Ever since I confessed, she has been acting strange. - CHAPTER 5: SUMMER VACATION ARC

Episode 32: The Young Lady’s Preparation

I threatened… no, I had a healthy parent-child discussion with my father and got permission to live alone for the duration of the summer vacation.

Of course, my room was right next to Kagehito’s.

As for why Kagehito had started living alone, I found out the reason – his own thoughts behind it – not by forcing it out of my father… but through a proper parent-child talk.

It was for Kagehito’s own growth. And ultimately, it was for my sake – he wanted to improve himself. If I really cared about Kagehito, I should let him continue to live on his own.

For Kagehito is trying to change.

As his master, nothing could make me happier. In that case, the right choice would be to respect his wishes, hope for his growth, and meet again after the summer break, each of us having grown in our own way.

–Well, more than that, I just wanted to spend a loving, sweet summer vacation with Kagehito, so I moved in without a second thought.

Growing? What’s that? Is it something tasty?

I mean, growth and all that should be an event for later. Before that, there are more important things like confessing, becoming a couple, getting engaged, getting married, and, of course, spending a sweet, sweet summer vacation with me, the heroine!

The whole growing up thing can happen after all that, at a nice, leisurely pace.

…Besides, I was kind of interested in trying out living alone.

“Well then, my lady, we will say goodbye.”

“Good work.”

The servants of the Tendou family quickly carried in all the furniture and daily necessities, unpacked everything, and then quietly left the room. They had probably returned to the waiting room next door. After all, no one really believed that the Tendou family’s daughter could live alone so easily.

Normally, I would have had to find an apartment, hire movers, and unpack everything myself. But as the daughter of the Tendou family, I couldn’t take any risks. They had probably even checked the room for suspicious objects before I arrived.

I couldn’t help but think that it lacked a bit of charm, but that wasn’t the main point this time, so it didn’t really matter.

If anything, there was even a chance that I wouldn’t use this room that much.

“Eito’s shift won’t be over for a while…”

What I took out was the key to the room next door. More precisely, a spare key to Eito’s apartment.

As if it was the most natural thing in the world, I slid the key into the lock, opened the door, and let myself in.

“So, this is Eito’s room…”

There were only the bare essentials – far fewer belongings than I had expected. There didn’t seem to be any place to hide dirty magazines… or wait. In this modern age of e-books, there was always the possibility that he kept them as digital files instead.

Eito is a boy, after all. He should have at least one or two of these things… right? Does he? Really? I’m starting to lose faith here.

For the record, I wouldn’t mind if Eito had such books (or digital files).

I mean, he doesn’t have a girlfriend right now, and it would be weird for me – who isn’t even his girlfriend – to complain about it. In fact, if he did, it would actually help me figure out his preferences. It would be a huge help.

…Seriously, though. That’s how little I have to go on. I’m so desperate for clues that I actually hope to find something like that.

Of course, if I became Eito’s girlfriend, I’d want him to get rid of all this stuff. After all, if he has me, he shouldn’t need anything like that.

“Alright.”

First, a room inspection.

I had already gotten data on the layout and amenities beforehand and memorized it.

But at the end of the day, this was a living space. It wouldn’t be surprising if there were discrepancies between the data and the reality. So I had to check for them and make adjustments…

Yep. No major problems.

The bathtub didn’t seem to need cleaning either. Since Eito had just moved in, he probably kept up with the cleaning himself.

Now all I had to do was take into account his place of work, his way home, and his means of transportation to calculate the perfect time to start filling the bathtub.

There was no room for a single second of error. Which meant there was only one way to do it.

First, I pulled out my smartphone and accessed the Tendou family database to enter the necessary information.

Then, using the supercomputer the Tendou family had developed – an advanced system created with an absurd amount of money (apparently enough to host the Tokyo Olympics seven times over) and some borderline occult elements – I accessed the database.

Using its immense computing power, I had the supercomputer calculate the optimal time to fill the bathtub. Science really is amazing.

…All right. Now I could make sure the bath was ready when Eito got home.

Next up – dinner.

Eito was probably working hard at his part-time job and would come home starving.

In other words, this was the perfect moment to win over his stomach.

If I could hit him with maximum firepower right here, my chances of victory would skyrocket…!

I couldn’t just use the ingredients in Eito’s refrigerator without permission.

On the other hand, if I wasn’t allowed to enter his apartment in the first place, that would be a problem as well.

But luckily, I’m a genius.

Before I put this plan into action, I had already bought the entire apartment building.

In other words, this whole place was mine.

And when it’s my property, it’s no problem to enter freely.

Anyway, back to the point. I had two options for ingredients – use the ones in my own room or go out and buy fresh ones.

I had planned a lot of things in advance, but when it came to the cooking part, I was still undecided.

My refrigerator was stocked with the finest ingredients from around the world. If I used them and cooked the meal myself, the result would be so exquisite that even the chef of a three-star restaurant would fall to his knees, bow his head, and cry bitter tears of defeat.

At first glance, this seemed to be the only viable option – an absolutely perfect plan.

However, my brilliant mind had discovered another possibility, one that could rival even this flawless strategy.

That possibility was – wouldn’t it feel more homey if I bought ingredients from a nearby supermarket and cooked with them?

Gourmet cuisine or comforting homemade flavors?

The ultimate dilemma.

I could not think of a more difficult problem. In comparison, placing first in a national exam was child’s play.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t find an answer. And so here I was, still agonizing over it on the very day I had to decide – how shameful.

“That’s it. I might be able to use this.”

Once again, I accessed the Tendou family database and fed the relevant information into the artificial intelligence system – another project developed with a huge budget (also said to be enough to fund the Tokyo Olympics seven times over).

By the way, I personally programmed part of this AI myself, being the genius that I am. Its reliability was unquestionable.

Next, I connected the AI to the supercomputer, further enhancing its capabilities.

Ideally, I wouldn’t have to rely on artificial intelligence to make my decisions. But considering that I had reached the day of execution without a clear answer, my personal pride was now a secondary concern.

Everything was for the sake of my sweet, sweet summer vacation plan with Eito…!

“…! The answer is here…!”

The AI had given its answer. My fate was sealed.

With trembling fingers, I tapped my smartphone screen to reveal the result.

“Doesn’t really matter, does it?”

Fourteen Tokyo Olympics worth of budget had just turned to garbage in an instant.

To put it bluntly, what a piece of crap.

And what was with that all-too-familiar tone? Who programmed it to talk like that anyway…?

…Oh, right. That was me.

“Maybe I should just scrap the whole thing… No, the real mistake was relying on a machine to decide in the first place.”

Get a grip, Tendou Hoshine. Fate is something you take into your own hands.

Closing the ridiculously expensive Tendou family database, I picked up my phone and searched for ‘Amidakuji tool’.

Yeah. This site will do. Throwing money at a problem isn’t always the answer.

“Let’s see… First, I have to enter the selection… ‘Gourmet Cuisine’… ‘Homemade Cooking’… And now, start the Amidakuji…”

And just like that, I entrusted my fate to a simple online tool – and secured the perfect setup to await Eito’s return.

By the way, I ended up buying ingredients from the nearby supermarket and made curry.

“Welcome home, Eito.”

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I got it! You’ve updated the title and adjusted the tagline to reflect the heroine’s passionate declaration. Let me know if you need any more refinements!