I was reincarnated as bait for the summoned hero
Valentine’s Day is almost here.
While glaring at her smartphone’s home screen, Natsuki crosses her arms.
Even after being transported to another world, for some reason, she can still use her smartphone. The date displayed on the home screen is from the Japanese calendar.
It’s already been ten months since she was summoned on the first day of Golden Week.
Due to a lack of signal, the smartphone doesn’t have internet or communication capabilities, but it’s somehow still powered by divine energy, meaning it doesn’t need charging.
On top of that, she and her summoned brother and cousins are able to communicate through some kind of divine network.
This includes her cousin, Tohma , who was also summoned as part of the group of heroes to save the world, though he ended up dying during the summoning process and is now reincarnated into a new body.
Tohma had been handsome, and despite his carefree personality, he was very kind and always took care of others.
As a result, he was extremely popular with younger girls, and Natsuki had a tough time with it.
(And now, of all things, he’s reincarnated as a high elf!)
He, resembling his beautiful mother, has become even more attractive, and now, in this other world, Natsuki will have to chase away the “bugs” that flock to him once again.
“I really want to be by his side and watch over him…”
To have her wish granted by the creator god, she needs to seal away the evil dragon.
Unfortunately, it seems that it will take a bit longer.
For now, she should focus on gaining more strength so that, in the future, she can be with him freely.
“That’s why it’s important to make small gestures.”
Valentine’s Day, the day of the final battle, is tomorrow.
She needs to prepare the chocolate to give to Tohma tonight.
◆◇◆
Natsuki, who’s not very good at cooking, doesn’t have many recipes she can make.
Until the middle of elementary school, she used to buy store-bought chocolate.
Once she got into the higher grades, she tried making it herself, but even though she was great at sports, she struggled with home economics, and it was a high hurdle for her.
“Even someone like me could somehow manage to make this recipe. It’s a step up from when I just melted chocolate and set it in foil in junior high!”
Tohma had received the chocolates she made by melting the chocolate and spreading colorful sugar toppings, and he had accepted them kindly.
As for her return gift, he gave her homemade chocolate cookies that tasted just as good as store-bought ones.
The year she tried to make something really impressive, however, was a failure.
She wanted to give him a large heart-shaped chocolate so that he would immediately recognize it as her confession chocolate. She melted a lot of chocolate bars and tried to set it in that shape.
“…I didn’t add any cream, so it turned rock hard.”
When Tohma had accidentally bitten into it, one of his teeth chipped slightly.
Natsuki remembered how she apologized with teary eyes, and how he gently patted her head, telling her that it was hard, but still tasty. She’ll never forget that kindness. She loved him so much.
(Thanks to that, I’ll never forget: homemade chocolate needs fresh cream. This time, I’ll make a delicious one!)
The recipe she eventually settled on was for chocolate truffles.
The ingredients required were only three: milk chocolate, heavy cream, and cocoa powder.
The procedure was simple.
“In a heatproof bowl, chop up the milk chocolate and set it aside. In a pot, heat the cream until it’s almost boiling, then pour it into the chocolate bowl… and mix!”
Wearing an apron and with a serious expression, Natsuki immersed herself in the kitchen, while her brother and cousin gave her thumbs up in support. She secretly felt a little irritated about that.
By the way, she had obtained all the ingredients from Tohma .
Ideally, she wanted to get them herself, but the only thing she had managed to harvest from the dungeon was cacao beans.
She, being a high school girl with no idea how to process them, had ended up on her knees.
She reluctantly gave up and used the money from selling the cacao beans to buy the chocolate, heavy cream, and cocoa powder.
“The most important thing is the feeling behind it.”
This feeling, Natsuki was confident, was something no one could beat.
Clutching the heatproof bowl, she carefully mixed the chocolate and cream together.
“Please come out delicious,” she murmured to herself.
“Once it’s fully mixed, chill it in the fridge for thirty minutes.”
She carefully placed the bowl in the magical refrigerator.
While it chilled, she cleaned up the kitchen. Back in her original world, she used to hate cleaning, but now, with the handy cleaning magic at her disposal, it was easy.
“Purification Magic: Clean!”
With a small amount of magic power, the kitchen was sparkling clean, as if it had never been used.
“Oh, I need to prepare the wrapping too.”
She felt a little guilty about asking Tohma for wrapping materials, so she had decided to get a box to pack the truffles in by herself.
She found a jewel box at a store and lined it with cooking paper, planning to place the truffles inside.
The silver jewel box had a blue stone embedded in it, which reminded her of Tohma ’s eye color, and she instantly fell in love with it.
The alarm on her smartphone went off.
The contents of the heatproof bowl she had taken out from the magical refrigerator were perfectly ready.
“Now, it’s easy. Just scoop with a spoon, roll them into bite-sized balls in my palms, and coat them with cocoa powder!”
Chocolate truffles were simple to make, but they were elegant and tasted delicious. Perfect.
With determination, she kneaded and rolled the mixture, lining them up neatly on a large tray. She made plenty, carefully shaping them, knowing she would send the best ones to Tohma .
“Alright, done!”
She packed the neatly selected, perfectly shaped truffles into the jewel box, tied a beautiful ribbon around it, and completed the gift.
“Not bad, if I do say so myself!”
Feeling happy, I couldn’t help but take a picture.
While I was doing that, Haruto and Akimi came into the kitchen.
“Ah, you finished it, Natsuki ?” “Did it turn out well this time?”
“You’re both rude.”
When I glared at them, they quickly apologized with a casual “Sorry, sorry.” Well, I’ll let it slide. I was in a good mood today.
“Oh, it’s the 14th. Valentine’s Day in Japan, huh…”
Haruto murmured, lost in thought, and Akimi teased him.
“Haruto, too bad you won’t be getting any chocolate.” “You, Akimi , used to get tons every year.”
“…Now that I think about it, both of you were popular with the girls. But you didn’t eat any homemade chocolate, did you?”
I voiced the thought that crossed my mind, and both of them exchanged a glance and gave a wry smile.
“Ah… homemade, huh…” “Yeah, that’s not gonna work. You need to be really close and trust the person.”
“I get Akimi being particular, but you, Haruto?”
I was surprised, and Haruto sighed.
“I know not everyone feels this way, but homemade stuff is hard for me. I can’t eat it because I don’t know what’s in it.” “What do you mean, it’s just chocolate, right?” “The chocolate I got once had hair in it.” “Eh…”
Akimi muttered that quietly, and I was shocked.
I quickly turned my gaze toward Haruto, and he nodded solemnly.
“I had a fingernail in mine. By the way, I think there was blood in the gift for Tohma .” “What?! That’s gross!”
“Yeah, right? I don’t know if it was supposed to be some kind of love charm, but I don’t want foreign objects in my food.” “I didn’t know about that…” “Well, it was only a few girls. But still, that’s why homemade chocolate gives me a trauma.”
“…”
I could understand that. Even I couldn’t handle that.
“So that’s how it is… I thought you were just a cold-hearted guy who didn’t care about a girl’s feelings.” “My sister’s harsh.” “Well, I guess most people wouldn’t think about it. But it’s good that you didn’t have any girls like that around you, Natsuki .” “…Yeah, I guess. All the girls around me gave store-bought chocolates, even for friendship chocolate.” “That’s better.”
But then, if that’s the case, wouldn’t Tohma also have a trauma when it comes to homemade chocolate?
I felt my blood drain from my face.
“What should I do… I made truffles for Tohma … He probably doesn’t want to eat homemade chocolate, right?”
Suddenly, both of them burst out laughing.
Natsuki , looking annoyed, glared at them, and Haruto said, laughing and clutching his stomach.
“That’s not true. Of course, I’ll eat the chocolate made by my cute cousin with joy.” “But didn’t you almost have to eat chocolate with blood in it?” “I noticed the smell and color right away, so I returned it without eating it.” “Yeah, and after that, I declared I wouldn’t accept homemade chocolate anymore, so it’s not really a trauma for me.”
I sighed in relief.
“And I said this earlier, right? I’d only accept homemade gifts from people I really trust.” “…Yeah.” “That was Tohma ’s line. So, Natsuki is someone I can trust. You’re the only one I’d accept homemade chocolate from.”
“…!”
Akimi explained with a sigh.
With a bright smile on her face, Natsuki packed the truffle chocolates into her Item Box and sent them off to Tohma with a “Here you go!”
“Hehe, I sent it…”
When Natsuki reported it with an embarrassed smile, both men praised her with half-amusement, half-smiling.
“Oh, right. Here, take this.” “Huh? Chocolate? You’re giving us some too?” “These are the ones that turned out a little misshapen, but the taste is the same. Be sure to thank kind Natsuki and eat them.”
Since they were spending this year’s Valentine’s Day in another world, even the popular guys couldn’t get chocolate.
Both of them stared at the truffles for a while, and then, almost at the same time, they broke into big smiles.
“Thanks!” “Yeah, we’ll savor it.”
That day, Tohma delivered homemade fondant chocolate to the three of them.
“Fondant chocolate… you can make that yourself?”
Natsuki , who had completely lost to the girls’ cooking skills, felt a little down. However, she secretly smiled when she heard, “The truffles were delicious,” and that was her little secret.
