4-5 minutes

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13th Meal

Yamori Yuu and Second Person Name

A high school girl, Asahi Mahiru, lives next door. As I am an amateur cook, I have one problem that I have to deal with when I teach her how to cook.

It simply means that my own cooking skills are not good—to be frank, they are bad.

I cook for myself, but my menu options are limited. At most, I have 10 or 20 different dishes…but some of them, like “fried eggs,” aren’t even considered dishes.

I’ve always been a little less picky about food, so that didn’t bother me at all, but…

“Onii-san! I’m looking forward to working with you again today!”

…At the second cooking class, I felt a strange sense of frustration when the high school girl looked at me expectantly.

“Learn How To Cook A Little Bit,” I vowed to the recipe book I had secretly purchased, and waved my hand to divert her attention.

“H-Hey, Mahiru? I’ve told you many times that the cooking I can teach you is really not that great, right? Even if you expect me to…”

“Yes, it’s all right! By the way, are we making Italian or French food today?”

“I’m not making either one! You don’t get it at all, do you!?”

My only experience with Italian food at home was a simple frozen pepperoni pizza. I have no idea what French food is, but I believe it’s something like pot-au-feu. If consommé soup can be called “pot-au-feu,” which is just a pot of leftover ingredients simmered in a pot, I’d be happy to tell her about it.

“Listen, I’ve been cooking for only six months. It’s like driving a car with beginner’s license plates. So what I can teach you is the rudiments of how to make something that anyone can easily make…”

The first thing that crossed my mind when I was about to say that was the image of a high school girl crawling on the floor trying to prepare a curry.

“…That’s just monkey-level dishes, so to speak, that anyone other than Mahiru could easily make.”

“Onii-san! Did you just say that I’m lower than a monkey!? I’m more dexterous than a monkey, you know!?”

“……”

“…Eh? W-What’s with that silence…!?”

“I-It’s all right. Humans are creatures that grow up. I’m sure one day even Mahiru will catch up with a Monkey.”

“Don’t encourage me with such kind eyes!! I mean, even if I could catch up to it, I wouldn’t be happy at all!!”

I was the one who was gently following up with her, but she was the one who raised her hands in the air to rebut me.

By the way, my second person name for her was fixed as “Mahiru.” She has been bugging me to call her “Hima-chan,” which is a nickname, until the end, but it is too much of a pain for a college boy to call a high school girl by her nickname. However, he would look unhappy if I called her “Asahi-san” as before, so I came up with this second person name as a compromise between the two.

I used to address girls by their first names, but even that is embarrassing. I doubt I’d be able to talk to her if we happened to meet outside.

While I was thinking about this, Midday suddenly smiled at me in a friendly way while saying, “Nihihi~”

“W-Why are you suddenly laughing like a psycho killer…?”

“I-I’m not laughing like that!? I was just happy to hear Onii-san to call me by my name…”

“E-Ehh…? ‘Asahi-san’ is also a name, right?”

“Isn’t that my last name? I don’t like it because how distant it feels…”

“If you’re talking about distance, I think ‘Onii-san’ is pretty much the same, isn’t?”

“Eh? You don’t like it? T-Then want should I call you ‘Yuu-kun’, ‘Yuu-san or—”

“Sorry, but just call me ‘Onii-san.’”

“What’s with that quick decision!? You could have given me a little more time to think about it, you know!?”

After smiling at the high school girl who was complaining, I clapped my hands lightly.

“All right, let’s get started. The subject of the second cooking class is fried rice.”

“Yes~! Please treat me well, Onii-san!”

The Fried Rice that Mahiru—who responded cheerfully—made this time, seemed to have been done well for the first time.