VOLUME 1

Epilogue: Part 2

When I got home, the living room seemed lively. Oddly enough, it seemed that Haruna and Sera were arguing.

Geez… what was it now?

When I popped into the living room to see, I saw a huge pile of soap on the table.

“Why did you end up making soap when you were supposed to make pudding?!”

“I believe that there was something wrong with the ingredients you prepared for me!”

“Huh? I definitely properly matched all the ingredients to things from this world though! Just because the cooking was bad doesn’t mean the ingredients were!”

They pushed the blame on each other. They were like two fighting, little children.

I gave out a sigh of resignation.

“Why don’t we all just make it again together?”

“… Well, if Ayumu puts it like that…” Haruna pouted.

“That’s true. Let’s put what’s already happened behind us.” Sera completely changed her att.i.tude.

“But, there’s no way pudding can become soap…”

Yuu glanced in our direction, but her expression was as emotionless as usual, a completely undisturbed surface of water.

“Alright, Ayumu! Let’s go and work nonstop all night and make some pudding!”

Haruna grabbed me by the hand, and began to take large steps forwards.

I’ll pa.s.s on the nonstop all night part though…

“Alright, I’ll go put the milk in some Karatsu pottery…” (1)

Wait wait. Karatsu pottery? What exactly are you planning to do with the milk?

“Sera. Go heat up the bath and come back.”

“Ayumu, exactly how much pudding are you planning on making?”

“Sorry, but for the sake of our cooking, I have to officially announce that you’re not part of our battle strategy.”

“What?! Not part of your battle…?!”

Sera glared at me, overreacting like a soccer player vigorously arguing against a referee for issuing a foul against him.

“Try to understand. Ayumu wants to cook alone with me!”

Haruna patted Sera on the shoulder. She’s not wrong there, but I get the feeling that she was wrong about something…

“Haruna, let’s get to it. Come on, let’s go.”

I squeezed Haruna’s hand back, and headed for the kitchen.

At some point, Sera and Yuu had also come into the kitchen. I sighed once.

“Sera, go heat up the bath.”

“… Fine!”

Her tone of voice almost reminded me of a pouting child, and was not a tone I would expect to come out of her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely figure out something here for you to do.”

I called out to Sera’s retreating back, and she turned just her heard around.

“Thanks,” she said, her thorn-filled words flying through the air and piercing through me. Like that, she quickly left the kitchen.

… Now that I look at it, was Sera the kind of person to let her emotions show out in the open like that? Maybe she had opened her heart a little as well.

“You know, she always has a stern expression on, but when she’s cooking she really seems to have fun. What she ends up making is definitely not food though.”

“So, you wanna let her cook?”

“Deeeeeeeeefinitely not.”

“I feel the same way.”

Haruna and I opened our mouths wide and laughed together.

Tap tap. I heard a tapping sound, and looked towards the sink. In there was one of Yuu’s memos, and on the memo the following was written:

Ayumu. The pudding? = “Oniichan, hurry up and make the pudding, please?”

Ah, yes. I’ve never made pudding before, but if I left it to Haruna we’d probably be able to whip something up.

… Hm, now that I think about it, I wonder if Yuu could cook?

“Yuu, do you know how to make pudding?”

First, put the milk in some Karatsu pottery.

I unconsciously held my head in my hands.

“Yuu, you can be in charge of the tableware then.”

Her silver hair waved, and she slowly nodded.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

(1) Some type of pottery in j.a.pan. Wiki to the rescue.