked away.

After everything was ready, Yuta Yamada no longer cared about the food on the table and picked up the sake bottle.

"Mr. Asano, try my treasured shochu, this is a limited edition of Mori Izou, one of the three famous imo shochu, it's hard to buy on the market."

The Mori Izou limited edition that Yuta Yamada mentioned is a 25-degree sweet potato shochu, priced at about 15,000 yen, which is considered a relatively expensive good sake.

Just looking at this bottle of sake, you can tell how much the two of them valued Makoto Asano's visit.

However, after hearing Yuta Yamada's words, Makoto Asano showed a somewhat hesitant expression, "Are we going to drink?"

It's not that he can't drink, he often went out for entertainment when he was a corporate slave in his previous life, and he naturally drank a lot of sake.

But he doesn't like Japanese shochu, this kind of sake is not pure enough and contains many impurities, it's easy to get a headache after drinking it.

That time he only drank a little, but when he woke up the next morning, his head ached as if it was splitting, so he simply stopped touching it later.

"Of course! Mr. Asano, a man can't not drink sake!"

Yuta Yamada said as he filled his glass with sake, and then poured a little for Makoto Asano as well.

Seeing Makoto Asano hesitantly picking up his glass, he asked with a smile, "Mr. Asano, can't you drink sake? Or have you never drunk shochu before?"

Makoto Asano didn't speak, just nodded.

Yuta Yamada looked a little regretful, "That's really a pity, if Mr. Asano really can't drink, then add some plain water before drinking, as for me..."

As if demonstrating to Makoto Asano, he drank the sake in his glass in one gulp, and said proudly, "I'll just drink it like this!"

"Yuta, you should drink slower, drinking so fast is bad for your health." Eriko Miyajima advised worriedly from the side.

But before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by Yuta Yamada waving his hand, "Eriko, don't worry about me! I have to let Mr. Asano know what a man's way of drinking is!"

Yuta Yamada's face was already flushed at this time, perhaps because of the alcohol, or perhaps because Eriko Miyajima had repeatedly refuted his face today, he spoke very impatiently this time, even though he usually spoke softly.

Eriko Miyajima didn't speak anymore, but the worry on her face grew deeper.

Seeing this, Makoto Asano also followed Eriko Miyajima's words and began to "persuade" Yuta Yamada from the side, telling him not to drink anymore.

As a result, Yuta Yamada, whose self-esteem was aroused, directly drank another whole glass of sake.

Makoto Asano sighed, exchanged a glance with Eriko Miyajima, his eyes full of "helplessness".

Look, I did advise him not to drink anymore, he insisted on drinking it himself, I didn't deliberately force him to drink.

After about ten minutes, Yuta Yamada passed out drunk.

Seeing Yuta Yamada collapse on the table unconscious, Makoto Asano shook his head and took a sip of the shochu mixed with water in his glass.

Eriko Miyajima explained awkwardly for her boyfriend, "Mr. Asano, Yuta is not usually like this, it's just..."