Chapter 56
“Well, that's not bad. Good job.”
“Haha... That's a relief.”
Kairos had recovered his rhythm much faster than I had expected. As I thought, he really did have talent.
“Good. Then let's throw ten more balls and wrap up this morning's training.”
“Yeah. Got it.”
Leaving Kairos behind for a moment as he began throwing the balls seriously again, I quietly raised my head and looked up at the sky.
Even so, quite a bit of time must have passed, because the sun was already high in the sky.
‘Is it almost noon already?’
No wonder I'd been feeling hungry for a while.
As I briefly thought over today's cafeteria menu, I heard Kairos's voice along with the sound of his light breathing.
“I threw them all.”
“Yeah, good work.”
I lowered my gaze back toward Kairos.
“You've definitely gotten the hang of the sensation of releasing the ball, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Then this afternoon, I'll teach you how to throw proper breaking balls. After lunch, take a little rest and... let's meet again around three.”
Like it or not, I had to spend the day with him.
Teacher Justina was probably sending her familiar to watch us even at this very moment.
“Then enjoy your lunch.”
So this lunch break was the only free time I had to get away from him, even for a little while.
I immediately turned around and hurried toward the dining hall....
“Wait a moment.”
Kairos suddenly grabbed my wrist.
A deep sigh escaped me before I knew it. Right, an oblivious guy like him would obviously start saying something as idle as ‘Let's go together.’
“Teacher Justina prepared a separate lunch for us.”
But before I could make the excuse that ‘I'm just going to grab some bread from the cafeteria today,’ Kairos pointed at the large basket sitting on the bench beside us.
When I merely blinked, Kairos gave a small laugh and continued.
“Apparently it's an investment for the second round or something.”
Still holding my wrist, Kairos led me toward the bench where the basket had been placed.
Then he naturally sat down on the bench first.
“So, shall we eat right away? I was starting to get hungry too.”
Kairos carefully placed the basket on his lap and smiled up at me.
I hesitated there for a moment, but eventually let out an incredulous laugh and sat down beside him.
“Haa... yeah, let's eat.”
Eating a packed lunch while sitting side by side with him, just the two of us. The thought alone made me laugh hollowly, but I couldn't refuse or ignore Teacher Justina's special favor.
For some reason, I felt as though Teacher Justina's voice were ringing in my ears: [Practice even during the time you spend eating!]
Kairos immediately opened the basket, and the colorful side dishes packed carefully inside caught my eye.
“Wow... She must have spent a pretty penny.”
“Looks like it.”
It seemed this was Kairos's first time seeing what was inside the basket as well.
He wore a slightly surprised expression and handed me a fork.
“Are there any foods you don't eat?”
“Not really.”
Being picky about food wasn't something a man of Prizna did.
I gestured for him to go first, and Kairos readily nodded before spearing a thick piece of steak with his fork.
I watched him chew the steak contentedly for a moment, then asked a question that had suddenly occurred to me.
“Kairos, you know.”
“Yeah.”
“Did you enjoy the spicy pork stir-fry Christina made before?”
“……”
Kairos's chewing abruptly stopped.
Soon, his startled gaze turned toward me, as if asking, ‘How did you know about that, Rene...?’
A few days ago, I happened to see Christina making a huge batch of spicy pork stir-fry in the dormitory kitchen. When I asked who it was for, she said it was for you.
I answered as casually as I could, making up an answer on the spot.
Only then did Kairos relax a little and nod before swallowing the piece of steak he had been chewing.
“No. Honestly, it wasn't very good.”
“……Really?”
“Yeah. Well, it's not as though Christina and I are that close to begin with.”
Kairos added this as though he were making an excuse.
“Of course, I did eat lunch with Christina, but that doesn't mean anything happened between us that would give you the wrong idea, Rene. It was just... how should I put it? The situation simply went that way.”
Kairos trailed off vaguely.
Originally, I had planned to talk about how coldly he'd rejected Christina... but there was something far more concerning to me right now.
I maintained an intentionally calm expression and continued questioning him.
“So what you're saying is that ‘the spicy pork stir-fry Christina made herself’ was incredibly delicious, but you simply didn't like Christina, the person who gave you the lunch, very much?”
I looked him straight in the eyes.
“Ah, no! Even the spicy pork stir-fry Christina made was really awful!”
Kairos frantically waved his hands and shook his head.
“It's okay. You can be honest. It's not as though I'm suspecting anything between you and Christina.”
I calmly asked him once again.
“I'm being honest right now too. I'm telling you, it was really awful.”
But Kairos continued repeating the same answer with a resolute expression.
Right, so it really had been awful—the special Kairos-only spicy pork stir-fry I'd developed specifically for his tastes, at the cost of my own time.
“Phew….”
A deep sigh escaped me before I knew it.
When I weakly picked up a piece of meat with my fork, Kairos, who had been watching my reaction, cautiously continued.
“You're not suspecting something between Christina and me, are you?”
“It's not that.”
I chewed and swallowed the poor piece of meat, then asked again as though I didn't know anything.
“Even if Christina wasn't your type, couldn't the stir-fry itself have been good? You like spicy pork stir-fry, don't you, Kairos?”
Well, it wasn't as though I was upset or sulking. I simply wanted my cooking skills to be acknowledged.
Kairos still looked extremely flustered. After thinking for a moment, he answered.
“No, to be precise, it's actually the opposite. I don't particularly dislike Christina herself, but that spicy pork stir-fry she made that day really didn't suit my taste.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. It's true. So please don't get the wrong idea.”
Kairos let out a short sigh and changed the subject as though trying to play it off.
“So, Rene, you do like cooking, after all, don't you?”
“Why bring that up all of a sudden?”
“It just crossed my mind. Lia once praised your skill at making spicy pork stir-fry to the skies.”
Only then did Kairos finally seem to shake off his embarrassment. He looked at me and beamed.
“Since we're on the subject, how about we make dinner together in the dormitory kitchen tonight? I actually quite like cooking too.”
“……”
I stared at him silently for a long while.
“Forget it. I'm not very good at cooking.”
Then I eventually let out a deep sigh and lowered my head.
Kairos still didn't give up. Smiling, he continued.
“Come on, don't be like that. This'll be a memory, too, won't it?”
“What memory? Like hell.”
This time, I snorted and turned my head away.
But Kairos persisted and stubbornly continued.
“If that's how you feel, make me spicy pork stir-fry as a reward.”
“What?”
“In return, I'll perfectly achieve every target you set for me in this afternoon's training. In simple terms, let's put a tasty carrot in front of me in advance to motivate me during training.”
Kairos smiled sweetly as he looked at me.
Well, as he said, setting an appropriate reward in advance wasn't a bad way to motivate him.
Besides, if that guy could get his head on straight and become a proper pitcher, I was willing to make that lousy spicy pork stir-fry a hundred times over.
But....
“You've already eaten my spicy pork stir-fry before.”
I looked at him with an expression that had turned ice-cold.
“Huh?”
“You've eaten it before. You.”
“Uh... I have?”
Kairos's confused gaze turned toward empty space for a moment, as though he were trying to sort out his thoughts.
“When...?”
Naturally, he soon lowered his gaze and tilted his head.
I gathered my tangled feelings with a short sigh, then continued in a deliberately calm voice.
“That spicy pork stir-fry Christina made for you? It was actually my own original recipe—I made it myself.”
“……Huh?”
“That awful stir-fry you just mentioned was my cooking. Sorry about that—I guess I'm a lousy cook who can't even make one serving of spicy pork stir-fry taste good.”
“Wait... so....”
Before long, Kairos stared at me in horror.
I tossed the fork I was holding into the basket with an audible clatter, then abruptly stood up.
“Eat the rest yourself. I'll just make that awful-tasting spicy pork stir-fry again and eat it.”
I wasn't sulking. Absolutely not. Why would I ever sulk over the food review of a guy like him?
My appetite had simply vanished all of a sudden.
As I let out a deep sigh and tried to walk away, Kairos hurriedly grabbed my hand.
“M-my real meaning wasn't that! I-I mean, I only said that to emphasize that I don't particularly like Christina as a woman, and the truth is, I thought the spicy pork stir-fry I ate that day was the most delicious one I'd ever had in my entire life!”
“……Pathetic.”
I coldly shook off his hand.
Kairos didn't know what to do for a moment, then actually dropped to his knees right in front of me.
‘Eek….’
I hadn't expected him to go that far. I never thought the day would come when that guy would kneel before me.
I looked down at him in disbelief, and Kairos continued in a deliberately frantic voice.
“Nothing I just said was what I truly meant. Really, Rene. Please believe me.”
“Hah.”
It was the first time I'd ever seen Kairos this flustered. Besides, I more or less understood what he was trying to say.
Kairos liked Rene, after all. In front of Rene, Kairos couldn't honestly admit that food made by another woman—even his favorite food—had been incredibly delicious.
‘Of course, it's not impossible that he genuinely didn't like the taste....’
Personally, I hoped the former was true. For all that, I was quite proud of my cooking skills....
“Haa. All right. I understand, so get up for now.”
“You believe me…?”
“What is there to believe or disbelieve? If it didn't suit your taste, it didn't.”
“No, I mean it—it really was the most delicious thing in the world….”
Kairos muttered with an expression that still looked utterly flustered.
“Haa….”
He didn't seem to be lying exactly... but I would probably never know what his true feelings were.
I, too, steadied my unsettled feelings with a deep sigh. Then I properly faced Kairos, who was still kneeling, and continued.
“If our dorm wins this tournament, then I'll specially make you a proper, genuinely good batch of spicy pork stir-fry.”
“……Huh?”
“You said earlier to put a carrot on the line.”
As I said before, if we could win this tournament, I could make spicy pork stir-fry a hundred or a thousand times over.
Besides, my pride wouldn't let me simply accept having my signature recipe dismissed as tasteless by someone like Kairos.
“I'll work to make the best spicy pork stir-fry, and you work to become the best pitcher. How about it? That's a fair trade for both of us, isn't it?”
Kairos hesitated for a moment, and then his expression finally brightened.
“Yeah!”
For the moment, he looked genuinely relieved.