After Takatsuka-san went home.

The topic in our house became completely dominated by Takatsuka-san.

Mitsuki wouldn’t stop pestering me during dinner to invite her again.

Umi, too after her bath, she brought over her favorite picture book and asked me to read the story where the prince character is active, and every time the prince appeared she murmured, “That’s Takatsuka-san,” then looked up at me intently like she wanted to say something.

Even Mom, who came home late that night, showed interest in Takatsuka-san after hearing about her from Mitsuki.

Honestly, I almost want to issue a ‘Takatsuka ban’ in this house…

* * *

Then came the next morning.

I woke up early and stood in the kitchen preparing lunchboxes.

‘Come to think of it… is Takatsuka-san really satisfied with lunch like that?’

Probably because we talked about her nonstop, connecting lunchboxes and lunchtime made me recall her meals.

I’ve been dragged into eating lunch with her for about a week now, and she eats CalorieMate almost every day, occasionally sipping a jelly drink. I’ve never seen her eat anything else.

‘Well, whatever. That’s her business. Not something I should worry about. If I meddle and she gets the wrong idea, that’d be trouble.’

If she gets hungry enough, she’ll deal with it herself. Maybe it’s just her constitution and she can’t eat much.

‘…Yesterday’s side dishes are leftover though.’

I reuse dinner leftovers as lunchbox side dishes. When cooking dinner, I intentionally make extra so it can go in lunchboxes.

So when Mitsuki, the big eater, doesn’t eat much on rare days, I end up with extras.

I let out a long sigh.

‘…Well, it’s way better than throwing it away.’

And decided to open the shelf behind me.