"What'da ya mean you'd rather die than eat my ramen?" Gojyo said, frowning and giving Hakkai a glare.
"I didn't say that," Hakkai said. "I merely suggested that your ramen would be a cause of my death. Either through you burning down the house or my demise in consuming it."
"Well fine, then don't eat it," Gojyo said starting to pull out random ingredients from the fridge. Hakkai watched him for a moment.
"Has anyone taught you how to cook?" he asked, curious.
Gojyo paused and looked at Hakkai, eyebrows knit in disbelief. "Uh, no," he said like it was obvious. "But it ain't hard. You just put shit in a bowl and cook it."
"Well there's the matter of flavors and what goes good together to consider," Hakkai said. "For example, the leftovers in your hand would not go well with the sauce you just pulled out."
Gojyo looked at the two items in his hand. "Why not? They both taste good."
"Yes, but tasting good separately does not mean they'll taste good together," Hakkai said, taking the leftovers from Gojyo's hand. "Instead, we could make a more traditional flavored ramen." Hakkai looked over their ingredients, "Or soup, since we have better vegetables for that."
"Alright, whatever, dude, you make dinner then," Gojyo said starting to walk out of the kitchen.
"Oh no, I never said I was going to make dinner," Hakkai said, pulling Gojyo back by the arm. "We're making dinner. Together," he said, pulling out a knife. "Now let's get chopping."
"Are you serious?" Gojyo raised an eyebrow but took the knife.
"Most certainly. Now," Hakkai said as he started putting away the some of the more random things Gojyo had taken from the fridge and instead pulled out carrots and celery, "The first thing we need to do is get everything chopped. Could you please chop the onions?" Hakkai asked, handing over two sweet onions to Gojyo. "Please peal them first, and try to cut them into similarly size pieces. Uniformity is key."
"Yeah, sure thing 'Kai," Gojyo huffed rolling his eyes. He started to peal the outside layer off the first onion, tasting the fine mist of onion that hit the air. With that off, Gojyo took up the knife and started haphazardly cutting into the onion with little care in the direction of his cuts. It wasn't long before Gojyo could feel his eyes start to water and then burn. Gojyo wiped his eyes, swearing as he got more onion in his eye.
"What's wrong?" Hakkai asked coming over.
Gojyo gestured to the onions, "I got it in my eyes," he said, trying to wipe the tears from his irritated eyes.
Hakkai took his hands, "Stop rubbing them, you'll only make it worse." He guided Gojyo back towards the bathroom and had him wash his hands while he got a face towel. He handed it to Gojyo. "Try this."
Gojyo took the towel and scrubbed around his eyes and brushing the onion irritant. When he could finally open his eyes with out them tearing up, he handed the cloth back to Hakkai. "Thanks, man."
"It's quiet alright. It's hard to cut onions without crying. Onions produce the chemical irritant known as syn-propanethial-S-oxide. It stimulates the eyes' lachrymal glands so they release tears," Hakkai explained. "In other words, when cutting the onion, the enzyme is released and irritates your eyes."
"Huh," Gojyo said, still trying to dry his eyes. "Man, you're just full of information."
After the onion incident, Hakkai took Gojyo off of chopping any more vegetables. Instead, he had him peeling carrots. Gojyo had finished one rather long carrot and started poking Hakkai with it.
"Is this good?" he asked, still poking Hakkai.
"Is it all pealed?" Hakkai asked moving out of poking range.
"Yeah," Gojyo said moving closer to start poke him with the carrot again.
"Then please start on the next one," Hakkai said, pushing the carrot away.
"That's the last one," Gojyo said, still poking Hakkai.
"Gojyo, please stop poking me with the carrot," Hakkai said after a few minutes, getting exasperated with Gojyo's antics.
"What'cha gonna do about it?" Gojyo said grinning as he continued to poke Hakkai.
"Very well, I didn't want to have to do this," Hakkai sighed, picking up the stalk of celery, "But you leave me no choice. Stand your guard." Hakkai hit Gojyo's carrot with his celery stick. Gojyo thrust forward and Hakkai parried. They exchanged blows until there was a loud snap. Hakkai's celery broke in half.
"I win!" Gojyo cheered, punching the air. Hakkai broke off the dangling piece of celery and poked Gojyo with it. Gojyo curled away from the celery, "Ack! No fair."
"This is vegetable war, nothing is fair," Hakkai said with a smile. "Now please cut the carrots and refrain from cutting any digits off."
"I think I can chop carrots just fine," Gojyo said, before nicking himself with the knife. "Shut up." Hakkai got a band-aid before taking over the cutting of the carrots, leaving Gojyo to do the other vegetables.
Once the rest of the vegetables were all cut, Hakkai pulled out a large pot, adding oil to the bottom. "Alright, once the bottom gets hot," Hakkai rolled his eyes when Gojyo snorted a laugh. "Once the bottom of the pot reaches a suitable heat, we add the vegetables and stir until they begin soften. Then we add water to begin making the stock."
Hakkai handed Gojyo the spoon once he added he vegetables. "So what? I just stir them."
"Yes, occasionally just to make sure they don't stick and burn," Hakkai said. He began to clean up the miscellaneous bits of vegetable and onionskins. With that done, he brought over the water to add in. "Now we just wait for it to simmer and let it be."
"That's it?" Gojyo asked.
"Yes, not that hard, see?" Hakkai smiled. "And now you can add noodles or rice or have it by itself. Soup is very versatile."
"I still think my ramen is less work," Gojyo said, but he was smiling.
"Yes, but now you can make another staple food," Hakkai said patting him on the cheek. "And this one without adding everything and the kitchen sink."
"Yeah okay, 'Kai," Gojyo said as he stirred the soup pot, secretly proud of the soup they made.