The arrogant young lady in the class works as a maid in my house

"I'm not looking down on you, but it takes skill to sew torn fabric together beautifully. It's actually quite difficult. If you don't sew it right, it'll look awful, and then there's no way to salvage it."

"Is it... irreparable?"

"yes."

Jino's forehead seemed to be covered with cold sweat, and her expression was tense and she was frozen in place.

"Then, could you please help me sew it?"

"Well, that's a wise decision."

Looking at Himeno's current ability to do housework, it's clear that asking her to sew will probably not lead to good results, so Shinnosuke couldn't just ignore it.

“Ah, but…”

"What's up?"

"To sew up the torn part, you need to take off that dress."

"What? Is this what you're planning?"

"No, I don't care about that. Come on, follow me."

Shinnosuke said this and led Himeno to the Japanese-style room next to the living room, then took out a thin sportswear from the closet.

"Change your clothes in this room and put on this tracksuit. I'm sorry, but I don't have any brand new clothes. This is my newest one, so please forgive me."

"Ah, okay. Thank you..."

"Then I'll go back to the living room and wait for you. Don't worry, I won't peek."

"Alright. You don't have to insist on it. I'll believe you, too."

After seeing Shinnosuke move to the living room next door, Himeno took off the upper half of her maid outfit and then put on her sportswear.

"what……"

She smelled a gentle fragrance. In addition to the scent of laundry detergent, there was also a hint of a boy's scent.

Jinai couldn't help but smell it several times, and her chest suddenly tightened.

"Wait. Am I being a little perverted?"

Moreover, the size of the clothes was so large that the sleeves were much longer than her hands, which made her realize that it was men's clothes and her heart beat faster.

She shook her head and finally calmed down.

"Sorry for the wait."

Himeno walked towards Shinnosuke who was waiting in the living room next door and handed him the clothes she had taken off.

"what……"

"Eh? What's wrong?"

"No, it's fine."

How could it be okay? Shinnosuke looked a little flustered.

The reason for this was that the tracksuit looked baggy on Himeno, with the long sleeves covering her hands, creating a so-called "moe sleeve" look. The sight of this meticulous beauty revealing a relaxed side was incredibly adorable, leaving Shinnosuke speechless.

"Then I'll start sewing."

"Okay, thank you."

Shinnosuke aligned the torn fabric and deftly sewed it back together with a fine needle. Though Himeno didn't understand much, there was something special about his sewing style. His movements were so skillful and swift that Himeno couldn't help but stare, mesmerized.

Shinnosuke sewed up all the torn parts in a blink of an eye. When he pulled the thread tight at the end, the torn parts were tightly closed, and it was like magic that no trace of the torn parts could be seen.

(Illustration 010)

“Wow…”

Because the sewing was so beautiful, the surprised Jine couldn't help but make strange noises.

"what?"

"No, no...it's okay. Agatsuma-san is pretty amazing, after all."

"Eh? Ah, uh...thank you for the compliment."

"Well, I'll go change. Ah, Azuma-san, I'm the one who should thank you."

Himeno reflected on her unconsciously defiant expression and strange words. She hurriedly thanked him, took the sewn clothes, and went to the Japanese-style room to change.

I should have thanked him first. His sewing skills are truly impressive. I completely lost.

But she really didn't want to lose to Shinnosuke.

That's right. Today, she had to show Shinnosuke that she was doing a good job around the house, to atone for last week's humiliation. So she prepared carefully for today.

Previously, the only dish Himeno could cook was omurice, so this week she learned to make stir-fried seasonal vegetables from a video online. She studied the recipe very carefully.

It's almost time to prepare lunch.

"good!"

She cheered herself up and shouted.

"Well, Azuma-san. The time has finally come. You should admire my cooking skills and bow down to them. Just wait and see."

After changing her clothes, Himeno had a smug look on her face and returned to the living room where Shinnosuke was.

*

"I should probably prepare lunch soon. Today's stir-fried vegetables."

"No need. Let's make omurice today too."

"Eh...? No, today's recommended dish is stir-fried seasonal vegetables."

"No, I want omurice."

"But I cooked omurice last week."

"Even so, I still want to eat omurice."

"I saw a fortune teller on TV this morning and it said today's lucky item is stir-fried seasonal vegetables."

Jinai wanted him to eat stir-fried vegetables no matter what.

In short, she highly recommended it.

"But I still want to eat omurice."

"what?"

Shinnosuke's tough attitude made Himeno dumbfounded.

Because she tried her best to make a joke, she hoped that the other party would at least say, "The lucky little thing turned out to be stir-fried seasonal vegetables."

"Why? Ah, I get it. You were expecting me to draw with ketchup and cast delicious spells. Unfortunately, I'm not capable of those things."

"No. That's not what I meant. Um, uh..."

Shinnosuke seemed a little embarrassed to speak, so Himeno asked more questions.

"What do you mean? You could just say it."

"There's a trick to making delicious omurice. Do you want to try making it together? Ah, a friend taught me the trick."

“Eh…?”

The clever Jinai understood instantly.

The reason why Shinnosuke was so embarrassed to speak just now was that what he said was equivalent to saying that the omelet rice she made last week was not very tasty.

Shinnosuke wasn't exactly a smart person, but he was considerate and wouldn't make anyone unhappy. He also kindly wanted to teach her how to make delicious omurice.

Ji Nai thought so in her heart.

So she didn't insist on making the stir-fried seasonal vegetables she had prepared in advance, but decided to do as Shinnosuke suggested.

"I understand. Please teach me."

Shinnosuke immediately showed a relieved expression, nodded and said, "Okay."

*

The two of them stood in the kitchen and started making omurice.

"The secret to making delicious omurice is the timing of adding the ketchup."

After sautéing onions, carrots, and chicken in a frying pan, add the tomato paste before adding the rice. Wait until the tomato paste is charred and fragrant before adding the rice.

This will bring out the sweetness and aroma of the ketchup, making for a delicious omurice with a rich flavor. Many people don't know this and put the ketchup in first before adding the rice.

Shinnosuke asked Himeno to cook by herself while he explained the recipe.

The aroma of tomato sauce wafted from the sizzling pan.

"Stir-fry it again and the ketchup fried rice will be ready. Next, we'll make fried eggs."

"Oh, Agatsuma-san knows it very well."

"Yeah, after all, I've been cooking for years...Ah, no. This was taught to me by a friend some time ago."

"Oh, I see. Fufufu..."

"What's so funny?"

"nothing."

He always insisted that it was his friend who taught him, and it was strange to tell such an obvious lie. Himeno found that Shinnosuke told such a lie out of consideration for her.

As long as he said that a friend taught him, he could show that Shinnosuke had only recently learned about it.

In other words, Shinnosuke was considerate of Himeno by not letting her feel embarrassed about her own ignorance.

"You're so kind, Azuma-kun."

Himeno deliberately muttered something in a low voice, as if she didn't want Shinnosuke to hear, and her voice was drowned out by the sizzling sound of the pan.

"Eh? What did you just say?"

"No. I didn't say anything."

Himeno played dumb to him, stealing glances to the side to see Shinnosuke's expression.

She used the spoon in her hand to stir the tomato fried rice in the pan and took another close look at Shinnosuke. He had a gentle expression and looked a little handsome. This thought suddenly occurred to Himeno.

"Ah, hey, Nishikawa. If you don't stir it properly, the rice will burn."

Shinnosuke held Himeno's hand holding the spoon and pulled her hand to stir the ketchup fried rice in the pan.

"ah……"

Jino's hand was suddenly held without her being prepared, causing her to scream in surprise.

"Oh, sorry! I was so impatient..."

"It's okay. I'm the one who wants to apologize. It's because I was daydreaming."

(Ahh, how embarrassing… I was so confident I could use my cooking skills to exact revenge today, but it all went against my will.)

Seeing Himeno clearly getting depressed, Shinnosuke said to her cheerfully:

"Oh, don't worry about it. Time to fry the egg skin before the rice burns."

"That's...that's right."

While Himeno was frying the egg skin, Shinnosuke gave her some advice and then finished plating it.

"Yeah, it's done."

Made a delicious looking omurice.

But Himeno couldn't be happy. In order to do the housework today, she had to rely on Shinnosuke's help. Now she was really not qualified to be a housekeeper.

*

Following Shinnosuke's instructions, Himeno, for some unknown reason, placed the omurice on two plates and placed them facing each other on the dining table.

"That plate is yours."

"Eh? Can I eat too? I'm here to do housework on a commission."

"Of course. Since we've cooked two dishes, let's eat together."