Chapter 22: Lunch and an Accidental Visit to the Service Club
The day after that little episode, during lunch, Yuigahama openly ran to the clubroom to find Yukinoshita.
As for Duan Shiji, he was the same as always. He brought his lunch in a thermal container along with The Book of Han, heading to the Special Building to eat. Today was no exception.
Although he hadn't missed any club activities these past two days, Duan Shiji still had trouble distinguishing which classroom the Service Club used.
After all, there were indeed many classrooms on that floor, and most of them weren't used by any clubs—meaning the nameplates were left blank.
In this kind of situation, it was even harder to determine where the Service Club was located…
In the corridor of the Special Building, Duan Shiji walked along while scanning the nameplates on each classroom.
Since he needed to identify which rooms were empty, he paid special attention to the nameplates.
"Hm? That one is…" At this moment, his eyes stopped on a strange nameplate.
The nameplate itself wasn't special—just a normal blank one. What was odd was the sticker in the bottom left corner: a skull.
It stood out starkly among all the other blank nameplates, piquing his curiosity.
So Duan Shiji stood in front of the room, wondering what it was used for.
Also, he couldn't help but complain a little—why didn't these doors in the Special Building have windows?
Although he knew it was to protect club privacy, it made his search for an empty room more troublesome.
If there were windows, he could easily check for available desks and chairs with just a glance.
But without them, he had to open each door to be sure.
Don't underestimate the time this saves—sometimes it was enough for him to read several more pages of The Book of Han.
In truth, Duan Shiji had already assumed this room belonged to some unknown club. It was probably locked. Plus, this area felt really familiar—he was almost certain it was a clubroom.
But out of curiosity, he reached for the handle and gave it a pull.
Clack~ As it turned out, the room wasn't locked. And yes—it was a clubroom.
"Uh…" Seeing Yukinoshita and Yuigahama inside sharing food from their bento boxes, Duan Shiji immediately broke into a cold sweat.
Perhaps to better set out their lunches, a long table had been placed in the middle of the room.
No doubt about it—this was definitely a clubroom, and one he was quite familiar with: the Service Club.
"Huh? Duan-kun?" Yuigahama looked toward the door, confused.
"Duan-san? Is there something you need?" Yukinoshita also noticed him, tilting her head slightly as she asked.
"Ah… I was just looking for a quiet, empty classroom to eat lunch in. I didn't mean to walk in here. Sorry for the interruption. Goodbye." Duan Shiji fired off his words like a machine gun and prepared to close the door.
"Wait, wait." Yuigahama suddenly called out.
"Let Duan-kun eat lunch with us. Is that okay, Yuki-no?" she turned to Yukinoshita.
"…Sure," Yukinoshita nodded in the end.
"Thanks…" Duan Shiji gave a small word of gratitude and returned to his usual seat.
Meanwhile, Yukinoshita and Yuigahama resumed their earlier conversation.
Duan Shiji opened his thermal lunch container, and a mouth-watering aroma spread through the room…
"Wow~ Duan-kun's bento smells so good…" The scent quickly captured Yuigahama's attention.
Yukinoshita also kept glancing over.
"Ah… it's nothing really…" Duan Shiji didn't know what to say, so he replied vaguely.
As he laid out the compartments of his thermal container, Yuigahama's eyes sparkled: "Duan-kun's lunch looks so fancy! It looks really delicious…"
"Mm… Looks like some pretty nice mainland dishes too," Yukinoshita commented as well.
"Ahaha, it's just some homemade food…" Duan Shiji couldn't help but smile at their praise.
"Sounds like your mom's really skilled," Yuigahama said enviously.
"…She didn't make this." Duan Shiji looked down, the mood noticeably dampened.
"Eh? Ah… then, maybe your dad made it?" Yuigahama quickly tried to recover.
But that only made things worse: "No… he doesn't cook."
"Uh…" Realizing she messed up, Yuigahama gave Yukinoshita a pleading look.
She might not be that sharp, but even she could tell something was wrong—clearly, something had happened in his family.
"…Sigh," Yukinoshita let out a breath. "Duan-san, you're very good at making mainland dishes."
"Yeah, well, I am originally from the mainland. My mom used to cook a lot of dishes like this too… Want to try some?" Duan Shiji still seemed a little down, but maybe to ease the awkward mood, he made the offer.
"Mm-mm-mm!" Yuigahama eagerly nodded and picked up a fish ball.
"…Alright then." Yukinoshita hesitated briefly but picked up some shredded pork with green peppers.
Duan Shiji seemed a little surprised: "Aren't elementary schoolers in Fusang supposed to dislike green peppers?"
"Huh? That's green pepper?" Yuigahama stared at the unfamiliar dish—she clearly hadn't recognized it.
"Are you calling me an elementary schooler?" Yukinoshita seemed to focus on the oddest point.
"Totally not what I meant. Your focus is so weird…" Duan Shiji deadpanned.
"It's not like that. It's just that in Fusang, green peppers are usually prepared in very plain ways, so the bitterness isn't masked well…" Yukinoshita explained.
Duan Shiji actually found this pretty interesting. As he listened, he removed his mask.
"I see, I thought it was just because people found them troublesome to prepare," he said while folding the mask and setting it on the table.
"There's that too. Plus, green peppers just don't really suit the Fusang palate…" Yukinoshita raised her eyes to look at Duan Shiji—and noticed, for the first time, that he had taken off his mask.
She'd never seen what he looked like without it before, and now that he had, she couldn't help but take a second look.
Duan Shiji's face was delicate and fair, with a small beauty mark at the corner of his left eye—he looked somewhat fragile.
All in all… he was actually quite good-looking.