Erina didn't believe in such a result since she had confidence in her dish, but she also knew the taste of Haru's dish wasn't lost on her, and even better than her. She didn't want to admit it, but she really lost in this battle.
"Alright, don't cry..."
Erina felt a gentle hand caressing her head. "I - I'm not crying!" Her eyes were red and tears kept coming out from her eyes. She didn't want to admit that she was crying, especially after she lost.
"Yes, yes, you're not crying..."
Haru caressed her back now gently calming her down.
"I'm not crying!"
"Yes, I know."
Erina didn't move away from him, but somehow she felt quite frustrated when she lost, and at the same time, she knew what it meant to enjoy cooking from Haru.
"...."
Shiina, Kosaka, and Iwasawa who saw the scene in front of them couldn't help but move up and separate them.
"How long are you going to take advantage of Erina!"
---
The cooking competition between the two of them was over, and Haru had said that Erina was a success on her test working in his cafe.
"No, I can't accept this!"
Erina felt that Haru was trying to pity her or something.
"My test is just making a dish that can satisfy me and your venison dish is really good."
Haru had to admit that Erina's cooking was very good.
"No, I can't accept it!"
But Erina was very hard-headed and didn't want to accept it.
"But it's your last day at my cafe."
"Do you want me to get out of this place?"
Erina looked at Haru and somehow showed a very sad expression.
"..."
It would be lying if Haru didn't have an interest in Erina since both of them loved to cook and thought that it would be good to cook together and tried a lot of dishes from various places together, but he wasn't sure whether she could accept his three girlfriends.
Even though he had to admit his charm, it was very hard for a girl to share their love with other's girls.
If it was just a normal girl, then it would be very easy since he could just put his dick then make them submit, but he didn't want to do that since he felt that Erina was very special and felt the same attraction which he felt toward Sora, Megumi, and Utaha. Even though he had to admit that he also felt lust toward Erina since she was a very attractive girl, he wanted to treat her more than that since he felt that she could become her rival in this world.
Rival.
The same as the story on Shounen manga where the protagonist gained power in front of their rival, Haru also thought the same since he wanted to improve his cooking skill, he felt that he needed a rival who was able to match him.
In his opinion, only Erina was able to match up his growth on cooking and that was why he treated her better and even tried to guide her since being on the top was lonely.
"...."
Haru suddenly thought something strange, but he had to admit having both rival and wife at the same time was very tempting.
However, he wasn't in a hurry since he hadn't settled the thing between him and Sora.
"Aren't the people in your home going to pick you up?"
Erina wanted to say something, but suddenly her phone vibrated. "I'll take this phone." She looked at her phone and saw that it was her grandfather.
"Grandfather, what's wrong?"
"Erina, I'm sorry, but there is a problem with the car in our house, can you ask Kasugano-kun to send you back home?"
"What?! Wait Grandpa----"
"Sorry Erina, I have some matters. See you at home."
"....."
The phone ended and Erina had an expression of disbelief. She tried to call her grandfather again, but it was futile since it couldn't be connected.
---
"Hopefully, it'll make their relationship closer."
Senzaemon rubbed his beard and smiled gently.
---
"What's wrong, Erina?"
Haru had heard their conversation, but of course, he needed to pretend that he didn't hear anything.
"Ugh... no one is going to pick me up. I'll take a taxi to go back."
Erina was too embarrassed to ask Haru to send her back.
"Taxi? Why don't you ask me? I'll send you back home."
"No, it'll trouble you....."
"It's alright. I can't feel relief to let you go back using a taxi."
Haru knew that Erina was an Ojou-sama who didn't have experience on a lot of things. He was afraid for her to be cheated by the taxi driver or being kidnapped or something.
"I think that you're thinking something rude."
Erina frowned looking at Haru.
"It's just your imagination. Let's go, it's better to go early since it's almost dark soon."
Erina frowned further since she thought that he wanted her to come back as soon as possible.
"No, I can't do it myself!"
But this time, Haru didn't listen to her selfishness. "Listen to me, I'll send you back to your home, alright?"
"..."
Looking at Haru who was a bit forceful, Erina somehow flushed and looked away. She turned and waved her hair doing the movement which usually appeared in shampoo advertisements.
"Then bring my bag to your car right now!"
Walking away arrogantly, Erina wanted to go back, but suddenly she remembered something. She looked at Kosaka, Iwasawa, and Shiina.
"Thank you for taking care of me for the past week. I've learned a lot."
"Yeah, we really teach you a lot of things."
Iwasawa remembered when Erina had messed up the washing machine before causing a lot of mess.
"You can come any time."
Kosaka was wondering what was the relationship between Haru and Erina and that was why she wanted Erina to come every time.
Shiina only nodded, but somehow she was quite lonely.
"And, please tell Yuri too that I'm going back."
Erina bowed her head and glanced at Haru.
Haru nodded and looked at everyone. "I'll send her back first." Bringing her luggage, he went to his car to bring her back to her home.
Looking at Erina and Haru, they only felt that it was their imagination, but they felt that the relationship between the two of them was similar to a harem protagonist and a tsundere heroine.
"No, it might be my imagination..."
Iwasawa held her head and thought that she had played too much galge lately.
---
Inside the car, if Haru didn't say anything then it would be very quiet, and Erina was the type of girl who wouldn't take the initiative after all.
If it was someone else then it would be awkward, but it was different when the person who talked with Erina was Haru.
Haru's EQ is very high and if he wants, then he might be able to make friends with the people in this entire country, but he was too lazy to do that. If he did that then his name might change into "Najimi Osana".
Haru started the conversation with the topic of the cooking competition which they had earlier. He talked to her about the reason why he had used crappy bread for his dish before.
Hearing his explanation, Erina felt that the world of an elite which was being built by her father started to crumble since she only knew that there were a lot of things which she could do with food since Haru's method really dumbfounded her.
In Erina's opinion, cooking wasn't something fun, and it was something that was forced by her father, but when she talked with Haru. She felt that cooking was quite enjoyable and there was a lot of mystery to it.
They talked to each other for a long time about each other's dishes, until Haru suddenly invited her somewhere.
"It isn't late, do you want to go somewhere?"
Erina raised her eyebrow and asked, "Where?"
"Arcade? Have you been there?" Haru asked.
"That's an uncivilized place for an uneducated person, how can I be there?" Erina frowned when he asked him to go to that kind of place, but she wanted to go since she had never gone there. However, it was impossible to hear her honest words from her mouth.
"Just think that you're being deceived by me to go to that place, or are you afraid to go there?" Haru asked.
"Hmph! I'm not afraid! Let's go to the arcade now!"
Erina folded her arms, but somehow also anticipated her first experience in the arcade.
Haru smiled happily.
"Let's go."
"Why are you smiling?"
"It's because Erina is very cute."
Erina blushed and looked away. "W - What are you talking about! Don't say stupid things!
"Hmph!"
Erina might have tried to hide it, but Haru could see her smiling face through the window of his car and had to admit that this girl was really cute.