Yui adjusted her legs for what seemed like the hundredth time. Sitting in front of the television, grinding out levels in Namori Quest 2 was beginning to take its toll. The sun was beginning to set and dark clouds continued to collide and coalesce over her apartment building. Yui's stomach began to shake and contract, accompanied by the faint growl of hunger. The raven-haired girl glanced down at her controller, thinking the mild upset was, at first, an extension of her gaming experience.
"I should make dinner soon." She said to herself, navigating the game's save screen with speed and precision, as she had done thousands of times before. With one fluid motion the console was shut down and placed neatly away. Yui prided herself on her organization skills; "A place for everything, and everything in its place", was a common motto she held close to her heart.
Yui arose from her sitting position and slowly shook the fatigue out of her legs.
"I should try and use the remaining vegetables I have before they go bad." She counted the contents of her fridge in her head, and began matching it with possible recipes she knew off the top of her head.
"It would be best to keep it simple, maybe a stew of some kind." It was the end of the month. Yui was running short on both groceries and money. Next months check from her elders wouldn't arrive for another five days, in the best case scenario.
Before Yui could open her stove storage and remove a pot, the resounding chime of her doorbell filled her ears. Her eyes slowly panned from her stove to the door. No one had contacted her, nor was she expecting company. As she approached the door and prepared to turn on the peep hole viewer, she stopped mid-motion. She knew who it was. With no prior knowledge of the upcoming encounter. Yui could feel the energy radiating behind her door. Only one hot-headed blonde could emit that kind of power from behind 2 inches of door. Yui gave a light sigh before flicking on the small digital display.
Maroon ribbons, followed by a giant blue eye, a huge grin, and various other body parts flooded the screen. Yui didn't turn on the microphone, but she could hear her friend anyway.
"Hey! Yui! It's me Kyouko! Open up!"
Yui flicked on her door's microphone, "Mountain."
Kyouko stopped her fidgeting. She stepped back from the camera, placing one hand on her hip and another on her chin. "You're quite the mastermind, coming up with a riddle for me to solve."
"You're the one who made it up..." Yui thought to herself.
Kyouko stood up straight with a triumphant look. "Plateau!"
"Wrong." Yui said coldly.
Kyouko retained her proud stance. "Summit!"
"Try again."
"Peak?"
Yui's face began to brandish a small sadists grin. As much as she enjoyed watching her friend untangle the mystery of Yui Mountain, she was also running out of time to cook. "Where do you go fishing?" She presented Kyouko with an easier riddle.
"A lake!" Kyouko chimed in, a big smile grew on her face. Nailed it.
Yui cracked her front door and poked her head out. "Close enough. Come in."
"Yui, I'm hungry, so feed me!" Kyouko continued to rant about her hunger, wasting no time making herself at home in Yui's living room.
"You say that like no one feeds you at your house." Yui retorted, prepping her kitchen utensils.
"Yeah, but I'm here, not there. That's why you should feed me." Kyouko's backwards logic was a fairly common occurrence.
"Look, Kyouko, I'm really short on ingredients right now-"
"That's fine, I'll just have Rum Raisin." Kyouko interrupted as she entered the kitchen and threw her head into Yui's freezer. She slowly closed the freezer door and turned to Yui with a horrified expression on her face. "Yui... There's no Rum Raisin in here..."
"I know. You ate it all the last time you were over, and I haven't had money to buy any more."
Kyouko slowly shambled over to Yui, still standing still over her unused cooking utensils. Kyouko took her softly by the shoulders.
"Yui... Why is the Rum Raisin gone?" Kyouko's eyes were starting to mildly tear up at the thought of not being able to have her frosty sugar fix. Yui, sporting a completely stone faced expression, turned to fill her pot with water to boil.
Kyouko's mourning over the lack of Rum Raisin continued till Yui's water came to a rolling boil.
"So what are you making?" Kyouko shook off her depression with a simple flick of the wrist.
"Stew. All I have left is vegetables, most of which go bad soon, so I have to use them."
"Neat. Can I play Namori Quest?" Kyouko began her stride back into the living room, but was stopped short by Yui gently tugging on her shirt collar.
"If you want to eat my food, the least you can do is help prepare it."
"Eeeh?" Kyouko's neck went limp. The mere thought of manual labor, even in its most mild forms, drove her to an almost crippling state of lethargy. "But I'm no good at cooking. I'm only good at eating. I'm actually really good at eating. It's like, one of my primary talents."
"I'm not sure you can classify eating as a talent." Yui retorted.
"What about Takeru Kobayashi? He's really good at eating. He doesn't even get fat!"
"I think that is an entirely different subject altogether."
After a couple of minutes of convincing, and a bit of bribery with promises of future Rum Raisin spoils, Kyouko found herself overlooking a myriad of aprons in one of Yui's kitchen drawers. A sea of color spread out before her: standard colors to various animal prints. Pandas, cats with assorted toys, even one with Namori Quest characters on it, obviously well loved.
"You...you have so many." Kyouko's eyes darted around the wardrobe for the hundredth time before reverting back to Yui, who was oddly enough sporting her usual plain blue apron. "Do you even wear any of the other ones?"
Yui's face revealed a tiny blush. "Sometimes, mostly when no one else is around."
"So I can choose any one of these?" Kyouko said holding up a purple and white apron in tandem.
"Well, yes." Yui said prepping the vegetables for cutting. After a couple of seconds of the sound of fabric rubbing on fabric, Yui turned around to find Kyouko with both aprons on. One in front and one in back. "...Why?" was the only thing Yui could muster out of her mouth at the sight.
"Mirakurun colors!" Kyouko said with a slightly awkward smile.
Instead of chastising Kyouko for fooling around, Yui took the purple apron from around Kyouko's neck and folded it in half before stuffing it into the center pocket of the white apron.
"There. Now you actually look somewhat like her. Complete with purple skirt."
Kyouko's eyes lit up. She ran into the living room to check out her poorly crafted cosplay in the full-body mirror.
"Yui! You're the best!" Kyouko proceeded to stand at attention and salute Yui. "Toshino Kyouko, standing by! Ready to tackle any kind of mission in the name of love and justice, Empress Yui!"
Yui was only slightly taken aback by the new title she had earned, in addition to her friends newly acquired admiration for her makeshift seamstress skills.
Yui figured it would be best for both of them if she played along. "Very good Duchess Kyouko, let's get this done so we can proceed to mock the commonwealth." Yui and Kyouko proceeded to march into the kitchen with their newly found energy, laughing like tyrants.
"Wait..." Kyouko's march came to a slow and steady halt. "Why do I suddenly feel like a villain?"
Yui slowly turned around to face her puzzled friend. The bright gleam of steel sparkled and glistened from Yui's hand. A knife. A big, shiny, sharp, knife.
"Come Duchess Kyouko, it's time to put our kingdoms inhabitants in their place." Yui rose the knife to her face and felt the cool steel against her cheek. Her eyes glowed under the pale flame of the stove top burners. "It is high time you learned to rule your people as well."
Kyouko was hiding behind the doorway, peaking inside the kitchen, before Yui was done with her tyrannical facade.
"Yui, you're scary sometimes." Kyouko was shaking slightly.
Yui reverted back to her old stone-faced self in an unsettling instant. "In all seriousness, can you help me cut these vegetables? The water is going to boil soon."