Author's Note: Happy New Year, everyone~ After the challenge of NaNoWriMo, I'm all rested up and ready to write again ^^ I got this idea sometime at the start of December, so I'm glad could finally write it down and get it out of my head XD I hope you all enjoy reading it :)
A gigantic thank you to Sakagami Hina for proofreading and correcting my mistakes :3
Disclaimer: I don't own anything mentioned in this piece of writing. The recipe I quote in it is from here (remove spaces and change dots): cooking (dot) cdkitchen (dot) com / TheCompetentCook / 103 (dot) html
"Sweets shelf, sweets shelf in the store, which is the tastiest chocolate of them all?" Hatsune Miku posed the vital question, staring at the gigantic variety of sugary goodness neatly lined on the shelf, stretching to her left and right.
She closed her dazzling aquamarine eyes in an attempt to sharpen her hearing, so she could pick out the shelf's response. A couple of moments passed like that, but the only sounds she perceived were those of the bustling supermarket: toddlers throwing tantrums over the toys they'd only ever really use once before forgetting about them, couples arguing about which brand of crummy bonbons to buy for their annoying coworkers whom they were obligated to give something to, with a cheery winter tune playing in the background to add a sense of irony to the situation.
"'Happy Holidays', indeed," she commented to herself, her voice layered with sarcasm and a sigh escaping from her lips. At the age of eighteen, the charm of the winter season had lost most of its glow in her eyes, allowing her to catch a glimpse of what it had become in a money-driven world.
Nevertheless, she endured the bothersome noise for a little while longer for the sake of her noble mission, still anticipating an answer. Alas, it turned out to be a stubborn shelf, which had no intention of helping the tealette sort out her dilemma.
"It was silly to expect a response, wasn't it?" she wondered, adding a small chuckle. She opened her eyes and observed the shelf once more. "Seriously, I have to stop being so nice. Way too troublesome."
The last comment was tied to the reason she was in the supermarket in the first place, searching for chocolate. She remembered the scene that took place a couple of days beforehand.
"Miku~, I have a favour to ask~" Kagamine Rin announced in a sugar-coated tone. She plopped down beside the girl on the sofa of the Vocaloid household's living room, who was lazily flipping through the channels. I'm not really liking the sound of that, Miku commented to herself. She turned to face the younger teenager, a gentle smile covering up her internal worry.
"What might that favour be?" she inquired. Rin's lips widened into a grin at the glimmer of hope that someone in the 'family' was willing to help her; she had expected an immediate refusal.
"Bake chocolate chip cookies for me," she declared, making puppy-dog eyes and clasping her hands together.
"What for? And when? I need details before I can decide," the tealette replied. It was unnecessary to ask why Rin was requesting the aide of someone else: after a baking mishap, it had become a family rule that she was forbidden to ever touch the stove again.
"Len and I are going on a class trip to the mountains next weekend. I figured we could take homemade cookies with us," she explained in a cheerful tone.
"Why can't you just buy something at the supermarket?" Miku suggested. She wasn't exactly best friends with the kitchen; nor was she heartless enough to refuse without giving an alternate solution.
"I-it wouldn't be the same..." she responded, slightly stuttering and her voice trailing off at the end of her sentence. A rose tinge crept to her cheeks and she diverted her gaze. "S-sitting in front of the crackling fire, all c-cosy in blankets... cookies are m-more appropriate than store-bought snacks f-for the m-mood."
"Aaaah, I understand perfectly," the older girl stated, all-knowingly stroking her non-existent beard, with a smirk appearing on her features.Quite possibly, she's planning on confessing to someone. Since she seems so flustered about it, I'll let the topic rest for now, she concluded.
"Have you asked Luka yet?" she proposed, still hopeful about somehow evading the task. The young woman was basically a kitchen fairy, hence the obvious choice for such an important matter.
"Duh, I went to her first. She said she won't have time for it 'til then," she explained with melancholy air.
"Uh, Meiko?" she offered, but instantly took it back. "Actually no, she may be a bigger hazard than you... Kaito?"
"The only time he's in the kitchen is when he's getting another tub of ice cream from the freezer," Rin countered.
"Gakupo?"
"Eggplant-flavoured cookies? No, thank you."
"Uhm, Gumi?"
"I already used up my favour-quota with her for the next two years."
"Then, Lily?" Miku was rapidly running out of candidates.
"No way. It's an 'I hate her' week." The two blondes had a peculiar, bipolar relationship. They were the only ones who could actually keep up with the constant changes; the rest of the family soon stopped making an effort at the near-impossible task.
"Then... ehh... well..." she paused for a moment to ponder. "What about Mikuo?"
Rin didn't deem her worthy of a spoken reply: she merely shot her a look saying 'are you completely out of your freaking mind?' Miku laughed nervously, while scratching the back of her head.
"Yeah, scratch that. The cookies would bake themselves sooner than you'd manage to convince him to lift a finger for someone else," she observed. "I really am the only one who can do it for you, aren't I?"
Rin vigorously nodded in response. "Please, please, please~," she began pleading. Still hesitant about her answer, Miku began twiddling her fingers.
"I hoped I wouldn't have to resort to this, but I'm left with no choice. I'll buy you a week's worth of spring onions if you'll bake the cookies for me," Rin announced, using her trump card.
All of a sudden, Miku's aquamarine eyes began to sparkle and her lips spread into a huge smile. "Deal!"
"A pleasure doing business with you," Rin said, pulling out a piece of paper from her pocket. She ceremoniously handed over the recipe to the tealette.
"My obsession is going to be the end of me," she thought out loud, facepalming herself. She hadn't even begun the actual baking process, yet she was already starting to regret her decision.
"C'mon Miku, stop whining. It's for the sake of making young love blossom. It's the closest you'll get to the holiday spirit. You can totally do this," she muttered to herself, mustering up her fighting spirit. She glanced at the contents of the shopping basket beside her: it was the last ingredient she needed to acquire for the triple batch of cookies. Being quite the sweet-toothed girl, she was familiar with the best brands of chocolate for eating purposes. But for baking? It seemed like an entirely different universe.
The tealette walked back to the start of the shelf to take a better look at what it had to offer. She slowly proceeded along the aisle. She reached the end of the chocolate segment empty-handed. At that moment, something peculiar caught her eye.
"Ohhh, what's this? Orange-flavoured marzipan?" she said, eyeing the packaging. Without giving herself a chance to reconsider, she grabbed six packets of it and placed them in the basket, making her way towards the cashier. As far as I know, recipes aren't 'set in stone' things. I'm sure Rin would like it better with something orangey rather than plain old chocolate.
Miku stood at the counter of their kitchen, ready to tackle the task at hand. For a change, she styled her long, teal hair into a bun, held in place by several hair clips to properly combat gravity. It seemed to be a better idea than to let it hang loose in the usual two pigtails. Rather than her customary outfit, she wore black sweatpants and a light blue shirt she wasn't afraid of getting dirty. She put the earphones into her ears and turned on her mp3 player. "Let's do this."
With the help of a magnet, she placed the recipe on the metal band on the wall behind the counter. When the kitchen was remodelled after Rin's experimenting, it was installed there for that very purpose.
"Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or non-stick baking liners," she read the instructions of the recipe aloud. "That can't possibly be the actual first step. What kind of messed-up recipe did she give me? Whatever, moving on."
"Combine the first three ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. That's more like it," she observed. The girl began to search through the kitchen for the aforementioned 'medium bowl'. After quite a while, she managed to find one that seemed fit for the job. "Maybe I should ask Luka. Better safe than sorry."
It's true that the older woman had said she was too busy to bake, although luckily for Miku, she did her work from home. She scurried over the study, carrying the bowl in hand. She knocked, and waited for her consent before entering. Luka looked up from the computer and turned towards the girl. "What's the matter?"
"Does this look like a medium bowl to you?" she asked without further ado. The pinkette nodded in reply.
"Thanks, sorry to bother you," she said whilst leaving the room, closing the door behind her.
Back in the kitchen, she placed the confirmed medium bowl on the counter. "Let's see, first three ingredients... three cups all purpose flour, one teaspoon baking soda and half a teaspoon salt. Which is nine, three and one and a half for a triple batch," she noted, paying attention to how much she needs for her quantity of dough; it would be tragic to mess up because of a simple miscalculation. She retrieved the flour and the baking soda from the shopping bag and took down the salt container from the shelf. Afterwards, she looked through the cupboard to obtain the cup measuring set.
Lastly, she pulled open the utensil drawer. Inside it, she saw spoons of at least three different sizes. "Greeeaaaat, how am I supposed to know which is the teaspoon? I don't even use a spoon to add sugar to my tea," she voiced her complaint. She grabbed one of each size. "Time to ask Luka again."
This time around, she did knock, but didn't bother waiting for a reply before she stepped inside. "Which one is the teaspoon?" she inquired, holding up the three variations. Luka chuckled at the amateur question.
"The middle one. For future reference, the bigger one is the tablespoon and the smaller one is a quarter teaspoon," she informed her.
"Aaahh, thanks!" Miku said as she left the study again.
The mystery of the spoon sizes solved, she was prepared to start putting the ingredients into the medium bowl. She opened up the bag of flour and started pouring it into the measurer denoted as equalling '1 cup'. That in itself may seem simple to achieve: of course, being a powdery substance, that was not the case. The counter also received its fair share. An 'oops' was all she had to say about it.
"One cup... two cups... eeep... three..." she counted the amount as she filled the bowl. "Four... five... yikes... six... seven... ugh, damn flour, stop being so spilly!" she scolded it, expecting it to be on better behaviour from that point. "Uhm, where was I?"
Having lost count due to her sudden outburst, she had no choice but to restart. She found another medium bowl and started remeasuring the amount from one bowl to the other, doubling her concentration. "One cup. Two cups. Three cups. Four cups. Five cups. Six cups. Seven cups. There," she concluded. "And now, eight... nine... done!" she exclaimed triumphantly.
Adding the baking soda was much less of a hassle. It was not difficult at all to scoop it out from the packet, considering that it was more compact than the flour; nor was it that challenging to count to three. However, the salt posed a tiny problem again. The container already had a spoon on it. "Oh great, a fourth variation of size," Miku groaned. She compared it with the regular teaspoon and the quarter teaspoon: it was exactly between the two in size. "Well, look at that, it's probably the half teaspoon the recipe needs." She quickly measured three halves into the bowl.
"In a large bowl, cream together butter and both sugars with an electric mixer until fluffy. So first, large bowl." Knowing how big 'medium' is, it didn't take her too long to find a 'large bowl'. "The amounts are... one cup light brown sugar and half a cup granulated white sugar. In this case, three and one and a half."
Similarly to the flour, the sugar was also quite uncooperative. Soon, Miku would be able to bake a separate batch from the quantity that had spilled to the side. Next, she opened the fridge to take out the butter.
"It probably wouldn't be a good idea to mix this ice-cold mass right away," she figured. "But there is no way I'm waiting for it to melt... maybe Luka has an idea."
By now, she didn't even bother knocking on the door of the study and simply barged in, butter in hand.
"Miku dear, which one of us is baking, you or me?" the woman spoke up before the girl had a chance to pose her question.
"Well, me, but, baking's tricky!" she whined. "So many spoons, and spilly flour...it's an evil art, I tell ya. I prefer being on the eating side of a cookie rather than the baking side of it.
"Anyways, what can I do to the butter so it'll be easier to cream together with both sugars with an electric mixer until fluffy?" she inquired, straight to the point.
"Obviously, you'd need to melt it," Luka proposed.
"How do I do that?" Miku wondered. The woman let out a deep sigh.
"I guess I'll have to help with that," she declared. The pinkette stood up from the desk and the two of them walked back to the kitchen.
Luka opened up the cupboard containing the metal pots. She picked out two: one smaller than the other, so it could nestle into the bigger one. She filled the larger one with water and put it on the stove, turning up the heat underneath it. She looked at the recipe to see how much butter it needs: one cup. "Triple batch?" she asked, looking at the already measured-out amounts. The girl nodded in reply. Luka put enough butter into the smaller bowl accordingly.
"That should do the trick. Wait a while before adding it to the sugar," she instructed the tealette. After that, she returned to her work.
"Add eggs one at a time and beat well. That needs to wait. Mix in vanilla. Same thing. Add dry ingredients and combine well. So does that," she read the rest of the recipe in search of something she could do while waiting for the butter to melt. "Fold in chocolate chunks. Right, I need to do something with the marzipan. Can't just dump it into the batter, can I?"
She took down a small bowl from the cupboard and took out the packages of marzipan from the shopping bag. She opened up one of them and began pinching off small chunks, rolling them into little balls and dropping them into the bowl. With the music in her ears, it turned out to be a very relaxing and peaceful process, allowing her to delve into her thoughts.
Maybe, just maybe, this whole baking thing isn't all that awful. At the very least, I hope that all this trouble will be worth it in the end and that the cookies will turn out deliciously, she mused. Whoever Rin plans on confessing to has no choice but to accept her feelings. Otherwise, I'm personally hunting him down and making him the secret ingredient in the next batch of cookies.
Even though they weren't all tied by blood, the Vocaloids functioned like a normal, yet slightly crazy and weird, family. Luka was the mother figure of the group, Meiko was the almost always drunk aunt, Kaito and Gakupo were the odd uncles. Lily and Gumi had the roles of peculiar cousins. Miku considered the twins, Rin and Len, as her siblings: hence her 'big sister'-like doting on the girl. Also, she did have her related little brother: the tad younger Mikuo. Most would guess that he was the older of the two, since he was half a head taller than her.
The girl's got guts, that's for sure: conveying your feelings is a double-edged sword and most certainly not an easy decision to make, she continued to ponder. Sixteen seems like the right age for an innocent little first relationship. Though, I'm one to speak, nearing the age of adulthood with nothing but a few dates that ended fruitlessly. I suppose I'm happy for Rin and all, but it stings to get one-upped by my own 'sister', for all intents and purposes.
She let out a gloomy sigh. When will I get my chance at love? Aren't I allowed to have a few practice runs before meeting The One, at least? Handling boys requires expertise: I know that much by just being with Mikuo.
She had a unique bond with her brother. The flock of fangirls stalking him around at school involuntarily made her notice how cute and attractive he was, the 'average hottie'; though that was merely his outer façade. The personality he had at home was quite different: he was an obnoxious loud-mouth who always spoke what was on his mind. As such, it was perfectly ordinary for him to be arguing with someone or other in the household on a regular basis, often over trivial things. As his older sister, she usually ended up as a mediator between the two parties. On several occasions, she lectured him about trying to get along better with the others, although it didn't amount to much. Despite how annoyed she would get at these times, she just couldn't come to dislike him: she herself rarely got into a fight with him. Most likely due to the fact that he made sure to keep their conversations centered on 'neutral' topics, like movies. Also, no matter what kind of tough day she'd had, his playful teasing always cheered her up. She knew better than to take him seriously.
"How's the butter?" Luka's voice brought Miku to her senses. She had completely lost track of what she was doing: she had already mechanically decomposed half the packages of marzipan. Due to her inattentiveness, all the butter had entirely melted: it was reduced to the state of a yellowish soup.
"Uhhh... I sort of forgot about that," the tealette began to say. "Great, I can start over now..."
"All is not lost yet," Luka reassured her. She walked over the stove and turned it off. She pulled out a coaster from a drawer, in order to put the bowl containing the butter onto the counter. "Let it cool for a couple of minutes, then put it into the fridge so it'll solidify a little bit. I think it should still be usable like that. Just make sure not to wait too long with it," she warned the girl.
"Yes, ma'am," she acknowledged the instructions with a salute. Luka reciprocated it with a smile as she left the kitchen.
This time around, Miku didn't allow herself to drown in her thoughts. She continued the process of preparing the marzipan, but paid close attention to the butter. After placing it in the fridge, she tried establishing a balance, so as to not open the door too often, yet be able to check on the butter as necessary. It was still too runny by the time she was finished with the marzipan, so she took a little snack break and pulled out a spring onion from the vegetable cupboard. Regardless of her attempt to get the butter's density just right, it still ended up too cold once again. She placed the bowl on the stove and turned on the heat underneath it. She mixed it around a bit, the whole process taking no longer than half a minute before it reached a manageable state.
The tealette could finally proceed with the step. She poured the butter into the large bowl that held the sugars. She took out the electric mixer from the drawer, which had the swirly extensions set into it. She plugged it in and began mixing the ingredients together.
"Oh gosh, you're doing it wrong," she suddenly heard Luka say. It was pure coincidence that the woman chose that moment to get a drink for herself. Miku turned off the appliance.
"How many ways can you mix?" she inquired, confounded by her claim.
"You need the whisk extensions if you want to make it fluffy," she revealed to the girl. She pulled out the correct ones from a different drawer and handed them to her.
"I see. I think it's safe to say that the kitchen hates me," she stated. Luka laughed at her observation.
"No, it doesn't. You just need to practice," she encouraged her. "Nothing's in flames yet, so far so good." A glass of juice in hand, she left the kitchen to let the girl continue her ordeal.
Once more, Miku began mixing the ingredients, this time with the whisks. After a little while, it reached a state that she hoped was acceptable as 'fluffy'. Next, it was time to add the eggs, one at a time. The recipe requested two large ones, so she took out six from the carton in the fridge. As a precaution, she took down a small bowl to crack it into that first before putting it into the half-finished batter. It soon turned out to be an excellent idea.
She took the first egg into her hand and lightly knocked it against the edge of the bowl. A short crack spread across its surface. She tried pushing her fingers into it to force it open. It ended up as a half success: sure, the insides of the egg were now in the bowl, but so were little fragments of the shell that broke off as well. The tips of her fingers were also covered with egg white.
"Wonderful," she sarcastically noted as she tossed the main parts of the shell into the trash can. She rinsed off her fingers afterwards. She took out a small spoon from the utensil drawer and fished out the shell pieces. She poured the egg into the batter and quickly mixed it together.
The second time around, Miku figured it would be a better tactic to use more force when knocking the egg against the edge of the bowl. Simply put, it wasn't. Not in the least. It's true that there were no little fragments this time. Instead, the egg immediately broke in half, thus half of it landed in the bowl, and the other half of it landed on the floor.
"Eggs, I shall henceforth be considering you as my arch-enemies," she announced seriously. "Good thing they're sold in cartons of ten. I'll just... clean that up later," she decided. She emptied the bowl's contents into the trash and took out another egg.
Clearly unable to find the right force to break the eggs with, Miku chose to fish out the little fragments rather than waste all the eggs. It slowed down the task considerably, but she had no other option for the time being. Fortunately, this was her last complicated challenge. Adding the six teaspoons of vanilla was a success, free of accidents. There were no particular problems with adding the dry ingredients, either.
"Yay, I'm almost done. I just need to put in the marzipan and I can start baking," she stated happily. Glimpsing the end renewed her energy.
She poured the little, round chunks into the batter. They didn't sink in on their own, so for the sake of 'folding in' the marzipan properly, it was unavoidable for her to literally get her hands messy.
She sunk her slender fingers into the batter and started turning it around, making sure to spread the marzipan evenly. The batter's texture was a bit sticky. "I think I've uncovered the secret to soft skin: baking with butter," she confidently affirmed.
When she was satisfied with the state of the cookie dough, she began slicking off the excess from her fingers. In spite of her efforts, most of it remained on her hands. Curious about its taste, she licked off a bit from her right index finger.
"Sacred spring onions, this is delicious," she declared, satisfaction in her voice. She licked off the remainder of the aforementioned digit, closing her eyes to enjoy the flavour on her tongue a little bit longer.
All of a sudden, an unknown tongue wrapped itself around her right pinkie and a firm hand grabbed her wrist. Her eyes instantaneously popped open, meeting her brother's aquamarine gaze. The shock combined with surprise left her at a loss for words. It was last thing she would've expected to happen. An intense blush appeared on her cheeks, accompanied by a quickened heart rate. I should've asked him to just touch the butter: it would've melted instantly. Such a silly thought was the most coherent notion her brain was capable of at that moment. He pulled out the earphones from her ears with his other hand.
"Shocker of the century: Mii's baking doesn't suck," he made a snarky comment, a devilish grin playing on his lips as he finished clearing off her finger. Mii was his special nickname for her: like her already concise name was in such dire need of the shortening in the first place. Nevertheless, he was quite defensive about it, and didn't let the other Vocaloids call her that.
"Ohh shuddap," she retorted, having some difficulty at properly articulating. Mikuo obliged to her request: he began licking off her ring finger. Should I stop him? Or should I let him continue? Is this normal, even? A dozen questions suddenly started circulating her mind, making it all that much harder to figure out what would be the right course of action in such an odd situation.
"N-not like that..." she tried objecting to his antics. Waiting for the right moment, she pulled her hand out of his grip when her finger was no longer in his mouth.
"I was just shutting up like ya told me to, Mii," he insisted, though he didn't attempt to take her hand into his possession again.
"Seriously, I can wash it off with water..." Miku told him, averting her gaze, still a little bit flustered.
"Mii, for one, it would be a waste of water. And second, it'd be a waste of perfectly fine cookie dough," he reasoned. She didn't know how to respond to that, her hesitation giving him the opportunity to step closer to her and grasp her wrist again.
An alarm sounded off in her mind. This is just way too sudden! There was no precedent to him acting like this with her. It was almost like he accidentally switched to his school personality. Realizing that she had other body parts that she was capable of moving, such as legs, she took a step back from him. That would've worked out fine, had she not left behind the remains of the sacrificed egg, but it was too late to regret that.
Once her foot made contact with the remnants of the egg, she felt the ground slipping from beneath her. Before she could even register what happened, she was already sitting on the kitchen floor. Since Mikuo was holding onto her hand at that moment, he was also caught up in the unanticipated fall. As such, they ended up in an awkward position, his lips landing directly on hers.
The chaste kiss lasted for a mere moment, ending faster than a hummingbird can flap its wings. The only proof that Miku had of it was the tingly sensation on her lips and the lingering warmth. The deep crimson complexion of her brother's face was also a huge hint. Similarly, she could feel her face burn up as well. Her heart began to race, threatening to burst through her chest. She stared into his aquamarine eyes, searching for an explanation. Of course, this accident was her fault for the most part; but combined with the recent events, it caused quite a bit of turmoil in her heart, though no sensible thoughts took shape in her mind.
"Keep the public displays of affection out of the kitchen, please." Luka's teasing tone quickly interrupted the uncomfortable silence between the siblings. The young woman intended to fetch another glass of juice from the kitchen; with impeccable timing, she also had the chance of witnessing Miku's fall and what followed after.
Too shocked to explain themselves, they watched Luka as she walked over to the fridge, took out the carton of juice, refilled her glass and put it back inside. She didn't say another word as she left the kitchen, but they could both see a grin on her features, making them all the more embarrassed.
When they were alone again, they regained some of their composure, both of them pulling away from the other and turning around whilst still seated on the floor. About a minute passed like that, in strained stillness. Miku's mind went completely blank.
All of a sudden, Mikuo got to his feet and scurried out of the kitchen. She let out her breath that she wasn't even aware of having held back. Just then, he reappeared in the doorway and looked straight at her. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but after a quick reconsideration, he closed it again. With hurried footsteps, he walked to the vegetable cupboard and retrieved a handful of spring onions before leaving for real this time.
"What. The. Heck," she uttered the phrase with incredulity in her voice. She got to her feet and strode to the sink in order to wash off her hands: they were still more or less covered in cookie dough. After drying off her digits, she raised one of them to her lips, gently poking the lower one.
"Did I really...?" she asked herself, incapable of actually saying out loud what occurred between her and her brother. She broke out in uncontrollable laughter; it took a couple of minutes for her giggles to subside.
"For something like this to happen now, of all times..." she mused, staring up at the cream-colored ceiling.
To be honest, Miku had a secret. It was not one she was overly proud of; however, she couldn't do anything about it. For about a year or so, she was completely head over heels for Mikuo. Looking back on it, she'd certainly blame it on a late surge of hormones. It was all just an unfortunate misunderstanding that started when he had called her Mii for the first time. She was so touched by it, especially by his defensiveness about being the only using that nickname for the girl. After that, she took innocent gestures as signs that the feelings she had for him were mutual. While half of her soul built up an illusion, the other half restrained her just enough so she wouldn't do anything stupid and reveal herself before him. More than a brother, he was the closest she had to a best guy-friend: it wasn't something she was willing to easily sacrifice for something entirely uncertain.
It took her a while, but she finally understood the reality of her situation and managed to wrap up the overflowing emotions, burying them deep down into her heart. Perhaps her hormones stopped raging; perhaps her mind matured; perhaps her heart craved the cold emptiness after the consuming flame of unrequited feelings.
Even though it had been well over a year since she had made her decision, and she had done a pretty good job at looking at Mikuo as nothing more than her brother from that moment onwards, it all seemed to disintegrate when their lips touched. The frantic beating of her heart made the emotions resurface again, and she had no idea what to do with them anymore. She inhaled deeply and then slowly let out her breath.
"Stay cool. You've still got cookies to bake," she told herself, looking at the bowl of dough. "Only tackle one problem at a time."
"Form dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place each ball two inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Cool cookies on sheet for five minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely," she read aloud the end of the recipe. "Ahh, I guess this is the part where I can start preheating the oven, too."
In the final stage of cooking, she basically went into auto-pilot mode, mechanically carrying out the instructions. Reluctant to get her hands messy again, she used two spoons to form the dough into little mounds onto the baking sheets.
"Woah, the marzipan's erupting," Miku commented as she observed the first set of cookies baking in the oven. By some rule of kitchen-physics, the little balls of marzipan near the tops of the mounds literally did erupt and the gooey insides slowly flowed to the side a bit. At that point, the cookies already had a wonderful golden color, so she took them out before the tragedy of Pompeii got re-enacted in the interior of the stove.
Soon enough, the mouth-watering scent of the freshly baked cookies began to waft through the Vocaloid home. When the first set had sufficiently cooled down to an edible temperature, the tealette decided it was time to taste-test them.
"Alright, the moment of truth has arrived," she declared. She took a small bite from the cookie. In an instant, she was whisked away into a realm of sugar-sweet bliss. Before she knew it, she had already devoured it in its entirety. Around the edges, it was a bit crispy while the inside had more of a fluffy texture. The orange-flavoured marzipan added a twist to the taste, turning it into a scrumptious treat.
"I believe that replacing chocolate in the recipe was the most genius idea I've ever had," she announced, her tone brimming with pride from her creation.
Seeing as she had a triple batch of dough to bake, she spent several more hours in the kitchen before she was finished. She concentrated very hard on not letting her thoughts stray; filling her mind with music instead helped considerably. As such, she was able to bake all the cookies without burning a single one, which was no little feat considering her earlier mishaps.
"Mission completed! And battlefield destroyed..." she noted, taking a good look around the kitchen. Before she got started on cleaning up after herself, the tealette retrieved a large cookie jar from the cupboard and placed the cookies inside. However, it wasn't big enough for them all, so she put the extras into a smaller jar that she decided to keep for herself. When the kitchen was just as sparkly clean as it was before she had begun her endeavour, Miku picked up the cookie jars and left the kitchen.
The tealette peeked out into the hallway, to make sure that Mikuo was nowhere in sight. It's too soon for me to face him again, she thought to herself. She rushed up the stairs to the upper floor, where their bedrooms were located. Rin shared a room with Len, and they both happened to be out somewhere with friends, so Miku simply entered their room and placed the large jar on the girl's desk and exited right afterwards.
The baking of the cookies left her utterly exhausted. A nice, warm bath seems very inviting after all that trouble, she figured. With that thought, she went to her own room to get her towel and a fresh set of clothes before making her way to the bathroom. She left her jar of cookies on her bedside table: it was the least cluttered surface in the room.
She turned on the taps of the bathtub, adjusting it so the water was bearably hot. She added a lavender-scented mixture into it, in order to make a relaxing bubble bath; she was very much in need of it, equally for her body and mind. Having tossed her dirtied clothes into the hamper, she slipped into the bubbly water of the bathtub, a pleasant sigh escaping from her mouth.
"So then, Miku, what are you gonna do now?" she asked herself in a low whisper, staring intently at the pile of bubbles in front of her. The bathtub was her favourite place to think: the gentle touch of the water had a way of clearing her murky thoughts.
Oh my gosh, I kissed him. Well, he kissed me. Though it was more like, we kissed each other. Can that even be considered a kiss, nowadays? Our lips just happened to touch, and very briefly, too. It wasn't really romantic, either. Honestly, it's a disgrace to have let my first be taken from me like that, by my very own brother! Not to mention, Luka saw it all... Though who knows what would've happened if she hadn't interrupted us. Damn egg, it's all your fault. If you hadn't gotten yourself spilled onto the floor, I wouldn't be in such a predicament...
Wait, rewind. It's Mikuo's fault, getting all flirty and playing around with me, suddenly licking the dough off my finger. Unlike the... kiss, it was very deliberate indeed. Or maybe just an involuntary teasing reflex, although a really messed-up one. He's never serious about anything, so I shouldn't take him seriously, either. I can't go down that path again; I absolutely mustn't.
One thing's for sure: I have to talk to him, so as to set things straight between us. I don't want something silly to change the way things are now, he's too important of a friend. It was purely an accident; it means nothing at all. It's exactly like before, I'm reading into it too much, seeing something that isn't there. I buried the emotions once; I can bury them again, she explained to herself. She remained in the water for a while longer, repeating the thought process in her mind to strengthen her resolve.
Once the water started to cool and the bubbles had dissipated, she pulled the plug from the tub and got out, wrapping herself in the large, fluffy towel. After properly drying herself off, she slipped into the clothes she had brought: a knee-length black skirt and a short-sleeved sapphire-blue top with a musical note on it. She took out the hair clips from her hair and styled her tresses into the usual two ponytails. As soon as she deemed herself presentable, she grabbed her towel and left the bathroom.
She proceeded along the hallway to her room. When she arrived in front of it, the door to Mikuo's room, which was located right beside hers, creaked open. The boy peeked out, noticing his sister.
"Hey..."
"Uhm..."
They both began to speak at the same second, meriting a chuckle from them as a pink tinge tinted their cheeks.
"Mii, we need to talk," the boy said, stepping out onto the hallway.
"One sec, I want to put this inside first," she told him, pointing to the towel in her hand. He replied with a nod.
Miku went into her room and placed it on the back of her chair. She took a deep breath to compose herself before going back outside. That was just an accident, it meant nothing, she repeated in her mind one last time.
Closing the door behind her, she noticed that he had gotten closer and was now leaning against the wall directly in front of her room. Neither of them knew how to start what they wanted to say, thus a strange silence set in between the siblings as their gazes were fixated on the carpet of the corridor. Miku started twiddling her fingers while Mikuo shifted his weight from one leg to the other. Finally, he mustered enough courage to start up the conversation.
"How did the cookies turn out, Mii?" he asked casually, in hopes of lightening the heavy ambiance.
"Absolutely delicious," she stated confidently, her lips curving into a sweet smile. "Want some?"
"Of course!" he said excitedly; the boy was just as sweet-toothed as his sister. If ever he turned down a dessert, it meant that something was seriously wrong.
Miku went back inside her room once again and returned with a treat in hand. Keeping her distance from him, she stretched out her arm to give him the cookie. Their fingers slightly brushed as he took it.
"Not bad for something orange-flavoured, Mii," he commented after tasting it, a sly smirk appearing on his features. Translated from teasing Mikuo-speak, that means he thinks it's tasty, she remarked to herself. "Actually, why orange?"
"Oh, they're for Rin. She insisted on taking homemade cookies for the class trip, and I figured she'd like it better with orange-flavoured marzipan rather than chocolate," she responded, bringing the discussion to an end.
"Mii, about what happened in the kitchen..." he began to say, straight to the point.
"It's fine, that was just a clumsy accident," she chimed in, taking advantage of his pause. "If there's a next time of me baking, I'll remember to clean up hazards like egg on the floor as soon as it happens."
"Yeah, just an accident," he mirrored her words. She wasn't certain of it, but she heard the faint traces of hurt in his voice.
"We'll forget about it and pretend it never happened, okay?" she suggested cautiously.
"Not okay," he mumbled in response. Miku had no time to react, because she soon found herself in his tight embrace.
Since he was the taller one, he nuzzled his nose into her hair. One of his arms curled around her waist while the other draped over her shoulders. With her ear against his chest, his heartbeat was clearly audible to her. She thought it would break through his ribcage at any given moment; much like her own.
"Don't ask me to forget something I've wanted to do for a while now," he whispered in a gentle tone. "I like you, Mii. A lot. Not just as my sister and not just as a friend."
"I-idiot," she managed to stutter, whilst wrapping her arms around him. She knew she ought to be happy upon hearing his confession; instead, an indescribable pain tugged at her heart. "You really shouldn't."
"I know, but I can't help it, Mii. Blame yourself for being too cute and adorable," he commented, making her giggle. It was so ironic: the words she wanted to hear a few years ago were like knives piercing her heart now.
"Don't say that. Don't put me in such a difficult situation," she objected to his comment.
"Is there someone else?" he inquired in an indifferent tone.
She hesitated before responding. I could lie to him. Everything would be so much easier, we could both forget about the other without complications. I was already over him, and still would be, were it not for the events in the kitchen.
"Mii, answer me..." he pleaded.
The girl let out a melancholic sigh. Mii couldn't bear to hurt him with an ugly lie, she realized. She turned her head to look straight up at him, their aquamarine gazes locking together. He looked at her so endearingly; it melded her heart back into shape and the packaged love left its wrapping behind. Still, that didn't keep her from being on the giving side of the teasing for once.
"Yeah, there's someone," she replied very seriously. "He's a little bit younger, but slightly taller than me."
She paused for a moment to give him time to react. He remained silent, but the light of his eyes grew dimmer. She could feel him tighten his embrace around her.
"And I couldn't imagine my life without him in it," she took a deep breath before continuing, "because there's no other little brother like him." She finished her sentence with a huge grin.
"Don't mess with me, woman," he reprimanded her, whilst flicking her forehead with his finger. They both broke out in soft laughter.
"Sorry, it was just too perfect of an opportunity to pass up," she apologized, looking up at him meekly.
Mikuo closed the already short distance between their faces, leaning in for a kiss. Miku had no time to object, nor did she really want to. It was the second meeting of their lips, yet the sensation felt completely new to her, like a true first. It lasted longer, too. Even so, not long enough; she was already yearning for the tender touch of his lips on her own as soon as he pulled away. Her heart was all aflutter with pure happiness. There, in his arms, everything was right in the world.
"Yeah, perfect opportunities are hard to resist," he agreed.
"So, we're... boyfriend and girlfriend now?" she asked for clarity's sake. I don't think I can entirely accept it as the truth unless I hear it with my own ears...
"No, Mii, we're ketchup and mayo," he stated blatantly. "What else would we be? Of course we're boyfriend and girlfriend now..."
"Right," she replied with a giddy giggle.
"We're back!" Rin shouted as she flung open the front door. Miku happened to be walking in the hallway, taking down the dirty clothes from the bathroom to the washing machine in the basement.
"Welcome back. How was the class trip? Did you-" she began to question the girl. Then she noticed that as the twins entered, they were holding hands with their fingers entwined, like a couple. Her mouth curled into a gentle smile. "I see everything turned out well."
"Y-yeah," Rin admitted, a small blush coloring her cheeks as she looked down at their joined hands. "The cookies were great."
"Happy to hear that. I'm glad I could bake them for you," she told her.
Miku left them on their own, continuing her way to the basement. She loaded the machine and after setting it to the right program, she started it up.
"I'm totally going to start selling my variation of chocolate chip cookies," she mused. "With a slogan like 'Bringing people's hearts together' and two true stories proving it, I'm sure it'll be a hit. The secret ingredient: one teaspoon of love."