After I finished shopping, I walked to my apartment alongside Mashiro.

With her sound advice, I was able to do more thorough shopping than usual.

My life has changed a lot since Mashiro came to my house. One of the things that changed was my daily diet.

Having someone else in my life stimulated me, and my meals, which used to consist of convenience store lunches, gradually became more and more self-catering.

And after Mashiro became the person that she was now, it turned into a life that I have no complaints about.

The food that Mashiro cooked was perfect, with good taste, good appearance, and good balance.

Naturally, in order to make such a dish, a variety of ingredients are needed, and the number of things to buy during my daily shopping trip has increased.

However, even though I had more opportunities to shop, my knowledge hadn’t changed, so I was still struggling a bit when it came to choosing ingredients.

Of course, as long as the food was on the shelves, it doesn’t mean that it was inedible, but I know that there are some things that are good and some things that are bad.

I felt guilty for Mashiro, who was cooking for me, because I lacked the skills to distinguish between the two.

That’s why I was really happy that Mashiro had shared her knowledge about choosing ingredients with me today.

I was able to see a different side of her, and I feel like I gained a lot today.

“Thanks for today, Mashiro.”

Looking at the shopping bag in my hand, I thanked her as she walked beside me.

I thanked her not only for the shopping, but also for walking with me.

“Yes, you’re welcome.”

As usual, I was expecting her to say something like, “That’s my line,” but today, she accepted my feeling honestly.

When I think about it, my conversations with Mashiro are filled with expressions of gratitude towards each other on a daily basis.

There may not be a day that goes by when I don’t hear the word “thank you.”

“Thank you, Satou-san, for today.”

“No, I didn’t..”

When I responded in my usual humble way, Mashiro’s lips pouted as she stared at my face.

I had an idea of what the reason was from the previous conversation.

“You’re..welcome?”

I scratched my cheek and responded, “Yes,” Mashiro said with a small smile of satisfaction.

While I had asked her to be honest with me, I hadn’t been thinking about myself at all. No wonder she was so unhappy about it.

“Mashiro.”

I called out her name. The name of the cat I had taken the liberty of giving her on that snowy day.

Every time I said this name, she reassured me.

She proved to me that Mashiro was here now, that she was by my side.

“If it’s okay with you, will you continue to go shopping with me?”

It was not only to atone for the fact that I’ve been taking away her freedom for my own reasons.

I want to spend more time with Mashiro. I want to be there for her.

These words spilled out of my mouth out of such a fluffy and irrelevant feeling.

“Yes. If it’s okay with you, I’d be happy to.”

The expression on her face as she answered gently lightened my tense heart.

I wondered if it was because she had changed that she was able to respond in this way.

Or was it that she should have been more aggressive from the moment we met?

As I looked at Mashiro’s unique, calm smile and thought about these things, we were nearing the apartment.

Perhaps it was because so many things had happened in the past day, or perhaps it was because I was thinking about it. I had overlooked something important.

“Ara? Welcome back, Satou-san.

“Euh, ah..”

Suddenly a voice called out from beside me, and I turned around to see the landlady standing there, cleaning with a broom as usual.

“Oh, my, you’re showing off. It must be nice to be young.”

The landlady looked at Mashiro and me, and her expression relaxed as she put her hand on her cheek.

I held my head in my free hand as I looked at Mashiro’s hand, which was joined with mine.

I was so caught off guard that I completely forgot about the possibility that the landlady would be home since I arrived home late from shopping. On top of that, I was still holding hands with Mashiro as I had done on the way there, which made the landlady look completely happy.

“If you’ve got a girlfriend, why didn”t you just tell me?”

“Ah, no..hahaha.”

I couldn’t think of an excuse, so I let the landlady’s words carry me away and gave her a dry smile.

Mashiro was surprisingly shy and hid behind my back while squeezing my hand.

It seemed that the landlady had misunderstood me, but in a way, this might be a good thing.

I felt sorry for Mashiro, but I’ll go along with the landlady and pretend that I’m in a relationship with Mashiro.

“I’m sorry about Mashiro. I’d like to ask you one more favor..”

“Ah, what’s so formal about it?”

“I’d like to live with my girlfriend for a while..”

“What’s with the distant tone? That’s fine, you’re free to do so. You can only fall in love when you’re young.”

It pained me to have to lie about the fact that we had been living together for much, much longer, but there was no other way to explain it.

The landlady immediately agreed to my slightly reluctant words without any hesitation..I’m really indebted to her.

I thanked the landlady and was about to head to my room when I was stopped by her.

She came up to me like she wanted me to hear something, so I waited.

“I won’t stop you, but our walls are not soundproof, so be careful, okay?”

“I won’t do that!”

Before Mashiro, who was tilting her head to the side, could understand what the landlady meant, I pulled her hand and ran into the apartment.