Kanae slapped his hand over Yuichi’s mouth. And then he panicked.

What am I doing? How am I going to get out of this?

This was Yuichi’s fault. Because he was the one who threw out that obvious statement, everyone was going to insinuate the worst. The seconds felt like hours and then Kanae finally smiled and said.

“You know that you can’t just let out our private secrets like that.”

Yuichi looked confused and then in a rare moment, behaved like an adult. And when he was released, he said something amazing.

“You’re right. That’s between the two of us. Not something we should talk about. What, after the way you so lovingly proposed to me…”

Oh, my God. I want to kill this boy right now.

Kanae ignored Yuichi and left the cafeteria. Yuichi strolled after him.

The moment they left, everyone started to loudly debate whether the two of them actually were an item or not.

It took an hour to get to Kanae’s house from the college. It was expensive living near the campus, so taking into consideration his parents’ financial situation, Kanae had settled on living somewhere cheaper.

When fifth period finished, it would be six o’clock, so he could expect Yuichi around seven. After he finished his laundry and chores, he went out shopping.

Kanae liked kiddy food, but Yuichi was the opposite. He liked Japanese food. He often ordered non-fatty dishes at the pubs he went to. Kanae knew that Yuichi liked fish more than meat, so he went to pick up some sashimi.

While out shopping, Kanae debated what to cook. It was the beginning of summer, so he wasn’t sure what was in season. Steaming some asparagus and broccoli and serving it with some mayonnaise would go well with alcohol, and it was nutritious, too. He had to be quick. Normally, men don’t like too much vinegar in their dishes, but both Yuichi and Kanae liked it. So he would try and use it liberally. And for the sashimi, he would go to the fish market and ask them to choose a good fish for him. For the main dish, he would serve meat with potatoes.

He was enjoying thinking about all this. They had cooked for each other before, but Yuichi would go all out when he cooked. By comparison, when Kanae decided to leave for Tokyo, his mother had to teach him in a rush, so he could only really do the basics. Even so, Yuichi would always tell him it was delicious.

Today was the first time he was going to cook for Yuichi as a lover, so he was excited.

“I’m not expecting anything to come out of it though.”

He muttered to himself and continued shopping.

He wondered if he should smoke the meat. And what about powdered fish? Or maybe some Chinese-style fried rice would be better. But Yuichi liked noodles so…maybe soba noodles then?

Shopping for the one you love was exciting and pleasurable.