With the sound of quick footsteps, dishes clinking, and chatter all around, at the center sat three individuals, all striving for the same goal.
“Whoever finishes their drink the slowest has to do something for the winner, how’s that sound, Ren!?” Mio asked.
I looked at her, “Deal.”
“Dude, she literally bought a small while you got a large.” Zak added.
The waitress brought the drinks, putting down two large vanilla frappucinos in front of me and Zak, with a small matcha smoothie in front of Mio.
“You knew you’d win, huh?” I said, putting a straw into my drink.
Mio, already halfway done slurping down her smoothie, said, “I already have the punishment in mind.”
I tried chugging down my drink but ended up with a brainfreeze not even 30 seconds in, “Ahh.”
“DONE!” Mio yelled, slamming her empty cup onto the table.
“This wasn’t even a race, this was a public execution.”
Zak, who just put his straw in, looked at both of us, “Skill issue.”
I slammed my head onto the table, “What’s the punishment...?”
...
“Are we playing the quiet game now?” I asked.
...
I slowly looked back up as I felt a warm breath on my ear, “Cook me my favorite dish, dear~.”
I quickly sat up, grabbing my ear, “You’re so weird, Mio.”
She stared at me whilst giggling as Zak looked at us as he slurped down his drink.
“What dish do you want?” I asked.
Mio then leaned in, “I want curry, dear~.”
I stared at her, “We can go to the grocery in a little while... dear.”
“Okay!” Mio yelled.
Me and Mio stared at Zak, who looked at us with his mouth wide open.
“Oh... I forgot you’re here... Zak.” I mentioned.
“I did too... heh.”
“Don’t mind me, I’m just witnessing something unbelievable.” Zak added.
I stood up, holding my barely-touched drink, “So much for a café visit.”
I pointed at the bathroom, “Be right back, stomach buzzing.” I said, then I placed down my drink and hurried to the bathroom.
After entering the bathroom, I closed the door and locked it, before bracing myself in front of the mirror, staring at myself.
“How can she say that with a straight face...”
I saw sweat running down my face in the reflection.
“Gosh... why am I so cringe.”
I flushed the toilet to add to the lie of me using the bathroom and went out the door.
On my way back, I noticed Mio and Zak laughing together, with them only stopping upon noticing my return.
“Alright, let’s go!” Mio yelled, rising quickly from her chair.
“See you later, Zak,” I said, giving him a quick wave as he nodded.
Mio excitedly grabbed my sleeve as we headed out the door, “Curry time!”
~~~ At the Grocery ~~~
Mio kept sprinting around and looking at all the vegetables, baked goods, and prepared foods, “Do we need this?!” She yelled, while pointing at a leek.
I walked over, “Hm... I have a lot of the stuff already back at home, so let’s get some sliced beef, dashi stock packet, and some potatoes.”
Mio saluted me as she quickly stormed off towards the produce aisle.
In the meat aisle, I couldn’t decide between the beef and trying pork instead.
I bent down for the beef when I bumped my hand on someone else also reaching for the same pack.
“Oh! Sorry.” I said, pulling my hand back quickly.
“No no, I am the one who’s sorry.” The stranger said, quickly bowing apologetically at me.
I motioned my hands towards the meat, “You can have that one.”
The stranger tucked his hands into his sleeves, “I was thinking about getting a different pack... don’t worry about me.”
“What a strange guy.” I thought.
I picked up the meat and another pack beside it, holding out one of them, “Here, there’s two.”
The man grabbed onto it and quickly put it into his basket, “Thank you...”
I reached out my hand, “My name’s Ren, nice to meet you.”
The man reached out, his sleeve covering most of his hand, “Yusei... and likewise.”
I glanced down at his phone laying in his basket, showcasing a logo from a university I went to.
“Oh! You went to Seirin University too?” I asked.
The man glanced down at his phone, “I’m going there... right now.”
“Oh, how old are you?”
“I’m 19...”
“You had me fooled, you looked to be around my age, what degree are you studying?”
“Sociology...”
“I see, that’s cool.”
I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, and I saw a notification from Mio asking where I was when I pulled it out.
“I’ve got to go, my friend is calling for me, and if you’re okay with it,” I held out my phone, “maybe we could exchange contacts?”
“Did I do something wrong..?”
“No no, I mean to chat it up, maybe become friends.”
“Oh... sure.”
After adding his contact information, I started heading back before turning around and waving at Yusei, “See you later, YuYu!”
I saw him give me a small wave back as he shyly looked away.
pit pat pit pat
“RAH” Mio yelled, jumping into my side.
“Watch out, we’re going to squish the meat!”
“Look! I have potatoes!”
I looked over to see her cradling several potatoes in her arms, “Well... we just need the dashi.”
“Okay!” Mio said, looking at me with a big smile on her face.
After checking out with all the ingredients, we headed home, and I quickly turned into male-wife mode.
“Peel the potatoes for me, I'll work on the meat.” I said.
I placed the skillet over medium heat and added the oil, then added in the beef.
I grabbed a saucepot, and placed the lightly browned meat into it, then popped some onions into the skillet, frying them up.
Without looking, I asked Mio if she could give me a cup of water.
I stirred the onions some more without receiving what I asked for, so when I turned, asking for water again, I saw Mio struggling to peel the first potato.
“I’ll... peel.”
Mio looked at me with tears in her eyes, “Was I a burden?”
“Well... you made me realize something.”
“Like what?”
“That you’re a burden.”
“You just... How could you?!”
“Heh.”
Mio looked at me helplessly, “Is there something I can do...”
“You can be my assistant, how about that?”
“I like that! What can I do?!”
“Grab me a cup of water, but fill it up to around the halfway point.”
Mio grabbed the water and poured it over the onions while I peeled.
“Good job, just like that,” I said while setting the first potato to the side.
“Is this good enough?” Mio asked while stirring the onions around.
“Yeah, I’m just about done so start transferring the onions to the saucepot.”
Mio poured the onions in as I placed the carrots and peeled potatoes into the saucepot.
“Grab the stock bag,” I said as I started pouring water into it.
After putting in the stock and putting enough water in the pot, we put the saucepan on the stove, bringing it to a near boil.
“Time for the roux, grab some flour from the far cabinet for me.” I said as I added butter to the skillet.
“Here you go!” Mio said, with some flour powdered on her arm.
“How did you spill some already??” I asked.
“Don’t ask questions that shouldn’t be answered!”
I took the flour bag, “Okay miss clumsy.”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvMWIfN0mX
“HEY!”
I poured some flour into the skillet, then lowered the saucepot to a simmer.
“Grab the spices from the drawer over there,” I said, pointing towards the middle drawer.
I stirred everything around for about 10 minutes without anything coming into my mind, and then when I snapped back into reality I felt Mio tapping my shoulder softly.
“What’s up?”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCydy5fGlM
She looked and pointed down, “I spilled it...”
I looked at the floor, seeing the spices spilled from their canisters.
“Why did you only just tell me now?!” I asked.
“You were so focused that when I yelled, you didn’t even move a muscle.”
“Oh... I see... Well, just pick up what remains, I’ll vacuum the rest after.”
“Aye Aye!”
After adding the spices, soy sauce, and other ingredients, I removed the heat, and dissolved the rest of the roux’s blobs.
Mio helped me prepare the rice cooker that finished cooking alongside the curry.
“Grab the plates from the top shelf for me.” I said.
After cleaning my hands, I looked to my side and saw Mio standing on her tiptoes, stretching for the top shelf, with her fingers slightly pulling back a plate.
“Watch out!-” I yelled, catching the plate before it fell, “You’re like a jinx with how much you’re messing up.”
“Sorry...”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll grab the plates, go sit down.”
“Thank you...”
After a couple minutes, I served out two plates of Rice + Curry.
I sat down across Mio, and we both said our prayers before diving into the curry.
“It’s so good!!”
“I’m glad you liked it, Jinxy.”
“What did you just call me?”
“Jinxy. Since you seem to be extremely unlucky in the kitchen like a klutz.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m a jinx!!”
I took a bite of the food, “But...” I chewed and swallowed, “You spilled flour somehow, dropped the spices, and nearly broke a plate, which would’ve landed on your head first if I didn’t step in.”
Mio looked at me, pouting.
“I added a little ‘y’ to it to make it ‘cute’ for you, don’t worry.”
“There’s nothing cute about it!”
“Oh, come on, dear,” I grabbed a spoonful of curry and rice, reaching it out towards her, “You love my little nicknames I give you.”
She looked at the spoon, “Are you... feeding me?”
I flinched, “Ah, no, I was just pouting at you with it.”
“Ha, a virgin like you wouldn’t be able to feed me anyways, you’d get too embarrassed heh.”
I stood up in the chair and leaned across the table, holding out the full-spoon in front of her face, “Come on, eat up, or else it’ll get cold.”
She looked up at me in shock.
I pushed it closer towards her mouth, “Come on, dear, I know you love the food I made.”
She looked at the spoon then back up at me, “This is your spoon, right..?”
“What of it?”
“It’s just...”
“Speak up for me, dear, I can barely hear you.”
“Never mind!” She yelled, quickly stuffing the spoon in her mouth, “Mmm!”
She backed away and looked to the side as I continued eating with the same spoon.
After a few bites, I looked back at her, seeing her still looking away, “Something bothering you?”
“It’s just...”
“Just?”
“It’s...”
“It’s?”
“THE FOOD IS GROSS!”
“HUH?!?”
~~~ A few minutes later ~~~
“Whew... I haven’t had curry in so long.”
I stood up, picking up both plates as Mio started to stand up as well.
“Stay there, I got you a present.”
Mio stared at me, “A present?”
“Yeah, just give me one second.”
Mio sat back down in her chair as I walked back to the table, placing two small cups of pudding down.
“PUDDING!”
“I figured you’d like some sort of dessert after, so I thought ahead.”
“When did you get this?!” She asked.
“I snuck it when we were checking out, I wanted to keep it a surprise.”
She looked at me, “Maybe you aren’t so useless after all.”
I dug a spoon into the pudding, “Shut up Jinxy.”
“Make me,” she said.
While she looked down at her pudding, I reached my hand out while holding the spoon.
“WHA-”
I then smiled as I nudged the spoon closer.
“WHAT ARE YOU-”
I then placed the spoon of pudding directly in front of her mouth, “Open your mouth.”
Her watery eyes closed as her mouth opened, “Good job, Jinxy.” I said.
I then sat back down, “I wanted you to have the first bite of your present.”
“You could’ve just...” she said, covering her mouth with her hand.
I then used a nearby napkin to clean off the spoon, then I noticed Mio gazing at me.
“Isn’t it too late to clean it off now...”
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing...”
After finishing up our pudding, I went to the kitchen and started washing the dishes as Mio sat in her chair, resting her arms and head on the table.
“Mio, aren’t you going out tomorrow?”
“Mhmm...”
“I’ll put your dinner in the fridge tomorrow night.”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGeqYyaA0FA
“Mhmm...”
“Lock the door when you’re back, ok?”
“Mhmm...”
“Tired?”
“Mhmm...”
“Am I better than you?”
“...”
“So that’s where you go silent?”
After finishing the dishes, I walked over beside Mio, picking her up and gently laying her down on her futon, then pulled up the blanket over her, “Rest well, Jinxy.”
“Mhmm...”
“So you were still awake...”
“Mhmm...”
“Get some rest, I’ll see you later tomorrow.”
“Mhmm...”
I leaned down towards her, then stopped myself.
“What was I about to do?” I asked myself.
I got back up, turned off the lights, and laid into my bed.
“I wasn’t going to do THAT... was I?” I kept asking myself, before knocking out from tiring my brain out with endless thoughts.
In the midst of my sleep, I felt a strange feeling on my face, only to wake up a few hours later in an empty room at around noon.
I got up and stretched as I walked over to the dinner table, which sat a small note.
“There’s an omelet wrapped up in the kitchen, don’t miss me too much darling~”
I looked towards the kitchen, seeing a messy omelet wrapped in a clear foil sitting on a plate.
Upon a closer look, I realized it was from a convenience store, “You sly Jinx.”
But despite that, I couldn’t help but smile.
I unwrapped the omelet and sat at the table, eating away at the cold food.
After finishing the food, I leaned back my head, looking up, “Today’s going to be lonely...”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3qBJOXW3rW
and then Add to home screen.