“Hehe, I told you it was delicious, but you didn’t believe me!”
Akiba Sakura showed a genuine smile, then placed a bottle of strawberry milk on Yuuma Tsugumu’s desk.
“Here, drink some—”
“I told you I don’t like strawberry milk…”
Yuuma Tsugumu shook his head helplessly, looking at the strawberry milk Akiba Sakura had set down, but unexpectedly caught sight of two band-aids on her fingers.
“You’re lucky to have anything to drink. Tsuguo-kun, I think you really don’t get it, huh?”
Seeing that Yuuma Tsugumu had eaten her cooking and given a good review, Akiba Sakura was overjoyed, completely unaware of his frozen posture.
“…”
‘Huh? No response?’
Akiba Sakura, not getting a reply from Yuuma Tsugumu, looked down at him, about to check if he was so moved by her delicious cooking that he was crying, only to find him staring at her hand.
“Ah!”
Akiba Sakura, as if burned, quickly pulled her hand back and hid it behind her, her cheeks instantly flushing red, her eyes darting around, looking like she’d been caught red-handed.
‘Oh no, oh no! How did I forget about the band-aids on my fingers? Did he see them? Damn, it’d be too embarrassing if he found out I cut myself making him a bento!’
Watching her flustered attempt to hide her hand, Yuuma Tsugumu instantly understood, his tone unconsciously deepening.
“What happened to your hand? Did you cut yourself?”
“Just eat. Don’t guess randomly. It’s just decoration…”
Akiba Sakura was stubborn as a mule, shaking her head like a rattle, not daring to meet his eyes.
“This is the latest trend I saw this morning! It has nothing to do with cooking, so don’t overthink it!”
“…”
“Hey, don’t look at me like I’m an idiot!”
“No, how can you expect me to believe that? The latest trend… Please, I keep up with trends too! Besides, I just saw you hide your right hand. Normally, people use their right hand to hold the knife and usually cut their left hand, unless you’re left-handed—but I’ve known you this long and never seen you use your left hand.”
He spoke with such conviction that Akiba Sakura felt her confidence waver, almost unable to argue back.
“Stop hiding. Show them to me!”
Yuuma Tsugumu put down his chopsticks, reached out his hand, his tone a bit stern.
“I didn’t…”
“Stop talking nonsense. Put out both hands now.”
Akiba Sakura was intimidated by his authority; after dawdling for a while, she finally nodded obediently and reluctantly extended her hands from behind her back.
On her right hand, the index and middle fingers each had a band-aid, and her left thumb also had one.
The small band-aids stood out starkly against her pale fingers.
Yuuma Tsugumu looked at her bandage-covered hands, unable to stop his mouth from twitching, both angry and amused—
“How many times did you cut yourself? How did you manage to cut both hands?”
“I…”
Yuuma Tsugumu’s merciless exposure made Akiba Sakura extremely embarrassed.
She lowered her head and, in a voice as faint as a mosquito’s, stammered an explanation:
“I… I started by holding the knife with my right hand and accidentally cut my left hand. Then I thought it was because using my right hand was inconvenient, so I switched to my left hand, and then… then I cut my right hand too…”
After hearing this, Yuuma Tsugumu was completely exasperated.
‘How can there be such a silly moose in this world? It’s driving me crazy!’
If Akiba Sakura could hear Yuuma Tsugumu’s thoughts, she would definitely retort without hesitation: not everyone knows how to cook; it’s already rare that she was willing to cook for him!
Yuuma Tsugumu just looked at Akiba Sakura, his tone full of helplessness.
“Are you stupid? When you cut yourself, couldn’t you stop? Why did you have to force yourself to keep going?”
Hearing this, Akiba Sakura immediately muttered discontentedly under her breath—
“Who… who forced themselves! It was just a small accident. Didn’t you just say my cooking was super delicious? That means I still have skills!”
“When did I say that?”
Seeing her stubborn and wronged expression, Yuuma Tsugumu suddenly felt an indescribable emotion, and a sense of conflict immediately occupied his mind.
‘Did she… have to go this far?’
Looking at Akiba Sakura’s bandaged hands and recalling his previous resolve to draw a line between them, his mind felt all jumbled up.
He had always thought that all of Akiba Sakura’s flattering actions were for some sinister purpose, but he never imagined that she would clumsily cut her own hands making a bento for him, and then stubbornly refuse to admit it.
“…”
‘This feeling… it’s a bit frustrating…’
At that moment, Akiba Sakura secretly looked up and noticed that Yuuma Tsugumu’s hand seemed to be trembling slightly; her heart skipped a beat.
‘Wait, is this guy angry or what? Does he think the food is dirty because of my blood and he’s about to scold me?’
“Hey, hey, hey… I washed my hands! I rinsed them immediately after cutting myself; it’s absolutely not dirty! If you think it’s gross, I’ll eat the rest myself!”
Saying that, she reached out to grab the bento box in front of Yuuma Tsugumu, feeling both wronged and aggrieved—although she was a bit clumsy and cut herself, she still made the bento with good intentions, and now she was being scorned.
But just as her hand touched the edge of the container, Yuuma Tsugumu firmly pressed down on it.
The pressure was very light, showing no sign of anger; his tone softened, and without the previous sternness, only helplessness remained:
“Who said it’s dirty? When did I ever say it wasn’t good?”
Frowning, Yuuma Tsugumu’s gaze fell on those small band-aids, and his hand unconsciously pulled Akiba Sakura’s hand closer to see more clearly.
“So stupid. Don’t you know you should treat a cut first? And then you switched hands and kept cutting. Do you have a screw loose…”
Akiba Sakura was stunned by his sudden action; her mind went completely blank, her cheeks instantly reddened again, and she mumbled a little at a loss:
“It’s my first time… I’ll definitely do better next time!”
Seeing Akiba Sakura like this, Yuuma Tsugumu felt even more uneasy.
He had clearly resolved to draw a line with Akiba Sakura, but seeing her bandaged hands, his defenses were slowly crumbling.
‘What should I do… She’s so foolish, and the things she does are such a hassle, but why does seeing her upset make me feel uncomfortable?’
“If you’re this clumsy next time, don’t force yourself to do these things.”
“Who’s forcing! I’m happy to do it! And next time I definitely won’t cut myself!”
Akiba Sakura completely forgot her original purpose; only stubbornness remained in her mind, and she didn’t want Yuuma Tsugumu to laugh at her in this regard.
‘So cute~’
Momoka Aoi, forgotten in the corner, was watching with a maternal smile.