22. Check (5)

.

Had I ever done anything particularly nice for Neria?

I quickly racked my brain, but nothing in particular came to mind.

If anything, I felt I had treated her rather harshly instead of being nice to her.

Especially that field trip with Dorothy.

At first, she tried to put on a domineering-woman act, but in the end, she reverted to her usual embarrassing position, didn't she?

At least after it was all over, Neria seemed to tease Dorothy at her leisure, but that certainly wasn't enough to earn me a 'special prize.'

If anything, I might have deserved a few of Neria's punches while she bickered that I had embarrassed her, but a prize? Definitely not.

And yet today, after telling me to come a little later, she was dressed like this.

…And on top of that, amid the smell of something delicious, I could even detect a faint burnt smell...