Epilogue
The next morning. I woke up, realizing that the warmth that had definitely been beside me when I fell asleep was now completely gone.
For a brief second, I wondered if the entire thing had just been a dream, but the unfamiliar ceiling and the futon that was much fluffier than my usual one proved otherwise. And more than anything, the gentle fragrance filling the room was concrete proof that it wasn't a dream at all.
"Shinomiya-san...?"
I sat up, rubbed my sleep-heavy eyes, and left the room to go look for her. Faintly, from the bottom of the stairs, I heard the rhythmic, pleasant sound of a knife chopping on a cutting board.
Holding tightly to the handrail so I wouldn't trip and fall, I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen. There, a woman in an apron was happily humming a tune while she cooked.
Her figure looked so incredibly similar to the image of my mom I remembered from my childhood that I instinctively stepped up behind her and wrapped her in a gentle hug.
"My, my, what seems to be the matter?"
Even her voice sounded exactly like the troubled, affectionate tone my mom used to use.
"...Mom, what are you making?"
"—Hehe. As a reward for working so hard all by yourself, I made all your favorites. Please pick whichever ones you like best."
"Mmm... thanks, Mom. Love you."
"My, my, thank you very much. However, I am not your mother, Anno-kun."
Rather than rejecting my hug, she gently patted my head with an incredibly sweet voice. Hearing those words, my brain instantly achieved total consciousness. At the same exact moment, I realized exactly what I had just done.
"S-Sorry, Shinomiya-san! I was still half-asleep and just instinctively...!"
"Hehe. It seems you have an unexpectedly clingy, spoiled side to you, Anno-kun. I told you yesterday as well, but I am perfectly happy to let you spoil yourself with me as much as you'd like, you know?"
I panicked, ripped myself away from her, and bowed my head so furiously it practically scraped the floor in sheer apology. However, instead of getting angry, Shinomiya-san actually looked a bit disappointed that I had stopped hugging her.
"Putting that aside. Good morning, Anno-kun. I'm glad to see you slept well."
Putting it aside just leaves me deeply confused... "Good morning, Shinomiya-san. I feel like this is the deepest I've slept in a long time."
"I'm glad to hear it. And from my perspective, I was able to catch a glimpse of your adorable, clingy side, so I consider it a total win. More importantly, why don't you go wash your face? Breakfast will be ready in just a minute."
When I looked at the dining table, it was absolutely covered in so many different plates of food you would have thought it was a hotel breakfast buffet.
"Don't tell me you made all of this from scratch, Shinomiya-san? Wait, seriously?"
"No need to wonder, I made every single bit of it myself!"
Ahem! Shinomiya-san puffed out her chest and flashed an incredibly smug look of triumph. I practically wanted to frame a picture of her with a little caption that said, 'I am the producer of these fine goods.'
"It must have been so much work making all this first thing in the morning... if you had woken me up, I would have helped you."
"Please don't worry about it. I only made it because I wanted to. Besides, you looked so incredibly comfortable sleeping, I simply couldn't bring myself to wake you, Anno-kun."
I was deeply curious about exactly what kind of face I had been making, and seeing Shinomiya-san grinning wickedly while clutching her smartphone filled me with a very bad premonition. She hadn't captured it on camera, had she? I leveled a suspicious glare at her.
"You can stare at me as hard as you want, nothing is going to come out, you know?"
"............You didn't do anything weird, did you?"
"Hehe. I'll leave that strictly to your imagination. Come on, hurry up and wash your face. Let's eat before it gets cold."
I felt like I had been smoothly talked into a corner, but more than that, a part of me still felt like this entire domestic exchange was just a dream.
"...Alright. I'll get all the details out of you while we eat."
I reluctantly went to the bathroom to wash my face. Before heading back, I made a quick detour to Shinomiya-san's room to retrieve my camera. I wasn't going to just sit there and get completely played.
"Welcome back. There's plenty of food, so please eat as much of whatever you like."
I was once again utterly astounded by the sheer volume of dishes, allowing me to pick and choose my favorites for breakfast in someone else's house. Once I finished loading up my plate, I sat down directly across from Shinomiya-san, and we began our meal.
""Itadakimasu.""
The taste was absolutely flawless. It was easily one of the top two most delicious meals I had ever eaten in my entire life. Including the dinner she made last night—or rather, including her bento boxes—Shinomiya-san was genuinely an incredible cook.
But her technical skill wasn't the only reason it tasted this good. I'm sure it was because I was eating it together with someone—together with Shinomiya-san. As I naturally broke into a smile from the sheer, bubbling happiness welling up inside me, there was a sudden snap as she took a picture of me with her smartphone.
"...I really don't think taking pictures of me is going to be very interesting, you know?"
"I don't think so at all. You were making a really, really wonderful expression just now, Anno-kun."
Shinomiya-san smiled as she said this. Too embarrassed to look her straight in the eyes, I desperately tried to cover it up by shoving food into my mouth. Watching me do this, Shinomiya-san let out a soft giggle, looking incredibly amused.
"Anno-kun. Moving forward, will you continue to photograph all the different sides of me—of Shinomiya Rinoa?"
"...As long as it's within my power, I'd be glad to."
"Then it's settled. For a long, long time to come. I look forward to working with you, Anno-kun."
The smile Shinomiya-san gave me as she said those words was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen on anyone. I completely stopped eating, lifted my camera, and pressed the shutter.
The End
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