The following Saturday.
As usual, Yuzuru welcomed Arisa in.
“Thanks for having me again today.”
“Yeah, come in.”
At his prompting, Arisa stepped inside.
She slipped off her shoes naturally and headed into the living room.
They started playing games as they normally did, but—
Compared to usual, Arisa seemed a little unfocused.
Yuzuru was quietly enjoying the fact that his win rate was slightly higher today when—
Arisa suddenly spoke.
“Um, Yuzuru-san.”
“What is it?”
“…How were your mock exam results yesterday?”
As expected, Arisa seemed the type to dwell on things.
It looked like she hadn’t quite shaken off her disappointment from yesterday.
With Yuzuru in second place and Ayaka in first, Arisa’s school ranking was confirmed to be third or lower.
“They were pretty good, I guess.”
“…Would you show me?”
“I don’t mind.”
There was no point hiding it, so Yuzuru handed her the folder containing his results.
Arisa looked at the sheet—
And let out a voice filled with a complicated mix of surprise, happiness, and sadness.
“Second… in the school rankings.”
“Well, I was just in good form this time.”
“…By the way, do you know who got first?”
“Ayaka-chan.”
“…I thought so.”
She seemed to have expected it.
Her voice was slightly subdued.
Then, without a word, Arisa handed over her own results sheet.
The scores and deviation values—
Were by no means bad.
Her school ranking was third.
Still—
Third place wasn’t bad at all. In fact, it was an excellent result.
But for Arisa, who had always taken first place in internal exams, being overtaken in an external mock exam by the two who usually ranked below her must have been deeply frustrating.
“I thought I might lose to Ayaka-san… but I believed I could at least get second place in the school rankings…”
There was a faint trace of resentment in her voice.
In short, she hadn’t expected to lose to Yuzuru—that was what stung.
Though, beneath that, there was something a little heavier, more unpleasant, lurking in her emotions.
“Well, Arisa. In the end, it’s just—”
Just a test on paper.
You’re overthinking it.
That was what he meant to say, but—
“I-I’m sorry. Saying something like that to you doesn’t help, does it…? It’s awful of me, isn’t it? I know it is. I’ve always been like this with these kinds of external exams… ones with a wide scope that require application—I don’t get very good results. …Thinking I could beat you in the first place, that way of thinking is wrong too, isn’t it? I’m sorry. Really, I… ah, I’m so sorry. There’s no point saying this to you…”
It seemed she’d fallen into an unhealthy spiral of thought.
Though Yuzuru had already suspected that Arisa’s mental resilience was somewhat fragile, so it didn’t surprise him much.
He reached out his hand towards her.
For some reason, she seemed to misunderstand, clenching both hands tightly and closing her eyes.
Gently—carefully—he stroked her head.
Her hair was smooth and soft, pleasant to the touch—something he could keep doing indefinitely.
“It’s alright, Arisa.”
“…I-I’m sorry. Even though it’s my fault…”
“Then, can I ask you for a favour?”
No matter how much he comforted her, she seemed stuck in a negative loop.
So Yuzuru decided to give her a chance to “make up for it.”
Of course, she hadn’t done anything wrong to begin with.
But for someone like Arisa, who tended towards self-blame, giving her an opportunity to feel forgiven would likely be better for her peace of mind.
That was his reasoning.
“Actually, I got some food from my mother.”
“…Food?”
“Yeah. But it’s not something I can really cook—or even handle properly. I’d like you to take a look.”
With that, Yuzuru went to the fridge and brought out the styrofoam box.
He set it on the table and opened the lid.
“Wow… this is incredible.”
Arisa’s eyes widened in astonishment.
It was only natural—anyone would be surprised.
The box was packed full of large, impressive matsutake mushrooms.
“Matsutake… I’ve cooked with them before, but never in this quantity.”
Her voice carried a hint of excitement.
For someone who cooked, high-end ingredients like these were a chance to show their skill.
But then, her expression turned slightly uneasy.
“Are you sure it’s alright for me to have some?”
“My mum specifically wrote that I should have you cook them. Well, unless my parents are the kind of monsters who’d make you cook and then not let you eat any.”
“…Please tell your mother and father I’m truly grateful.”
Saying that, Arisa picked up one of the particularly large mushrooms.
“Hmm… let’s see. Matsutake rice is a given. Then maybe foil-grilled matsutake. Charcoal grilling would be ideal… though we don’t have charcoal, so we’ll have to improvise on the stove. A clear soup would be nice too. And if there’s a dobin, I’d love to try making dobin-mushi.”
As expected of Arisa—ideas for dishes came to her immediately.
…And just like that, thoughts of her exam results seemed to vanish into the distance.
Yuzuru felt a small sense of relief.
If possible, he wanted her to be smiling.
Why he felt that way—he chose not to dwell on it.
“I think there’s a dobin stored somewhere at the back. So, what do you think?”
“Just a moment… Cooking the matsutake itself is no problem. But if it’s only matsutake, it might be a bit much, don’t you think? We should probably have some meat or fish as well. And it wouldn’t be great if everything was just brown—we need some green too. I’m thinking about that now.”
With that, Arisa rested her hand on her chin—
And began to think.
Then she looked at Yuzuru.
“Are you hungry?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Then… make sure you eat plenty. I’m going to cook a lot.”
She gave him a small, cute wink.
For just a moment, Yuzuru’s heart skipped a beat.
