Never Not
Ch. 43: Food Packaging

Since last night, Shohei has decided to move to a new residence. The location of his condominium is quite close to Seina's residence. Although actually his lover did not know about the condominium he bought specifically for their residence later.

Shohei shoved four large suitcases containing his clothes as well as his belongings. He walked out of the room and into the kitchen. When passing the bar table, his memory again gritted when his lips and lips Yuriko accidentally touched under the table. He shook his head so that the memory would fly and not return to his head.

So afraid to remember it, even going through he chose to turn his back to the table and shift his legs to the side quickly.

"Don't look! Don't remember!" he muttered as he continued to turn his back to the bar table.

Finally, he made it through the bar table. Just about to walk normally, he suddenly gasped at the sound of a bell from the main door.

"Huf! What kind of test is this?" his weakness breathed. Inevitably he had to go back to walking like before so as not to see the bar table.

Upon opening the door, Yuriko immediately greeted him cheerfully.

"Ohayou gozaimasu, sorry, I'm late!"

Surprised by Yuriko's presence, Shohei said, "Ohayou, it's okay. I just woke up and I'm getting ready for the office."

"Then I will make Shohei-san breakfast."

"A–what's not a hassle?" ask Shohei awkwardly.

"Of course not. This is my job!" Yuriko stepped into the kitchen, picked up the apron and put it on her body.

"Then .. I get ready first." Shohei immediately went to his room to prepare for the office.

As soon as he entered the room, he exhaled while trying to get rid of his nervousness after dealing with Yuriko. The awkward atmosphere within him was certainly still related to the accidental kiss that occurred between them.

What am I supposed to do? Every day I would meet this girl.

Four times, the man straightened his body while exhaling.

Why am I overreacting like this? I should be like Yuriko who looks ordinary.

In the kitchen, Yuriko looked left and right to make sure that Shohei was not wandering around. He hurriedly took off the backpack, then took the groceries he bought at the supermarket before coming here. Apparently the contents of the groceries are packaged foods such as ready-to-eat side dishes from salmon fillets, instant miso soup, and boiled akagai shells.

"Gomennasai, Shohei-san. I had to buy ready-to-eat food for your breakfast this morning. I haven't studied many food recipes. But I promise to cook especially for you when you come home from work later," Yuriko said to herself as she opened one by one the packaging and copied it to the plate.

For a moment, Yuriko recalled Rai's words before she came to this place. Before leaving for work, he asked Rai about Shohei's list of favorite foods in order to cook according to the man's taste.

"Because Shohei has just had surgery, so I think you should cook a high-protein meal for the healing and recovery of his internal wounds. Such as fresh salmon, Nissin Kabayaki, meat steak, and various nutritious soup."

"Why is it so hard? I never cooked all the food you mentioned" Yuriko complained.

"If it's hard you shouldn't have signed up as his servant from the beginning. I felt sorry for him for getting such an incompetent servant" the man said, crossing his arms.

Rai's words certainly burned Yuriko's chest. He wants to prove that he is a competent servant in the eyes of Shohei. But unfortunately, Rai's speech is reality. In fact, he is not very good at cooking. Cooking takes hours to complete.

Fortunately, I bought all this at a nearby restaurant. So, Shohei-san did not have to wait for long. Hopefully not caught, hihi ....

Fifteen minutes later, Shohei came out of his room. The man looked handsome in a police uniform. Shohei was stunned to see the row of menus that had been presented on the dining table. He also had a glance at his watch and looked stunned to see Yuriko's cooking time which was fairly lightning, but could produce several menu offerings.

Sugoi! She cooks fast!

"Good meal, may Shohei-san like this dish" Yuriko said as she poured a glass of water for the man.

Shohei nodded slowly then pulled out a chair to sit on. As Yuriko was about to move on, the man immediately said, "How about we have breakfast together?"

"Eh?" A pair of Yuriko reflexes raised. "Ma–mana can waitress eat together—"

"Yuriko-san, let's have breakfast together." Shohei cut off Yuriko's words while throwing a warm smile.

Ah, how can I not melt dealing with this man? He doesn't treat me as a servant at all.

Not waiting for the second to pass, Yuriko immediately sat opposite Shohei while taking the bowl.

"Itadakimasu," said the two, cupping their hands and taking their chopsticks.

Yuriko looked good eating the breakfast. This is the first time he has ever eaten premium quality packaged food. Yes, he is a student as well as a nomad, of course, must save on living costs.

Ohhiki! It is not in vain that I spend money to buy this food. It feels so good.

In contrast to Yuriko, Shohei looked stunned as a spoonful of miso soup entered his mouth.

Why does this food taste so familiar?

He tried to taste the salmon and also boiled clams. Surprisingly, the taste of the two foods also felt familiar on his tongue. Of course because the menu Yuriko served was packaged food that he usually bought to prop his stomach while overtime at the office.

Shohei turned to the kitchen. He felt awkward because the kitchen was clean and there was no sign of cooking. Though in hindsight the duration of Yuriko's cooking time was only fifteen minutes. Is it possible with such a short time that the girl can cook three menus at once tidying up the kitchen again?

For a moment, Shohei and Yuriko looked at each other. Yuriko continued to stare in Shohei's admiration while smiling. That certainly makes Shohei wrong.

Yuriko's eyes bought for a while. Whahuh? She entrusted me with the spare key?

After eating, Yuriko cleaned the dining table and washed the dirty dishes. While Shohei was getting ready to leave for the office. As he was about to open the door, his eyes accidentally caught something inside the trash can that stole his attention. Because, it is a collection of food packaging packages that he often buys. He took one of the bowl-shaped packaging and read the description. He immediately remembered the food he had just eaten. The man's cheeks puffed up instantly as it held back a laugh. As he recalled, Rai once said that Yuriko is not good at cooking.

"Shohei-san, are you leaving now?" yuriko shouted suddenly while coming to him.

That shout must have surprised Shohei. Spontaneously, he threw back the packaging and pushed the trash can into a corner of the room. He chose to remain ignorant about the packaged food so that Yuriko would not be ashamed.

"I ... go first. Jaa (meet you)!" he said with a clumsy tone. Since the unexpected incident, his tone could not be normal anymore as before.

"Hum, be careful on the road."

Just as the door was closed, Yuriko nodded while staring at the spare key that Shohei had given her.

"I go first, be careful on the road" he said, repeating a conversation between himself and Shohei. "It looks like the two of us fit into a couple," he muttered back while giggling.

Yuriko then went into Shohei's room. "Wow, the bed is so big! If it's like this, the three of them sleep!"

Yuriko began to arrange the man's clothes and objects that had not been cleaned. He opened one of the suitcases and started putting Shohei's clothes in the closet. Previously, the man had advised her to empty some of the bulkheads in the large closet. Even one door containing a hanging shelf was also left empty. This feels strange to him. Unfortunately, he did not dare to find out the reason for the man.

After finishing tidying up Shohei's luggage, Yuriko came out of the apartment because she had to enter the class of one of the courses. Not to be late, the girl walked in a hurry. Just as he exited the building, his steps came to a halt when he saw Rai standing not far from him. The man leaned against the street shade tree while chewing gum.

"Did Shohei ask you to pick me up again?"

"Hhmmm .. no. It's actually my place of work around here, so I decided to take a short walk. Uh, coincidentally met you instead," Rai said as he walked closer to Yuriko.

"A shitty coincidence, yeah!" ketus Yuriko as she passed.

"Are you done with work?"

"I'm going to college first. After that I just came back here to prepare his lunch."

"Sokka (so, yeah). How was your cooking this morning? You didn't fail cooking anymore, did you?"

Yuriko was silent for a moment while recalling the packaged food she served to Shohei. "Of course not! He also seems to like my cooking."

"What did you cook this morning? The rice kare the other day you cooked it was too thick."

Yuriko stopped her steps, staring intently at Rai with her nose expanding and mouth conicaling.

Looking at Yuriko's adorable expression, Rai then went back to saying, "What you should know from Shohei, he is a person who takes care of one's feelings very much. He won't protest much even if he doesn't like it."

"The problem is not that! Why do you keep following me? Where's your place of work actually?" ketus Yuriko who was upset because Rai took him to the stop.

Rai who had just regained consciousness, immediately turned left and right as if looking for the location of his workplace. However, his eyes were accidentally glued to the videotron screen across the street. The videotron was covering the news of one of the top idols who had been on a winter vacation with his wife in Hokkaido.

Still sticking eyes into the videotron screen, Rai reviewed a faint smile while saying in a small tone of voice. "May you be happy always."

Yuriko looked in wonder towards Rai. He also looked at the videotron.

"Is his wife ... really your ex-lover?" ask Yuriko.

Rai glanced towards Yuriko. "My answer won't make you believe, will it?" he satirized while smiling bitterly.

At the Metropolitan Police Station, Shohei walked into the elevator to the floor of his study building. As soon as he got out of the elevator, his phone suddenly rang.

"Moshi-moshi ...."

"I've checked the fingerprints left on your torn sleeve" said the policewoman in charge of forensics.

"alright. I'll be there now!"

"wait. But ...." The voice of the woman just floated.

Shohei frowned. "But what?"

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author notes ⁇ ️️

so in Japan it is a lot of ready-to-eat packaged food.usually packaging in the form of a bowl.

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