'How… did I end up here…?'
In the house of his beautiful neighbour and classmate, Amane Kei was invited over not by his beautiful neighbour, but her mother instead. Never in his wildest imaginations would he have pictured himself being invited over by his neighbour in such fashion.
"Don't be shy! Please make yourself at home!" Maya said to Kei who was visibly anxious about his first time being in Mai's house
"O-okay…"
"Mai-chan, I can't believe you've never invited dear Kei over to your house before."
Maya shot a smile at Mai who looked slightly nervous about Kei being in her house for the first time.
"I-it can't be helped! I'm a girl, after all!"
"Ara~ You say that and yet, you frequently visit his home, don't you?" Maya maintained her smile at Mai.
"Uuuuuu… Wait… How do you know that?!"
"I'm your mother, Mai-chan. It is only natural that I would know."
At this point, Mai could no longer say anything else because it was frightening how much her mother actually knows. As Mai silently pouted in the corner, Maya turned to Kei who was anxiously and nervously sitting on the sofa of their living room.
"Ara~ There's no need to be nervous, Kei-kun. If my cute little daughter can be so casual about going to your house every day, you should do the same!"
"Umm… I don't think I could do that…"
"Well, how about starting with dinner? Come now. The food is ready!"
"O-okay…"
As Maya had previously stated, she cooked up an actual feast for the 3 of them to eat. On the Dining table in front of them was what Kei could only guess was Chinese dishes. There was steamed fish, sweet and sour pork, chopped cabbage, and many more dishes that the three of them could definitely not finish. As Kei took a bite of the food that Maya cooked, he could instantly tell that she was a professional.
"Wow… This is amazing!"
"Please, eat as much as you want! I've always wanted a son of my own. Maya eats so little that it breaks my heart to see food to waste."
As they had their dinner, Maya had attempted to communicate with Kei even more to help him relax a little so that he could be more comfortable with the two of them.
"Say, do you two ever plan to get married?" Maya said out of the blue.
When Maya said that, Mai and Kei both choked on their food and drinks at almost the same time.
"Mama! How could you say something like that?!"
"I-… we-… ah-… um-…"
"We're not even dating yet!"
Maya looked at her once more, putting a wide grin on her face.
"Y-e-t?"
"Urk…"
"From the way you two were behaving, I would have thought that you were already together for a while now."
"It's just that…"
"I won't pry any further than that."
"That was already past the finish line kind of far!"
As Mai continued to complain about her, Maya completely ignored her and looked over at Kei and seemed to have whispered something loud enough so that only Kei could hear her. Hearing it, Kei's face turned into a slightly worried one.
"Thank you for having me over."
"Ara~ Please come over any time you want. Our door will always be opened for you!"
"I will now take my leave. Thank you very much again for the hospitality."
After Kei had left, Maya went to the kitchen where Mai was doing the dishes and decided to help her so they could finish faster.
"Mou~… Why did you have to say all those things to Kei?" Mai said with a slight pout on her face.
"Ara~ But was it not true? You two were acting like a married couple every time I saw the two of you."
"We… aren't dating yet…"
"Do you like him?"
"…Mmm…"
"Then you should try harder to get him to notice your feelings for him."
In truth, Mai was afraid of the answer she would get if she were to let Kei know about her feelings towards him. The two of them have feelings towards each other, but neither are willing to express it since they were both afraid.
"He is such a handsome boy. With such a kind and gentlemanly attitude, I'm sure there are lots of girls gunning for his attention. If you stay cooped up in your shell, one day someone might just come around and make him notice their feelings for her instead."
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
"Do what you've been doing, but more obvious."
"What does that even mean?"
"That's all the advice I will give you, the rest is for you to figure out on your own."
***
As Maya was advising her daughter on how to better express her feelings to Kei, the apartment door to the unit right next to theirs had just closed its doors and Kei stepped into the empty apartment.
"It's been so long since I've eaten like that…" Kei said in silence.
"I-… I'm home…" Kei said once again to the empty and dark hallway of his apartment as usual. Only this time, there were droplets of tears falling onto the ground of the apartment.