Our shopping at Cocosco continued for a while longer. Since Tanaka and I were total amateurs when it came to barbecuing, we left almost all the food choices to Yuria.
"Well, this much should do it," she said.
When I happened to glance into the cart, an unbelievable amount of meat and seafood had been piled in before I knew it.
The sheer volume was staggering. Cocosco’s portions were already legendary for being oversized, yet here they were, stacked high in our cart.
"Hey, Yuria. I know there are three of us, but isn't this a bit much?"
"Think so? But if we have leftovers from the BBQ, we can just turn them into curry to eat tomorrow or something, right? Curry is always better the next day anyway, and it stays good for a long time."
"I-I see... That’s certainly an option. Curry made with high-end meat and seafood, huh? I’m looking forward to tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? Oh, are you hanging out with Ichinose-san tomorrow as well, Ryouta-kun?"
The moment Tanaka asked that, I realized I had accidentally let something slip.
Crap... Come to think of it, I hadn't mentioned the stayover to Tanaka yet.
(If I tell this girl that I'm staying the night at Yuria's house, it’s going to turn into a massive headache...)
"E-Err, well, that's, you see..."
"Ah, no, no! You misunderstand," Yuria cut in. "I was just saying that I would make curry to eat tomorrow so the food wouldn't go to waste. I didn't say anything about serving it to Ryouta. Right, Ryouta?"
"E-Eh? Ah, yeah! Exactly!"
Thanks to Yuria's quick-witted intervention, our sleepover plans weren't exposed to Tanaka. I secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hmm... is that really true?" Tanaka asked, narrowing her eyes.
"W-What's with that look, Tanaka?"
"Nothing, really. It’s just that the conversation you two were having sounded exactly like a couple who just started living together."
"Hah?! Me and Ryouta? Wh-Wait, Tanaka, what are you saying—"
"So I thought that maybe you were having a sleepover tonight and hanging out tomorrow too... But then again, there’s no way Ryouta-kun—who is currently charging full speed down the 'virgin for life' route—would actually be staying the night with Ichinose-san, right?"
Despite her playful tone, Tanaka had just laid out a one-hundred-percent accurate deduction.
A chill crawled up my spine, and I stood frozen on the spot. Her reasoning was eerily specific and perfectly correct. I felt a cold sweat break out, the same kind you'd feel if someone licked your neck and told you they could taste a lie.
"Is something the matter, Ryouta-kun?"
"N-No! It's nothing!"
She didn't seem to have actually realized we were doing a stayover, but her deductive power based only on that brief exchange was terrifying. Tanaka's intuition was a dangerous thing indeed.
After finishing our shopping at Cocosco, we returned to Yuria's house with overstuffed shopping bags in both hands.
"Wow... Ichinose-san, your house is incredibly big. To put it in Ryouta-kun's terms, its scale is perfectly proportional to the thickness of your thighs."
"Don't put it in Ryouta's terms. It's seriously gross."
"Hah?! What the hell, Yuria! That makes it sound like I'm the only one being gross here."
"Because you are gross," they said in unison.
Ugh... These girls... they were so blunt. However, little did they know that I actually thrived on their verbal abuse. How foolish of them.
"Man, the house is big, but the garden is beautiful too," Tanaka noted.
As Tanaka looked around the garden, Yuria's dog suddenly came charging toward her, huffing with excitement.
"Wait! Ryouta-kun, Ichinose-san! Some huge dog is running this way! Wha—oof! Hey, stop! My face! Please don't lick me!"
Tanaka was tackled with full force and pinned down onto the grass. I never expected her to get "licked"—physically, that is—by a dog as well.
"Come on, Tanaka, don't just play around. Help us get ready for the barbecue."
"In what world does this look like I'm playing! Help me!"
Tanaka was currently being adored by the dog to an extraordinary, and very wet, degree.