Chapter 166: Actually, I Am a Pervert
Chapter 166: Actually, I Am a Pervert
After about twenty minutes, the cooking was done.
He quickly put the side dishes into the Lunchboxes that were already filled with rice, dividing them into Himekoji’s portion and Mashiro’s portion.
“It looks delicious!”
He grabbed a bit with his hand to taste it, and each dish tasted super good.
“The Housekeeping Gigolo is really something! With this skill, I could probably marry into a family and be a househusband right now. Oh no, I feel kind of happy…”
After Himekoji boasted to himself, he suddenly felt empty because he was brought back to reality.
“But wait, what am I really doing? I’m not some innocent young guy making a Bento for a girlfriend! And not for a sister either! Sigh!”
He checked the time; it was still before 7:00 am.
Today, he spent less time on cooking than he expected, so there was still plenty of time left.
Before going to wake up Mashiro, for some reason, Himekoji suddenly remembered what he was told a few days earlier when he was helping Mashiro with transfer paperwork, running around with Hiratsuka-sensei.
“Mashiro is a genius painter.”
That reminded him of the earlier “kitten sketch”—
So, almost without thinking, Himekoji took out his phone and searched using Shiina Mashiro as the keyword.
Search results appeared immediately.
There were hundreds of thousands of entries, mostly in English.
He clicked on the top website, which was an official site for a foreign art museum.
After finding Mashiro’s name, the screen suddenly lit up brightly.
The web design was very simple.
On the blue background page, a painting was displayed.
It was a photo of a painting hung on the museum wall.
However, the moment Himekoji saw that painting, it felt like all his pores opened up at once, as if all his nerves were bursting out, and his mind seemed to be sucked into that small screen.
“What is this?”
His dry throat unconsciously said those words.
Himekoji wasn’t really good at art appreciation, but even so, he was strongly drawn to this painting, which had both abstract and symbolic designs.
He couldn’t describe it in words.
It was a painting where he could see light, hear sounds, and feel the wind—just like that.
Scrolling down the screen, he saw the judges’ comments, which were helpfully translated.
—Hats off to the high skill and feeling for showing things the eyes can’t see, like light, sound, and air! Her unique world view can’t be explained in words. With this painting, Shiina Mashiro entered the realm of genius. Our common sense doesn’t apply to her.
They praised her painting highly.
To be honest, Himekoji had never seen anyone use such extravagant praise for someone else.
His mind wandered for a long while, and only after some time did he suddenly remember he still had important things to do—
It was time to go to Mashiro’s room for her wake-up call.
Yes, in the room. After a few past experiences, Himekoji wasn’t stupid enough to just shout from the doorway anymore, because it was totally useless!
“Hey~~ Shiina! It’s morning! If you don’t mind, please be kind and get up soon!”
Himekoji carried a warmed towel, opened the door, and strode in boldly, with none of the caution from the first time.
Sure enough, Mashiro wasn’t on the bed today.
She was sleeping under the desk, in a pile of clothes and underwear, with only her messy-haired head peeking out.
As he called her to get up, Himekoji pressed the warm towel onto her gravity-defying hair.
Mashiro hadn’t woken up yet.
Based on past experience, she probably needed about five more minutes.
The room was a terrible sight, even though he had cleaned up for Mashiro before she slept yesterday.
The computer was still on, as usual.
Well, at least there was a path to walk through; that was something to be grateful for.
At one point, Himekoji glanced at something, and his eyes were drawn to the B4-sized papers on the desk, making him pause.
It was printed comic manuscript pages.
Looking closely, the pages were scattered everywhere in the room.
Himekoji had seen Mashiro’s drafts before, but he always felt it was rude to interfere or look without permission, so he skipped over them each time.
But today, maybe because he had just seen Mashiro’s paintings on the art museum website, his curiosity was really strong.
Finally, Himekoji reached out.
He picked up page one, two, three… and then arranged the sheets in the right order.
Thirty-two pages total, one complete story.
He looked at them one by one—
They were drawn well, no, amazingly well!
From every angle, the characters and backgrounds had no flaws at all. The composition was expertly done and beautiful, showing a drawing skill superior to One-Punch Man right before his eyes.
The framing was also very interesting—since she freely drew the characters and backgrounds, she used some unusual expression styles.
Himekoji followed the carefully drawn pages to the last panel of the final page, and that was it.
“…How boring.”
After organizing the pages, Himekoji froze for a moment, then let out a sigh that sounded kind of disappointed.
It was surprisingly boring.
The story was so plain it felt like a joke.
The genre was a girls’ comic.
A boring girl fell for a boring boy, with no exciting plot twists. The ending was predictable from the very beginning—”Then let’s go out.”
That was the story: no conflict, no ups and downs, not even a ripple.
“No, but maybe that’s what happens sometimes, but still, so what.”
It was a comic so empty that after reading it, you almost wanted to complain like that.
“…Good morning.”
Mashiro slowly crawled out from under the desk.
Her upper half was in check-patterned short-sleeve Pajamas, while her lower half was bare, as if she left her pants behind in a dream. Her pale skin and slender legs disturbed Himekoji’s gaze.
“Shiina! Cover the bottom! Are you trying to lure me?!”
The hem of her shirt just barely reached below her hips. Every time the sleepy Mashiro swayed from side to side, it fluttered lightly, faintly showing her hidden white skin and revealing glimpses of something deeper that made his heart race…
Himekoji quickly looked away.
Mashiro walked to the dressing table with unsteady steps, eyelids half-closed, and sat down.
She didn’t seem to care or notice Himekoji’s wandering and shaken gaze.
“If I can endure this trouble every day, I’ll become a fairy…”
Himekoji thought to himself, “What good is turning into a fairy?” as he combed her hair.
He used hair spray and a hairdryer to force her stubbornly sticking-up hair to obey with sheer strength.
“Hiratsuka-sensei told me something.”
“Don’t talk out of the blue like that! You’ll scare me! Also, who’s Hiratsuka-sensei?”
“She said if I don’t wear pants, Akito would be happier.”
Himekoji had to think for a second to recall that “Hiratsuka-sensei” was probably the one they called Hiratsuka Shizuka.
“…I mean, don’t fall for her nonsense! Hiratsuka-sensei’s mind isn’t quite right, which is why she hasn’t found a partner for so long.”
“What do I need a partner for?”
Mashiro started spacing out again.
“If I were a real Pervert, you’d have been eaten up long ago.”
Just as he said that, their eyes met through the mirror.
Mashiro’s calm and pretty eyes blinked softly.
Himekoji looked away quickly.
“It’s amazing you’ve lived safely until now.”
“Because there’s no Pervert.”
“No, actually I am a Pervert.”