Class ended and Takeshi kept staring at his notebook without having written anything useful.

He had spent the last forty minutes trying to come up with a solution to the central problem.

’If Yuki manages to invite me on that date, I won’t be able to refuse, since that god will force me to accept.’

Yuki would find a way to be alone with him somehow, and using Aoi as a barrier only worked until Aoi had to go somewhere.

While he kept searching for another idea, something pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Why are you so lost in thought?"

Takeshi looked up.

Aoi was standing beside his desk with her backpack already on, looking at him. The classroom was almost empty.

"It’s nothing."

He replied.

Aoi didn’t move.

"You’ve had the same expression the entire class."

She said it without any accusatory tone, just as an observation.

"’It’s nothing’ isn’t an answer."

Takeshi automatically checked his stats.

[Life: 100%]

[Sanity: 90%]

[Confidence: 98%]

Takeshi watched as the confidence dropped to 96%.

’It’s dropping in real time!’

"Seriously, it’s nothing important."

He repeated.

"Are you thinking about Yuki?"

"No."

79%.

Aoi sat down at the desk next to his without being asked. She looked at him with a calm expression on the surface, but with a threat underneath.

"Then what?"

"Akari’s birthday."

Takeshi said before he finished thinking it through.

"It’s coming up soon and I don’t know what to get her."

Aoi looked at him for a moment longer.

The confidence rose from 79% to 81%.

"When is it?"

"In two weeks."

"Does she know what she likes?"

"Cooking, books, you know, stuff like that."

Aoi processed that.

"A specific cookbook might work, something from a cuisine she doesn’t know yet."

"That’s a good idea."

Takeshi replied.

Aoi nodded once and stood up.

"I have some things to do that the student council president asked me for. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure."

Aoi left the classroom.

Takeshi waited three seconds and left as well, heading in the opposite direction from Aoi.

The hallway was full of students leaving. He took the nearest staircase, went down the three floors without stopping, and exited the building through the side entrance.

When he reached the street, he took out his phone and sent a message to Akari.

Just left. Heading there now.

The reply came in less than a minute.

Perfect, I’m at home.

Takeshi stared at the message for a moment and then picked up his pace.

’Good thing I managed to leave without running into Yuki.’

When he arrived at the apartment, he heard voices from the hallway.

’Who is Akari talking to?’

Both voices were laughing about something.

Takeshi opened the door slowly.

From the entrance he saw Akari and Yuki standing in front of the counter. Akari was explaining something about a pot while Yuki listened with genuine attention.

Akari saw him come in.

"Takeshi! You arrived just in time. Yuki came to visit you and I invited her to have dinner with us. Now that you’re here, you can help her while I go buy what we’re missing."

She took off her apron and left it on the nearest chair.

"I’ll be back in twenty minutes."

Before Takeshi could say anything, the door closed.

The apartment fell silent, except for the sound of something boiling in the pot.

Yuki kept looking at the pot. She took the wooden spoon Akari had left on the counter and stirred slowly.

"Your sister is really good at cooking."

She said with an unsettling calm.

"Why are you here?"

"She showed me how to make the base stock. She says it’s the most important part."

"I asked you what you’re doing here!"

"You know, these past few days I’ve been holding back a lot of frustration, so..."

Yuki grabbed the kitchen knife and examined its edge.

"I don’t want to end up hurting you."

Takeshi checked Yuki’s stats.

[Life: 100%]

[Sanity: 30%]

[Confidence: 25%]

’Better not provoke her.’

Takeshi approached the counter and looked at the remaining unprocessed ingredients. Vegetables cut in half and some spices.

"What’s left to do?"

Yuki pointed at the vegetables.

"Those go in the pan once the stock is ready in about five more minutes."

Takeshi took the pan, set it on the heat, and waited.

The silence lasted approximately two minutes that felt like hours, until Yuki spoke.

"Were you avoiding me?"

She said it in a natural tone while still stirring the pot and not looking at him.

Takeshi looked at the pan.

"No."

"You left the building pretty fast today."

"I had to get home."

"You left fast yesterday too."

"Yuki."

"Yes?"

Takeshi looked at her, but she kept her eyes on the pot.

He checked her stats.

[Life: 100%]

[Sanity: 25%]

[Confidence: 20%]

Takeshi swallowed before speaking.

"I wasn’t avoiding you."

Takeshi affirmed.

"I’ve been thinking about a lot of things."

"What things?"

"Akari’s birthday."

Yuki held his gaze for a second and then returned to the pot.

"Alright."

She replied in a dry tone.

Takeshi added the vegetables to the pan when the temperature was right and focused on that.

Akari returned nineteen minutes later with a bag and the same energetic level she had left with. She assessed the state of the kitchen, made two minor corrections, and took control of the final process without being asked.

Twenty minutes later, the three of them were seated at the table.

Dinner started with a conversation between Akari and Yuki about the cooking process, what had turned out well and what they would have changed. Takeshi just limited himself to eating in silence.

Akari went to get something from the kitchen and Yuki took the opportunity to talk to Takeshi.

"The weather this weekend is going to be nice."

She said it while looking at her plate.

"Good time to go out."

"Could be."

Takeshi replied.

"The central park is really nice when the weather’s good."

Yuki looked up.

"Don’t you think?"

"Yeah."

Takeshi barely whispered.

"It’s nice."

Akari came back and continued talking with Yuki.

Near the end of dinner, Yuki made another indirect comment.

"There’s a new place near the lake that opened last month."

Akari looked up.

"A restaurant?"

"They say it has a huge variety of food and drinks."

"Sounds interesting, Takeshi. We should go try it."

Takeshi looked at his sister and then at Yuki, who was watching him with the same calm expression as always.

"Could be."

Takeshi replied.

Yuki took a sip of water and didn’t say anything else about the subject.

After dinner, Yuki offered to help clean while Takeshi cleared the plates and took them to the kitchen. On those trips back and forth he reviewed the day.

’In the end, Yuki managed to invite me out...’

Yuki said goodbye to Akari with the same cordiality with which she had arrived. She told Takeshi "see you tomorrow" in her usual neutral tone and left.

Akari closed the door and turned toward Takeshi with a smile.

"I like Yuki. She’s a really calm girl."

"I guess."

Takeshi said.

"Are you two dating?"

"What!? Of course not!"

"Good, for a second I thought you were a player."

"Very funny."

Akari went to finish cleaning the kitchen.

Takeshi stood still in the apartment hallway.

’If I go, I’m just going to end up trapped.’

He sighed and grabbed his phone.

’I’m going to hate myself for this.’

He dialed a number and waited for an answer.

"Hey, Aoi. You know, I wanted to ask if you’re free tomorrow."