Chapter 161
Yuuki Minami shared part of the meat from his bento with Kazumi Chitose and Yuko Ibuki.
As Kazumi bit into the meat prepared by her love rival, she felt a complex mix of emotions. Realizing that it tasted better than her own cooking only deepened her sense of defeat. In contrast, Yuko remained much more composed. Her culinary skills were slightly inferior to Kazumi’s, so she felt no sense of crisis when faced with meat fried by Nao Asano, someone far superior to her in cooking.
After all, whether the food tasted good or not wasn’t the key point—what mattered was whether Yuuki liked it. And in the dream, Yuuki had never shown any particular preference for food. In other words, good cooking skills were, at best, a low-value card—perhaps a three or a four, the weakest kind. It was like a “Tanyao” hand in mahjong: it might look like a winning hand, but in reality, the gain was quite limited.
She even started wondering—once she and Yuuki confirmed their relationship, would she be able to go to the Asano household for meals? She had no interest in cooking. Instead of spending time buying ingredients and preparing food, she would rather stay close to Yuuki a little longer.
But that was a matter for the future. Right now, she had two more pressing issues to deal with. One was that photograph—she would ask about it later. Compared to that, the other question was even more urgent, something that had been puzzling her for a long time.
During the summer vacation in the dream, Yuuki had stood motionless in front of an oncoming truck. After she saved him, he continued to linger in dangerous places multiple times. Both her dream self and her past self in reality had thought the boy harbored a deep-seated death wish.
However, from her recent observations, she saw no trace of gloom hanging over him.
“How do you feel about your life right now, Yuuki?” she asked him directly.
Yuuki was momentarily stunned. He quickly connected her question to his actions in the dream film and understood the reason for her inquiry.