Maybe it was because of what Kotomi Izumi had just said, but Shizuka Hiratsuka's dishwashing speed suddenly shot up. In no ti at all, she had efficiently cleaned the wok, bowls, chopsticks, cutting board, and everything else. Akina Izumi didn't even get the chance to help.
"You can tell Teacher Hiratsuka does housework often," Akina praised.
"It's nothing, really."
Shizuka gave an awkward smile. Although she wasn't good at cooking, she really was good at cleaning. Not because she'd started living alone after becoming a high school teacher, but because back when she still lived with her parents, they always cooked, and her job after als was to do the dishes and clean the kitchen.
Shizuka's parents never spoiled their daughter. From an early age, they taught her to be independent.
Except when it ca to cooking.
Yuko Hiratsuka had tried several tis to teach Shizuka how to cook, but the only things Shizuka ever managed to learn were egg fried rice, egg fried pancakes, and egg fried noodles.
Stir-frying or braising? Totally beyond her grasp.
Since mom couldn't teach her, her dad stepped in. Her father, Iwaoka Hiratsuka, had been full of confidence when he said to Yuko, "Our daughter is so smart. How could she possibly not grasp sothing as simple as stir-frying? You must be teaching her wrong. Let handle it—within a month, she'll master all the basics!"
Full of optimism, Iwaoka taught her his signature dish: stuffed green peppers.
But during her attempt, Shizuka made a tiny mistake and ended up turning the peppers and minced pork into sothing resembling a molten lava explosion.
After seeing her creation, Iwaoka could only wonder if those pork-stuffed green peppers had secretly taken a long soak in a volcano.
With overwhelming strength, Shizuka had crushed both her parents' hopes of ever teaching her to cook. All they could do was pin their hopes on her graduating from college and getting married soon—hopefully to soone who could cook.
Yet now, Shizuka was already thirty, and not only was she still single, she hadn't even been in a single romantic relationship.
Originally, Shizuka's parents had extrely high standards for their future son-in-law. After all, he'd eventually be helping to inherit the family estate—so of course the bar was set high.
But as the years passed with Shizuka still never dating anyone...
By the ti she turned twenty-six, their expectations had already softened to: soone who can cook, has good character, and is mature and reliable.
Still, Shizuka had never even dated once.
Now, their standards had dropped to the point where—even if Shizuka brought ho a girl—they'd accept it! Male or female, it didn't matter anymore. As long as the person was a healthy, living human being, they were fine with it.
After finishing the dishes, Shizuka sat in the living room chatting with the Izumi couple for about an hour before finally getting up to head to the second floor.
Before going upstairs, she asked which room was Kotomi's bedroom.
Akina Izumi simply chuckled and said, "Once you get upstairs, you'll know imdiately which room is Kotomi's."
Could it be that Kotomi had hung her photo on the door? With her narcissistic personality, that wasn't impossible...
Curious, Shizuka made her way up the stairs to the Izumi household's second floor.
As she passed by one room, she imdiately stopped in her tracks. High school girls loved hanging cute or cool naplates on their bedroom doors, and Kotomi was no exception—she had hung a naplate that read:
[Gate of the Black Abyss and Scorching Sun Gospel]
"Only a little witch like Kotomi could co up with such a chuunibyou na. No wonder Mrs. Izumi said I'd know her room as soon as I went upstairs—so that's what she ant..."
Shizuka Hiratsuka tugged at the corner of her mouth. If a fantasy novel had used a na like that, she might've thought it sounded cool. But to see soone invent that kind of na in real life, then actually make a doorplate out of it and hang it on their bedroom door—and that soone happened to be her most headache-inducing yet worry-free student...
Shizuka could only be thankful she was wearing socks right now. Otherwise, her toes might've curled so hard from secondhand embarrassnt that they would've drilled a hole straight into the floor.
Knock knock knock.
Shizuka knocked on the door. Even if they were both won, it was basic courtesy to knock first—just in case she barged in while Kotomi was changing.
Kotomi changing...
That brought the H-cup figure to mind again. Shizuka quickly took a deep breath to calm her thoughts, resolutely reminding herself: she would sleep on the floor tonight! After all, she wasn't so ascetic sage immune to temptation, and who knew whether Kotomi was a restless sleeper?
With that H-cup body, sharing a bed with Kotomi... if Kotomi was the type to toss and turn, Shizuka wasn't at all confident she could keep her cool.
Just the idea of staying in the sa room as Kotomi already had Shizuka's thoughts drifting in strange directions. If they ended up sleeping in the sa bed, and Kotomi wasn't a still sleeper...
Then next month, Kotomi might be accompanying her to et Yuko Hiratsuka again—but this ti not as a fake girlfriend, but as the real deal.
"Co in."
Kotomi's soft voice ca from behind the door. Shizuka took a deep breath, opened it, and stepped inside. She found Kotomi had already changed out of her school uniform and was now wearing a pink-and-white silk nightgown with lace trim. She sat in a computer chair, headphones on, completely absorbed in a ga of Apex.
The elegant curves of Kotomi's body were outlined beneath the nightgown, exposed to the cool night air.
Bang bang bang!
A burst of gunfire rang through the headphones—Kotomi had been eliminated.
"Phew... I almost won that one. That really was an intense battle between pros. It must've been the mouse's fault—if I had a better one, they wouldn't have stood a chance to counterattack."
She had never even seen where the opponent shot from, yet Kotomi still removed her headphones, wiped imaginary sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, and rotated her wrist like she'd just been narrowly defeated in a hard-fought, even match.
"You're playing gas this intensely even with your horoom teacher at your house. Do I not hold any authority in your eyes?" Shizuka walked over and asked half-jokingly.
Kotomi nodded without even a second of hesitation.
That made Shizuka so annoyed that she reached out and pinched Kotomi's cheek hard, indulging herself thoroughly.
After a bit of playful banter, Kotomi shut off the computer. She hadn't written a single word or drawn a single page of manga today.
Deadline? What deadline? Never heard of it~
If Haruno Yukinoshita or Asuka Chizuru found out, dragging her to a dark room to force her to work wouldn't even be overkill.
"You're done playing?" Shizuka thought she had interrupted Kotomi's gaming and was about to tell her it was fine to keep going—there was no howork tonight anyway.
"I'm done. These days, I only play computer gas every few days. I'm past the age where I'm obsessed with gaming."
Kotomi's tone was wistful, like a shut-in who had started working full ti, coming ho from overti every day with no energy left to turn on the console or PC to enjoy their favorite single-player or online gas. All they wanted was to shower, watch ani on their phone while eating dinner, then lie in bed scrolling through mobile gas or videos before falling asleep.
"You're not even that old, and you're already talking like a full-fledged working adult. A high schooler should have a high schooler's energy. Look at —I'm in my twenties and still full of life every day," Shizuka said, rubbing Kotomi's cheek with a smile.
"Shizuka-sensei, aren't you already thirty this year... cough, cough, I an, twenties, twenties! We can negotiate. Let's start by getting your hand off my waist."
"Rember, your teacher is only twenty-nine years and twelve months old."
"Ah, yes, yes, you're absolutely right."
Kotomi nodded enthusiastically, showing full agreent.
After sitting down on the floor, Shizuka Hiratsuka looked around Kotomi's bedroom.
It was her first ti in Kotomi's room.
And to think her first visit would involve actually staying over.
There was no way she wasn't at least a little excited.
"Kotomi, can I move this table?" Shizuka pointed at the small round low table in front of her. It was clearly movable, but since it was her first ti in Kotomi's room, it was best to ask before touching anything.
"Of course you can. But why move the table all of a sudden?"
Kotomi didn't use the table much anyway—just occasionally when ordering takeout. She'd put the food on the little table, prop up her phone with a stand, and watch ani while eating.
Speaking of which, Kotomi especially liked watching slice-of-life ani while eating—ideally ones involving food. If she couldn't find anything new, she'd fall back on her childhood classics for alti viewing:
Crayon Shin-chan, Doraemon, and Detective Conan.
Even though Detective Conan was technically a detective series—and in its early days could even be considered horror rather than mystery—there were still plenty of food-related episodes that made it suitable as a dining ani.
As for Crayon Shin-chan and Doraemon, there was no need to explain. Kotomi would search specifically for episodes with food or eating in the title to watch while dining. Even if she rewatched the sa episode multiple tis, she never got tired of it. If she didn't watch one of those episodes while eating alone, the food just didn't taste as good.
Why not eat in front of her computer, since the screen was bigger than her phone's?
Simple—the keyboard and mouse were too expensive! Even the mousepad had been a premium purchase: a high-end model designed specifically for e-sports. Despite her costly setup, Kotomi's gaplay remained wildly inconsistent. On a good day, she could carry the whole team, earning cries of praise from her teammates. On a bad day, she played so poorly her teammates fell into despair.
But regardless of her performance, there was no way Kotomi was going to risk eating over her precious mousepad.
"Obviously, I'm moving the table so I can lay out the bedding. You'll sleep on the bed tonight, and I'll take the floor," Shizuka said in a tone that implied the answer was obvious.
"What?! You're sleeping in the sa room as and still choosing the floor?!" Kotomi's tone was full of disbelief, like she was questioning whether Shizuka's brain was functioning properly.
"Why are you looking at like that?! What's wrong with it? You're my student, I'm your teacher. Even if we're both girls—and I'm fourteen years older than you—it's still not appropriate for us to share a bed the first ti we're sleeping in the sa room, right?"
Noticing Kotomi's look, Shizuka sounded a little aggrieved.
"Shizuka-sensei, I have to seriously criticize your decision. My bed is so soft and cozy, and you still want to sleep on the floor? That's like eating pan-fried dumplings without fried rice and a broth-less ran! Like eating a hamburger without ordering at least two sides! Like eating Korean noodles without youtiao! Or eating minced pork stead egg without pouring it over rice!" Kotomi protested.
"Crap... I thought a 14-year age gap wouldn't cause any generational differences, but I'm suddenly not sure what you're even talking about. Could it be... we really do have a gap? Wait, what are Korean noodles? I've only heard of Korean cold noodles. Are they good?"
"Korean noodles with at broth are the best in the world. And dipping youtiao in that broth—ahhh, I'm starving... I want so so bad..." Kotomi collapsed to the floor like she'd lost all strength—despite having eaten twenty bowls of rice at dinner.
It wasn't until Shizuka saw Kotomi polish off twenty bowls in one sitting that she finally understood why the Izumi household always cooked so many dishes, with each portion being double what most households served.
If the food wasn't made in large portions, it wouldn't even be enough for Kotomi to eat!
"Now that you've described it like that, I'm kind of craving it myself. Which ran shop sells it?"
"Nope, you can't find it in Japan! If you want to eat it, you'll have to go to China and look for a small breakfast stall."
Kotomi rolled left and right on the floor, muttering quietly. She really did miss those 17 years she'd spent living in China during her second life. Back when she was in school, she'd always have five yuan in her pocket to buy Korean noodles and youtiao from a breakfast stall near the campus.
"You're such a little glutton," Shizuka said with a chuckle.
Kotomi rolled her way over to Shizuka's legs, blinking her eyes and asking, "Shizuka-sensei, are you really not going to sleep with ? My double bed is super comfy."
"Nope." Shizuka's stance on the matter was firm. Sure, she wanted to sleep on the bed too—but she had to be responsible.
With that, she stood up. "I'm going to take a shower first. I'll lay out the futon afterward. Even though you don't need to attend tomorrow's sports festival, you must be tired after running the 800 ters today. Get so rest early."
"Why don't you ask if I've showered already?"
"Your hair's still a little damp, and you sll like body wash. It's obvious you just got out of the shower." As she spoke, Shizuka reached out and gave Kotomi's cheek a little pinch. "So smooth—you definitely just finished bathing."
"Not smooth on other days?" Kotomi shot back.
Shizuka thought for a mont. Actually, even just catching a glimpse of Kotomi in passing was enough to make her think: this girl is ridiculously soft and radiant.
"You're smooth all the ti. I'm honestly a little jealous of whoever ends up with you."
Shizuka smiled faintly and turned to leave the room to shower downstairs.
But just as she reached the door, she paused, as if suddenly rembering sothing. Looking a little sheepish, she turned back to Kotomi and asked, "Kotomi... um, do you have an extra set of pajamas? I just realized I didn't bring any sleepwear or a change of underwear."
"There's a blue-and-white penguin pajama set in the closet. You can wear that one tonight, Shizuka-sensei. As for underwear... hmhm, if you want, I could lend you mine too~"
"Just the pajamas will be more than enough, thanks!" Shizuka said quickly.
Wearing a student's underwear... that was way too inappropriate, no matter how you looked at it!
Not to ntion—
Shizuka glanced at Kotomi's impressive bust. Bottoms might be one thing, but the top? There was no way she could even fit into it!
They weren't even in the sa dinsion when it ca to size!
Forget it—for tonight, she'd skip changing undergarnts. She could do that after going ho tomorrow. With that decision made, she took out the blue-and-white penguin pajamas Kotomi had ntioned from the closet.
Such a cartoonish pajama set—Kotomi would look absolutely adorable wearing it.
Just imagining Kotomi in those penguin pajamas made Shizuka speed-walk to the bathroom in a fluster.
When she returned to Kotomi's room after her shower, she saw that Kotomi had already laid out the futon for her. She was kneeling beside it on both knees, like a gentle wife quietly waiting for her beloved to co ho and helping them undress before bed.
"Shizuka-sensei, your bedding is ready."
Kotomi looked up gracefully and smiled softly. Her gentle and modest tone, paired with her demure deanor, completely embodied the classic image of a Yamato Nadeshiko—the ideal Japanese woman from many people's dreams.
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