“H-Honey toast…?”
“Yes! I saw online recently that love hotel food is really good. So I wanted to try it once. But it is scary to go alone, so I invited Koto-senpai.”
Hiyori starts making a phone call happily while holding the menu.
I completely miss the chance to reply and just look at her profile.
“Seriously…”
I mutter this in a voice too quiet for Hiyori to hear.
In other words, Hiyori is not into me, and she does not want to do that kind of thing.
I sit down, collapsing onto the bed, and hold my head.
I’m such an idiot for getting my hopes up!!
Memories of the day we made plans come back to me.
While I was distracted by the word “love hotel” and not listening to Hiyori, I feel like she was talking about food or something.
“Do you want to eat anything, Koto-senpai?”
Hiyori turns to look at me while holding the mouthpiece and asks.
I shake my head slightly. Right now, I am not in the mood to eat anything at all.
Hiyori puts the receiver down and sits next to me. For some reason, she grabs my arm tightly.
“I am so excited! I wonder if it is better than karaoke food.”
“Yeah… right…”
Hiyori takes the remote control and looks through the movies.
She says, “I was curious about this,” and starts playing some movie.
I look at the TV just in case, but there is no way the content is going into my head.
About ten minutes into the movie, the honey toast arrives.
The sweet smell of freshly baked white bread, melting butter, and plenty of honey poured over it gently tickles my nose. A round scoop of vanilla ice cream sits in the center, but it is already starting to melt quietly from the edges, defeated by the heat.
Other drinks and regular food are lined up as well.
After taking a few photos, Hiyori says “itadakimasu” and starts eating.
When she puts the knife in, a light crisp sound is heard. Hiyori coats a cut piece with ice cream and honey, and gently brings it to her mouth.
The moment the honey toast enters her mouth, Hiyori’s face lights up brightly.
“Mmm~~ It’s so good!!”
Every time she chews, Hiyori’s face turns into a bigger smile.
“Do you want some too, Koto-senpai?”
Hiyori puts the honey toast on a fork and holds it out toward me. Since I have no reason to refuse, I try to take the fork.
However, Hiyori quickly pulls the fork far away.
“Ah, wait.”
“Koto-senpai, that is wrong. Say ‘aah’.”
I freeze up again.
An “aah” from Hiyori. A spoon that Hiyori used.
Isn’t this an indirect kiss!?
Hesitatingly, I gently open my mouth. I can tell the coolness of the ice cream and the warmth of the bread, but I cannot taste the flavor at all.
Why can she do something like this so casually, really. She is a sinful woman.
“Is it good?”
I could only nod.
Hiyori does not seem to care at all, and she puts honey toast on her fork again and brings it straight to her mouth.
Even that sight is somehow embarrassing, and I look down.
While I am soaking in my own wounds, the food disappears in the blink of an eye.
It seems delicious, and Hiyori is in a good mood the whole time. Seeing her like that makes me want to eat something too.
“Maybe I’ll have some after all.”
When I say that, Hiyori hands me the menu without a word.
When I open and look at the menu, it is full of fancy things like afternoon tea.
“Then I guess I will have a sandwich. Lend me the phone.”
“It is okay because I will call.”
Since Hiyori says that, I leave everything to her and wait for the food to arrive.
After waiting for a while, the food arrives.
However, not only the sandwiches, but five cakes that I do not remember ordering arrive.
“…Did I order something like this…?”
Thinking “no way,” I look at Hiyori, and she is looking away and whistling. Even though she is not making a sound.
“You are eating way too much… Well, if Hiyori is fine with it, then I guess it is fine…”
When I say that, Hiyori comes back to life all at once like a fish taking to water.
“That’s right! Appetite is one of the three major human desires!! Humans should be more loyal to their desires!!!”
Hiyori picks up a fork and starts eating the cake. Following her lead, I pick up a sandwich.
The sandwich on the plate is a neat triangle, and the white bread with the crusts cut off is so fluffy it looks like it would spring right back if pressed with a finger.
From the cross-section, thinly layered roast chicken, translucent lettuce, and finely chopped tomatoes can be seen in layers.
When I put it in my mouth, the taste of butter and mayonnaise spreads, and the sourness of the tomatoes pushes through afterwards. The lettuce is not watery, and the chicken is very tender even though it is cold.
Delicious.
Since it is room service at a love hotel, I thought the quality would be lower, so I am surprised by how delicious it is.
“Is it good?”
“Yeah, it’s good.”
“Give me one, please.”
Thinking “Is this your goal?”, I hand one to Hiyori.
Hiyori happily receives the sandwich with both hands and takes a big bite.
“This is good too~”
Eating honey toast, eating other food, and eating cake too. Where in the world does all that food go in her stomach?
Still, Hiyori looks really happy while eating, and seeing her makes me happy too. Seeing that, I thought that even though it was not what I expected, I am glad I came.
♢
When we leave the hotel, the outside has completely turned into night.
Air that is a little colder than daytime touches my skin.
“Well then, Koto-senpai, see you at school. Thank you for keeping me company!”
“Yeah, thank you too. See you.”
Hiyori is swallowed up by the ticket gate at a run while waving at me.
Once I can no longer see Hiyori, I put my hand down and stand there frozen in place.
I could not move from that spot for a while.
I blankly stare at the wave of people flowing through the ticket gate.
“Hah.”
All the worries from the week before last until today were completely unnecessary.
What am I doing, jumping to conclusions and misunderstanding on my own. I really am an idiot.
I take my smartphone and open the messaging app. No notifications have come in.
Hiyori’s pinned name is at the very top, followed by Seina and the club’s group chat. Not feeling like going straight home, I tap Seina’s name.
“Ahahahahahah!”
When I go to our usual izakaya with Seina and talk about what happened today, Seina starts laughing out loud while holding her stomach.
“What, you don’t have to laugh that much! I am hurting so much here!”
“Ahaha, oh, this is funny.”
Her reply is casual, but the corners of her mouth look happy.
Somehow finding that expression irritating, I drain my beer all at once.
“Sorry, sorry. Man, when I heard you were going to do something pretty bold, I wondered what it was, but so that was it. Hiyori-chan really loves to eat, doesn’t she?”
“I just misunderstood on my own… I’m so embarrassed…”
I collapse onto the table just like that and say so in a small voice.
Seina pats my back gently to comfort me.
“But maybe she was just nervous and ran away? It’s probably not like she has no chance at all.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah.”
“………Seina, you’re kind.”
“What’s that? Suddenly feeling gross.”
When I pop my head up abruptly, Seina gives a nod while looking at my face with a smirk.
“What is with that face?”
“Nothing? I was just thinking that Mikoto is easy to read.”
Seina picks up a single edamame bean and tosses it into her mouth.
“What is that?”
“It means it shows on your face.”
“It does not show.”
When I raise my voice and say that, Seina says,
“Yes, yes,”
and laughs as she drinks her beer.
I pick up my mug too and finish off the bit of beer left inside.
I’m the one who got my hopes up on my own, but it’s starting to feel so painful that I feel like crying.
“There, there. Calm down. Today is the after-festival. Let’s drink a lot! Let’s forget all the bad things!!”
Seina picks up the touch panel and orders snacks and drinks.
Deciding to forget all about today as well, I say to Seina,
“Lend me the touch panel.”
After finishing the order, the additional items arrive a little while later.
“So? Was it fun?”
Seina asks that while holding her mug.
“It was fun. Of course. …Since she fed me…”
When I collapse onto the table and trace the rim of my glass as I answer, Seina’s movement stops for a second.
Then she smirks again, and with a smug face says,
“Huuuuuh.”
“What. If you have something to say, just say it.”
“Nothing.”
Even though she says that with her mouth, her eyes are smiling. She has had that face the whole time.
I lift my mug and drink about half of it in one go. The bitterness lingers on my tongue.
Seina is smirking the whole time today, and even though she seems to know something, she won’t say anything, which is kind of annoying.
“Well, anyway, I’m glad it was fun. Hope she invites you again.”
“But I’ll pass on such sudden, out-of-the-blue invitations.”
When I say that, Seina holds her stomach and laughs again.