THIS IS A FAN TRANSLATION, THOUGH THE WEBSITE NAME…HAS MTL IN IT…
Jealousy storm in the university cafeteria
TL: Furby
ED: Siriciryel
The cafeteria was very crowded at lunch time.
I carried a set meal of deep-fried horse mackerel over to the table where Karen was already seated and waiting.
This university had 2 cafeterias. This cafeteria, which was the biggest of the two, had your typical long, rectangular tables in the center and round tables for 4 next to the windows. Normally, people who came in as couples monopolized these round tables. Karen was quite adamant about securing one of these ‘couple tables’, so we always came a bit earlier in order to ensure that we managed to seize this kind of table.
From Karen’s perspective, I sat in the chair 90 degrees to her right. Before, I used to try and sit right next to her, but after knowing of her love affair, I inadvertently ended up with this habit of keeping my distance from her.
Karen had brought with her a bento that “her mother had made for her”.
Eating lunch together on Fridays had been a rule of ours since the time we started dating. It used to be when we decided where we would be going to enjoy ourselves together during the weekend. Nowadays, though, this rule had become nothing but a pain.
Nonetheless, Touko-senpai had already gone and given me a stern warning: “Make absolutely certain that you don’t change the way you spend your dates with Karen! Women can make inferences about the state of mind of the other person from just a small change”. Therefore, here I was, eating lunch together with her, even in this state.
Although, if you looked at it from another side, given that Karen was having her love affairs on either Mondays or Thursdays, you could also say that Fridays’ lunch was a perfect chance to look into how that was going.
Not even three minutes had passed since we started eating our lunch when Karen sent a look of dissatisfaction my way.
I knew the reason for her foul mood.
However, I pretended not to know and kept bringing the deep-fried horse mackerel to my mouth in silence.
“For the love of…”
I had barely heard Karen say that when, in the next moment, she let out a prolonged sigh, almost a bit too intentionally.
This was a sign for me, telling me that I should start noticing and worrying over her already.
… Guess I’ve got no choice. I’ll play along with her…
“What’s wrong, Karen?”
There was no need for me to ask what or why. The reason why Karen was in such a bad mood was as clear as day to me, but for the time being, I played the boyfriend role and asked her.
“That. Look at that.”
Taking care that only I noticed it, Karen jerked with her chin to the people seated five tables in front of us.
The ones seated there were Touko-senpai and Kamokura.
Touko-senpai had prepared two portions of bento and was handing out one of those to Kamokura.
“Kamokura-senpai and Touko-senpai?”
“Yes!”
Karen snorted while answering.
“Touko-senpai, isn’t she an idiot? To be acting all lovey-dovey in this cafeteria. Don’t you think it’s very unbecoming of her?”
Touko-senpai was laying out her hand-made bento and offering it to Kamokura. Kamokura looked very happy about that.
That said, they didn’t seem to me to be flirting as blatantly as Karen was saying.
Normally, I would say that they didn’t look like that to me, and even if they did, they were two people dating each other, so it was understandable. Nonetheless, I imagined that it was better that I agreed with Karen.
“You’re right.”
“Yuu-kun thinks so too, right? This is the cafeteria where people come to eat, so just stop flirting with each other like that already!”
Karen seemed to be extremely displeased.
“First of all, if people are going to bring a bento, there isn’t any need for them to come to the cafeteria, no!? They should just find themselves an empty classroom and the two of them eat alone there! If they did, the seats in the cafeteria would be open for others to use. Think about the trouble you make for others too, honestly!”
I managed to suppress my urge to include a jab that she herself had a bento. Instead, I mechanically expressed my agreement, saying that she was right, and they should eat in a classroom.
To begin with, the university cafeteria allowed you to bring your own food if you wanted.
There wasn’t any rule that said that you couldn’t bring your own bento or food you bought from somewhere else.
True to that, aside from Karen and Touko-senpai, there were many students who were taking out food they brought themselves.
“Lately, those two have been eating their bento together like that just about always, no?”
“You’re right. I have seen them a lot, indeed.”
For the time being, I gave perfunctory answers.
When I turned my attention to the two of them in front of us, they really looked to be eating their bento while having a lot of fun as they talked.
A hand-made bento by Touko-senpai… That simple thought stirred emotions in my heart.
Even if I understood that this was all part of ‘Touko-senpai’s plan’, I still…
“Is there something that makes boys happy to receive from a girl?”
Touko-senpai asked from the other side of the phone. This was about 10 days ago.
“Did something happen?”
I asked back.
“I was thinking I wanted to do something that would delight Tetsuya, in order to get him to fall even harder for me.”
That was the answer Touko-senpai gave me.
Touko-senpai and Kamokura were currently, at least on the surface, a couple that was doing well. Meanwhile, Kamokura kept periodically racking up his trysts with Karen. Nonetheless, based on what I could see from the situation, it was clear that Touko-senpai was his favorite. Karen was in the position of being the convenient woman whom he could call during the times he couldn’t meet with Touko-senpai. But it would seem that Karen wasn’t aware of that truth herself.
“I see, so that’s how it is. That’s why you’re asking me what could make a man happy?”
Given the kind of unscrupulousness he had with his lower half, something in that direction would most probably make him happy, but Touko-senpai wouldn’t let him do that over her dead body. Not to mention that it would be better if it was something else which created a stronger mental sense of dependence for him; one which would last even after he got dumped.
“I guess that would be a gift, after all. And one which leaves an impression in his memory.”
Despite it being me who said it, I didn’t really have anything in particular come to mind. It felt kind of hackneyed for me.
“Hmmm, I did think about a present too, but I don’t really know what kind of thing would make Tetsuya happy. And there’s also this thing about spending money on him that annoys me when he is cheating on me.”
“Then, if we’re going for something that doesn’t involve you spending money, how’s something like a hand-knitted scarf?”
“Even if I started now, D-day would come to pass before I finished it. And let me say, when I think back on how Tetsuya is acting right now, I can’t get myself to do something so laborious for him.”
I thought for a moment. What kind of things are hard for me to tolerate now? It was at that time that I remembered my promise to eat lunch with Karen on Friday. That was something extremely mentally trying for my current self. Because all the memories I had of us enjoying lunch together up to now had suddenly transformed into painful ones.
“Touko-senpai, what do you think of a hand-made bento?”
“A hand-made bento?”
“That’s right. There’s no man in this world who wouldn’t be thrilled to have a bento made for him by his girlfriend.”
“You really think so?”
“Yes. Additionally, it’s not as if Kamokura-senpai’s life in university would end after you dump him, right, Touko-senpai? Every time Kamokura-senpai ate lunch, he would remember the bento that you made for him. This will serve as an excellent source for mental damage.”
On the other side of the phone, Touko-senpai remained silent for a while.
“A bento, huh? … But I’m not good at cooking.”
I had thought that Touko-senpai was perfect in all housework, but it turned out that she was bad at cooking? That surprised me a bit. Still, I had already thought about that part, too.
“That’s no problem. Bento nowadays can even be prepared with just frozen foods.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Furthermore, you can simply take them out of their packages and put them into a bento box. You don’t even need to heat them in the microwave.”
At times when I don’t have any money left, I also ask my mother to make bento for me. But on occasions in which my mother too is busy, I make them myself, though all I do is pack cooked rice and frozen food into the bento box and call it done.
“What’s more, you have an ample repertoire of foods to choose from like hamburgers, omelets, tonkatsu, and side dishes big or small, all of them are part of the options. To top it all off, it doesn’t even take you more than 5 minutes to make one.”
“I see! In that case, even I can make one of those! Thanks for telling me about something so great!”
That’s how it came to be that Touko-senpai made bento for Kamokura once or twice a week and the two of them ate together. Because Touko-senpai hadn’t done that even once until now, Kamokura was apparently enjoying it a lot. After all, he was proudly telling all his friends things like:
“Touko-senpai finally started to become conscious of her role as my wife!”
“Yuu-kun, Karen had thought of Touko-senpai as cool and stylish until recently. However, she is now disillusioned!”
Karen raised her face upwards as she said that.
“You’re right. It’s different from the image that Touko-senpai had kept until now.”
I had said nothing else except ‘you’re right’ for some time now, but personally, I simply didn’t have any more interest in speaking with this girl. I just wanted this conversation to end already.
“And if she does that kind of thing, it’s impossible for her to not curry boys’ favor! Touko-senpai doesn’t have any kind of pride, huh!”
These last comments from Karen made me feel very irritated. Could it be that Karen thought that by being the cheating partner of Kamokura, she had already won against Touko-senpai?
… For men, their real girlfriends and their mistresses are completely different things, day and night, like heaven and earth… No, like heaven and hell, there’s that much difference…
“Oh? Isshiki-kun!”
Hearing my name called out, I turned around and saw Touko-senpai’s best friend, Kanou Kazumi, standing there.
Together with her were two other girls from our group who were at the girls-only meeting before, the sophomore and freshman of the Department of Economics, Mina-san and Ayaka-san, respectively.
“Ah, Kazumi-san.”
I exchanged greetings with her, but it wasn’t as if I had a previous arrangement to meet with her. I was somewhat surprised that she had called out to me.
“You good with me sitting here? We were looking where to sit but there weren’t any open tables.”
This table was originally a table for 4, but you could easily sit 5 people without a problem by simply pulling over an extra chair.
“Ah, go ahead.”
I slid my chair closer to Karen while I said that. It couldn’t be helped under these circumstances. I looked to my side and saw that Karen seemed to be disinterested in the girls.
“Sorry to interrupt when the two of you were having your alone time~, Karen”
That was Mina-san speaking.
“Karen doesn’t mind. Karen and Yuu-kun were already about to finish eating, anyway.”
Mina-san made a strained smile hearing how Karen answered so curtly.
“Anyhow, we found you at the perfect moment, Isshiki-kun. We were looking for you.”
“Looking for me, you say? Did you need something?”
“You know, about the ‘programming homework’ we talked about the other day? Well, we were wondering if we could maybe ask you for your help with that now.”
Next to Mina-san, who had finished speaking, was Kazumi-san nodding fervently.
“Is that what this was all about? Understood. If you could be so kind as to explain to me the kind of homework you have, I can help you in doing it.”
“Now that we’re talking about it, do you mind giving us your email address, Isshiki-kun? It’s kind of hard to ask for your help using the group list we have.”
Kazumi-san then joined in too.
“I could’ve shared Isshiki-kun’s contact information with them and that’d be that. But I thought it would be bad manners on my part if I did it without asking for your permission first, Isshiki-kun.”
“You’re right, we did forget to exchange our contact info with each other last time. Well, in that case…”
I exchanged email addresses and SNS ID numbers with Mina-san and Ayaka-san. Karen was watching us as we did from the corner of her eyes.
Mina-san held her smartphone up in her arms and spoke.
“Isshiki-kun, do you mind if I share your contact information with Manami and Yuri too? The two of them were in that meetup with us, after all.”
“Sure, no problem. I did promise all of you that I’d help with your programming assignments.”
“Then I’ll send them your contact info, okay?”
Ayaka-san, who was a freshman the same as us, looked in Karen’s direction.
“I feel kind of awkward about asking for a boy’s contact information right in front of his girlfriend. But it’s still better than doing it behind her back in secret, right?”
Karen then spoke indifferently.
“It’s fine. Karen already knows that Yuu-kun only has eyes for her, so she’s not worried in the least about i~t.”
The three of them exchanged glances.
“Indeed. A few days ago, Isshiki-kun himself declared to us all that he’s Karen’s boyfriend.”
“Karen is so lucky too. To think that you have such a kind and devoted boyfriend like Isshiki-kun.”
I felt someone prodding my thigh below the table. It was Karen. Seeing her, I noticed that she had that look of ‘let’s go already’ in her eyes. Personally, it was more preferable for me to stay with these girls than to go with Karen, but it was out of my hands.
“Ok, then. The two of us have finished eating, so we’ll be taking our leave now.”
I spoke as I stood up with the now empty tray of food in my hands. Karen stood up from her seat together with me.
“Ah, Isshiki-kun, you’re leaving already?”
“Can’t be helped. See you around next time, then.”
“The homework! Sorry about it, but I’ll be looking forward to your help. I’ll contact you later.”
I bowed slightly towards the girls, and we left. Karen had gone and walked ahead of me by herself.
Before leaving my seat, though, I turned to look at the table where Touko-senpai was and, for an instant, my eyes met with hers. That said, there wasn’t any particular signal hidden in them.
I continued to walk to the tray return point, returned the tableware, and then left the cafeteria.
“What was that just now? They suddenly barged in during the time Karen and Yuu-kun were alone together.”
Karen said that as if throwing out all the displeasure she had had welling up inside her.
“Oh, it wasn’t like that. I met them by coincidence a few days back in a store that had a dessert buffet. That’s when they told me they had programming classes and asked if I could help with their homework.”
“What’s with that? Aren’t they being too impudent?”
Karen was clearly in a bad mood.
“Now, now, we’re all in the same group. I may need something someday too, so I thought it’d be better if I lent them a hand if it was something I could help with.”
“And Yuu-kun, make sure you don’t flirt too much with other girls! Yuu-kun ought to know better than that!”
… You’re the last person I want to hear that from…
I swallowed those words.
“Sorry. I simply thought that if my relationship with other girls was bad, it could impact you in a negative way, Karen.”
Karen then spoke while she looked at the ground.
“Karen… She hates that kind of meetup among women. It just feels like so much jealousy is there, or maybe I should say, it’s insidious… And despite that, it feels like we’re each licking each other’s wounds while at the same time we’re tripping others.”
“Is that so?”
I let Karen’s words go in one ear and out the other as they pleased.
“That’s why being together with friends who are men goes best with Karen’s nature. It’s so refreshing, and there’s no sensation of insidiousness. After all, Karen has a laid-back personality, too!”
… What is this girl saying now? I bet that what you really want is to be surrounded by men who fawn all over you!… Then again, I was the biggest idiot for not seeing through that act of yours.
Karen suddenly went around me and stopped in front of me.
“What?”
“Yuu-kun, cheating on Karen or any other infidelity is absolutely unacceptable. Make sure that you only treasure Karen!”
Karen said that with a strong emphasis. I see now. So that means that ‘I can’t cheat on her’. But it’s completely ok for her to cheat on me. Was that it? I honestly couldn’t keep up with the selfish mindset of this girl anymore.
At last, there was less than a month to go before D-day. Continue to think that and brag all you want until that day.
