manga artist Kirito

Page 161

[NO.353 Haruno: I want to learn how to make...]

In front of the apartment, Kiritani parked the car, turned his head to look at Haruno, who was still stubbornly staying in the car and refusing to get out, and his lips twitched slightly. "I'm home, you can go back now."

Blinking in disbelief, Yang Nai looked up at Kirito, seemingly unable to believe it. "You're kicking me out again?"

Is that strange?

Now that everything has been said and everything you wanted to know has been known, what else do you want to do if you don't go home?

"Oh? Would you like to come to my house for a visit?"

"Oh, is this an invitation? Hehe, I'm a little embarrassed to come to your house..."

Looking at Kirito with some eagerness, Haruno pursed her lips slightly shyly, her fair fingers twisting together.

"Isn't it too... early to meet the parents..."

See? Pretending to be stupid and twisting what you say is too easy for Yukino Yukinoshita.

…………

"Actually, what I just said was just social slang; I thought you would understand."

Kirito lay sprawled on the sofa, lazily watching Haruno, whose face was full of curiosity and seemed to want to rummage through something. "And to come to a man's house and act so boldly, don't you feel ashamed?"

"Huh? Really? No way, right?"

Yang Nai, on the other hand, seemed quite enthusiastic and carefree. "Although it's not my first time here, I always feel embarrassed to move around when Asuna is here. Now that Asuna isn't here, I should look around and see if I can get a deeper understanding of Kazuto, a side of him I've never seen before."

"Don't bother looking, there aren't any erotic books anymore, Asuna threw them all away."

Kiritani-kun rolled his eyes. "Besides, I'm just an ecchi artist. Are you out of your mind, looking for erotic books?"

Ah, this is really troublesome. At least you're acting a little more like an outsider to me.

Kato seemed a bit reserved when he came last time...

Kiritani scratched his head and then turned on the TV. "Because of the school festival, Asuna will be staying at school to handle some matters and will be back late, so it's impossible for her to treat you to dinner."

"I see... By the way, Kazuto is also an executive committee member, right? Why didn't he stay at school?"

"Isn't this because of you?"

Kirito and Eriri are both executive committee members. He is temporarily in charge of project planning, while Eriri is temporarily in charge of negotiations. In other words, Eriri is still handling the remaining affairs at school, but Kirito has brought the work back to do it.

"...How could you do this? It's clearly wrong of you to shift the blame onto me!"

Yang puffed out her cheeks, showing her dissatisfaction, and stopped searching.

"Never mind, I'll go cook."

"Hey! Spare my kitchen! Burning it down will cost a fortune to renovate!"

"Whoa, what do you mean by that? Don't you trust my cooking skills?"

Yang Nai stared wide-eyed. "I've been studying diligently lately!"

...It's not that I don't believe it, it's just that I simply can't believe it.

I know very well that Yukinoshita Haruno is terrible at housework. She's like a watermelon; if I let her into the kitchen, the kitchen burning down would be a minor issue, but I'm afraid she'd burn me down...

"Prepare yourself, I will absolutely not give up! If you don't eat the food I made, I'll kill you!"

Yang Nai narrowed her eyes and waved her fist. "You just need to sit here obediently and wait for Miss Yukinoshita's unparalleled cooking. If you dare to come in and disturb us..."

Finally, Yang raised his fist.

"Fucking retarded!"

Kirito was really too lazy to pay attention to her. He couldn't understand what Haruno was thinking when she suddenly wanted to cook. Was she amazed by Yukino's cooking skills and wanted to learn too, and was she using me as a test subject? Definitely, right? A new master of culinary disaster?

But speaking of which, Haruno, you've gone a bit too far, invading Asuna's territory while she's away.

"Ah, there's not much food left in the fridge. Is there anything you don't like?"

The voice coming from the kitchen said, "Ugh, we eat together too infrequently. I don't even know what people don't like to eat. My sister is really neglecting her duties."

It seems this woman really isn't going to let me go, but what does her next sentence mean?

Do you want to track them even more thoroughly?

"For green peppers, it's fine as long as they're not boiled. Try not to add onions... Ah, let's make some cola chicken wings. I remember there are ingredients and cola included."

"Okay, leave it to me!"

Hearing the confident voice coming from the kitchen, Kirito, who was still watching the meaningless news, pursed his lips slightly. Was it too much to ask her to make cola chicken wings when she had just started learning to cook? Or... should she just make fried rice instead?

This doesn't seem like a good idea... does it?

After all, Haruno specially cooked for me. Although it might seem like I sneaked away while Asuna wasn't around, it doesn't matter. Would I be such a jerk to just refuse Haruno's kindness?

"Kazuto, are you thinking about something very rude?"

"...Are you that old woman whose age is unknown but who always says she's seventeen?"

I feel like you're talking badly about me!

Wearing an apron, Yang Nai poked half her body out of the kitchen, her expression slightly strange, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that in her right hand, half-hidden behind her back, was a kitchen knife that was still dripping water.

Can anyone tell me why you need to use this kind of bone-chopping knife to make cola chicken wings?

If I remember correctly, the refrigerator only contains chicken wings, which can be thawed. Besides, even when cutting side dishes... you don't need a cleaver for chopping bones, right?

"I'm not familiar with your kitchen, so I don't know where the knives are."

...Superpowers?

"By the way, do you put your knives away after you've used them?"

Yang Nai picked up the kitchen knife, wiped the back of the blade with his palm, and dried the remaining water, making the knife look even sharper.

Okay, I admit it, Haruno, you really can cook!

"Well, after all, there's a child living at home who doesn't know anything, so it's better to put away the knives after use."

Kirito unconsciously wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. For a while, Shiina Mashiro had also become interested in housekeeping and wanted Asuna to teach her how to cook.

As expected, she was rejected. At the same time, Asuna put away most of the knives in the kitchen and forbade Shiina Mashiro and Kirito from entering the kitchen.

"Well, I just felt that making cola chicken wings alone wasn't enough, so I was planning to make some soup..."

"Okay, you don't need to tell me. Just be a little nicer to my kitchen."

Asuna, please come back soon!

P.S.: There will be another update later... probably?

358

[NO.354 Update Complete]

It's so good to be a woman!

Really!

As for me, Kiritani Kazuto, although many people may not know this, I am actually a person who respects women very much.

Especially when I saw a woman who would never normally be in the kitchen chopping bones with a cleaver, the thumping sound filled me with awe... no, I should say admiration!

For example, Asuna. I believe that without her, not only would I die, but Shiina Mashiro would also die with me—probably from eating too much junk food.

But I have to admit now that, apart from the fact that I would starve to death without Asuna, I would also very likely be killed.

I've never wanted Asuna to come back so soon, but I just sent her a text message—you might not believe it, but at this time, Shizuka actually treated them to ramen!

...Come back and save me!

I feel like I'm being maliciously targeted. If I were to use my wild imagination, which can easily fill a whole novel, to think about the current situation, it would probably be like Haruno cast a spell to make Shizuka specially invite Asuna and Shiina Mashiro to eat ramen... Of course, that's impossible now. Let's have more faith in Shizuka.

Therefore, I didn't care too much about the fact that the cleaver was chopping into the bone, causing me both physical and mental torment. I just hoped that Yang Nai would be in a good mood—and that she wouldn't suddenly think of something and come out to chop me with a knife.

Ah, I really am the best man, so considerate of others.

Anyway, Haruno would never do that to me... right?

Stretching, Kiritani-kun lay back on the sofa, listening to the chaotic sounds coming from the kitchen, and slowly closed his eyes.

Kiritani Kazuto is still being lazy today.

After an unknown amount of time, Kiritani opened his eyes and was almost startled to see Hino, whose short hair was damp and who was standing close to him.

"...I was asleep, why didn't you wake me?"

Rubbing his eyes, Kirigaya-kun turned to avoid Hino, who was still looking down at him, and glanced at the clock. He had been asleep for about half an hour...

"You seemed to be sleeping quite comfortably, so I didn't wake you."

Having clearly taken a bath, Haruno smiled broadly, took Kirigaya's hand, and led him toward the dining table. "Hey, come on over, the food's getting cold."

"Well, I got it."

Scratching his stomach, Kiritani felt that Haruno was like a child who had done well on a test and wanted to show it to her parents... He was a little worried that she might have done something while he was asleep.

...Don't doubt it, Haruno is actually quite perverted, far surpassing even watermelon in this regard.

Sitting at the dining table, Kiritani looked blank, while Hinano puffed out her cheeks, clearly very dissatisfied with Kiritani's appearance.

I think you all know about the "dark cuisine" genre, right?

Clearly, the dishes on the table are not the traditional culinary disasters, but the kind that could kill you... Well, I haven't tried them yet.

As for the dishes, Yang Nai did a pretty good job.

Picking up the soup, which seemed to have been sitting for a long time, it wasn't miso soup... Although Kiritani-kun would have preferred that Haruno made miso soup, at least then he wouldn't have to worry about it.

"Alas!"

"what about the taste?"

He pursed his lips, his expression still blank, and looked up to meet Haruno's eyes. "Haven't you tried it?"

"Of course not! I had already decided that you would be the first person to try the dishes I made, so I didn't let my teacher taste them when I was learning."

As if she had done something extraordinary, Haruno acted very arrogantly.

Please! I'm really happy you did that, but next time, could you please try it out first after you're done?

This soup clearly has too much salt. Did you add it like sugar? Oh wait, who puts sugar in soup?

"Well, um..."

As Haruno looked at Kiritani-kun's blank expression, her gentle and serene smile gradually became forced.

Kiritani stared at her blankly, then sighed softly, "Yinno, from now on, just leave these kinds of things to me. I'm quite good at egg dishes, after all."

"Huh? What? Imiwaga nai?"

Stunned, Yono couldn't quite grasp what Kiritani-kun meant.

Kiritani spoke quietly, "Yinno, being too gentle doesn't suit you. This is... too cruel."

"how come?"

Her smile faltered, and Yang Nai's expression turned troubled, or rather, ashamed. Her voice trembled slightly as she asked, "Is this... not good...?"

Kiritani pursed his lips and softened his tone, "...Or maybe we should just forget about it?"

"..."

Yang Nai bit her lip, as if she was enduring something, her body trembling slightly, showing that she was very excited.

Kiritani sighed, then turned his head away...

Yang Nai slapped him on the back of the head, "You have to drink it even if it doesn't taste good... no, you have to eat all the food!"

Kiritani-kun clutched his head, grimacing, "Ugh, you woman..."

Yang Nai expressed her dissatisfaction, saying, "It took me almost an hour to get it done!"

Well, actually... it wasn't that bad, just that the soup was a bit too salty and the cola chicken wings were a bit too sweet, but it was all within tolerable limits.

Compared to the meal that Third Master made back then, which almost sent my father and me to the hospital, Yang Nai's cooking skills are quite good.

So, it was a stomach hemorrhage... I think?

"I'll be at Soubu a lot lately."

So what? What's it to me?