Does This Love Suit Your Taste? - Volume 1 Chapter 3.4

Life Isn’t Sweet 4

As the break time began, I escaped to the vending machines in front of the cafeteria after being unable to stand the annoying atmosphere in the classroom.

I bought the strawberry milk I always get when I come to school. It’s one of the few pleasures I have here.

When I’m tired, nothing beats something sweet… I’ve got to find a way out of this situation somehow.

And, it was when I started drinking the strawberry milk——

“——Found you, my Toui-kun♡”

“Pfffft—”

Choking, I turned around to see S-Hime standing behind me with a smile.

“…Sh-Shirahime-san. What does an honor student like you want with someone like me?”

“Oh-, how brazen. Didn’t you become my servant?”

Then Shirahime points at the vending machine with a grin.

“I’ll have a Royal Milk Tea.”

“Hahaha… what’s that?”

“You know, milk tea, a milk tea!”

“…What about the milk tea?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten your place? Oh well, if you refuse, I guess I’ll just have to tell the office about the kiss——”

Click- clunk-

Before I knew it, I had bought a milk tea——and there I was, sitting on a bench in the square of the schoolyard with S-Hime, just the two of us.

It’s a place surrounded by the entire school building, a spot where I can’t help but be conscious of the gazes of others.

“Mmm~! Milk tea bought with someone else’s money tastes so good!”

” ……. “

What a drastic change…

Is this girl really the usual S-Hime?

“By the way, for a delinquent, you sure drink something as cute as strawberry milk, huh?”

As I ignored Shirahime and focused on my own strawberry milk, Shirahime’s eyebrows twitched upward.

“…Ignoring me? Oh well… I guess I could just tell Papa.”

Shirahime is so quick to use anything to dominate the situation at the slightest thing.

This is why this kind of Ojou-sama (young lady) is always——

For someone like me who hates being under anyone’s thumb, it’s nearly enough to make me pass out from stress.

“Shut up… I like sweet things, so what?”

“Hmm, that’s unexpected.”

“Sweets are justice. Japanese people apparently don’t consume much sugar, but I think that’s stupid. They tend to avoid it because of fears of getting fat or getting diabetes, but there are more benefits to consuming sugar. It’s quickly digested and absorbed, so it turns into energy right after eating, and it also has the effect of relaxing the nerves.”

“As expected of an apprentice chef, you’re well-informed.”

“Heh, well of course.”

Hehehe. In other words, it’s precisely when you’re under mental stress like this that you should eat sweets.

They heal the body and turn it into energy for what’s next. They reset the heart and nourish the spirit.

Unbeknownst to Shirahime, as I’m secretly fueling my ambition for a comeback in my mind, she changes the subject.

“How’s work going?”

“I’m on it…”

“Hehe, I wonder what would happen if people found out that the delinquent Kiminami Toui is under my thumb?”

Sipping through a thin straw, the milk tea was being drawn past Shirahime’s glossy lips.

Shirahime, with the straw in her mouth and tucking her hair behind her ear, was unnecessarily attractive just drinking her milk tea.

“Like I care… Besides, we don’t have time to be leisurely drinking. Hurry up.”

As I spoke, chewing on the straw of my finished strawberry milk, Shirahime put her mouth on the straw, swallowed the milk tea, and let out a sigh.

“Haah… Geez, I can’t just chug it down all at once…”

I unintentionally looked away.

No, I mean, she’s just drinking milk tea… but why does it have to be so suggestive?

As I silently waited for Shirahime to finish her drink, she leaned in closer to me.

“…Want a sip?”

“Huh?”

I furrowed my brows.

Still, Shirahime proposed it with a calm and gentle face.

“Since you’re treating me to this, just take a sip. It’ll be like an indirect kiss though…”

Shirahime scratched her cheek with embarrassed giggles.

No, we’ve done way crazier stuff than that…

Wait, hold on.

She keeps talking about being a servant and all but approaching me like this; maybe she actually intends to get along with me?

As reluctant as she is, she’s planning to marry me for real, so she definitely wouldn’t want our relationship to be unpleasant, right?

Maybe she’s just acting casual on purpose to make it easier to get along?

“Come on, don’t you like something sweet? This one is sweet too.”

While I’m hesitant, a straw is thrust in front of me.

Thinking about it that way, this milk tea started to look like some kind of a gesture of kindness.

Well, what she’s doing isn’t exactly praiseworthy, but if this is a gesture of goodwill, I guess I don’t mind accepting this indirect kiss.

Yeah, why not.

“Fine… Okay, just a little then…”

As I overcame a slight shyness and opened my mouth to take the straw, Shirahime’s lips curled into a sly smile.

“Here you go, say ‘ahh’ “

“Ahh~…”

In an instant, the straw swishes off in a completely different direction.

“Ahh…?”

Shirahime went back to drinking her milk tea, smirking at my open-mouthed expression.

“What an unsightly expression.”

“Grr… this girl is not cute at all…”

I was foolish to trust her. She’s that kind of person.

“You really like sweets, huh? Too bad for you; life isn’t that sweet. Oh, by the way, I have another new job for you.”

Yikes. My inner danger detection ability was ringing at the maximum level.

◇

When I got home, I changed into a garçon costume and descended the stairs of my room.

What a rough day…

After that, I got praised three times by the teacher, but the students were taken aback and were like, ‘With that appearance…’.

Even I had a moment in front of the bathroom mirror where I thought,

(Wow, who’s that guy with the bad vibe at school… Oh, it’s me!!) 

I was behaving so much like an honor student that it didn’t fit my usual delinquent image.

While rotating my unusually stiff shoulders, I went down to the shop on the first floor, and as soon as she saw me, Ichigo lunged at me with the look of a demon.

“Whoa! Ichigo… what’s with that scary face?”

I thought I was about to be killed by some lurking monster…

Well, this is Ichigo, and of course, the monster was just my imagination, but still, her expression was so intensely angry that my mistake was natural.

“Hey, Toui! What’s this about you and S-Hime… Shirahime Rira dating!? Everyone’s been talking about it non-stop! What on earth happened after that? Toui, are you just like all the other fanboys who fell for S-Hime!?”

“What…?”

Still in her uniform and with her hair down, it seemed she had been waiting here just to confront me about this.

And it appeared that Ichigo was caught up in an incredibly troublesome misunderstanding.

“Wait a minute… who said that?”

“Everyone in school is talking about it!”

“We’re not dating and I’m not in love with her. Someone just saw me with her today and made their own conclusions. Plus, the way she spoke this morning was misleading.”

“But if you’re going to get married, that’s pretty much like you’re dating, right? I couldn’t ask yesterday because the owner and S-Hime’s father were there, but after Toui left the dinner, how did it come to marriage just a moment after you left the dinner? It’s weird!”

“Uhh…”

How did it come to that——.

『Please… what can I do to make you listen to me?』

『Then give me a kiss. Right here, right now.』

Mwahh♡

I can’t possibly say that…

As I hesitated, Ichigo became increasingly agitated and pressed, ‘Tell me!’ closing the gap between us.

“A-adult circumstances…? It’s not as simple as just falling for her or something…”

Ichigo leaned in, following my averted gaze, and peered into my face.

“Adult circumstances… I can’t imagine Toui, who was so defiant against his parents and so eager to take over the shop would just easily listen to what adults say…”

“Uh…”

“You said nothing would change…”

“Ichigo…”

Seeing Ichigo’s downcast, puppy-like face made me feel terrible.

Ugh… sorry Ichigo… It’s my fault for not being able to fight back properly.

The thought that Ichigo believed I had given in was both sad and frustrating.

Realizing she couldn’t get anything more out of the conversation, Ichigo stepped back and glared at me with a sullen look.

“I see… So it seems even that delinquent Kiminami Toui couldn’t stand up to S-Hime.”

“No, that’s not it…”

“Sigh… I was first…”

“First?”

As I leaned in to look at Ichigo, it was as if I had touched a nerve, and she snapped at me with her face turning red.

“…I don’t know! Toui, you idioottt!”

“Wh-what…?”

Well, let’s just go with the narrative that I’m a pitiful guy who’s been defeated by Shirahime’s charm for now.

Damn it! Why does nothing in my life ever go smoothly!