Laid-Back Life in Tokyo: I Really Didn't Want to Work Hard
Chapter 35 Afternoon Time

Chapter 35: Chapter 35 Afternoon Time

That afternoon, it was the weekly home economics class.

Boys and girls paired up in groups of two to complete today’s cooking goal—stewed potatoes with meat.

This dish is simple and easy to make and is a very common household dish worldwide.

Of course, for someone with cooking skills at Lv0 like Uesugi Sakura, any dish is equally challenging.

"Damn, Uesugi, why are you adding so much salt?"

"...Aren’t you supposed to add salt to everything?"

"Yes, but not that much!"

Goto Iwao quickly scooped out the melting mound of salt from the pot with a spoon and set it aside, "Phew, we almost messed up today’s assignment."

"..."

Uesugi Sakura recalled the time when he was trying to learn cooking by watching online videos,

"How do you even measure how much to add? All those cooking videos just say ’season to taste,’ so I figured adding a bit more wouldn’t hurt in such a big pot."

"Uesugi-kun... actually, you only need a small spoonful of salt," Hanamaru Hanabi whispered, blushing.

"Haha, I told you guys, don’t let Uesugi cook; just let him cut the potatoes," said a girl named Kawase Nanami, chuckling.

"What do you know, little girl? Uesugi needs to learn to cook, otherwise, he won’t pass the teacher’s inspection today."

"Who are you calling little girl!!" Kawase Nanami puffed her cheeks and glared angrily at Goto Iwao.

Due to her short stature and youthful appearance, her classmates had given her the nickname "little girl."

But she didn’t like the nickname and often put on a fierce-looking face to glare at anyone who called her that, though her fierce looks were more endearing than threatening and had little effect.

Goto Iwao shrugged his shoulders, indicating that everyone knew who he meant.

"Ah!! Damn you, Goto! I’ll make you pay for this!"

Saying this, Kawase Nanami swung her small fists and charged at Goto Iwao.

"Nanami..."

Hanamaru Hanabi saw the situation and wanted to stop it immediately.

But it was unnecessary soon; Goto Iwao extended his right hand to stop Kawase Nanami by her head, making her struggle to swing her fists but unable to hit him, "Give it up, little girl; I can give you a dignified outcome."

"You jerk!"

A flustered Kawase Nanami kept swinging her fists but still couldn’t reach.

For a moment, everyone in the cooking room looked over and laughed, especially Ayaka Rie, who laughed the hardest.

Class Monitor Kyujuu Rika wanted to stop the two from play-fighting but thought that they’d done this before and that stopping it wouldn’t help, as these two just liked to joke around like this.

"..."

Uesugi Sakura looked at the two quite speechlessly, thankful the teacher wasn’t there, or their group would be scolded yet again,

"Let it go, Goto; stop teasing Kawase-san."

"Alright." Goto Iwao let go of his hand.

"Jerk!"

Goto Iwao was about to apologize, but Kawase Nanami unexpectedly swung her little fist right into his stomach, causing a spasm.

Though Kawase Nanami was small, the strength of a normally developed high school girl was not weak, especially when it hit the most vulnerable part of the human body: the stomach.

The pain made Goto Iwao clutch his stomach and squat down.

"Goto-kun?" Hanamaru Hanabi, standing beside him, was startled and looked at the crouching Goto Iwao with concern.

"Did the joke go too far?" Kyujuu Rika also noticed something was wrong and quickly put down what she was doing to check.

"I... I..."

Seeing the painful expression on Goto Iwao’s face, Kawase Nanami realized she might have hit too hard, and the previous fiercely cute look on her youthful face was replaced with worry and a hint of fear.

Could it be... could it be my punch sent him to the hospital...?

Uesugi Sakura was not as worried as the others; his face remained calm because he had already seen through Goto Iwao’s true nature:

"Get up, Goto, quit acting; wait and see how you explain when the teacher arrives."

Hearing Uesugi’s words, the trembling Goto Iwao immediately stopped shaking, stood up, and slightly bowed to Kawase Nanami in front of him:

"Sorry, Kawase-san, I shouldn’t have called you that nickname, though you really do look like a little girl."

Though it seemed like an apology, the guy still carried a smile on his face and didn’t sound sincere, more like he was joking.

Kawase Nanami looked at the apology that felt neither here nor there in front of her, feeling even more annoyed and realizing she was tricked into worrying for nothing.

"Hmph! Mind your business!"

With that, she turned her face away angrily, no longer wanting to look at the annoying guy.

"..."

Kyujuu Rika noticed that things had suddenly returned to normal over there, rubbed her forehead wearily, and shook her head before returning to her previous position.

Just then, their home economics teacher returned from the restroom and entered the classroom, glanced around, and did not notice anything unusual.

...

After classes ended in the afternoon, it was time for the Kyudo Club’s daily practice.

Unlike cultural clubs, sports clubs are quite busy, often training until around 6 p.m., sometimes even until 9 p.m., and only get two to three days off a month.

The baseball, basketball, and soccer clubs, in particular, are especially strict, strictly prohibiting early departure and frequently training until late at night. Their presence can often be seen on the field, filled with the sweat of youth.

As Uesugi Sakura walked across the field, looking at their sweaty and cheering selves, he found even more appreciation for Kyudo.

Though maintaining the stance for shooting left him sore all over, at least the training wasn’t physically intense, making it much more manageable for him.

Chitose Mai suddenly appeared in front of Uesugi Sakura, wearing her trademark smile.

"Hehe, Senior Uesugi."

"Mm."

Uesugi nodded in response. Beautiful girls have especially lovely smiles, a fact perfectly showcased by Chitose Mai’s face.

She took off her earphones and smiled at Uesugi Sakura,

"Senior, does your leg hurt? This morning when I got up, I couldn’t even get down the stairs."

"It was okay."

Feeling sore was a given after maintaining the bow-pulling stance for nearly two hours, but not to the extent of being unable to go downstairs.

Chitose Mai shrugged her sore shoulder and complained, "Ah~ being a guy is nice. Even though you don’t seem like the exercising type, Senior, this training doesn’t affect you much. Is it a matter of constitution?"

"Guys do have an advantage in that sense, but it varies from person to person. Don’t you want to be a girl anymore?"

"No way! Why would you even think of that, Senior?"

Chitose Mai immediately replied, then looked at Uesugi Sakura again, showing off her trademark smile, "But I think, Senior, you’re quite handsome. If you became a girl, you’d definitely be prettier than me!"

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