Chapter 154: Miura Yumiko's Cooking Request!
Ebina Hina poked her glasses-wearing head through the doorway and curiously looked around the Service Club room.
"You may come in."
Yukino spoke softly.
"It's fine, come on~ Stop standing there!"
Hina grabbed Miura Yumiko behind her and practically dragged her into the room.
Yumiko looked extremely reluctant and kept fiddling with her hair.
Anyone could tell she was probably the actual client hiding behind Hina.
Luke thought about it for a moment.
He did not remember Yumiko mentioning any particular worries or concerns during their recent phone calls.
"Hello, hello~ Sorry to bother you for a bit."
Yui finally noticed who had entered.
"Hina? Ah, hello! Anyway, come inside first. Don't stand in the doorway."
'Exactly. Hurry up and get inside. You're blocking the cross-breeze.'
Luke sat closest to the door and silently complained.
"So, what do you need?"
Speaking in place of the club president, Luke asked first.
Yumiko's reluctant expression disappeared this time, and she stopped playing with her hair.
However, she said nothing.
She merely gave Luke a childish, sulky glare.
"Hm?"
Yukino looked toward Yumiko in confusion.
"Oh, come on!"
Hina, standing beside her like an attendant, could not help rubbing her forehead.
She pushed up her glasses and took a deep breath beneath everyone's gaze.
"Yumiko wants to learn how to cook! You know, the kind of skill that makes boys go bling, bling and see sparkles everywhere!"
"I have no idea what possessed her, but I'm terrible at that stuff, so I had no choice but to ask you people for help!"
After blurting everything out in one breath, Hina looked as though she had exhausted all her oxygen.
Her eyes even started rolling upward.
Of course, Yumiko currently having her in a headlock probably contributed.
"Ah! Hina! Why did you tell them everything at once?!"
"Spare… me…"
Ignoring the one-sided battle beside them, Yukino considered the request.
"Hmm. So you want to learn a few dishes?"
"In that case, are you looking for something intended as a proper meal, or handmade food meant more as a gift?"
Yumiko stopped shaking Hina and looked over curiously.
"What's the difference?"
"If your primary purpose is expressing your feelings, then handmade gifts would naturally be better."
Yukino explained.
"If you want an actual useful cooking skill, then learning proper meals would be preferable."
"Hmm… Then handmade stuff, I guess."
Yumiko began playing with her hair again.
"Handmade things sound easier than full meals, right? I'm actually not very good at cooking…"
She still seemed somewhat nervous and unable to relax.
When she was experiencing relatively positive emotions, Yumiko tended to wrap her hair around her finger twice, then slide her finger downward and straighten the curled strand.
It reminded Luke of those keychain toys that had once been popular.
People would hold one end, spin it around their fingers repeatedly, then unwind it in the opposite direction.
After observing Yumiko for so long, Luke had more or less learned to distinguish her emotions from the way and frequency with which she played with her hair.
Mostly because this spoiled girl constantly expected him to read her mood whenever buying drinks.
Yukino murmured thoughtfully and rested a hand against her chin.
Meanwhile, Yui puffed out her cheeks.
Then she narrowed her eyes and stared at Yumiko.
"…Didn't you say handmade gifts were kind of heavy?"
"…Th-that was…"
Yumiko immediately became speechless and looked away.
That had probably happened when Yui first came to the Service Club with her cookie request.
As if pursuing Yumiko's retreating face, Yui leaned after her without giving up an inch.
Seeing Yui getting slightly angry, the recovered Hina hurriedly changed the subject.
"If it's handmade food, would Luke-kun accept something handmade by another person?"
Yui and Yumiko stopped their strange cat-and-mouse game and turned toward Luke.
"Depends on the person."
He answered without thinking.
"Ohhh— Then Hayato has a chance!"
"He absolutely does not!"
Luke and Yumiko shouted at the same time.
At that moment, Luke genuinely wanted to open Hina's skull and see what was inside.
Hina glanced at the two of them speaking in perfect unison, then lowered her head and continued thinking as if nothing had happened.
"Hmm~ So Hayato is actually… the bottom?"
"You're dead, Hina!"
Yumiko immediately trapped her in another headlock.
"Spare~ me~ Yumiko…"
In any case, thanks to Hina's interruption, Yui stopped pursuing Yumiko over her previous hypocrisy.
Instead, she brightened and made a cheerful suggestion.
"Then Yumiko can join us!"
"We were just talking about making cake! I kind of want to try making one myself too."
Her excitement was the complete opposite of Yukino, who was still deep in thought.
Yukino pinched her chin and muttered quietly.
"Miura-san… bad at cooking…"
"Using Yuigahama-san's ability as the baseline…"
"Two Yuigahama-sans…"
"What should I do…"
"Is this even possible…?"
Yui apparently heard her.
"Yukinon, isn't that way too direct?!"
"That was already quite tactful."
Luke commented.
Then he turned toward Yukino.
"President Yukinoshita, I think I might suddenly become ill sometime in the next few days."
"So I'd like to request leave from club activities for a while."
"Eh?! What's that supposed to mean?!"
The moment Yumiko heard he wanted leave, she unhappily kicked him.
Luke could roughly interpret the meaning behind it.
'I finally worked up the courage to come ask Yukinoshita—someone I don't know how to deal with—to teach me cooking so I can improve my feminine appeal, and now you're planning to run away?!'
Yes.
That was probably it.
It was nothing personal, his dear girlfriend.
It was simply because—Being cautious around Yuigahama was Luke's ninja way!
Luke stared solemnly at Yumiko and placed one hand on her shoulder.
"Eh?! What's with that look?"
Yumiko shifted uncomfortably, her body stiffening.
A thousand words eventually became one sentence.
"Beware of Yuigahama."
Yukino finally raised her head from her thoughts.
"You may not take leave."
"Taste-testing is an indispensable part of cooking."
"Can't you do the taste-testing yourself?"
Yukino's body stiffened.
She quietly turned her gaze toward the window.
"We both tasted Yuigahama-san's cookies together in the beginning."
"Therefore, it would only be reasonable for both of us to taste the cake as well."
'Yukinoshita!'
'Turn around and look me in the eye!'
Her argument did contain a tiny bit of logic.
Unfortunately, it was also a reality Luke desperately did not want to face.
With a headache, he offered Yukino another suggestion.
"Fine, I won't take leave."
"But let's not make cake."
"That's way too unforgiving for beginners."
"If necessary, let's just make cookies again. We can use this chance to test whether Yuigahama is finally ready to graduate."
Luke did not particularly like cookies.
However, he probably could not escape his responsibility of personally judging whether the finished product tasted good.
So it was much safer to choose cookies, something Yui had already become somewhat competent at.
At the very least, that had to be better than discovering an entirely new entry in the Yuigahama Hell Cuisine series.
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