Chapter 3

Atsushi blinked, just blinked as he stared down at the girl in complete and utter confusion. She was clearly a girl, he knew it full well and the rounded hump of her chest through her hoodie was not lost on him, but when she spoke her name, his mind was having an issue accepting it.

"T-Tatsuya?... But that's a boy's name." Atsushi said quietly, rubbing the back of his head and combing his damp hair down so it didn't frizz all over the place.

Her blush deepened, but her brows furrowed, "G-Girls can have boy's names too you know." She grumbled, looking away from him as her mouth got small with irritation.

Atsushi cringed, "Uh... I mean, I guess so... Um-" His voice trailed off as he looked away again to hide his cringe.

"Y-Yeah... T-That's why I usually go by Tatsuki." She said, being the first to look at the other in some time.

"Tatsuki?... That's better-" Atsushi started, only to be quite literally saved by his uncle.

"Oi! You're early today, Tatty! Don't mind the giant ogre and get in here! We're gonna be starting breakfast!" Hiroshi called from down the first floor hall, stepping out of a second bathroom while rubbing his hair dry with a towel.

Tatsuki smiled, "Good morning!" She sang, stepping over the threshold once Atsushi turned to the side to let her in.

Atsushi glared at his uncle, "I'm not an ogre." He grumbled under his breath like a scolded child trying to get the last word.

"Sorry to tell ya, but the morning chores are all done, Tatty. Atsushi and I were able to knock them out before sunrise." Hiroshi said, tossing his towel into the small utility room off the kitchen before grabbing the apron from the hook.

"Really?... Oh... You don't need the help today then?" Tatsuki asked, her eyes a bit sad as she set down her woven basket onto the kitchen table.

"I still do. Atsushi has no freaking clue what all needs to get done around here." Hiroshi said bluntly, not even acknowledging the steep glare he was getting from that very boy whom had just stepped into the kitchen.

Atsushi's brows furrowed harder, but instead of saying anything, he just flipped a chair around backwards and flopped down on it with his arms crossed on the table and his chin resting on them.

"Did you just get here, or something?" Tatsuki asked, looking over at Atsushi as she opened the top of the basket.

Atsushi nodded, but when the top had opened, his nose was immediately hit with the sweetest, most mouthwatering scent of cream and cinnamon. He sucked in a huge breath as he lifted his head and his eyes rolled into the back of his, his mouth producing so much saliva that if he didn't swallow, it would come dribbling out of his mouth like a waterfall. He gulped when she pulled out a covered plate and when she pulled off the tin foil, all his eyes could do was go wide.

Fresh baked cinnamon rolls.

"I brought some treats we can have with breakfast. I baked them this morning." Tatsuki smiled as she set the plate down dangerously close to Atsushi.

"Sounds good... I wouldn't leave those there if I were you, though." Hiroshi warned, arcing a brow as Atsushi lifted a finger in an attempt to dip it into the gooey frosting sliding down the side of one.

Tatsuki glared at him as she snatched the plate away just in time, earning herself the heartbroken expression of a puppy who just got kicked for no reason. His eyes were huge with want and glimmered as he followed the plate and the more breaths he took that were filled with that sweet cinnamon and sugar, the more his stomach roared for it.

"B-But sweets-" Atsushi managed to say without spilling drool all over the table.

"Don't touch. They're for when breakfast is done." Tatsuki scolded as she set the plate down in safe territory on the counter.

Atsushi pouted as his uncle turned on the burner and set down a skillet before going to the fridge and pulling out a paper wrapped lump of something and a bowl full of eggs. Tatsuki continued to empty her basket, pulling out a few jugs of milk and, to Atsushi's utter and tempted delight, a bag of cookies that she set down next to the wafting cinnamon rolls. The basket had been full of sweets and if he could get his hands on them, he could die a happy man.

The delectable scent of cinnamon and sugar was soon joined by the sizzle of bacon and the popping of eggs, all mixing together to make his stomach nearly jump out of his body in its desperation to get to it; Any of it. He was dying to get at it, even the tiniest of morsels as the two made breakfast and he didn't even care that they had fallen into companionable conversation about how he had managed to tear open a grain bag. He wanted the food and in the worst way.

After what seemed like hours worth of torture, being banished to sit at the table so he didn't crowd up the kitchen, Hiroshi and Tatsuki finally finished cooking breakfast and started setting it on the table. It was a large western style breakfast with the addition of rice, surrounded by heaping plates of eggs, bacon, toast and sliced fruit. The creamy milk was poured into three glasses and just when Atsushi was on the verge of death, what he thought was death, a plate with a frosting covered cinnamon roll was set in front of his face.

"Now you can have one." Tatsuki smiled wide as she sat down.

Without even uttering a word, Atsushi lifted his head and dove in, scarfing down the cinnamon roll in three extremely huge bits. Frosting clung to his cheeks and lips, but that too was slicked away with a swipe of his tongue before he had even swallowed his bite. The frosting was so creamy and good, with a mild sweetness that didn't overpower the brown sugar and cinnamon. There was an undertone of cream cheese with it that lightened it even more and when he gulped down the last bite, being large enough that more frosting was smeared over his mouth, he finally realized that he was being stared at.

"Wha?" Atsushi said, his mouth completely full of the cinnamon roll.

"Um... I think he likes it." Tatsuki blinked, making a visible effort not to laugh at the sight of it.

"You think? He looks like he murdered a cream puff." Hiroshi said, not even trying to hold back his low snicker.

Atsushi swallowed down his mouthful and chased it with a pull of milk that drained half his glass.

"Speaking of, thanks for the extra milk. Atsushi's been guzzling it like water since he got here yesterday." Hiroshi said as he began to eat, chomping down on a strip of chewy bacon.

"Oh! You're welcome! We had a bit extra this month after the trucks came by to drain the tanks." Tatsuki said, she too beginning to eat while Atsushi snagged another cinnamon roll and several bacon strips for himself.

"The cows are healthy then. I'm glad to hear it." Hiroshi said without looking up from his plate.

Tatsuki nodded once, "Mmhmm... There'll be thirteen calves here soon. Do you want one?"

"Same bull?" Hiroshi asked.

"No... Different bulls." She said, shaking her head.

"How many by Blizter?" Hiroshi asked, this time with a brief glance at her.

"Um... Five I think." She said.

"I might come take a look later today if the walking garbage disposal over there and I can finish up early today." Hiroshi said, bending down to scoop the last of his eggs into his mouth.

Atsushi glared, "I'm not a garbage-"

"Okay!" Tatsuki beamed.

"I don't have much to offer though in the way of cash. I haven't been able to snag a booth at the farmer's market in the last couple of months." Hiroshi said as he served himself some more rice onto his plate.

Atsushi's glare vanished as he just listened in and ate, this time, much slower so not to draw attention to himself.

"Are they not paying?" Tatsuki asked with saddened eyes.

"They are. I just haven't had the time and the butcher is too expensive. Maybe having Atsushi here'll help loosen up the schedule a bit. I could use the extra cash." Hiroshi said with a grunt.

Atsushi chewed slowly.

"If you want, you can piggyback off my booth. I can only spend a couple hours here before I have to get home and get things ready for it." Tatsuki said with a light shrug.

"Raw meat and baked goods don't really go together." Hiroshi smirked.

Atsushi sat up, "Baked goods?"

Hiroshi and Tatsuki shared a glanced.

"Tatty runs a small confection booth at the farmer's market every Sunday to help bring in extra money to her family's farm. I usually run a fresh meat booth, but ever since my last stable hand took of, I've been strapped for time." Hiroshi briefly explained as he took a long pull of milk.

"Maybe Atsushi can take care of the chores while you butcher? With both of us here, it should give you time to prep some things." Tatsuki said before finishing her eggs to finally start on her cinnamon roll and save it from Atsushi's wrath.

"He's gotta learn it first. Just getting him out of bed this morning was a chore." Hiroshi scoffed as he glared at his nephew.

"You grabbed my ear!" Atsushi protested as he glared back.

"After kicking you! Your alarm even went off twenty minutes before that!" Hiroshi fired back.

"It did not! I didn't set the alarm!" Atsushi grumbled.

"I set it for you, because you were too lazy to bother! I turned it off!" Hiroshi snarled.

Atsushi's throat rattled as he glared, but with more food on the table, he wasn't in the mood to argue. He grabbed a third cinnamon roll, six more strips of bacon and the rest of the eggs for his third helping.

"Good lord, he eats like a pregnant sow." Tatsuki stared in disbelief.

"Yeah, no shit. Just feeding him is gonna be a chore. The extra funds are gonna come in handy. If you wanna take him around and show him the ropes, it'll free me up to get a pig downed and readied." Hiroshi said, standing up and taking his cleaned plate to the sink.

Tatsuki nodded, "Sure. Have you milked Gretchen yet?"

"No. She's all yours. Let me know if you think she'll drop soon." Hiroshi said before stepping out of the kitchen to put his boots back on.

"Okay!" Tatsuki said just before the front door slammed closed.

At the loud sound, Atsushi flinched, not really sure what the hell just happened before rushing to finish his breakfast. He cleaned his plate before standing to take the dishes to the sink, setting them in where Tatsuki was taking off her zip up to start cleaning. He snatched the last piece of bacon to let it hang out of his mouth as he cleaned the table and as she started washing, he emptied the dish drainer to make room.

Not a single one spoke as they cleaned up the kitchen, Tatsuki scrubbing the dishes clean for Atsushi to dry and put away. They had fallen into a system without even speaking to each other, but Atsushi couldn't help, but feel weighted by the awkwardness hanging heavy on his shoulders.

"Um... W-What's a sow?" Atsushi asked as he put the last plate away.

"A female pig." Tatsuki said simply and without even looking up from the dishes left in the sink.

Atsushi grumbled, "I guess I deserved that." He rubbed his neck.

"That's for saying my name is a boy's name." Tatsuki shot him a sidelong glance.

However, Atsushi refused to look.

"Sorry." He mumbled under his breath.

"Apology accepted." Tatsuki said, now lightly smiling up at him.

Ugh!... She's cute, "Um... So uh... H-How long have you been helping my uncle?" Atsushi asked, drying the last serving dish and putting it away in its place.

"Since last summer, but it picked up once his last stable hand just left one day." Tatsuki said with a shrug.

"Oh." Was all he managed as she shut off the water and dried her hands.

All she did was shrug again before putting the milk in the fridge and squeezing a strange looking, thick walled bowl into the freezer before heading for the front door, not even bothering to put her zip up back on. He followed her after hurriedly putting on his tennis shoes and made his way to the barn, not seeing his uncle anywhere, but the chickens had completely cleaned up the spilled grain. There was no sign that he had screwed up anywhere and in all honesty, he was glad as Tatsuki plucked a lead from a peg on the wall.

"I'll be right back. Get a short stool and a really clean bucket. There should be one up in the mezzanine." She said with a quick tap of her chin.

Before he could even ask, she was gone, heading out to the pasture and leaving him alone in the barn to fend for himself. He blew out a stiff breath as he rubbed the back of his neck and climbed up into the mezzanine, but he couldn't find a bucket anywhere that he would classify as clean.

He was about to give up when he moved a brown bag next to a stack of haybales, where he found an aluminum pail that was as clean as he had ever seen. It was a brushed shiny silver and had a handle to carry it with, which made climbing down easy since he could thread his arm through the arc and climb down the ladder. He found a stool in the corner of the barn, next to a paddock and just as he picked it up, the rhythmic and heavy stomps of something large approaching drew his attention to the barn door.

Tatsuki had returned from the pasture, leading the large black and white spotted cow that was all too happy to just chew on whatever and follow. It had a dull look on its face, but it was fat, happy and its large, pink utter nearly dragged on the ground from being so heavy with milk.

"Big." Atsushi said as Tatsuki tied the lead to a post.

"She's pregnant." Tatsuki said, sweetly smiling as she patted the cow and walked deeper into the barn and climbed up the ladder.

Atsushi just nodded as he awkwardly stood there, watching Tatsuki gather up some hay for the cow to snack on and keep her busy while she worked. She had used the brown bag he had tossed aside to carry it down the ladder, looping it over the post where it hung like a feeder for the cow to easily get at and with the beast completely content, Tatsuki took the pale and stool from Atsushi's hands and set them down on the ground by the cow's rear.

"Have you milked before?" She asked, getting a hose and starting to clean the cow's rump and utter with the water.

The cow didn't give a damn.

Atsushi stiffened, "N-No... I-I'm from Akita."

"The city?... No wonder you look like death warmed over." Tatsuki giggled, smoothly running her hand over the cow's fur and utter to ensure she was clean.

Atsushi glared for a moment before rubbing his face and brushing his hair behind an ear. He was sure he looked awful from having literally been dragged out of bed, but he had refused to look in the mirror because he didn't want it confirmed. He was tired, but well fed, so he begrudgingly accepted it since the food was good. He was not above being bribed.

"So, what brought you here?... To your uncle's that is." Tatsuki said, finishing with the hose and setting it down.

Atsushi's brows furrowed as he looked away from her, "Long story." He grumbled.

"We've got a little bit of time." Tatsuki said as she sat down on the stool next to the utter.

Atsushi huffed, "I uh... got kicked out of my house." He said simply, not really wanting to get into it.

"Troublemaker, hmm?" Tatsuki hummed.

"What?... No!... No, I mean-" he sighed, "I refused to play basketball like my dad wanted and he kicked me out." He said lowly as his shoulders slumped forward in a slouch.

"Oh... So does that mean you'll be going to school here too?" She asked as she grasped a teet of the utter and massaged it without a flinch from the cow happily munching on the hay.

"School?... There's a school-" he stopped himself, "I don't know... I guess so. Uncle Hiroshi hasn't said anything about it." He said with a soft sigh.

"Well, maybe I'll see you there then. My first year starts after summer vacation." Tatsuki said with a firm pull of the teet that squirt a long jet of white milk into the pail.

All Atsushi could do was watch with amazement as jet after jet squirt into the pail like the alternating barrels of a cannon. Each pull she made, more came out and it wasn't too long where the pail began to fill with fresh, straight out of the cow, milk.

Biting his bottom lip, Atsushi crouched down, bringing his knees all the way to his chest to watch. He felt kind of dumb for just watching, but being a city kid, milk was something that came from the market and it came in different thicknesses. Seeing it come directly from the source was entirely different, but despite feeling like a six year old child, he was still captivated that one of his favorite drinks that went with his favorite treats came out of a living creature.

As he watched, he rested his chin on his knees, but out of the corner of his eyes, he swore he kept seeing movement. He thought he had just imagined it at first, but every time he shifted his gaze up to look where he thought he had seen the movement, nothing was there. It was distracting, but when Tatsuki squeaked, his eyes focused as she rested her hand down on the cow's side with a huge smile on her face.

"Oh!... Oh! Baby's moving!... Here! Feel!" Tatsuki gleefully yelped as she snatched Atsushi's wrist and yanked his arm towards her.

He was pulled off his feet, forcing him to plant his available hand down on the ground while Tatsuki placed his other on the cow's belly, but the moment it was placed there, a flutter and a kick thumped against his palm.

"Huh?... W-What is that?" Atsushi asked as another flutter rolled over his palm.

"That's the calf... Her baby! It's why she's making all this milk. So her baby can drink it and grow strong." Tatsuki smiled wider as she guided Atsushi's hand to another spot.

Atsushi just held his breath as another flutter rolled, this one long and traveling near the whole length of his hand which was far, far larger than hers. Her hand rested next to his so she too could feel it and when she leaned in close, actually resting her ear to the cow's belly, her smile actually got bigger as she looked at him.

His eyes widened ever so slightly at the way her dark gray eyes seemed to light up, how her smile reached them as she placed her finger to her lips. The morning sun was making her pale skin glow gold and the sight of it made his chest flutter that felt oddly like the calf rolling around inside its mother. He shook his head to clear his mind, but when Tatsuki tapped his arm and pointed to the belly, not making a sound, he leaned in and placed his ear down to listen.

At first, he didn't hear anything, but not a half second later, a liquid gargle lolled against his ear. His eyes shot wide, staring right into Tatsuki's eyes as they listened to the calf that was only separated from them by a few layers of meat and skin. He had never heard anything like it before, never felt anything like it before and when the rolling flutter drifted across his cheek, he sat up stock straight and stared.

"T-There's... T-There's a small cow in there!" Atsushi gawked, placing both hands on the cow's belly to keep feeling the sensation.

"Mmhmm... Boy, she's not far away from dropping. I'd start expecting it real soon." Tatsuki said, sitting up herself to return to her milking.

"Dropping?... You mean it'll come out soon?" Atsushi asked, taking his hands away.

Tatsuki's brows lightly furrowed, "You're pretty dull aren't you."

"No!... If you meant birth, just say birth. I'm a city kid stuck on a farm in the middle of nowhere. 'Dropping' is not a term used in Akita when you're talking about reproduction." Atsushi defended himself, his brows drawn down as his eyes narrowed at her.

"Didn't know being here sucked that bad." Tatsuki sneered before opting to watch her hands work.

Atsushi wanted to growl, but it came out as a grumble instead as he just sat down in the dirt and hunched forward. He frowned as he just looked down at his hands, seeing the lightened patches of skin from barely there blisters from his morning's worth of work. Basketball had come in handy in that regard, in that it had roughened his palms to a point where they could at least resist the work, but his hands were nowhere near close enough to handle the amount his uncle's hand could sustain.

He sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck, still avoiding looking at her, but he could hear her still milking, and soon felt it too when a warmed jet squirted into his face.

"Hey!" Atsushi flinched hard as he swiped a hand down his face from the milk jet.

Tatsuki lowly chuckled, "Quick sulking."

Atsushi glared hard as he lifted his shirt collar and dried his face, "I'm not sulking."

Again, Tatsuki squirt another jet, but this time, he saw it coming and leaned to the side for it to miss him entirely.

"You're a fast learner." She said, still with her smile in place.

Atsushi shrugged as he dropped his shirt collar, "I'm not dull."

Tatsuki shrugged in return before turning her attention back to milking, but Atsushi's large hand was soon in her line of sight when he clutched a teet and tried to squirt her, but nothing came out. Only the cow flinched and grunted.

"Hey!... Why didn't it work?" Atsushi grumbled, furrowing his brows as he slouched with disappointment.

Tatsuki's light and rather cute snicker returned, "Because you didn't do it right. Sit here and I'll show you." She said as she stood up and motioned toward the stool.

Atsushi's cheeks started to feel warm again as he rubbed the back of his neck, but under her gaze, he scooted over and sat down on the stool that was way, way too short not to make him look like a giant dork. His knees stuck up and he was so tall still, that he could barely see underneath the poor cow whom was still completely uncaring about what was doing on. He was kind of jealous actually.

"You can scoot back some if you want. You just have to see the teets." Tatsuki giggled, holding her hand up to try and hide it, but failed since Atsushi still glared up at her.

Atsushi rolled his eyes, but scooted back a foot to position himself just right. With his arm length, it didn't matter, but it had helped in somewhat bringing his height down to the point where he could actually see the half full pail of milk underneath the utter.

"Okay... Now watch carefully. This is how you do it." Tatsuki said as she knelt down next to him and reached for the utter.

She didn't care that her ear was suddenly very close to his shoulder, but Atsushi was more than aware of it as he leaned away a hair so not to crowd her. It had actually served a duel purpose, in that now, he could clearly see how she pinched the teet off towards the top, trapping milk inside and pulled, producing a long jet of milk that shot into the white liquid in the pail.

"Like that. Try it." Tatsuki said as she leaned away.

Atsushi sighed, but did so, his cheeks still feeling oddly warm as he did exactly what she had shown him to do except this time, he was able to also produce the same result.

"Perfect. Fill the pail, and I'll be back in a bit." Tatsuki said with a pat to his shoulder.

As she walked off, Atsushi just watched her go, how she clasped her hands behind her back and skipped along. Her long black hair swayed from side to side as she went and before she disappeared around the corner, he had never looked away until a warm jet slopped into the top of his shoe.

"Eh... Really?" Atsushi whined to himself.

He adjusted the teet and resumed his working, just listening to the cow chew and continue not giving a damn. He saw a few more rolls from the calf, but now that he was alone, he thought it was kind of creepy to see. It reminded him of those horror alien movies he had watched on the many nights he and his friends would stay up late on weekends back in middle school, and for some reason, they always wanted to see who would get the most scared. It made him shutter, but he ignored it and just watched the pail fill.

As the pail nearly reached the top, Tatsuki returned with another identical pail and switched them out, smiling at him before refilling the hay sack for the cow and carting off the filled pail. He watched her then too, and since she was wearing a tank top with her overalls, it afforded him a look that she was not some lithe little thing who couldn't lift a feather, but rather would make him work should they get into a show of strength. She was able to carry the heavy pail without trouble, or spilling a drop as she disappeared into the house.

With the task of filling another pail, Atsushi listened, just listened to everything around him. The cow chewing, the sound the milk made hitting the pail and the birds and crickets chirping away as if they couldn't tell that it was daytime. He heard the horses whinny a bit behind the barn, the chickens cluck as they milled about randomly and the goats bah as they worked to get into whatever they could. He heard the dog barking wildly as it tore around from behind the barn, running like it was getting chased and turned straight for him with a glove in its mouth.

"You idiot! Get back here!" He heard his uncle's voice booming from somewhere well behind the barn.

The dog, whose actually name he still didn't know because his uncle always used a different one, came running straight for him and dropped the glove at his feet, panting and wide eyed. It's shaggy fur was damp on the bottom from having trudged through belly high whatever and with it's black nose, started sniffing his arm up and down and even tried lapping up some of the milk.

"Eh!... Stop it, Dog!" Atsushi glared as he pushed the dog away.

The dog refused to take no for an answer as it tried to go back for the milk and again, again with Atsushi pushing it away. The dog was dumb, completely oblivious to words and no matter how many times Atsushi pushed the dog away, it kept coming back.

"Stop it! Nobody wants your dog breath in the milk!" Atsushi fired off, but the dog turned its attention to him.

The dog jumped up, planting its paws firm on his chest and started furiously licking his face with its slobbery, uncontrollable tongue.

"No! Stop it! Not me! I don't want your dog breath either!" Atsushi howled as he tried to push the dog off, but the little idiot was deceptively strong and refused to budge.

He growled as he kept whipping his head from side to side to avoid the dog's tongue, but mercy finally came when the dog jumped off and dashed for the milk.

"Oi! Knock it off, you inbred moron!"

At the sharp voice, the dog finally stopped, wagging its tail with precisely no coordination as it tore off towards Atsushi's uncle, whom was wearing a thick leather apron that was covered in blood.

"Dumbass! Don't steal my gloves!" Hiroshi barked at the dog, whom instantly cowered and tucked its tail as it trotted back and picked up the glove to bring it back.

Atsushi dried his face from the slobber with his t-shirt as his uncle snatched the glove from the dog's mouth and thwacked its bum with it, which, for some reason, only served to made the dog smile again and bound off like it just got a treat.

"Stupid dog." Hiroshi grumbled as he dusted off the rescued glove on his thigh.

"Um... Are you okay, Uncle Hiroshi?" Atsushi asked as his violet eyes bounced from the apron, up to his uncle's eyes and back down again.

"Yeah... Just the dirtier side of living out here, Kiddo. Where'd Tatty go?" Hiroshi asked as he set his hands on his hips.

"She took a pail of milk into the house." Atsushi said with a point.

Hiroshi nodded, "She must be looking at making ice cream."

"Ice cream!" Atsushi yelped, sitting up stick straight and with wide, hopeful and sparkling eyes.

Hiroshi pinched the bridge of his nose, but it was only really to hide the fact that he was having a hard time controlling a smirk.

"Finish up there and take it inside for her." Hiroshi grunted before turning and walking away, only then letting out his low chuckle that Atsushi's ears caught.

With another long sigh, Atsushi resumed filling the bucket, but he couldn't stop the yawn from tightening in the back of his jaw. Being woken up at 3am was catching up with him and having worked from then on was only adding fuel to the fire. He had never, in his life, worked so hard, for so long. Even basketball practice wasn't this hard. That was easy. It was put the ball in the hoop and stop the other guy from doing the same. It was simple, but farm work was the exact opposite. He was going to have to get used to it because it's not like he had anywhere else to go.

With a final squirt, the second pail was full and the utter was noticeably smaller. He sighed as he stood and pulled the pail out from underneath the cow, resting a hand down on the cow's side where he felt those flutters of the calf again. He startled at the suddenness of it, but almost immediately relaxed once he remembered what it was. He looked around as he wondered what to do with the cow, as he didn't just want to leave the poor thing there while he took the pail inside, but without anyone to ask, he had little choice.

Scooting the pail away, Atsushi untied the cow and lead her away from the post just like he had seen Tatsuki do, gripping the lead right underneath the cow's fuzzy chin. She didn't care, still had that dull look in her eyes as she chewed and when Atsushi turned her loose back in the pasture, he lightly smiled as he watched her go about her day.

"Hey! Atsushi! Got that second pail?" Called Tatsuki from the house, having poked her head out of the back door of the house.

"Yeah! Be right there!" Atsushi called back, affording the cow one last glance before shutting the gate and heading back towards the house.

He hadn't been sure what to expect when he got back into the kitchen where he knew he would find Tatsuki, but what he found certainly wasn't it. She was happily working away doing several things, from boiling a large portion of the milk, to churning it in a mixing bowl with her hands, to having mixed up a thick mixture that was churning in a stand mixture in that thick sided and strange bowl he had seen her put in the freezer. The kitchen smelt like heated milk, but it was buttery and warm and he had to admit, despite not really liking warm milk, it didn't smell bad when it was whole.

"Awesome. Just set it in the sink. Pail and all." Tatsuki said, softly smiling as she worked whatever was in the bowl.

"What're you doing?" Atsushi asked as he put the pail in the sink to earn a nod from her.

"Making cheese." Tatsuki said.

"Cheese? What kind?" Atsushi asked, being tall enough to look into the bowl at the softball sized white lumped she was working.

"Mozzarella." Tatsuki aid.

"The cheese on pizza?" Atsushi swallowed down more drool. Goddammit! I'm gonna get fat eating here!

"Exactly. There's so much you can do with fresh milk. Thanks for turning Gretchen out. You really do learn quick." Tatsuki said, this time looking up to smile at him.

Again with warmed cheeks, "T-Thanks." He mumbled almost too quietly for even him to hear.

Not really sure what else to do, he washed his hands and wiped his face, still catching hints of dog slobber and milk. He already knew he was going to have to take another shower, but he would like to at least make most of the day without needing it. He was going to go through clothes way too fast if this pace kept up, so with that decided, he made his way to his room, but not before stopping at the stand mixer to see what it was churning.

"Hey!... Get away from there, Atsushi!"