250 Desire to Cook ; Impassive Beauty

Waking up early morning, I perform the now-usual routine of changing into my uniform and heading to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

Despite it not having been long since I've been here and have received the memories and experiences of Shido Itsuka, I've already grown fond of a few things. One of which is cooking.

When it comes to cooking, I've got only a handful of memories to fuel my thoughts and aid me in the process. Nevertheless, the outcome is truly rewarding.

When others praise the food one has cooked, it gives them a slight sense of pride and a good feeling. However, this only applies to those who know how to cook...

Last night, the dish prepared by Kotori turned out to be something akin to the most disgusting non-lethal poison in the world. What baffles me is it turned out that way despite me giving her instructions quite frequently and how she seems to have not been aware of its 'properties'.

Naturally, I didn't tell her that the food she cooked is nigh-inedible but just said that she has a long way to go if she wants to cook dishes on par with mine.

Following that, I pretended to eat the whole thing by using Destruction on every spoonful of it…

And so, here I am now standing in the kitchen thinking of what food to prepare. Just remembering Tohka's ecstatic expression and Yoshino's delightful squeak from last night is enough motivation fuel for me.

Soon after, I begin to prepare breakfast. Halfway done, I hear a few noises as Kotori and Tohka climb down the stairs in their uniforms.

"Good morning, Shido!" Tohka energetically says upon stepping inside the kitchen.

"Good morning, big brother," Kotori who is right behind her says in a low tone.

"Good morning you two," I respond, "Take a seat. Breakfast will be done soon."

---

"She's not here today," Tohka says while gazing at Kurumi's seat.

"Well, she isn't exactly a normal student, so you can't expect her to attend school normally like one," I say before letting out a sigh and sitting down on my seat.

Tohka places her school bag down before making her way over to the female trio who seem to be her close friends now.

At this moment, a white-haired figure enters the classroom and makes her way over to the desk to my right before setting her school bag down and looking over at me.

"Good morning, Origami," I say after turning my head to face her.

"Good morning," she responds in an impassive tone, "I want to speak with you in private."

Hearing her words, I raise my brows and ask, "Are you going to try interrogating me?"

"No," she replies immediately, "I just want to take you away from class because that what's a girlfriend is supposed to do."

What the heck is she on about? Seriously, it's rather hard to figure out the thoughts of this girl.

"Alright," I say while adopting a composed smile.

--

"Origami," I say in an exasperated tone while pressing my fingers against my forehead, "Why are we here?"

"According to some reliable sources, this is the best place to have a private conversation."

"That's fine…" I say before inspecting her body and asking, "But was it really necessary to put on a nurse outfit."

I was wondering why she didn't want me to step inside the room a few minutes ago.

Origami directly nods her head once and says, "According to another reliable source, males will listen more carefully when a female is wearing certain uniforms such as this one."

Well, I can understand what she means, but still… What are these reliable sources she's speaking of?

Shaking my head, I stare at Origami's pink nurse uniform for a few seconds before asking, "So, why did you bring me here? Seeing that you put on a nurse uniform just to get me to listen to you more carefully, I assume that it's an important matter."

The moment my voice fades, Origami's expressionless face turns a little solemn as she asks, "Why did you defend the B-class spirit, Hermit?"

"You're seriously asking me for the reason I protected a harmless little girl from the hands of murderers?"

As expected, a slight frown forms on Origami's face as she asks, "You think that our AST unit is compromised of murderers?"

"That's right," I bluntly respond as I sit down on one of the two beds in the room, "You all hunt down the so-called spirits without care for their thoughts and feelings."

"Spirits are the murderers," Origami says in a dissatisfied tone, "They cause space quakes and possess powers that can endanger everyone. We're just dealing with threats against humanity."

"What makes you think that way?" I ask, intrigued over the reason she seems to hate spirits so much.

Following my query Origami goes silent for a short while before she raises her head with a resolute look in her eyes.

"Five years ago, a spirit killed my parents," she proclaims.

"And? You're going to kill all spirits because one of them did that?"

"Is that not reason enough?" Origami says with a frown.

"Not at all," I respond, "You're just being absurd. Say, if it was a human that killed your parents and got away with it, would you commit mass genocide to try and wipe out all of humanity?"

"No, but-"

"It's the same thing," I say, interrupting her words, "Similar to humans, spirits can be categorized as good and bad. Hunting all of them down because of the actions of a single spirit is extremely excessive, don't you think?"

Fortunately, Origami seems to have understood what I'm getting at as she lowers her head and adopts a look of deliberation.

A few minutes pass before she finally raises her head and asks, "And what about the space quakes? Even if there are good spirits as you claim, they still cause space quakes when they appear."

"You don't need to worry about that," I say, "We've discovered a way to prevent that from happening."

"We?" she repeats.

"Never mind that. Do you have anything else to say?"

"Yes," she responds, "What powers do you have?"

Hearing her inquiry, a grin forms on my lips as I ask, "Would you believe if I told you that I'm a spirit?"

"No," she instantly responds.

"Ah, whatever. You may think of me as the most powerful human," I say, a little baffled by her direct response.

Nevertheless, that should be somewhat true, as according to my System, my race a human. At least, a part of me is.

Origami seems to understand I don't wish to dabble on the topic any longer as she just nods her head before walking over and sitting beside me.

"What?" I ask while gazing at her.

"Don't you want to push me down?" she asks impassively.

"Huh? What are you even asking?"

"Is this position no good?" she says before taking off her white shoes and turning her body on the bed so that she is directly facing and saying, "Better now?"

…

I don't get her at all.

"Why do you want me to push you down?" I ask.

"According to a reliable source, seduction is one of the best ways to prevent cheating."

I think your source got that backward…

Hah~ If there is anything I've learned today, it would be the fact that Origami's so-called reliable sources are unreliable as heck.

"Well then, don't mind if I do."

Following that, I swiftly press my palm against Origami's shoulders and push her down on the bed.

Then, I align my face with hers before asking, "Now what?"

"I'll leave that to you," she says in an impassive tone despite there being a very slight red hue on her cheeks.

Having already expected such an answer, I proceed to close the distance between our faces before locking lips with her.

Origami doesn't react in any way to my actions other than simply wrapping her arms around my nape.

After a minute or so, I detach my lips from hers before looking into her eyes.

Unexpectedly, the blush on her face hasn't grown much, indicating that she isn't shy in any way.

At this moment, the school bell indicating the start of the first lesson rings.

"How unfortunate," I say before getting off her and the bed.

"You're going back to class?" she asks while remaining lied down.

"Where else?" I ask.

"You don't need to leave. According to a reliable source, it would be highly beneficial to skip class as a couple."

…

...

"Origami, let's just head back, alright?"

"Okay," she simply responds before getting off the bed as well and proceeding to latch onto my arm.

Letting out a small sigh, I exit the nurse room along with Origami and head in the direction of our classroom.