Chapter 33 – Amami-san, Once Again

The sleepover incident was resolved peacefully with both our mothers apologizing to each other. There was also a subtle change in our relationship.

"Good morning, Umi!"

"You know it's the second time you greeted me this morning, right? Well, whatever, good morning, Yuu. Anyway, what's up? You look so happy this morning."

"Eh ~? Umi, did you forget ~? Today is the day for that, you know?"

Amami-san snuck in a wink at me. Today was Wednesday. Right… I promised Amami-san that I'd make her some sweets.

Since it was the week right after the incident, I'd honestly rather not do it this week and move the date to the next week instead, but I couldn't bring myself to disappoint Amami-san like that, so I decided to keep my word.

I already told my mom about this beforehand. Ever since the little incident with Asanagi, she made me promise to tell her whenever I brought a girl home. In other words, I needed to tell her whenever Asanagi came over to play.

I remembered my mom's expression when I told her about this.

She comically fell out of her chair.

'U-Umi-chan wasn't enough for you, so you snatched her best friend as well?… Ahh… My recluse son had turned into a harem manga protagonist before I knew it!…'

Is calling your son a harem manga protagonist even appropriate? Anyway, I explained to her that both Amami-san and Asanagi were just my friends, but my mom insisted on making me introduce Amami-san to her. I had a hard time refusing her demands.

Well, on the bright side, she paid for the ingredients we were going to use today and the quality was quite good too.

"Eh? What is it, what is it? Yuu-chin, are you gonna play with Umiumi again? Can I tag along ~?"

"Ninacchi, sorry! We planned to hang out at Umi's place today, we can't invite you, sorry!"

"Yeah, sorry about that, Nina. Yuu will make up for it later, okay?"

"Hmmm… Well, okay then…"

Nitta-san reluctantly agreed to it. Today, both Asanagi and Amami-san planned to go to my home separately, so even if they were tailed by her, it should be easy for them to shake her off.

[Maehara: The thing with Nitta-san, will it be okay?]

[Asanagi: She's probably gonna tail us, but don't worry about it.]

[Maehara: Got it. Then, see you after school.]

[Asanagi: Got it. I'm looking forward to your homemade sweets.]

[Maehara: It's nothing special though…]

[Asanagi: What? Are you humble-bragging to both me and Yuu now? You know we're hopeless at housework so you're trying to rub it on our faces, is that it?]

[Maehara: Cry about it.]

[Asanagi: Fuck you.]

As usual, I tried to sneak a look at Asanagi because normally she would secretly wave her hand at me or do something under everyone's noses.

"…Ugh."

She had been acting strange since the beginning of this week. She kept turning her gaze away from me whenever we made eye contact in class and sometimes when I ran into her outside the classroom, she would just ignore me completely.

She wasn't trying to avoid me or anything since we were still texting each other like usual, but the fact that she had been acting like this for days now bothered me a little.

…I'll get a chance to be alone with her today, I guess I'll ask her later.

* * *

After school was over, I went home and prepared everything for Asanagi and Amami-san's visit. Not long after I had finished preparing, both of them arrived and entered my house.

"Hehehe ~ I'll be in your care today, Maki-kun."

"M-mhm… Likewise, Amami-san… You too, Asanagi-san, I'll be in your care."

"Ahh, likewise… Um… Sorry for being the third wheel today…"

Today was the first time Asanagi came to hang out with me outside of the weekend. Maybe it was due to Amami-san's presence, but our conversation felt slightly awkward today.

It would probably have been fine if we were to talk more casually with each other, but whenever I tried to speak with her, my thoughts would wander into last week's incident and throw my mind into disarray, leaving me with this awkward feeling.

"Jeez, Umi, Maki-kun, stop being this stiff! Especially you, Umi! Since you are both friends, you should try to talk more casually like you always do!"

"Eh… But I'm more like the friend of a friend to Maehara-kun though…"

"That shouldn't stop you two from getting along! Okay, fine. Both of you, shake hands!"

""…""

It wasn't like this was the first time we shook hands. Hell, we held hands a few times previously, and Asanagi even patted my head on more than one occasion. So why am I feeling so tense?

Asanagi and I looked at each others' hands.

"Good, good… Now get along, you two!"

"…Uhh… The Princess has spoken so, yeah…"

"R-right…"

I lightly squeezed Asanagi's hand.

Her hand felt soft and smooth like always. Sora-san seemed to care about her appearance a lot, so Asanagi probably learned to maintain her body from her. That was why her skin felt so smooth.

My hand, however, was rough because I had to work with detergents every day. The differences between our skin's texture surprised me.

"…Uhm… I'm gonna go and prepare some more stuff, so you two should sit down and watch TV or something."

"I'd like to help, but… I think I would only be a bother to you… Umi's the same as me, so it can't be helped, huh…?"

"Right, we should just stay out of Maehara-kun's way for now."

I left both of them and went to the kitchen.

As planned, I was going to make banana souffle pancakes.

It wasn't a complicated dish to make. First, separate the yolks of the eggs from the whites, then beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Next, mix the yolks with mashed bananas. And finally, fry them.

Of course, there were some tricky details involved when making it, such as when to stop when mixing the bananas with the meringue, but you'll get used to it as you practice more.

"Alright, now we wait… Huh, what are you two up to?"

I was preparing the coffee while waiting for the pancake when I noticed that the two girls were messing around with something.

"Ah, sorry, we're borrowing your game– Wait, Umi, that's not fair!"

"All is fair in love and war! On the battlefield, if you let your guard down, you'll be killed! Understand?"

Apparently, both of them were playing the game that Asanagi and I usually played.

Seriously, that Asanagi… hold back a little, Amami-san is a beginner, you know?

Not that I can reprimand her for it since I did the exact same thing to her.

"Hey, Umi, why are you so good at this?"

"Well, lately, I've been playing this game in my brother's room, that's why… Anyway, it's my win, so my portion will be bigger! Let's go, eat everything before it gets cold!"

"Muu… Umi!"

"Haha! Don't worry, young grasshopper, first we eat, then I'll teach you everything I know after we are done."

"Really? Then, I'll be in your care, Master!"

"Master huh… Well, likewise, my disciple!"

I never expected that Amami-san would be interested in video games. She looked really excited when playing.

Well, I guess I'll need to report to mom that they would be staying here for a while longer.