Alice "That's it. Don't rush it, nice and slow."
Chen "Nnyuu..."
Chen was working frantically as Alice coached her.
She was...
Tap, tap... GLOP!
Chen "Ah!"
Alice "Ah..."
Cooking.
They were in Alice's home. Chen felt that she needed to be able to perform household chores now that she was Rinnosuke's wife, so she had asked Alice for help.
Chen can't do anything around the house. Thus far she had gotten by without cooking by gathering fruits and nuts from trees or catching fish from the river. When her clothing was dirty Ran would take it to be cleaned - as Chen's claws would shred the fabric if she tried to clean it herself - and her attempts to clean ended with something breaking 9 times out of 10. Ran had to take care of the cleaning too. Chen felt that being wed to Rinnosuke meant she needed to be able to do at least some things, so she had come to have lessons.
She had not asked Ran for help. It was unlikely Chen's master Ran would say no, but now that Chen was going to be living with Rinnosuke she hadn't felt right asking Ran to help her become more capable around the house.
So she had gone to Alice. Alice lived alone and was superior in all kinds of household chores, had a nice personality, was knowledgeable, and to Chen's thinking was the picture of an ideal woman - after Ran, of course.
Alice couldn't turn down Chen's request, and had agreed to help her immediately.
They began with cooking. Cooking was essential to living a healthy life, and the path to a man's heart was through his stomach, so beginning there seemed a good way for Chen to start building a repertoire of skills that would let her treat Rinnosuke to delicious foods that would leave him satisfied. It was a good first step towards being both a good woman and a good wife.
But... learning to cook was proving difficult. They had begun with cracking eggs, as starting with a knife or any other sharp utensil could be dangerous, but despite being Ran's shikigami Chen was having difficulty with even this task. She didn't seem to be skilled at controlling her strength, so she kept crushing eggs against the counter or making the eggs burst open in her hand. Egg shells and raw egg splatters were quickly filling the kitchen.
Chen "Aaah~"
Alice "Don't get down on yourself."
Alice gently wiped the sticky residue off of Chen.
Alice "Don't be so tense. Keep your hand relaxed."
Alice began to carefully demonstrate for her.
Alice "First you need to change how you hold it. Okay?"
Alice demonstrated how to hold the egg in her hand.
Alice "If you just want to crack the eggs, perhaps it would be best for you to tap two eggs together."
She then demonstrated cracking the eggs.
Alice "Now when you split the egg you want to use your pointer finger and your thumb. Place them in the center of the crack and pull to either side."
She then split the egg.
The golden yolk appeared from inside, suspended inside the egg white. It formed a beautiful teardrop shape before dropping gently into the center of the bowl.
Chen "Wow, that's amazing..."
Chen couldn't help but be awed by her skill. She couldn't believe the gap in their skill level even for something as simple as cracking eggs.
Alice "This is normal. You'll be able to do this in no time."
Chen "But why hit the eggs together? Wouldn't the corner of the counter be better?"
She pointed at the counter as she spoke. Alice answered immediately.
Alice "It would be easier to crack on the counter, yes, but since the counter edge is a sharp angle it's likely to force small bits of egg shell inside of the egg and damage the yolk. But if you tap the eggs together they're both rounded, so they will crack without sending fragments inside. "
Chen "Oooh..."
Alice "It's not that you absolutely have to tap the eggs together to crack them. Just use any rounded surface for the same result. It's just easiest to use two eggs. It's unlikely you'd ever have only one egg, after all."
Chen "I see."
Alice's ability to explain things simply made her a perfect cooking instructor.
With Alice's demonstration and advice in mind, Chen tried again.
She took two eggs and tapped them together, sending cracks through the shell. She'd become much more accustomed to holding eggs by now. Though her claws got in the way, she would likely get used to working around them in time.
Controlling her strength had been difficult for Chen, but as she practiced with ten, twenty, thirty eggs... she eventually got a grasp on how much power to use. She was eventually able to crack the eggs and remove the contents without breaking the yolk.
Chen "Haa... I did it, Alice!"
Alice "Well done, Chen."
She smiled and petted Chen's head, which Chen really enjoyed.
Chen continued to practice with cracking and splitting the eggs. After further practice Chen was no longer getting any shell into the egg whites as well as not breaking the yolks.
However they had used dozens of eggs to reach this point. Some of the eggs were a scrambled mess filled with shell fragments, while others could be used once the shell bits were pulled out. Alice would now use the eggs to make something so as not to waste them.
Chen "Nyuu..."
Chen slumped with disappointment and guilt, but Alice didn't seem upset in the least.
Alice "It's okay, just leave it to me."
Alice got to work.
Living on her own had given her plenty of time to master her housework, and her skills were so renowned that she was in the top three choices for women that the village men would like to marry. Her motions were smooth and fast. She used chopsticks to pluck out each shell fragment, then seasoned the eggs with salt, sugar, and mayonnaise before mixing the contents of the bowl. She added oil to a hot frying pan and rotated the pan to coat the entire surface, then she poured in the egg mixture. She mixed the eggs inside the pan to help it cook more evenly, then let it spread into a flat surface. Before the underside began to brown she flipped and folded the eggs in on the center, using a snappy wrist motion to move the pan to aid in this.
Alice "Here, that's the first one."
Before Chen knew what happened she'd finished an omelet. She'd taken less than five minutes from start to finish.
Chen "Wow..."
She spoke without meaning to.
The omelet was beautiful. It was a pristine yellow without a single browned spot. It glistened in the light. Chopsticks could easily sink into the soft egg and spread it open to reveal the half-cooked egg inside. She took a bite and the egg melted on her tongue. The other ingredients that had been added to the egg amplified the egg flavor and accented it in such a way that it was completely balanced and delicious to the point there was no need to add ketchup.
Chen "This is delicious!"
She was so shocked at the flavor, which neither won out over or lost to Ran's cooking, that tears sprang into her eyes. She couldn't believe that such a soft, melting, delicious omelet could be created by someone other than Ran.
Alice "I'm glad."
After that she continued to cook.
Cheese-filled rolled eggs, pepper-spiced egg soup, lettuce and soft-cooked scrambled egg sandwich, crispy fried rice with egg, onion and thin-sliced sausage scrambed eggs. She continued to swiftly whip up all kinds of egg-based dishes.
Chen just stared in wonder at how easily and efficiently Alice moved about the kitchen.
Chen "How can you cook so well, Alice?"
She asked between bites of food.
Alice "My mother taught me."
With a deft snap of her wrist she sent the eggs in the pan skyward.
Chen "Your mother? Your actual mother?"
Alice "That's right. My mother in Makai."
Alice's mother is the god of Makai. Her name is Shinki. She created the Makai and everything within it. Alice is one of those creations, thus making Shinki her mother. Though different from a normal birth, there was no mistake that Shinki was the mother of Alice.
While Shinki may have created the Makai and its residents, that did not mean she could do anything. She wasn't in a position to command the society within the Makai. She could offer advice and give warnings, but she could not decide matters or change the rules and laws of society at will. However she was still the only god of the Makai, and therefore an irreplaceable presence.
Shinki absolutely adored Alice. Alice had loved Shinki in return when she was a child, and the two had called each other "Alice-chan" and "Mama" just as a normal mother and child would. Alice was Shinki's beloved daughter. Yuuka, another former resident of the Makai, knows the Alice of this period.
Even after growing up and finding a dream to chase - to leave Makai and go to Gensoukyou on her own - Alice continued to live by the lessons that Shinki had taughter her. She continued her magic research as well.
In order to live on her own she had learned all of the skills necessary to take care of herself from Shinki. Cooking, cleaning, and laundry were the core skills she had learned to a competent level before coming to Gensoukyou, but as a result of her serious nature and desire to excel she had continued to develop her skills to reach her current level. She had even moved on from those base skills and taken up household skills like sewing - which had allowed her to make Shanghai dolls.
Unaware of what she was doing, Alice had learned all of the skills that wives were expected to have. If she should end up marrying she'd be well prepared.
So when Shinki learned that Alice had in fact married she felt joy more than surprise. While having her daughter get married did make Shinki feel lonely and uncertain, she watched their wedding and applauded with tears in her eyes. She watched with a smile as her daughter set off for a new adventure on the back of a nine-tailed fox.
Now that Alice was married Shinki found herself wanting a grandchild. Once the idea of having a grandchild entered her mind she couldn't stop herself from sending Alice letters with suggestions for baby names, various clothes and goods for babies, and she even began sending Makai aphrodisiacs and drugs to stimulate ovulation. Alice honestly wished she would stop. When she opened the packages and discovered the contents it made things quite uncomfortable.
Alice had no intention of using any of it, and she didn't want a child any time soon. She was already married, and even if she had plenty of competition for time with her husband it's not like she would never have a chance. She decided to just be patient.
Plus she had more pressing issues than making children. She was busy making a lunch for Rinnosuke, who was working hard to build their house.
Alice "This and this..."
Once Alice and Chen finished their meal, Alice began picking egg dishes to use in Rinnosuke's lunch. Having visitors aside from Marisa had been rare for Alice, and she'd certainly never thought she'd be packing a lunch for a man. In fact Alice had come to know Rinnosuke through Marisa. If she were to describe her relationship with Rinnosuke she would like have simply said he was an acquaintance - a stranger, but one that she knew to a slight degree.
But then a certain event changed all of that. Rinnosuke's thoughtless action made Alice aware of him as a man, and then with lightning speed things progressed until Alice found herself married to him.
Alice (I really can't believe it. I'm married.)
Alice hadn't had any real desire to get married. She had only thought she might get married one day. Her friendship with Marisa had often been mistaken for more than what it was by others. While they were certainly close, there wasn't a hint of the romance that people seemed to imagine. Alice didn't feel that way about Marisa in the least. She was just like any other normal girl in terms of her romantic interests.
And Rinnosuke wasn't bad. Alice had thought he was rather cool, but that was all. She thought he looked pretty good, but she hadn't felt a romantic spark or thought that she would come to dislike him.
And now she was married to him. She was his wife. Well, one of his wives anyways. Chen was another of his wives. This must be what it feels like to get married while little more than a child.
But she had come to understand one thing.
Being married was nice.
Men had approached Alice to ask if she would date them with the intention of marriage, but she had always found a reason to firmly refuse them. Shinki had even sent along pictures of potential suitors and made plans for Alice to meet with them.
The men had all been sons of noble families in the Makai or other such distinguished positions. They hadn't been unpleasant in terms of looks or personality, they had achievements and showed promise for achieving much in the future. There should be no problem in marrying any of them, but Alice turned them all down because she felt no interest in getting married.
That was what she said, anyways.
In truth she was scared. Scared of marriage and of being together with anyone.
If she got married she would be swearing to spend her life with her partner. Once they were married they would be together all the time, and her time alone would disappear. And Alice was a woman. It was likely that in getting married she would be expected to leave her home and move into the home of her husband. That would mean leaving Gensoukyou and returning to Makai. That would mean an end to seeing Marisa. For Alice that was simply too much, so she had turned down every suitor. It had also made her dislike the idea of marriage and left her scared of the idea of having a husband.
And then Rinnosuke suddenly came into her life. While reading in the shade of a tree near her home Rinnosuke had come upon her. She had first been surprised to see him outside, as he was usually cooped up inside of the Kourindou, but what was even more surprising was his unexpected embrace.
She was definitely surprised by that. Shocked, actually. She would never have imagined such a thing happening.
Alice (His hands are so big... Rinnosuke really is a man.)
It was her first time touching a man's hands.
They were large,
hard,
rough,
and completely lacking in the softness that her own hands had, but she didn't dislike it. In the books she had read the women had found men's hands to be scary and unpleasant, and even Shinki had avoided the attentions of any men that came around.
But when Rinnosuke touched her she didn't feel that. She stiffended with surprised, but she didn't dislike it. In fact the warmth of Rinnosuke's hands was strangely calming and relaxing. It was pleasant.
That was probably what caused it.
What made Alice begin to see Rinnosuke as a man.
And perhaps what made her feel the beginnings of love.
If it was love, she should invite him to dinner, go on dates, give him presents, write him love letters, or any number of things... but having never been in love before, Alice didn't know what to do. In the end she was unable to do anything. So to have Rinnosuke come to her and then give up her chance and run away was one of her great regrets.
Her next opportunity came a few weeks later. At the banquet held at the Moriya shrine.
Apparently Rinnosuke had tested out a variety of things that were written in a book with various girls, girls like Yuugi and Kagerou that Alice knew of by name but had never met, and now many of them were feeling the same emotions as Alice. Rinnosuke hadn't intended for that to be the effect of his trials.
The girls and Rinnosuke had all been suffering with complex emotions after his actions, but since Rinnosuke had gone so far as to have a banquet to apologize to all of them - and since they had been running away and making it impossible for him to apologize in any other way - they had each decided to let the matter be settled.
But after that Eirin's drug-laced food and drink made everyone cross a very important line. To have her first time in such a manner... wasn't bad. She was slightly disappointed that they hadn't been alone together and in a more romantic setting, as that was the typical image she'd had of such acts, but in the end what happened had happened, and ultimately the mood didn't seem to be all that important after all. As long as it felt good that was enough.
And in the end Rinnosuke had taken responsibility for what happened by marrying everyone, including Alice. In Gensoukyou there was no law stating that a marriage could only be between one man and one woman. While there were no examples of people deviating from that standard, it didn't mean that people could not do so. There was no problem with him marrying any number of women. Human society might look at it askance, but seeing as over half of the women were not human and were therefore already used to that treatment, they hardly cared. It wasn't something to bother worrying about.
People could say whatever they wanted. It wouldn't change the feeling of love that Alice felt for Rinnosuke.
Alice "Okay, all done."
Alice finished preparing her handmade lunch. She'd made so many egg dishes that she only way she could fit them all was to use a large 5-level bento box. Of course, with Rinnosuke working so hard to build their new home and being a half-youkai, he should have a rather strong appetite. A large egg and love filled lunch would work wonders to heal his physical and emotional fatigue.
Alice "Alright, let's get going."
Chen "Okay!"
They departed together with smiles on their faces.
Heading towards the man they love.
