During the lunch break, Jhin was getting ready to ask Hitori Gotoh if she wanted to eat together. However, Kita Ikuyo took the initiative to approach him first, saying she wanted to borrow the club room of the "Problem Child Countermeasures Club." She wanted her girlfriend (Hitori) to tutor her on the guitar.
Since their last official performance relied entirely on Hitori Gotoh turning the tides single-handedly, Kita wanted to use her time at school to improve her own guitar skills. That meant there was no need for him to go to Shuka High School today.
Vignette was over there supervising Gabriel, which saved him a lot of trouble.
"Amane, what are you guys planning to eat for lunch today?"
Suou Amane walked up to Jhin with a smile, acting like a house cat inspecting her human servant to see if he had been out secretly hooking up with wild stray cats.
She sniffed him while circling around him: "I heard you participated in the joint cooking internship over at Maiten High?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
That was weird—how did she know about that?
Jhin's gaze shot directly toward Kazami Kazuki. She maintained an elegant smile, her lips moving slightly as she mouthed to him: "I want to eat, too."
It looked like he wasn't going to escape the fate of cooking today.
"Chizuru!" Jhin called out to Tachibana Chizuru, who was about to leave the classroom to eat who-knows-where. "Do we have any classes this afternoon?"
"Huh?"
Tachibana Chizuru couldn't figure out why Jhin was asking. She adjusted her glasses and answered in that tender, immature voice she could use to catfish people online: "This afternoon we have English, Biology, and History."
"How about we just skip the English class? I'm cooking today; I'll make you guys something delicious."
"Really?"
It had been a long time since Tachibana Chizuru had tasted Jhin's cooking. When school started back up, she heard he and Suou Amane had a cooking showdown over the summer break where there was so much food it couldn't fit on the table. She had been craving it ever since.
"Would I lie to you?"
"Deal. Today's afternoon English class is temporarily canceled!"
Eriri watched, dumbfounded, as she witnessed the absurd scene of a student bribing the principal with food to cancel a class. Once she snapped out of it, she asked Kasumigaoka Utaha beside her in a tone of disbelief: "What is going on?"
Kasumigaoka Utaha rolled her beautiful eyes at her. "I haven't seen this before either. You'd be better off asking the others."
"Komine-san, is Jhin perhaps the son of the Principal's boss?" Kato Megumi had already started seeking answers.
"Not at all. If you really want to get technical, Yumiko is the daughter of the school's investor."
"Then..."
"You three will understand once you eat the food Jhin makes. Even for us, we haven't had many chances to taste it since the summer break," Komine Sachi said.
She wanted to say more, but she was interrupted by Jhin shouting.
"Sachi! Come help me prep the ingredients!"
"Coming!" Komine Sachi bowed politely to Kato Megumi. "Excuse me, I'll go help now."
"Onii-chan! Were you calling me?" Irisu Makina, lively as a hyperactive fawn, cheerfully ran up to Jhin and pressed her budding young chest against his arm.
"Not you. I can't exactly put you in a pot and stir-fry you."
"The pot definitely won't fit me. So, where do you want to stir-fry me, Onii-chan?"
Suou Amane grabbed the ear of Irisu Makina, who was making dirty jokes at the drop of a hat. "Don't disturb Jhin, or I won't let you eat later!"
"No! Don't! Amane-nee (Big Sister Amane), I was wrong! Please don't do something so cruel."
"I'll just help Makina eat her share then," Michiru Matsushima chimed in.
"Michiru! Tonight, you are definitely going to be pinned to the ground by Makina and taken from behind!"
Although Michiru Matsushima didn't know who Irisu Makina was, she was startled by Makina's curse.
Before she could retort, Suou Amane increased the force on Makina's ear.
"Girls are not allowed to say such lewd things!"
"Ahhhhhh! I'm sorry! Super sorry! Amane-nee, my ear—my ear is going to fall off!" The features on Irisu Makina's exquisite little face were scrunching together in pain.
Since he hadn't eaten anything spicy in a while, Jhin decided to make Boiled Pork Slices (Shuizhu Roupian).
Whether the others could handle the heat was up to them; even if they didn't eat it, Jhin could finish the entire dish by himself.
Since Jhin was cooking, the dining location naturally shifted to the Mihama Academy dorms. The previous wooden table had been replaced with a larger, wider one thanks to a decision Kazami Kazuki made earlier.
In hindsight, it was remarkably foresighted—even with the three transfer students added, there was still plenty of room.
Jhin, Komine Sachi, and Suou Amane busied themselves in the kitchen, while the other girls could only sit at the dining table and wait. After all, none of them really knew how to cook; rushing in to help would only cause trouble, and they might even get kicked out.
For Eriri and her group, this was the perfect setting to fish for information about Jhin.
"Kazami-san," Kasumigaoka Utaha spoke up.
She had noticed this girl who claimed to be Jhin's older sister but looked quite young early on. Taking advantage of the situation, she raised her question: "I'm a bit curious about how you and Jhin address each other."
Kazami Kazuki's deep crimson eyes, which seemed capable of seeing through people's hearts, met Kasumigaoka Utaha's gaze. It gave Utaha the sensation that all her secrets were being laid bare. The feeling lasted only for an instant, leaving Utaha wondering if her own psychological shadows had caused a hallucination.
"If I explained it in detail, it would take too long. Just understand it as a complex family composition."
Kasumigaoka Utaha, being a romance light novel author, instantly mentally drafted a melodrama involving love and hate spanning tens of thousands of words.
"Don't let my appearance fool you. I am actually 18 years old."
"A legal loli!?"
Eriri's eyes shot out beams of light brighter than ever before. This was an enduringly popular theme in all kinds of doujinshi!
"So it's Kazami-senpai. I apologize for my rudeness just now."
"It's just a title, a small matter. A certain ungrateful little brother still calls me by my full name, anyway." Kazami Kazuki frowned, her fingers tapping rhythmically on the tabletop, clearly annoyed by this fact.
Kasumigaoka Utaha empathized; if she were in that position, she would also find it difficult to call Kazami Kazuki "Big Sister." The scene would just be too full of contradictions.
The three chefs finished making a table full of food.
Jhin had just sat down when he realized they had only grabbed ten sets of bowls and chopsticks. He shouted to Komine Sachi, who hadn't come out of the kitchen yet: "Sachi, you're short one set of bowls and chopsticks!"
Komine Sachi didn't doubt him. She grabbed another set and walked out of the kitchen, her eyes full of confusion. "I remember counting only ten people at the start?"
"You ignored Kato-san," Jhin pointed to Kato Megumi, who had sat back down.
A look of apology appeared on Komine Sachi's face. "I am truly sorry, Kato-san. I don't know why, but I subconsciously didn't calculate you in."
"It's fine, I'm already used to it." Kato Megumi accepted the bowl and chopsticks Sachi handed over, not angry at all about being overlooked.
Jhin felt that if Kato Megumi became a paparazzi, she would definitely be able to snap countless scandalous photos. "I wonder if you've ever thought about becoming a journalist, Kato-san?"
"Even if you phrase it that gently, Jhin-kun, I know you're teasing me about my lack of presence," Kato Megumi said in a flat tone. "But what you said does seem to make a little sense."
"With that ability to make people subconsciously ignore you... if you became a journalist, you'd probably be unrivaled, right?"
___
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