Translator: Cryus

Since then, Chii-chan has taken the initiative in our conversations.

I was the one who wants to ask her questions, but I was getting questioned instead. I couldn’t even change the conversation topics.

I intended to ask her every detail regarding the fact that Arioka-senpai answered her phone, but our positions were reversed.

Each time I answered a question, Chii-chan’s voice grew sharper and colder.

「So in other words, soon after you met, you went to his place, where he lives alone, and made snacks for him.」

She paused so many times that it felt like she was talking to a foreigner.
And it sounded like she was rapping.

That was her new way of talking.

「Uh, well, I guess…. Yeah… Kinda.」

I couldn’t tell her about Mizuhara’s threat to expose my identity as Miss Chocolat. I was afraid that it would complicate things even more.
He even let me use his kitchenware.

「Does he make snacks for you too? Maybe he’s interested in you.」

「Huh? Not at all. He can’t even make his own cookies.」

「Why does he have more and better kitchenware than you do?」

「Eh…?! That’s… well…」

That was a difficult question to answer.
I didn’t know if she would believe me if I say that he was literally waiting for an elf to appear.

「Well? You meet him more than twice a week, and you spent Christmas, New Years, and your birthdays together, and you’re not in a relationship?」

「No no, definitely not. We’re just friends.」

「…I see. Just very special friends.」

That was very cold and sarcastic.

「You’re at Mizuhara-kun’s place today again, right?」

Chii-chan made sure to emphasize “kun” and “again”.

In the end, she pressured me to get Mizuhara on the phone.
Why would she do that? I put my hand on the mouthpiece of the phone.

「Chii-chan wants to talk to you.」

While I was busy coming up with an excuse to keep them from talking to each other, Mizuhara took the phone.
I thought he would definitely refuse to talk to her, but I was shocked when he took it casually.

It didn’t seem like he would say anything unnecessary, so I was a little relieved.
I couldn’t hear Chii-chan’s voice from the side at all, even as I put my ear close to the phone.

I had to guess what she was saying by judging from Mizuhara’s responses.

「Yes…yes。…Yes…………That’s right.」

All he said was yes, so my plan failed horribly.

「No…… no, I’m not gay.」

Wh… what are they talking about?
I had been kneeling by reflex because Chii-chan was so upset. I adjusted my position and tried to lean closer.

「No… no. …There’s no need to worry. I don’t think of Noda-san as a human.」

I was starting to panic.
I prayed for the conversation to end.

「Your cousin’s really angry.」

Mizuhara returned the phone to me with a frown.

「Hey, Chii-chan! It’s just a misunderstanding…!」

「Saa-chan. Let’s meet up and talk.」

That was the coldest tone I’ve ever heard from her.
Her calm voice was surprisingly scary.

「Eh? Mizuhara too? Well… he’s busy with a lot of stuff, I think he has plans today…」

I tried to keep Mizuhara away.

「My only plans today are to eat the chiffon cake.」

He answered nonchalantly.

I thought Chii-chan couldn’t hear Mizuhara because I couldn’t hear her earlier, but I was wrong.
She heard him loud and clear.

I tried to stuff his mouth with an egg tart, but I was too late.
Now all of us were going to meet up. The situation went from bad to worse.

She hung up after saying goodbye.
I made her angry, and I didn’t figure out her relationship with Arioka-senpai at all. I gained nothing.

「Chii-chan’s really upset…. You idiot… you shouldn’t have said that you didn’t think of me as a human…」

「You’re my elf. What’s wrong with telling the truth?」

「You just can’t. Chii-chan thought you were a girl, so she didn’t mind when she heard you were an elf and sweets maniac… But when she found out you were a guy… I couldn’t explain myself at all. She even asked if you were into midgets.」

「Does she think that I have a midget complex?」

He looked really upset.

「Sigh. Chii-chan thinks you’re a completely suspicious person…」

She even thinks that he’s a fanatic or cultist.

He’s part of the Underground Sweets, but we weren’t allowed to tell anyone about it.

She wanted an explanation for our secret meetings, but I gave a vague answer, so she thought Mizuhara recruited me to a cult.

「Mizuhara, you don’t have to come. I’ll explain everything to Chii-chan.」

「I’ll go too.」

「Why?」

He dislikes going to gatherings and drinking parties that don’t benefit him.
Yet he insisted on going.

I gave up.
We were going to meet at 5 pm, so we still had some time. We discussed about how to respond to her questions in order to prevent piling onto the misunderstandings.

「First, let’s talk about what to do with the chiffon cake.」

I groaned in anger.

「That’s the last thing we should talk about!」

That’s why I wanted to go alone.

「You don’t like wasting food either. What are you going to do with the egg whites?」

Since we already broke the eggs, we couldn’t preserve them anymore.
We had to throw them away if we didn’t cook them. It would go to a waste, but we didn’t have enough time to bake a chiffon cake.

「We could just fry the egg whites and put them in the fridge.」

「That doesn’t sound appetizing at all.」

I ignored him and thought about how to make him more presentable.

Chii-chan focuses on appearances first.
She mostly looks out for cleanliness, which isn’t a problem for Mizuhara.

「The word elf is forbidden, and it’ll help if you get changed. ……Your shirt is stretched out anyway.」

I mumbled the last part.

It was stretched unnaturally, so I wanted to avoid letting her see it on their first meeting.
I was the one who did it though. Mizuhara simply nodded and opened his closet.

「Oh, what about that shirt? Remember that time you let me borrow it for the meeting when you were injured? That shirt looks pretty cool.」

「You wore it to your blind date and ruined it. That’s why your cousin got mad, right? You want me to wear it even though you wore it as a male disguise? Your cousin thinks I’m gay. She might even think you’re sharing my closet.」

「……Oh right. That would be bad.」

While we were making pointless talk like that, time passed and it was about time to leave.

We took the train to our meeting point.

「Oh, I almost forgot. Eat a proper meal, okay? Don’t just eat desserts.」

「……………Alright.」

We were meeting at a family restaurant, so I had to make sure. He looked unwilling, but he nodded hesitantly.

Thankfully I realized it before we got there.

「Hey, it’s Chii-chan.」

It was 15 minutes before our meeting time, but she was already there.
She was crossing her arms and looking unhappy. Next to her was Arioka-senpai.