Chapter 15: The Outing Plan

"Ding! Host’s guess is correct. Favorability grows more slowly in the later stages. It is suggested that the Host satisfy the girlfriend from both material and emotional aspects simultaneously, so as to accumulate favorability as quickly as possible."

The System bro once again gave a timely hint.

Kitahara frowned and pondered for a while, gradually coming up with an idea.

"Got it! Emotions, huh? No one understands this stuff better than me. Now just watch how I handle little Rina..."

Getting up, washing up, changing clothes—after completing the whole routine, Kitahara Chiki went to the windowsill to take a look outside.

The situation outside was still rather bad. The wind and rain were still raging.

The originally clean and spotless streets had now become messy and chaotic. Some tree branches had been broken by the fierce wind and lay scattered haphazardly across the road.

Fallen leaves and all kinds of debris were everywhere—it could be said to be a complete mess.

However, one could see that sanitation workers were already braving the wind and rain to begin cleaning up. It seemed the situation wouldn’t continue to worsen.

Kitahara checked the time. It was only just past eight in the morning. Just as he was considering how to solve the breakfast problem, "knock knock knock"—a knocking sound arose.

"Could it be my housekeeper Hayami Rina has made breakfast and is calling me to eat?"

Muttering inwardly, Kitahara went to open the door.

"Ohayo, Kitahara-kun. You’re already awake? I was worried you might still be sleeping and that I’d disturb your rest. It’s like this—I made a simple breakfast and wanted to invite you over to eat together."

After opening the door, standing outside was indeed the neighbor lady Hayami Rina, and the matter was exactly as Kitahara had guessed.

It just made one feel instantly delighted!

Today’s temperature was slightly low. Hayami Rina wore a close-fitting base layer that wrapped her well, with a cardigan sweater coat over it.

"Hi... thank you for the invitation, Rina-nee. I just got up too. Shall I come over with you now?"

Kitahara forced himself to withdraw his greedy gaze. He was afraid that if he looked a few more times, his drool would drip down.

"Yes, it’s already made. We can eat anytime. It’s just... the food is rather simple. Kitahara-kun, please don’t disdain it." Hayami Rina bowed.

She hadn’t noticed Kitahara’s greedy gaze, because she had been keeping her head down the whole time, not daring to look up.

At this moment, she felt very ashamed in her heart. Compared to the lavish ingredients Kitahara had bought the past two days, what she had made felt too shabby.

It felt somewhat embarrassing to present.

Originally she thought this was somewhat humiliating and didn’t dare come call Kitahara to eat. But thinking that he would otherwise have to solve breakfast by himself, and that the weather outside was too terrible to go out foraging, she still mustered up the courage to come over.

It was a gesture of goodwill after all. Surely Kitahara-kun wouldn’t blame her.

"How could I disdain it? I have no requirements for food. Besides, Rina-nee’s cooking skills are so excellent—even the simplest food, made by you, will be delicious."

Kitahara naturally had to say some nice things.

Hayami Rina taking the initiative to invite him to eat was a good start. He definitely had to encourage it and not dampen her enthusiasm.

He only hoped favorability would increase quickly. He was no longer willing to be a three-second real man!

Grabbing his keys, he went back to her home together with Hayami Rina. Kitahara recalled that he had fallen asleep early last night and hadn’t even known when Hayami Rina left. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, he spoke up:

"Rina-nee, I’m so sorry about last night. I actually fell asleep. You were busy until very late before going back, weren’t you? That was so rude of me."

"It’s alright. No need to apologize. Kitahara-kun was just too tired. What I did was insignificant compared to your generosity.

In the future, if Kitahara-kun has any needs, I can come help anytime!"

Hayami Rina shook her head, indicating there was no need to care about such trivial details.

Her mood at this moment had improved quite a bit because of Kitahara Chiki’s praise of her cooking.

This was the effect of emotional value.

...

Arriving at the warm neighbor’s home, Kitahara saw that food had already been set out on the dining table.

Mm, indeed somewhat simple.

Rice, pickled vegetables, natto, fried eggs, and some fish balls left over from last night.

But for breakfast, these were enough. A normal family would eat no more than this, unless they were truly wealthy households.

Kitahara didn’t deliberately show anything. If in this situation he still exaggeratedly said things like "the food is too sumptuous," it would backfire and make Hayami Rina embarrassed.

Better to act normal.

Seeing that cute little Aya-chan was already sitting at the dining table waiting to eat, Kitahara greeted her and also sat down on a dining chair.

"Itadakimasu~"

"Itadakimasu!"...

"Rina-nee, have you listened to the weather forecast? How many days until this typhoon passes?"

While eating, Kitahara Chiki casually asked.

"It should be soon. The wind and rain are already a bit weaker than last night. The morning news said the typhoon’s effects will pass within a day or two."

Hayami Rina answered.

"That’s great then. I happen to have a plan—I’d like to invite you and Aya to go on a vacation outing this weekend. It seems it can go ahead. Today is Thursday. Skip tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, Saturday, the weather will be fine. Is that okay, Rina-nee? Aya-chan?"

Kitahara Chiki revealed the plan he had laid the groundwork for.

This was the method he had thought of earlier to deepen emotions—through the freshness and excitement of an outing, letting him and Hayami Rina understand each other better and become closer and more intimate.

Mm, and it would also spend quite a bit of money—two birds with one stone.

"Mm mm... Sugoi! An outing, awesome! I’m fine with it, Kitahara-oniichan!" As soon as Aya-chan heard about going out to play, she nodded repeatedly in joy, raising her little hand in agreement before even swallowing the food in her mouth.

Hayami Rina also had a smile on her face. On weekends she had to look after her child and couldn’t go to work, so going out to play was fine too:

"Sure, where does Kitahara-kun want to go? Senso-ji, Meiji Shrine? Or Ueno Park near us?"

"No no, not those places. Those places are too boring—you can only look at scenery, too little participation. Since we’re bringing Aya-chan, we should do something fun. How about Disneyland?" Kitahara said.

"Yay! Kitahara-oniichan is the best! I’ve never been to Disneyland before. I’m so excited!" Aya-chan became even more excited.

But Hayami Rina’s face was full of difficulty.

"Kitahara-kun, the cost of going to Disneyland is too much. I can’t afford it. How about considering free attractions instead?"