"I'm back."

Kōyū pushed open the door, uttered the phrase often heard in Japanese dramas, "His period," changed his shoes, and without lingering in the living room, carried the groceries and hummed a tune as he walked straight into the kitchen.

He set aside some of the seasonal vegetables he had prepared, and put the Girls' Day food he had specially prepared for Ai into the refrigerator.

Having finished all that, he poked his head out of the kitchen and said to Ai, "Ai, could you come and help me wash the vegetables?"

"Um."

Ai's attention had already shifted from the song the moment Kousuke pushed the door open and came in. Upon hearing Kousuke's greeting, she immediately opened her eyes, her tone flat, but a smile appeared on her face.

"Hehe, you're much better now, aren't you?"

Akemi opened her eyes after the greeting, glanced at Ai beside her with amusement, and said, "Go on, I'm waiting to eat."

"Um."

After responding, Ai got up from the sofa, put on her velvet slippers, and slowly walked into the kitchen.

Kōyū pointed to the vegetables in the sink next to him and said, "Ai, please take care of these vegetables."

"Um."

After giving a simple reply, Ai walked to the sink, turned on the tap, and started washing.

Standing next to her, Guangyou glanced at her furtively, then quickly turned back to tidy up the kitchen tools.

The two didn't say anything, just silently went about their business, enjoying the moment of peace.

"I'm done washing."

Ai placed the washed vegetables into the basket next to her, then dried her hands with a towel, pursed her lips, and asked, "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Guangyou turned to look at her and smiled, "That's all. Go out and chat with Mingmei. Dinner will be ready soon."

Hearing Guangyou's answer, she didn't show any disappointment. Instead, she smiled and nodded, saying, "Okay, then I'll go out first."

After saying hello, Ai also came out of the kitchen, and judging from the expression on her face, she seemed to be in a good mood.

...

After Ai left the kitchen, Kōyū took out the ingredients he had deliberately hidden from the refrigerator, preparing to cook a more authentic holiday meal for Ai.

Guangyou feels that modern holidays have become a habitual ritual.

In the past, these traditional foods for festivals were made by elders for the younger generation, except for some particularly troublesome ones.

Nowadays, most people buy it for convenience. The taste of food bought outside may be better, but Guangyou always feels that something is missing.

Of course, while he said he did it, he had to admit that even he didn't do everything himself.

He mainly buys ready-made food because it's too troublesome to prepare, such as peach blossom wine...

You can force someone to brew wine, and they can learn how, but I don't have the time right now, and the taste probably won't be as good as the finished product.

Apart from these particularly troublesome tasks, he plans to do the rest himself.

"I have to be serious about celebrating this first holiday!"

Guangyou opened the bag, arranged the ingredients in an orderly manner, and recalled the cooking steps that the aunt had told him. Only after confirming that everything was correct did he start cooking.

Although Ai values ​​the sentiment, Kousuke doesn't want his creations to taste bad.

Ai probably wouldn't care about the taste, but Kousuke does; it's a matter of face.

To be honest, he's the only one who really cares about saving face.

"Damn it, I almost put in too much salt!"

Guangyou was thinking about it when his hand trembled and he almost added a tiny bit too much salt.

He quickly turned down the heat, picked up a little with his chopsticks, tasted it, and breathed a sigh of relief: "Luckily I didn't add too much, otherwise I would have had to add more ingredients to neutralize it."

Guangyou banished these irrelevant thoughts from his mind, controlling the wooden spatula to stir the food in the pot, and said, "Forget it, I'll focus on cooking and stop thinking about random things."

...

Akemi turned to look at Ai as she came out of the kitchen and teased, "You seem like a completely different person after washing some vegetables."

"I'm glad I could help."

Seeing how much effort Guangyou put in, she actually wanted to help in some way.

My sister is alive and well, without having to worry about being hunted down by the organization. She has also temporarily escaped the organization and is no longer forced to develop those drugs.

She also found friends and someone who vowed to protect her.

Ai glanced at the kitchen out of the corner of her eye and muttered to herself, "I never thought of that before."

These things that she never dared to imagine before are now happening to her, which makes her cherish them very much.

Because she cherishes things, she cares about them. And because she understands this, she doesn't ask for too much, and she's not the kind of girl who asks for a lot anyway.

What Ai wants is actually quite simple; even just standing next to him and helping him wash vegetables or doing some other handy work would be enough.

The music hadn't ended yet, and Ai could vaguely hear singing coming from the kitchen.

A mature male voice on one side, a childlike voice on the other; it's hard to say which is better or worse, they just have their own unique characteristics.

It was clearly the same person's voice, but she sensed something different in it.

However, they all sound very nice.

"Hmph~"

Ai's brows relaxed completely, a smile appeared on her face, and she hummed a tune, softly singing a song.

Thinking back to the first time she heard this song, the corners of her mouth curved upwards even more, and a blush appeared on her face. Even the song she hummed sounded more cheerful.

These were things that Ai herself didn't notice at all, but Akemi, who was standing next to her, did notice some changes.

I don't know how many times the song played on repeat before the noise from the kitchen gradually subsided.

"Gentlemen, dinner is ready."

Guangyou's voice came from the kitchen at this moment, and at the same time, others came out of the kitchen carrying plates. After placing the plates on the table, they turned around and went back into the kitchen to continue serving dishes.

"Um."

Ai walked to the tape recorder and pressed the pause button. She walked briskly to the table, hesitated for a moment, then pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down, her face slightly flushed.

"That's so thoughtful."

Akemi's soft murmur did not escape Ai's ears; her words caused a beautiful pink blush to appear on Ai's face at a visible speed.

However, she didn't refute anything and just shyly acquiesced.

"Alright, let's get ready to eat."

Guangyou brought the last dishes to the table, untied the floral apron that Mingmei had prepared, and looked at the full table of food, a sense of pride welled up inside him.

Although it wasn't his first time cooking, it was the first time he had ever cooked for Ai Haibara. Wasn't the smile on the girl's face the very reason for all his hard work these past few days?

Akemi's gaze lingered on each dish on the table for a second. After looking at all the dishes, she didn't hold back her praise: "Kuangyou, it seems you actually went out of your way to find out more about it this time."

Kōyū sat down in the chair opposite Ai and said with a smile, "Of course! After all, it's our first time, so we have to be serious!"