All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

After listening to Yui Yuigahama’s explanation, Izumi Kotomi nodded and gave her ten more set theory problems to work on.

Out of the ten, Yui got seven correct and three wrong.

The three mistakes were due to carelessness in reading the questions. After reworking them, Yui quickly found the correct answers.

Seeing Yui learn quickly, Kotomi continued her lessons. As Yui found the previously incomprehensible math problems becoming more straightforward, her motivation grew.

The hour of tutoring flew by.

”Isn’t it getting late?” Yui asked as she finished the last problem and looked outside at the darkening sky.

She had thought the hour of tutoring would feel long, but surprisingly, it had passed quickly.

In contrast, school lessons always felt dull and dragged on. Why did time fly by when Kotomi taught her?

”It’s almost 6:30. It is getting late. Fortunately, I called home before coming,” Kotomi replied, not looking up as she continued grading the last two problems Yui had written.

Both were correct, meaning Yui had grasped this part of the material. However, they couldn’t relax just yet; more practice would be needed to reinforce her understanding before the exam.

”Well done! You got both questions right,” Kotomi praised, putting down her pen.

”Yay!” Yui cheered excitedly.

She never imagined that the girl who rarely passed math could now correctly solve two major problems.

In the past, that was unthinkable!

”You should keep reviewing math over the next few days. Strike while the iron is hot to get even better results on the test. Our next tutoring session is on Thursday. We’ll start working on Japanese and English then.”

”Kotomi, you’re starting to feel like a real teacher! Do you plan to become one in the future?”

A teacher?

Kotomi hadn’t even considered it. She shook her head, ”I have no plans to become a teacher. I hope to pursue a freelance career. But, if you ever have questions about your studies, feel free to ask me anytime.”

”Wait… then aren’t you basically my personal tutor?!” Yui realized.

”If you want to think of it that way, sure.” Kotomi smiled gently and stood up. ”Aren’t you going to prepare dinner soon?”

”Yep, after resting a bit, I’ll start making dinner. My sister and I usually eat around this time.”

”Speaking of your sister, I haven’t seen her today. Where is she?” Kotomi asked.

Given Yuka’s personality, she would have burst out excitedly saying, ”It’s the little penguin!”

”She’s asleep in her room. She played too hard at kindergarten today. When I picked her up after school, she fell asleep on my back. Want to go check on her?”

At the mention of Yuka, Yui couldn’t help but laugh.

It was the first time Yuka had fallen asleep on her back.

Yuka’s room was just next door. Yui opened the door gently, and there Yuka was, sleeping soundly, tucked under her blanket.

”Looks like she’s out for the night,” Kotomi said softly.

”Yeah. I envy kindergarten kids sometimes. They can play until they’re exhausted and then just nap whenever they need to. Once they wake up, they get to play again,” Yui said with a touch of nostalgia.

As a kid, the last place you wanted to go was kindergarten—you’d rather stay home all day. But now, even before reaching adulthood, just being a high school student made her long for the carefree days of kindergarten.

Students envy adults, and adults wish they could go back to their student days.

That mutual longing seems to be a universal truth.

”I think I’ll stay for dinner,” Kotomi suddenly said.

”Huh?” Yui didn’t catch on right away.

”What? You’re not inviting me?”

”No, no! You’re totally welcome! It’s just that I don’t have any fancy ingredients to make a proper meal for you. Hold on, I’ll go buy some groceries!” Yui said, ready to run downstairs and head out to shop.

”Calm down!” Kotomi quickly stopped her. ”I’m fine with whatever’s here. How about you take a break, and I’ll cook dinner?”

”You can cook?” Yui asked, surprised.

”Do I not look like someone who can cook?” Kotomi chuckled and teased.

”But… you’re a guest! It doesn’t feel right to let the guest cook!”

”I’m not a guest. Don’t be so formal~ I’ll take care of dinner. You relax,” Kotomi insisted. She then grabbed the chair she had been sitting on and carried it back to the kitchen.

She sent a quick text to her mom, Akina, saying she’d be eating dinner at Yui’s place. Then she took off her school blazer and put on an apron.

The kitchen was small, with the dining table and chairs outside, and only about seven or eight square meters of cooking space.

Kotomi found a bag of rice, washed it, and set it to cook in the rice cooker.

While the rice was cooking, she opened the fridge. Sure enough, as Yui had said, there weren’t many ingredients left. Yui typically did the grocery shopping on Wednesdays, taking advantage of the big sales and discounts offered at the supermarket.

The Wednesday sales were always packed with people, eager to buy fresh produce at lower prices.

But since there weren’t many ingredients left, Kotomi figured it was a good opportunity to clean out the fridge before Yui restocked tomorrow.

After all, a fridge overflowing with old ingredients is a nightmare Kotomi knew all too well.

At home, Kotomi’s family had a large double-door refrigerator, and every time she opened the freezer, she had to be careful that the frozen meat didn’t fall and crush her toes.

Getting hit on the toes wasn’t just painful—it was excruciating.

Just thinking about it made Kotomi involuntarily wince.

It wasn’t because of the potential horror but because she could vividly remember the pain.

As Kotomi crouched in front of the fridge, looking for ingredients, Yui, curious, came downstairs and stood by the kitchen door, watching her work.

Kotomi pulled out two potatoes, one green pepper, two eggs from a carton, and a tomato.

She peeled and shredded the potatoes and sliced the pepper. With her cooking skills leveled up, Kotomi’s knife work rivaled that of a professional chef. She heated the oil, sautéed garlic and onions, and tossed in the shredded potatoes and peppers, adding various seasonings. For a crispier texture, she splashed in a bit of water while stir-frying. If a softer texture was preferred, she could skip the water and fry them directly.

Once the stir-fried potatoes and peppers were done, she plated them.

Next, she moved on to making scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

After washing and cutting the tomato into chunks, she cracked two eggs into a bowl and whisked them with chopsticks. The rhythmic sound of chopsticks hitting the bowl echoed in the kitchen.

She heated the pan and poured in extra oil, as eggs tend to soak up a lot. Once the oil was hot, she added the eggs, quickly scrambling them until they turned golden. She then removed the eggs, sautéed the tomatoes, and added the eggs back in for a final stir before seasoning. Done!

Kotomi worked smoothly and effortlessly, like a seasoned chef. As she cooked, she even hummed the duet from Madoka Magica between Sakura Kyoko and Miki Sayaka, and I’m home.

”I want to walk hand in hand with you, how many times have I felt this way? The warmth that exists here, even if it’s a misunderstanding, I don’t mind, as long as we’re together. The sound of tears, the color of sighs. Now confirming where we are, it’s like every day is a joke...”

Since Madoka Magica didn’t exist in this world, Yui only thought Kotomi was singing a sweet, unfamiliar song. The melody was warm and joyful, but beneath it, there was a lingering sadness.

As Yui snapped out of her daze from listening to the song, she looked at Kotomi’s back while she cooked.

For some reason, Kotomi’s silhouette reminded her of a perfect housewife.

”Onee-chan, what are you doing standing by the kitchen door?” A sleepy Yuka, having woken up from her nap, came downstairs rubbing her eyes. She must have been hungry, ready for dinner.

As soon as she came down, she saw her sister standing in the kitchen doorway.

”So many things I want to see, so many things I want to know about the future...” Kotomi was singing passionately. But when she turned around, holding the plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, her singing abruptly stopped.

Standing at the kitchen door was Yui, and next to her, Yuka was still rubbing her sleepy eyes. When Yuka spotted Kotomi, her face lit up with excitement.

”It’s Little Penguin !! Little Penguin-nee-chan, your singing is amazing!”

Pfft—

Kotomi nearly spat out blood.

The embarrassment was overwhelming. She wanted to grab her things and flee the city that very night.

But fortunately, Kotomi, as a shameless heroine, had a thick skin.

A little awkwardness? Hardly a big deal!

Kotomi calmly brought the dishes to the table, as if nothing had happened, and said to Yui and Yuka, ”Are you two hungry? Come on, wash up and eat. The food is ready.”

”Yeah, I’m pretty hungry,” Yui said quickly, nodding. She was smart enough to pretend she hadn’t heard anything earlier.

Only Yuka, in her innocent way, asked, ”Little Penguin-nee-chan, what was the song you were singing? It was so good! My sister was standing there listening, completely mesmerized!”

”Let’s just eat!” Kotomi and Yui said in unison.