Chapter 5 Part IX

Not long after ringing the doorbell, I could hear the sound of the lock being turned from inside the room.

I had thought she would greet me with her usual serious expression, but I was surprised instead.

"Welcome."

I was invited inside by Horikita, who was in an unexpectedly good mood.

I, on the other hand, felt slightly anxious upon seeing this abnormal change in her demeanor.

There was a faint scent of miso in the air coming from further inside.

"I was just preparing dinner. Come on in."

If that's the case, it would've been fine if she had waited until after dinner to call me over.

I felt Horikita's pressing gaze as I stood there, hesitating to enter, so I quickly resigned myself.

She might have been reluctant to have someone come over if it had gotten much later.

I decided to stop overthinking it and stepped inside. Almost immediately, I noticed something strange.

For some reason, the small table had clearly been set for two people rather than one.

Was she planning on having dinner with someone else after she finished talking with me?

"Say…"

Just as I was about to ask, Horikita interrupted me.

"Feel free to take a seat."

No, asking me to sit…? There were clearly a pair of chopsticks placed in front of the seat she had motioned to.

My instincts were telling me that I was being set up in a trap.

"So, what exactly did you want to talk about?"

Instead of sitting down, I quickly tried to get on with the conversation.

"Do you plan to stand around as we talk? I still have some preparations to do, so could you please take a seat and wait for me to finish up?"

"No… I just feel like standing."

"You what? I don't feel comfortable having you stand there like that. Sit."

Upon hearing Horikita's voice become increasingly harsh, I decided to sit down.

It had been a surprisingly long time since I had seen this level of confidence in her, mixed together with a pushy, unreasonable attitude.

I had forgotten about it because we had recently begun to distance ourselves from one another.

For the time being, would I just have to sit and wait patiently?

At a glance, the food only seemed to be halfway done. It would probably still be quite a while before she finished with it.

"Hey. It'll only take an hour, right?"

"Yes. Our conversation in and of itself shouldn't take more than an hour."

Horikita spoke with her back turned to me, her words giving me the natural impression that I had fallen for her trap.

Indeed, over the phone she had said that the conversation would be over in an hour.

That is to say, other things weren't included in that estimation.

"How long with everything else included?"

"Hm… Then maybe an hour and a half to two hours or so?"

I knew it.

"Since it's already this late, I figured I may as well treat you to dinner too."

Not a single person could've seen this coming. It felt like I was at the mercy of her unreasonable word games.

Even so, I could see that she had already begun cooking. At this point, it would be rude to refuse the meal and head back to my dorm. She really had skillfully lured me into coming here.

Although she had her back to me, I could see that Horikita's cooking skills weren't half bad.

Rather, given that she was just a first-year high school student, her skills seemed remarkably presentable.

"Both of my parents work full-time, so I was in charge of cooking dinner most of the time."

Horikita spoke quietly, as if she knew exactly what I had been thinking and the meaning behind my gaze.

"You don't find it too troublesome or time-consuming?"

While cooking can be fun, there were certainly many troublesome parts of the process.

"After I found out my brother went to this school, I took it upon myself to practice cooking more often."

"Were you preparing yourself to enroll at this school and live life on your own?"

"That's correct."

I could hear Horikita put down the knife she had been using and set about putting the finishing touches on the pot of miso soup.

Even so, I found myself wondering what we were going to be talking about if we weren't going to be discussing the special exam.

I still didn't have the slightest idea.