Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Build Fighters Try.
Whenever you try out something new, you either like it or love it? Or if you didn't enjoy trying out new things, do you try again later or give it up sooner? That was the case with a fiery boy with a talent for martial arts and Gunpla Battles called Sekai Kamiki, whom for the most part, can learn just about any new task he has come across. Everything...except cooking, but there is a reason why his older sister Mirai panics whenever she sees her brother anywhere near the stoves, or holding a frying pan. It is when she goes ballistic and throws her curious brother out of the kitchen.
One day, Sekai approached her timidly, hoping that she could finally teach him how to cook. After having taken a couple of bentos from a pretty looking girl that his friend Fumina Hoshino often called 'Gyanko', Sekai felt that he needed to repay her for the free bentos he's received. Moreover, he wanted to make a special lunch that only Gyanko can enjoy. Yet despite his oblivious attitude towards Gyanko's 'generosity', both Fumina and Yuuma Kousaka panicked. It was mainly because when a girl gives a boy a bento, it indicates that she has a crush on him.
"Nee-san, I wanna learn how to cook. Please teach me," Sekai pleaded. Mirai stopped what she was doing and turned around slowly. The brash looking boy couldn't help but gaze at the terrifying look on Mirai's face. "Please! I really wanna cook bento for Gyanko!"
Mirai cleared her throat. "Sekai, do you remember the last time you entered the kitchen when I wasn't looking?"
"Not really." Sekai made his puppy eyes.
"You nearly burned the floor and almost burned the house down. The neighbors had to call the firefighters because of the smoke you've created," Mirai said sternly. Yet Sekai was persistent, with Gyanko in his mind. Mirai's expression changed from her crazy looking grin to a sweet looking smile. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"Really? Thank you!" Sekai hugged his sister and began to run towards the kitchen, but Mirai grabbed him by his shirt collar. "Ahh!"
"Safety first, Sekai!" Mirai growled back. She placed Sekai on the ground and wrapped an apron around him. "You wear an apron before you start cooking."
Mirai showed Sekai the cupboard where the rice was kept, along with the spices and herbs she used to cook their three meals. She also opened the fridge to display where the meat, fish and eggs were, and opened a vegetable compartment where she stored the vegetables. Finally, Mirai opened the freezer where she kept the frozen meat and edamames together.
After Sekai became familiar with the fridge, freezer and cupboard, Mirai showed him where she kept the pots, pans and spatulas and explained to him how the stove should be turned on. When that was done, Sekai rubbed his hands together in anticipation of learning how to cook his first bento for his bento princess Gyanko.
"So what do you want to cook, Sekai?" Mirai asked cheerfully.
Sekai snapped his fingers. "I'll cook some unagi for Gyanko, along with some steamed rice and salad with apple dressing."
"Unagi's pretty easy to cook if you know how to control the heat." Mirai watched as Sekai opened the freezer and grabbed a packet of frozen unagi. "Although you'll need to wait until the unagi's thawed. In the meantime, you can cook some rice to get it started."
"Awesome! Where do I get the rice cooker?" Sekai asked back. Mirai pointed at the same cupboard where the pots and pans were kept, but Sekai grabbed a small pot instead. She grabbed a white colored rice cooker with an automatic switch. "OK, so how many cups do you normally make, nee-san?"
"Try two cups, Sekai." Sekai nodded to his sister's suggestion and grabbed the uncooked rice from another cupboard.
Mirai nodded approvingly at Sekai's handling of the rice. "Now wash the rice nine times. That way, you get rid of the starch inside the rice grain and make it sticky."
Sekai started to wash the rice as Mirai instructed, though he got too excited when he turned the rice around with his hands. However, he slowly poured the water out of the pot and repeated the process all over again until the water was clear and he can see the rice. Then, Mirai watched Sekai place the bowl of soaked rice into the metallic container and pressed the automatic switch. Once the rice was ensconced inside the container, Mirai grabbed a timer and set it to ten minutes.
"When you cook your batch of rice, it also helps to add a timer on it so you don't forget to lower the heat down. Now that's done, why don't we prepare the salad together?" Mirai asked. Sekai nodded and the two siblings began to grab the vegetables from the fridge. Once the salad was done, Mirai clapped her hands when the timer rang and set it again. Just then, the phone rang and Mirai picked it up. "Hello? Hi, Hoshino-san!"
Fumina Hoshino spoke back from the other line. "Mirai-san, how's Sekai doing? I just wanted to remind him that we have a Gunpla Battle practice coming up later in the afternoon."
"I'll remind him. In fact, we're cooking lunch and dinner together because he wanted to thank his lady friend Gyanko for the bentos she kept on giving him," Mirai replied back, unaware that Fumina's mood darkened. "Anything wrong, Fumina-chan?"
"Never mind. I can't believe that Sekai's thinking that Gyanko's giving him free lunch when he's too dense to realize that she likes him!" Fumina spoke loudly, but Mirai merely chuckled. "You were there when she gave him the bento."
Mirai laughed loudly, remembering that day when Gyanko, or Kaoruko as her real name turned out to be, shyly offered Sekai his first lunch in addition to the bento Mirai herself packed for him. To Fumina's shock, Sekai interpreted that as receiving free lunch without knowing Gyanko's hidden crush on him.
"Well, Fumina-chan. My little brother's still too young for romance and all that other mushy stuff, but if he gets older and still doesn't get it, I'll smack him in the head or lock him up in the closet with you," Mirai suggested, but Fumina stammered and blushed. "I think he likes you too, but he doesn't get it."
"He doesn't know what the term boyfriend means, Mirai-san," Fumina groaned. "Even my mom was intrigued when she saw him and she assumed that we were going out."
Mirai was about to respond when the timer rang again. Sekai ran towards the kitchen to turn off the rice cooker, and sure enough, he did just that. After Mirai and Fumina talked for a few more minutes, she hung up the phone and went back to the kitchen where Sekai struggled to figure out how to thaw the frozen unagi much faster. When Sekai could not wait for the unagi to thaw much longer, he simply looked for a knife in the drawer and ripped the plastic out. He grabbed the frying pan and turned on the stove while looking for the cooking oil. Yet in his frustration, Sekai accidentally turned on the stove at a very high temperature.
By the time Sekai turned his attention back towards the frying pan, he simply slammed the unagi in it, forgetting to put the cooking oil first. Mirai panicked when she smelled the smoke and frantically searched for a fire extinguisher. Finally, both Mirai and Sekai managed to put out the flame from the frying pan but the unagi was too burnt to be eaten. She sighed and looked at Sekai with a frown on her face.
"You see? This is why I don't let you anywhere near the kitchen: you're too careless," Mirai reprimanded her brother before she hugged him. "Hey, how about we buy some meat buns for your lady friend?"
Sekai nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea. And I guess I'm not ready to cook yet."
"At least you know how to cook the rice. Let's go and buy some meat buns." Mirai checked everything to make sure that nothing was left on before she and Sekai went out of the house.
It only took twenty minutes for them to find the nearest bakery where they sell meat buns, and both siblings bought a large amount of meat buns. Yet when Sekai walked towards the school grounds, he was surprised to see both Kaoruko and Fumina waiting for him while Yuuma just walked in five minutes later, surprised at Mirai's appearance as well.
"What do you have there?" Yuuma looked at the bags where the meat buns are. "Are they for us?"
"Help yourselves. Actually, Sekai wanted to make bento as a gesture of thanks to his bento princess but he kinda burned the unagi by accident." Mirai moved her hands towards her mouth as Sekai kept on looking at the glaring faces of both Fumina and Kaoruko.
"I really wanted to cook something for you, Gyanko, but I got carried away," Sekai cried out. Kaoruko's glare quickly transformed into a mischievous smile and hugged him, angering Fumina. "Gyanko..."
Kaoruko grabbed the meat bun and began to eat it. Immediately, her eyes shone like stars as she was lost in her daydreaming. Mini meat buns formed the imaginary angelic halo around her head while wings began to sprout. By the time Fumina shook her back to life, the piggy tail haired girl giggled and kissed him in the cheek, again angering Fumina.
"So the idiot can't cook to save his own life, huh?" Yuuma asked Mirai, though Sekai glared back at him. "Bringing a burned bento is one way for a girl to dump you, you know!"
"I don't see you bringing my sister some cooked bento, Yuuma!" Sekai and Yuuma grabbed each other's hand, intending to wrestle each other to the ground.
And so, dear readers, that is how Sekai Kamiki learned a valuable lesson his sister taught him: carelessness is one way to make a terrible bento, and the key to a woman's heart can be lost if the cooked bento doesn't taste good.
"Let's cook together some time!" Kaoruko proposed to Sekai, who immediately grinned and nodded. Unfortunately, he gasped as Fumina, Mirai and Yuuma unleashed their killer instinct.
"NOT ON YOUR LIFE, SEKAI!"
Well that's the end of my first GBFT short fanfic. I thought that bento shipping (KaorukoxSekai) would be Try's new meat bun shipping.