In the scene Aoba had originally imagined, Hinata would walk over with her head lowered without saying a word, then quietly look at the two of them with a dangerous gaze.
Instead, Hinata very naturally hugged the bento box and sat down beside him.
This made him freeze for a moment.
"Aoba-kun, the bento is going to get cold."
Hinata could not help reminding him.
Aoba suddenly snapped back to his senses and immediately separated from Yakumo, his expression a little awkward.
"Sorry, Hinata—MMM!"
Before he could finish speaking, his mouth was covered by a handkerchief.
Hinata used the handkerchief to wipe Aoba's mouth, at the same time blocking the rest of his words.
It seemed she was still a bit angry.
Yakumo, on the other hand, looked as if she did not care at all. Her gaze passed over Aoba and landed on the bento box resting on Hinata's legs.
"Hinata, did you prepare tempura? I can already smell it."
She wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth, looking completely eager.
Hinata frowned slightly and said with dissatisfaction, "This was specially prepared for Aoba-kun. And, Yakumo, you should have already eaten breakfast before coming, right?"
"What does that matter, I'll just taste a little."
Yakumo looked at Hinata with hopeful eyes. She also knew that Hinata was good at frying tempura.
And fried food always easily stirs up a person's appetite.
Even though she had already eaten breakfast, after smelling the fragrance, she could not help wanting to eat some.
"Then you'll have to wait until Aoba finishes first."
Seeing Yakumo like this, Hinata could not continue refusing, but Aoba definitely had to eat until he was full first.
Besides, she had made quite a lot, so it should be enough.
After helping Aoba wipe his mouth clean, Hinata opened the bento box that had been resting on her legs.
Revealing the densely packed food inside.
Aside from fried shrimp, there were fried scallops, fried cod, fried eggplant, fried tofu, anyway, all kinds of fried things. Anything that could be fried.
Ordinary people would indeed find it hard to control the heat for so many different ingredients, but with the Byakugan, Hinata was a born tempura master.
So many fried items also made Aoba and Yakumo feel a bit dazzled.
"Aoba-kun, hurry and eat. If too much time passes, it won't taste good anymore," Hinata picked up a piece of tempura with her chopsticks and directly brought it to Aoba's mouth.
"Mm! Then I'll dig in."
Aoba directly opened his mouth and bit off half of the fried shrimp from the chopsticks, carefully savoring it.
Even though Hinata had rushed over as fast as she could after finishing, just as Hinata herself said, tempura was the kind of dish that would lose its original flavor after some time.
And the batter, which was originally crispy, had already softened a bit after sitting in the bento box for quite a while.
However, the shrimp meat inside was still firm and springy. As he chewed, it felt like it was jumping on his tongue, the plump texture bringing a pleasant chewing sensation.
"How does it taste?"
"Very good," he paused, then pushed the remaining half of the tempura on the chopsticks toward her mouth, "You got up early to prepare this. Hinata, you probably haven't eaten breakfast yet, right?"
Hinata's face turned slightly red. She then opened her small mouth and bit down on what Aoba passed to her. After chewing a few times, she slightly puffed out her cheeks.
"As expected, it really needs to be eaten right after frying. It's not as good as it was at the beginning."
Aoba, however, smiled and said, "Although the texture of the batter is indeed affected a little, the flavor and texture of the ingredients inside are still outstanding."
"But the texture of the batter is the most important part of fried food!"
Hinata picked up another piece of tempura and stuffed it into her mouth, a bit of juice remaining on her lips, reflecting a layer of oil sheen.
"It's okay. Actually, I think soft tempura might also taste really good."
"Huh?"
Aoba stared at Hinata's soft, sticky, springy lips and blocked them.
"Mm—"
Hinata's cheeks flushed bright red. Although shy, her enthusiasm was not inferior to Yakumo's in the slightest.
For a moment, only sticky, wet sounds could be heard, and even the air seemed to become a bit thick.
Fortunately, there was the genjutsu Yakumo had set up, so the people around them did not notice their situation.
Otherwise, they would have long been pointed at and talked about.
Seeing the two so absorbed, Yakumo obviously could not stay idle either.
Her not so well behaved little hand reached past Aoba and went toward the bento box on Hinata's legs.
After eating a few fried shrimp, she set her sights on a fried scallop.
Then her hand was directly caught by a small hand.
"?"
Yakumo looked up and happened to meet Hinata's slightly angry gaze, so she could only withdraw her hand resentfully.
"I was just helping taste it."
Hinata definitely did not believe her, glaring at Yakumo. Sneaking one or two was fine, but how could she keep sneaking bites nonstop.
Then she picked up tempura from the bento box and started feeding Aoba.
At the same time, Aoba also picked up another pair of chopsticks to feed Hinata.
It was strange to say. Clearly they were using the same chopsticks, yet it somehow felt like what the other person picked up smelled more fragrant.
But even while stealing moments in his busy schedule, Aoba did not forget to feed Yakumo, who was watching eagerly from the side.
The amount Hinata prepared was indeed quite large.
However, Aoba also realized a problem.
"Hinata, you're eating so little, is that enough?"
With Hinata's appetite, tempura was the kind of thing that would be hard to feel full from no matter how much you ate.
"I prepared other things too."
Hinata said with a smile. She no longer felt shy about her appetite now.
Then she opened the upper layer of the bento box, revealing several rice balls that were a size bigger.
Now that made sense.
"Aoba-kun, do you want to try the rice balls?", She held up a rice ball and brought it in front of Aoba.
To be honest, Aoba basically never ate rice balls or sushi outside.
Because every time, he would think about whether the chef's hands might be sweaty while shaping them.
But Hinata was a beautiful girl. Those little hands were fair, soft, and fragrant. Sometimes he even wanted to just… [T/N: I am a rock. I know nothing, I see nothin.]
So no problem.
Aoba took a bite from the pointy tip of the rice ball, his eyes lighting up.
"It's spicy!"
He could also see the red oil seeping out of the rice ball.
"Mm, this was specially prepared for Aoba-kun."
A happy smile appeared on Hinata's face.
This was exactly the expression she wanted to see when he ate the rice ball.
The breakfast was quickly finished as they fed each other bite by bite.
As for the bento box, Aoba casually took out a small sealing scroll and stored it away.
"Where do you want to go play today? Do you have a plan?"
Aoba asked, "Of course, wherever you want to go, I'll go with you."
Upon hearing about the upcoming schedule, Hinata's face suddenly reddened for some reason.
Yakumo, on the other hand, did not have much reaction and directly said, "Mm! The morning plan is to go watch a movie first, then find somewhere to eat lunch. In the afternoon, we'll see how Hinata's condition is then."
"Hinata's condition?"
Aoba did not quite understand and looked toward Hinata.
"Hinata, are you feeling unwell?"
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.