Naïve
Make cookies? It was such a simple task. A carefully placed challenge. The spring air swept into the room idly on the party in Asuka's humble apartment. Fubuki had airily implied that she wasn't capable
of creating such delicacies. Fubuki had gone on to boisterously say to continue with her imaginings in that fantasy book of hers. I didn't like the accusation, and I was likely being baited I knew. My
brother, ever so slightly, was glancing at the clock. He needed the cookies, for one reason or another. Only for that reason would I make them. Besides, I would show my brother my involvement in my
studies didn't make me dysfunctional. From scratch, okay, how much different could it be from sticking the pre-made chocolate chips in the oven? Judai in on one of his visits grinned and volunteered as I
accepted Fubuki's challenge. Fubuki wished us luck as he headed out the door claiming to be late in helping Ryo with his own cooking. Judai smiled and the two exchanged waves, and I dismissed my
brother with my own tart wave . I wondered why Ryo needed help with cooking all of a sudden, but I had a task to complete. Never mind, if my brother had tricked me in a way, Judai was rocking back
and forth on his heels with his hands in his pockets awaiting instructions, looking at me expectantly. I supposed it would have been too much to ask for Judai to have expert culinary skills. Well, soon
after, my troubles started.
The kitchen was a mass of smoke, scorched walls, and cookies that had been reduced to charcoal. Judai and I had finally managed to douse the small fire that had come from the oven. How? I had followed
the instructions exactly. I fretfully looked at the instructions over and over again, pushing it up to Judai's face too see if he could spot any difference between what we did and what was written down.
He shrugged although his eyes flickered slightly, and he looked disapprovingly to his right. I barely registered this as I looked dismayed at the scraps of black before me. Fubuki would be back at any
moment. Judai encircled me and mumbled an apology about not being much help. I reassured him it was the instructions that were evil. He laughed, and I felt silly needing to be comforted for a failed
batch of cookies, maybe if the oven hadn't caught fire. Judai said something.
"Asuka, so what do you say?" I did catch that. Reasonably, I assumed we would try to squeeze in another batch before Fubuki returned. Why would I have expected different?
Sure, we could give it a shot." Ever the positive person, Judai grinned with his famous enthusiasm. It might have been infectious if I hadn't heard what I did afterward.
"So, I will see you tomorrow, Asuka." He looked at me smugly. Quickly, he flickered away with his dark magic. I may have been horribly vexed by the situation had he not miraculously left a perfect batch
of cookies on the counter. Amazingly, they were one and the same. A small note beside the plate simply said, Before you ask, I am the herald of darkness. I am capable of a lot.
I cannot believe those words came out of his mouth yesterday. Did they? If only I wasn't so distracted yesterday, I would be able to distinguish the context. "So, I will see you tomorrow, Asuka." On the
bright side, her brother had eaten his words. After he returned, he tried one of the miracle cookies. He claimed that it was the most delicious cookie in the entire world, feigning a disheartened attitude.
He did not take more, however, and stuck them in the fridge. He told her it was for a very special occasion. Unfortunately, Judai had, soon after, disappeared without a trace, leaving me clueless, and
playing mystery. Yet, I'm being irrational. He probably invited me to the arcade or to go wrestle a giant squid to save a ship from catastrophe. Then, I came to a remarkable conclusion. I have never
actually helped Judai, much at all, since we went our separate ways. This would not have been so startling if I weren't the only one who has had no real adventure with Judai. Judai and Rei prevented
a smuggling raid of the local French museums in her area. Kenzan had proved helpful in an escapade into Africa helping a lost tourist return to civilization. Edo and Judai had uncovered a murder plot
before it came to fruition. Even Sho had participated in infiltrating a mansion to help a specter of an aristocratic lady pass on. Johan and Judai had teamed up numerous times, and their latest exploit
had prevented a massive poaching scheme in Brazil. O'Brien and Jim were on Judai's speed dial anytime he had to navigate through rough terrain. It was vexing when I let myself think. He doesn't think
I can handle myself or maybe ... he doesn't find me useful. I just need to call and ask. I refuse to let this get to me. My phone started going off. Oh it's Rei. She might give me a clue as to what's going on.
"Rei, are you going today?" I said, pretending I knew what I was talking about and not desperately trying to figure out what I had just agreed to moments before.
"Oh, no this has nothing to do with me. This is a very personal matter." I started to panic. What was so vital about today? I have to be subtle about this. Rei had a loose tongue and my brother's
the biggest gossip in the world. He must not know about any of this. He will make a spectacle of whatever is happening if I let him.
"Yeah, hey, how did you find out?" I stopped myself from continuing the relentless tapping of my foot. I took a deep breath and exhaled. I am reading too much into this.
"Oh, he's been telling everybody." I twisted my lips in annoyance. The answer was too vague.
"Oh, he has. So is everyone coming?" Please, please, let this be a group outing. Anything else would make things complicated.
"No, of course not, this is a special occasion. I need to go pick up a few items, have fun." No, no, don't you dare hang up, Rei. What special occasion? I'm the person that remembers things, not him.
"Rei what occa…" Then, I was met with the horrible dial tone, where people's hopes go to die. I guess I'll call him. My fingers didn't want to press the speed dial. This predicament was silly. Judai's life is chaotic and his mind
works in simplistic albeit elusive ways. He may have just wanted to take advantage of the fine weather and of my full fridge. I take a leap of faith and tap on Judai's name on my contact list and press the phone to my ear tightly, determined not to miss another word Judai says. My heart
rumbles unpleasantly at the thought of contacting him out of the blue when we just saw each other a few minutes ago. (It's not how we do things.) I feel like a young school girl calling a boy she likes for the first time. I've know Judai much longer than that, yet the amount of times I've seen him has steadily decreased over the years.
Well, that's not completely the case. His visits are sporadic and uneven. One visit will last a month and the next will be a day with months in between. He's picked up, but the ruckus in the background
tells me I contacted him at a bad time.
"Hello, Asuka?" My thumb is dangerously close to hanging up. Have I reverted completely into an immature child?
"Hi, Judai, are we still on for tomorrow for…?" I trail off hoping he'll fill in the blanks.
"No, Yubel, cutting off its head was a bad idea. It's filled with too much acid. Oh, yeah, we are going for a picnic near the fireworks display with. …It bit me. Does this look infected to you?
"You haven't hung up." No, no, no, not gain, the dial tone is my mortal enemy. Now, I'm worried and wondering if I need to bring food or not. At least, it is nothing major, and as always, he communicates through his
stomach.
The sky matched my brightly colored clothing today. I still wore my usual shade of blue, but it is much more form fitting than my usual attire of slacks and t-shirts. T-shirts were in high supply in
America, and I bought plenty. The clothes were a present from Fubuki, but they were a bit too attention grabbing for my taste. Today, they seemed appropriate.
Judai was lying under a tree with a plethora of food surrounding him. I look down at my moderately filled basket and feel like a foolish employee who missed a memo. As I get closer, he spots me, a huge grin on his face.
"I'm glad you're here. Now, we can get started." His glance momentarily shifts to my attire, then back to me, and then to the small basket in my hand.
"I'm very glad we can have some time together," I said, making a good faith effort to salvage our little get together. His smile seems to diminish, and his normally serene brown eyes widen in seeming panic. I don't know what to do to reassure him. I'm suffering from a lack of proper context clues. Well, there is more food
than even Judai alone would eat. That soufflé reminds me of Misawa who mentioned that he might make one for everyone one day. I few modest pieces of grilled cheese are beside it. Grilled fish with
rice, Ryo's specialty, the one dish he never burned. Sho's favorite dish of orange chicken lies next to it. Then, of course, a giant platter of fried shrimp, splat in the middle. It doesn't completely dawn on
me; until, I see the plate of cookies that Fubuki had me make. Everyone we met our first year must be here. Why didn't I see this coming? I must look foolish. Sub-consciously I pull my skirt down. Judai instantly understands my embarrassment.
Before I can apologize, Judai takes off behind the tree. Muttering can be heard, and I want to save face, speak up, and forget this ever happened, but no words come out of my mouth.
I walk over to their secret meeting determine to interupt before things get out of hand to find no one there, and Judai looking considerably calmer. He, then, goes over to the picnic blanket and plops down and and asks me cheerfully.
"Ready for our picnic?" I really wanted to yell at him for pretending everything was fine and covering up my mistake. I definitely wanted to ask where everyone was hiding and to tell him I was sorry for the misunderstanding and making things awkward. And yet, the food looked inviting and the eagerness in his eyes made me drop the
subject. When fireworks start, there is a silence. Interrupted, only once, when I remembered our phone conversation, he easily dodged any attempt of a real answer, refuting any accusations that
he was anything but fine. A deep feminine ghost of a laugh echoed briefly. He looked angrily at the sky, before his attention drifted to the fireworks. I let it go. If he could run that fast, then, Judai must
be relatively unscathed.
I fingered the food around us. When I do bite into the possibly enchanted cookies, I believed my brother wasn't embellishing in the slightest. Judai's hand touches mine briefly, fumbling for food. I don't
shirk his hand away and instead place a cookie into his hand. He takes it easily and mutters a thank you.
As more time passes, the illusion that it is just the two of us enjoying the fireworks fades. First, the grilled fish and rice go missing. I pretend not notice, nor do I acknowledge the familiar angry mutters somewhere nearby.
I don't really know where they are exactly, but I know they're all there. Clamoring can be heard as fighting breaks out for whatever food they managed to pilfer from where we are sitting. I try not to laugh. I should have felt some sort of sympathy for those stuck hiding from my sight in order to keep up the facade that had taken place, but instead, I am touched that my friends would put themselves through this to spare my feelings. Judai does not respond either eyes glued to the fireworks for their duration. I take a
page from Judai's book and continued to look upwards. We both reached for cookies at random. Until, eventually, our hands are simply together on the cookie plate.
Not until later, did I find out that the date happened to co-inside with our first day of school together, and everyone we had befriended that year had been invited. Rei, apparently, had insisted that she
truly did not befriend them until their second year and had refused to come, despite encouragement from the others. I also had no idea everyone who had come was hiding in the treetops during our
entire meal, or that they had snatched up the leftovers ravenously after we were done. Ryo had smartly taken his grilled fish with rice as soon as Judai had insisted that they be ushered into the tree
which had led to competition for the little food that had been salvaged. I asked Judai what had possessed him to go ahead with such a ridiculous ploy. Judai stared blankly at me for a minute and
simply said he didn't know. I could have taken out my frustration at the whole situatioin on Judai, but for once, I was the naïve one. Then, it dawned on me why we have never had adventures together. He
does not want to make my life complicated. The fact I had amazing friends that would go hungry for a while to spare my feelings was only part of the equation. Judai wanted what was best for me. As I considered my sudden ephiphany, I had an idea. I
happened to have next week free, and I knew what I was capable of minus following cookie instructions.
"Judai, tomorrow, I am going to borrow my brother's bullet proof vest, and I am joining you for a while." Judai might have protested. He could have found a way to weasel out of it with the help of his
guardian or perhaps reversed time using his only mildly tested dark powers.
All he could think to say was, "Your brother owns a bullet proof vest?"
Hopefully, everything comes across okay. I actually consulted my cousin on this one. My main complaint was that Asuka was acting like a girl. My cousin then kind of reminded me she was. We then decided that Asuka certainly is allowed to be the forgetful one once in a while.