Disclaimer: Whew, last chapter of this arc! Yay! Ahem, all credit goes to Shingo Nanami and フクロウ. I just hope my lousy translations are good enough to keep everyone entertained. Well, then I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.

野良猫を落とす10の方法 II

10 Ways To Drop A Stray Cat II

Part Five

"Well, there's no abnormalities."

"Thank you very much."

Just as Kasane's checkup ended, Nobunaga routinely placed his stethoscope away.

As usual he would bring her over to his condo and begin his examination in the living room's sofa.

It's not like they met everyday. He was busy with work and Kasane was occupied by her part-time job and club activities.

That's why they only meet during the mornings of their respective day offs.

And afterwards, they would always eat lunch together.

It wasn't like he was on a date with Kasane, but it felt different than a friendly outing.

Nevertheless, their odd relationship continued.

"Let's go." Nobunaga shrugged on a jacket and slipped his wallet and car keys into his pocket. However, Kasane stood up in protest.

"It's okay, I'm fine! You keep on treating me out for lunch! I feel bad!" she shook her head, flustered.

The first-second times she merrily accepted his offer.

However again and again, he would treat her to lunch at different eateries and restaurants after her examination as if it were a normal occurrence for him. Kasane wasn't a type to turn down offers, but even she, especially in these sorts of situations, felt reluctant to accept his offer every time.

"I'm fine with it. I also just happened to be hungry that's all."

"B-but still… Ow-!"

"I don't live on a low income. Besides, I have no problem with this so just let me treat you lunch already."

"Owowowow! Ouch! It hurts, it hurts Tono-samaaa!"

He tightly clenched her head. Kasane, in tears, frantically sought to calm him down.

"Then shall we go?"

"Uuu…No! I still think… Owowowowowowow! !"

In response, Nobunaga only increased his tight hold on her.

"T-that's why, um… Instead, I-I'll cook for you… ! !"

"…"

Hearing her unexpected offer, Nobunaga stared down at Kasane in wonderment.

"Um, well. You give me free check ups and also treated me lunch a bunch of times so I thought it'll be nice if I could clean your condo or... cook for you… Something like that-…"

"…"

"…I'm sorry, never mind forget it."

With no response from Nobunaga, she quickly diverted her attention away from his gaze.

"…Fine. Do whatever you want."

"Uwe?"

Nobunaga walked back and slumped into the sofa. Dumbfounded, Kasane looked back at him.

"What."

"Oh, um… Is it okay?"

"You're taking back what you offered? Such an indecisive fellow aren't you?"

"No, it's just that… when I clean I might accidentally touch your personal belongings…. and I can't picture you eating home cooked foods at all…"

In that moment, he felt his eyes grow wide.

Now that she said it, this is the first time he remembered.

Having his personal belongings touched by someone else… Having a woman pretend to be his wife and cook meals for him…

Those were the things he hated the most in the world, to the point where he wished he were dead.

"…Not really. If I didn't like it I wouldn't have told you to 'do whatever you want'."

"Ha…" Puzzled, Kasane scratched her head.

"Ah! Then I better start cooking the rice! What should the side dishes be~" She then cheerfully hurried over to the kitchen. Truthfully, she was actually happy to finally use that nice kitchen. Merrily making her way to the fridge, she opened it. Then promptly closed it, and opened it again.

"Tono-sama…. Your fridge only has water….."

"Of course. I fundamentally don't eat at home."

"Eh," she turned to him in astonishment. "Then everyday you eat out!?"

"…Well that's what I generally do. Of course there are times when I don't eat anything at all."

"You don't cook!?"

"Why should I?"

He snorted and turned away. Kasane gave a bewildered sigh.

"…No wonder the kitchen and all the appliances were so clean…"

Before she thought he rarely used the pots, pans, and knives, but it turns out they weren't used at all. The evidence could be seen in the clean state of those appliances.

Even though he bought them, he never used it. Such a waste… Kasane thought to herself until she spotted a pile of white clothing.

"Isn't this all the clothes you just got back from the cleaners…?"

"Yeah, doing the laundry is too troublesome for me. After I wear it, I send it back to the cleaners."

"Ehhhhhh! That's so uneconomical! !" Kasane shouted. From the bottom of her heart she was severely shocked at his remark. To think he'll send his clothes to the cleaners instead of doing the laundry himself… he's so wasteful. Kasane never grew in a wealthy household, so Nobunaga's behavior only appalled her.

She wasn't a frugal or stingy person, but people ordinarily wouldn't do those kinds of things.

"If you have laundry just put it in the laundry machine and hang it up to dry…!"

"Still too troublesome."

"…"

She hurried over to his bathroom and lo and behold she found a laundry machine that looked as if no one touched it since its installation. You might as call it a piece of furniture now. Kasane exasperatedly sighed and walked back to the living room.

"Geez… It can't be helped. I'll do the laundry and cook something for you." She said with an incredulous look on her face. Nobunaga returned the gaze.

"Don't you think it's troublesome?"

"Not really. I always do it at home anyway so I'm used to it. I'm fine with it… Geez! People like you, who's not self-sufficient, should go find yourself a wife!" she puffed her cheeks in annoyance as she head towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going out to buy some groceries since there's nothing in your refrigerator."

"…You're getting my food, at least let me go with you," Nobunaga said as he stood up from the sofa. He walked towards Kasane and patted her head.

"Ehehe~. It's not much but, dig in."

After buying all the ingredients and cooking the meal, 'lunch-time' had already long passed so Kasane only cooked a simple omelet rice with salad as a side dish.

Nobunaga dully commented, "Well at least it looks edible." But he soon gulped it down and asked for seconds so Kasane assumed he liked it.

Before returning to his place, they stopped by a a video shop and rented an action movie, which was now playing on the screen as they ate lunch.

After cleaning up the room (though it was already clean to begin with) Kasane and, a very sullen, Nobunaga did the laundry and hanged it out on the veranda to dry.

"We got a lot of ingredients today, so you'll be fine when I come over next time," Kasane triumphantly grinned. Nobunaga silently gazed back at her.

Since she thought it was necessary, she also bought an apron. With her hair up and a cute apron over her school uniform, the sight of her was… well…

Monkey often told him, "Aprons are definitely a man's romance!" before. But he thought of it as ridiculous, finding no sense in that monkey's delusional idea. Now he stand corrected. Indeed this was, how can you explain it? …It sort of gets to you.

"What are you doing."

"You're just going to eat out again, aren't you Tono-sama? You know this sort of diet isn't good for you, right? That's why right now I'm making you dinner so you could heat it up later!"

"Hmph… What are you making?"

Kasane naturally moved around the kitchen. It was as if this wasn't the first time she worked around in this environment.

Looking down, he saw her drop something into a pot of boiling oil, deep frying it.

"U-m. I was thinking of making curry with a lot of vegetables and… some croquettes- …Ah!"

Staring at the bite-sized, freshly fried croquette that Kasane placed the kitchen paper, Nobunaga couldn't help but think how good it looked. Sneakily stealing it under her nose, he quickly chomped it down.

It was hot… but delicious.

"Geez~! If you eat it all now, you won't be able to eat anything tonight!"

Nobunaga involuntarily laughed at her miffed reaction.

This is the first time he ever had this feeling.

TBC

Whew, the second arc is done! Hopefully I'll be able to translate the third arc before I go back to college... Hopefully. Ah FYI, I'm writing this AU in chronological order. Just to make that clear... フクロウ's first 'arc' on this AU is actually 唯一無二(One And Only) but she then expanded this story later on. Now that she 'finished' the story (I'm not sure if she's going to write more of this AU or not), I just decided to just to write everything in order. If she happens to write more about this AU, I'll just include it in later. Sorry for the useless commentary, I just wanted you all to know this. Well then, I'll now work on some drabbles for Owari's Stray before returning back for the third arc. Having a nice day!