What If You Spoil a High School Girl Who Looks Like a Landmine? - Volume 1 Chapter 2.6

Making Lunch is Legal 6

“Tired, yes, tired, I do feel tired, to voice my own fatigue, to say I want to rest, let’s do so because I want to rest, yes.”

Raihara-san mumbles as if to convince herself, but…

“…I’m sorry, how embarrassing.”

At the worst timing, my stomach growls loudly.

“No, it’s fine!… but, well, …you must be hungry…. I think the lunch box will be enough, but I didn’t know how much a man of the same age would eat, so…uh.”

“Well…”

“If it’s not enough, while Chifuji-san is eating, I’ll go and buy something from the stalls! What would you like? There are various options~”

Raihara-san’s mind is now completely filled with the fact that my stomach is empty.

Hmm…A failure?

***

“Again, really… it’s so embarrassing…”

Then the girl Jirai-kei (Landmine type) fashion hangs her head and drops her shoulders.

It seems that she’s dejected due to the failed attempt to say ‘I’m tired.’

“No… no need to be so down. It just means that your concerns are that deep, Raihara-san.”

As I say this while sitting across from her at a table in the square’s rest area, Raihara-san, with her head bowed, mutters.

“…I’m nothing, really.”

“Eh?”

“Always caring about others, my heart always goes to that, and I have nothing else that I want to do myself,… there’s no reason or trigger for it… It’s not like I was raised in an environment where my parents couldn’t spoil me or anything like that. There’s absolutely nothing like that.”

” …. “

“I am blessed. I think I was raised in a happy family. But, but why… even then, why didn’t I develop a decent personality?”

“…Do you feel guilty?”

“…Yes.”

I finally realized it.

I am made to realize that such common sense, which I should have understood, ultimately hadn’t permeated my mind.

It might be appropriate to say she feels ashamed.

Everyone has different kinds of problems.

Precisely because she was raised in a warm and decent environment that she feels guilty about her ‘unique’ nature.

I never thought about it before, but it’s definitely painful in its own way.

“…At least, I have to change from now on. Before I cause trouble to those around me again…”

“That… ah, no.”

I can’t mention that I have come to know about various things that happened during Raihara-san’s junior high school days.

I don’t want to remind her of the pain by digging it up.

“…for now, can we have lunch? Actually, I’ve been looking forward to it.”

I don’t want her to blame herself and look gloomy.

So I have decided to change the topic for now.

Looking forward to the lunch box she made is also true.

“Y-yes! Let’s eat! Well, you see, please enjoy and…….”

“Okay.”

What slid out from the bag was a large parcel. The contents revealed when the wrapping was undone were…

“It’s a stacked lunch box.”

“I, I got a little excited and got carried away… “

As the lid was snapped open, I saw that the first tier was tightly packed with a variety of side dishes.

It’s evident at a glance that a lot of effort has been put in.

“Thank you,… I’m actually somewhat moved right now.”

“No! It’s not such a big deal.”

“…I’ve actually never had anything like this.”

I thought something like this was something totally unrelated to my life, but you never know.

“I see. The style of lunch boxes is different in each house, right? In the Raihara household, because my younger sisters eat a lot, and my father and I love to cook and want to make a lot, this is quite standard when we go out.”

While saying so, Raihara-san briskly divides the stacked lunch box and spreads it on the table.

Once that is done, next comes a thick flask.

I thought it was a beverage, but what was poured into the cup was miso soup.

“I’m sorry, it, it also contains miso soup, so it might have been heavy for you to carry it…”

“No, don’t worry. …It’s amazing, it’s like a full-course meal.”

“Oh, no-no.”

I want to help her with the preparations, but she’s so good at what she does and I can’t find an opportunity to intervene, and … above all.

“Here’s a cloth for wiping your hands. This one has the beverage, and here’s the cup. Ah, please use these chopsticks and this serving plate.”

She seems to be enjoying it.

Just a moment ago, she seemed so down, so seeing her lively expression now feels especially vibrant.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, please enjoy the meal!”

“Thank you, itadakimasu.”

“Ah, if you’d like, I can serve it on your plate! What would you like? You’re a man, so maybe meat and fried food?”

Without sitting down herself, Raihara-san takes my plate in her hands and asks such things.

The whole flow of her actions is so smooth.

“I would really like you to eat the vegetables too, so this and that and… Ah!”

Suddenly stopping her movements like a rusted machine opposite to her smoothness from before, she returned the plate which was just about to be filled with the side dishes back to me.

“…No, that’s wrong! I, I shouldn’t do things like this!”

“It’s not that it’s not allowed, but yes, considering today’s purpose…”

“Yes! I need to change! I will change!”

It’s a strong declaration.

There’s no doubt that she has unshakable resolves there. …that being said, however…

“…Raihara-san?”

” ….. “

“R-Raihara-san?”

Her hand still hasn’t left my plate. And then, it starts to shake violently.

“…..Haah, …Haaaah, …Haah, I, I’ll let go, yes, let go…… Not, I’ll not… I’ll not take care others’…others’ people anymore…… Haah, Haah, Haaaah, Haah!”

This is bad, it might be a withdrawal symptom.

She might have endured too much.

“Raihara-san, for now, let’s breathe slowly.”

“Haa, Haaaah, Haah…!”

“Raihara-san!”

Taking away ‘taking care of others’ from her…

Is it really the right thing to do? Especially when she’s become like this…

…No, is it because she’s become like this that any more of that would be bad?

It is a difficult question.