Interlude – Only Smiling Girl
Once upon a time.
About thirty years ago.
There was a girl who didn't live that far away.
That girl was a good girl, a girl who always smiled no matter what happened.
From the day she was born she smiled.
She smiled for her parents. She smiled for her friends. She smiled for her teachers. Even for the few bullies that always exist in school she smiled.
Because she was smiling everyone else smiled back.
'You're a good girl.' 'A strong child.' 'No matter what happens you're always smiling.'
They praised her smile because it was easier to deal. Nothing needed to be done for a smiling child. No need to comfort or console. No need to consider or convince. All they had to do was do what they wanted and she seemed fine with that. So her smile was easy for them.
But humans are imperfect existences, life is not always so fortunate. A person is meant to fall and stumble from time to time. That is the natural order of things.
Rising up from those pitfalls is also natural. Humanity would never have grown to this point had it not done so. Many emotions are worn when that happens. A smile is one of them.
But...
What about those who do not overcome their failings?
What expressions should they wear?
Is a smile the emotion that should be worn at that time? Isn't it natural to at least look hurt when there is pain? Even if the mouth is turned up at the corners should the eyes not glisten with some sorrow?
Indeed, that is the ordinary reaction of a person. No matter how optimistic or strong willed they may seem on the outside some form of unrest occurs in their heart.
But that girl didn't even have that. She smiled even from the bottom of an abyss. Even when that abyss was buried over and forgotten there was no sign of change.
So people began to doubt that smile.
They saw it as the expression of someone who hid their emotions and worried for her sake. They said that it was alright to show her true feelings, to not be so strong, to relax.
But that smile did not change. No matter what happened. No matter what they said.
And they lost faith in that smile.
They could not believe it any longer.
So they distanced themselves from her, for that smile was more painful to look at than any other expression. A face that showed no pain hurt others.
So that girl became alone. Even the ones who preyed on the isolated didn't touch her.
But she kept on smiling, even if she had no one to smile to.
Because...
There was nothing but smiles in her heart.
Interlude - END
"What's wrong Kishinuma-kun? Is there something stuck to my face?"
The woman who looks exactly like the one from my visions stands in the doorway.
I thought I had closed the door behind me, but instead of wood a human figure has shut the room. A drop of sweat runs down the back of my neck. I can't move. Shinozaki is right behind me. Only about two and a half meters separate us. She doesn't look any different from before. Friendly as always... was what I saw a trick of the light.
She blinks in confusion as the silence goes on and tilts her head.
No, what I saw wasn't wrong. The color of her irises is completely different. The vision I had earlier was clear so the color change isn't from it. For some reason the Shinozaki Asuka in front of me has a different eye color to the one I saw before.
I continue to stare at her. The silence continues as Shinozaki's breathing counts off time in arbitrary but regular intervals. I can't let this go on. At this rate my mind will snap under the tension before anything happens. At the very least I need to be sure. It might be something completely mundane. Something easily explained.
"Asuka-san... do you wear contact lenses or something?" It seems odd but honestly I'd gladly accept the answer to this problem to be 'fashion'.
She tilts her head slightly and gives a confused expression. Question marks are almost visible above her head. If the situation wasn't so tense it might have been cute.
"It's just... your eyes look different today..." That's a lie. Her eyes look the same from the day I met her, a shade of blue slightly lighter than Shinozaki's.
She smiles. "Kishinuma-kun, is that supposed to be a compliment?" Hiding her mouth while she chuckles lightly she looks at me again. "I haven't done anything special today, just as always."
'Just as always'
If you're 'just as always' then why have your eyes changed color?
I clench my fists but remain where I am.
"Kishinuma-kun, are you alright?" A worried look crosses her face. She takes a stop forwards into the room.
"Y-yeah, I'm alright. No problem." My brain is racing. I try not to take an equivalent step back. I'll bump into Shinozaki if I do.
If it was just me I would have confronted her about this already.
But Shinozaki was right behind me.
If things got ugly I can't guarantee her safety.
Therefore I can't confront them. I can't risk things escalating.
Running with Shinozaki is also out. The door is obviously blocked. The wheelchair won't fit through the windows and I don't know if I can carry her and run at the same time. On top of that in the eyes of the law I'd be kidnapping her.
My eyes narrow as I remember something else.
This room is Shinozaki's protection as well. If Asuka and Ayato are still to be believed, it stops spirits from possessing her as well as stops Sachi from dragging in people to 'use' on her.
I don't have something fancy like that to protect her. In fact I'd probably be the first one to be 'used' by Sachi. It's happened already after all and the only reason it didn't work was the protection this room gave her.
But I can't ignore what I just saw. Sometime before I met Asuka her eye color changed.
The possibility of it being colored contact lenses isn't completely out. She merely said she hadn't done anything special. It's perfectly possible she wears them every day so there is nothing special about it.
Another drop of sweat goes down my back. I can't be sure, I can't trust her completely.
"Well if you say so." She shrugs before smiling at me again. "I was wondering if you could help me a bit today."
"Huh?"
"I was wondering if you could help me prepare dinner for Ayumi-chan. I know you only came to see her but it might be a good experience." She stands slightly inside the room. I try to keep my breathing calm.
"Dinner?"
"That's right, dinner. It'll only take about twenty minutes and I won't keep you for the full thing, just show you the ingredients and preparations."
"..." It seems to be a harmless offer. I don't know what she's planning.
Suddenly she blinks and puts her right hand to her face in a 'Oh' expression,
"It's alright if you have to leave already. Maybe another time." She smiles apologetically.
That's right. I had said that I had something else to deal with. That's why I rejected her offer to eat dinner with them in the first place.
"No, I can still stay. In fact I'd be glad to help!" I force a smile out of myself.
If I go to help Asuka I can leave this room. Thus if things were to escalate Ayumi would be unhurt. Running was almost never an option. Even if I could escape with her I wouldn't be able to protect her properly. Sure I could attempt to get rid of Sachi with San's help but if that didn't work I would be the first one to harm her. The risk was too large. On top of that Asuka hadn't been proven to be a bad person yet. Until now the only one in this house that has hurt me is Ayato. Both times it was Asuka that stopped him from injuring or killing me. I couldn't act on only this much information.
"Really?! That's wonderful." She beams brightly and clasps her hands in front of her. "Then let's get started right now! Oh, but before that..." She takes another step into the room. Then another.
The distance of two and a half meters decreases steadily. I grit my teeth unconsciously. My fingernails are almost biting into my palms.
Two meters, One meter. Her shoulders pass mine. She's behind me. I turn to follow as she walks past me then Ayumi. Reaching an antique looking set of shelves on top of a cupboard she bends her knees and opens the two doors at the bottom. Reaching inside she takes out something with both hands. A black square of material comes out.
"It's getting a bit cold, so just to keep her warm."
She stands up and grabs the corners of the small blanket she had taken out. Its green patterns had been turned black in the orange light and shadows. Flapping it once to get rid of any remaining folds she places it around Shinozaki's shoulders before walking out the door.
I let out a breath I had forgotten I'd been holding. My lungs cycle air deeply three times before I can breathe normally again.
"Kishinuma-kun, over here!" Her cheery voice calls from down the hall.
"S-sorry, I'll be right there!"
I turn back to Shinozaki. Besides the blanket on her shoulders there's nothing different. My right hand goes to my right temple.
"Really... what am I freaking out for..." Muttering to myself I step out of the room and close the door behind me. Turning to the right Asuka waves happily at me from down the corridor before stepping into the room I had seen her go into earlier. I shake my head. San's words seem to ring in my head.
'as long as you're going somewhere safe.'
Was I just becoming paranoid? Or was there really no safe place now that I had entered the world of the spirits and cults? Regardless, I can see why San said she always kept her sword nearby her. In that room I was completely defenseless. Simply because I thought nothing weird would happen here. But that simple thinking now had me in my worst nightmare. Stuck between a possible enemy and Shinozaki with no way to fight or run away.
"I have to fix that soon I guess..." I scratch my head again before walking down the hallway. The socks on my feet lightly sound the wood beneath them. Something tugs on the back of my mind.
The door Asuka had gone through was still open, revealing your usual living, dining, kitchen that was popular in Japan.
It is a useful confirmation in this country where land is at a premium. This way food can be prepared near by the dining quarters and, after the meal, the family can relax in the living room.
The room is split into two sections with invisible borders. The kitchen on the far left and a single four person dining table take up the left of half the room. The remaining half is the living room. So it goes Kitchen, dining table, living room from left to right. The door opens up near the middle of the room so to the left is the dining table on the right the living room.
The living room has white walls and wooden flooring. A wooden coffee table was placed in the middle. A widescreen TV took the center of the right wall on top of a wooden TV cupboard. Besides that only three other items decorated the Shinozaki family's living space. A potted plant with a small tree that looked like an upside down toilet brush in the near right corner, a thin mirror a little under two meters high in the far right corner, and a single two person couch slightly to the left of the Coffee table facing the TV.
The couch was covered with a massive white sheet. Was it called a dust cloth? Something you'd cover furniture with to protect it from exposure.
The wall opposite the door had large sliding windows that led out into the yard to the side of the house. The yellow curtains were drawn showing the white walls that surrounded their house and the slightly overgrown grass in between the borders of their land and the confines of their living quarters.
"Kishinuma-kun!" I turn and Asuka waves at me from behind a kitchen counter. She seems pretty happy for some reason. "I'm thinking of making some udon for Ayumi-chan today."
Noodles for Shinozaki? I guess eating warm udon while you're sick is nice since it's warm and nutritious, but to do that you need to be able to suck up the noodles. Can Shinozaki do that?
"Udon? Can she really eat that?" I might as well ask as I walk towards the kitchen.
"I'll cut the noodles beforehand so she can swallow them easily without slurping. It would be boring for her if she only ate porridge every day after all."
"I guess..." To be honest I don't know if Shinozaki can even taste anything like that. But I guess it's a mother's job to try their best to make their daughter happy. I'm not insensitive enough to say something about it.
"So, what do you want me to do?" From what I see most of the ingredients seem to be laid out on the counter either in bowls or on plates. Packets of udon noodles, carrots, leek, two eggs, a packet of sesame seeds, mirin, thick bonito flakes, and a bottle of soy sauce are all prepared.
"First wash your hands." She points to the sink. "I'll do most of the cutting and measuring. Can you manage the stove and do the stirring? I'll take over once I've finished."
"Sure." Rolling up my sleeves I wet my hands before scrubbing lightly with the soap. I didn't do much cooking anyways. When I helped Miki out it was mainly peeling vegetables that I did. Even then she would sometimes complain that I was too rough. I had to admit that we always seemed to have more when she did the peeling. I guess I took too much of the useable portion when I was removing the skin.
I took my place next to her at the stove. A pot with dried Kombu seaweed soaking in water was already placed on it.
"First take this." She hands me a small bowl with the bonito flakes in it.
When making a soup or broth the most important bit is the stock. Even a complete amateur like me knows that. If you're Japanese then the idiom 'Stock is life' should sound familiar.
There was once a TV show where a bunch of comedians tried to come up with a five course meal. Whenever they tried to make the soup they always forgot about or didn't know about the importance of the stock. In the end what often came out was warm tomato or vegetable juice. It was almost a running gag that they kept on forgetting it, except it wasn't that funny.
Shinozaki's mom was using dried seaweed as a base for the stock. It was pretty standard and I had eaten udon noodles, soups, and porridges that had it as an ingredient before. But I'd never prepared it from the scratch. Even on the odd occasion I helped out Miki we just used powdered soup stock from the supermarket. Was I supposed to put in the flakes now and turn on the heat?
"Oh, I forgot to take it out." Asuka reaches past me to a pair of cooking chopsticks hanging on a peg on the wall. They were about twice as long and three times as thick as ordinary ones with a piece of string tied through a hole near the top. The thick wooden sticks dipped into the slightly yellow water and pulled out the limp seaweed.
"In order to make a good base for the soup you have to soak the seaweed for at least thirty minutes." She happily explained herself as she put the limp, dark green, square of seaweed into a plastic bin bag. "But you should never heat the water before taking it out. If you do the Kombu starts to break apart and the base starts to become bitter." Rinsing the chopsticks she wipes them with a towel before placing them back on the peg with the string. "Now, pour in the flakes and start boiling the water on a medium flame."
"R-right." I tip the bowl upside down over the yellow liquid in the pot and the thick brown flakes splash lightly into it. Some of the thinner ones manage to float on the surface but most of them sink downwards or float beneath it. With a click I turn on the flame and set it to medium with the knob. Blue flames whoosh into existence before beginning to warm the pot with a gentle whisper.
"Good, now start stirring it. You have to keep it moving to get all the flavor from the flakes." She watches as I take ladle in my right hand and begin to stir it clockwise. "Not too fast or it will spill. Gently, gently."
The flakes on the surface sink under as well and begin to swirl gently with the rest.
"Once the soup stock turns brown use this strainer to scoop out the flakes." She opens a drawer containing a lot of different cooking utensils. One of them is a strainer used to remove unwanted items from liquid.
"Right." Nodding I continued stirring the warming water slowly.
Asuka turned to the vegetables and pulled out a cutting board and knife. When she grabbed the handle of the knife I couldn't help but tense up for a moment. Even when she started peeling the vegetables I couldn't help keep an eye on her.
"What's wrong Kishinuma-kun? You keep staring in my direction."
"Ah, it's... nothing, really." I turn back to the pot. Small bubbles have begun to form at the bottom.
"Oh my, have you fallen for me Kishinuma-kun." She puts her right hand on her cheek and pretends to look embarrassed. "I'm sorry but I'm a married woman, you know."
"Wh-wha?!" Unconsciously I take a step back and stare at her.
A frown crosses her face at this before she points to the pot.
"Kishinuma-kun, you're forgetting your job."
"Q-quiet." Returning to the pot my hand swirls the darkening liquid a bit more vigorously than before. "It's nothing like that."
"Oh, so what is it then?" The sound of carrots peeling resumes, interrupted occasionally by the plop of vegetable fragments into the plastic bag nearby.
"Just... something..." More and more bubbles are forming at the bottom but it's nowhere near boiling.
"I don't know how much I can do, but sometimes just talking can help you figure it out."
"I guess..." The problem is you, but I can't say that out loud.
She finishes the carrot she started putting it down with a soft thump on the cutting board before picking up another.
My hand rubs my forehead. Should I just ask her or do I pretend I didn't see anything? The bubbles on the bottom are starting to rise. Color wise the stock has changed from yellow to a light brown, sort of like brewing tea. The smell of the broth starts to waft up from it as well.
*gurgle
The peeling sound stops as my face goes a little red.
"Kishinuma-kun, you sure you don't want to stay for dinner?" Her voice comes from my right.
"... If you're alright with that." My eyes are fixed on the swirling stock, which is bubbling nicely now, but I can still hear her chuckle lightly before the peeling sound resumes.
...
...
...
The soup stock grows noisier and noisier as it begins to boil.
"That's enough Kishinuma-kun. Now take out the flakes, once they're out put them in this bowl. I'll throw them away later." A glass bowl is placed next to me.
"Right."
The skimmer was in the drawer to my right, in between me and Asuka. She shifts out of the way slightly so I can open it up. Grabbing the skimmer I start removing the soggy, limp, flakes of bonito from the finished stock.
"Ah." The skimmer in my hand bumped against the ladle inside the pot almost knocking it into the stock. I sigh in relief that it hadn't fallen all the way in and pick it out with my left hand.
"Mmm." I don't know where to place it... Is it the sink? Wait, I might need to use it again since there are a lot of other ingredients lying on the counter. But I don't have anywhere to put it.
My head starts to itch again but I can't scratch with a utensil in each hand.
"Ah, whatever!" I just have to remove the flakes then I can put the ladle back in. The skimmer sinks back into the soup and I try to grab as many flakes in one go.
"..." Most of the flakes are stuck to the skimmer but there's one small one that seems to be possessed by the fish it used to be. No matter what direction I try to get it from it slips around it. Dammit you! You've already been caught and cooked already! Be a good fish and resign yourself to your fate!
"Kishinuma-kun."
"Huh?" I turn to my right without thinking. Asuka looks at me before turning to the side and blushing slightly.
"I'd like to put in the other ingredients soon, so... it'd be nice if you could stop playing around..." I can feel my cheeks heating up.
"S-sorry, I'll be done soon..."
The last flake seems to swim its way into the skimmer. I guess the fish ghost was content with my offering of embarrassment. The final flakes join their compatriots in the bowl with the skimmer.
"Here." A bowl of dark liquid passes from her hands to mine. "It's the soy sauce and mirin. I've already put in the proper amounts. It's one large spoonful of soy sauce with one-half spoon of mirin by the way."
"Right." The contents pour into the pot. It only gets slightly darker from the soy sauce.
"Now, here's the salt." She hands me a white packet. "Just a pinch is enough."
"Got it." A pinch of salt goes in.
"Good, now I'll put in the vegetables okay?"
"Huh?" Looking over to the cutting board I see that the carrots have been thinly sliced already as well as the leek. Was I really taking that long trying to take out the flakes?
"Aaand in they go!" She cheerfully pours them into the pot and switches the flame to high. "Now we'll soften them up a little bit before putting in the noodles." Reaching into a different cupboard she produces a second smaller cutting board and a fruit knife. "Could you help me as well?"
"... Alright, but I don't know how much I have to cut."
Actually what I wanted to say was I thought I was only taking care of the pot, but now that I'm being treated dinner I can't really say no right now.
"It's fine, I'll be doing it right alongside you, so don't worry." Another smile and my ability to refuse decreases another level.
"Alright." I grunt in reply and take the outstretched cutting board and knife. Placing them next to her larger one I pick up a pack of noodles and open them with my hands.
The noodles are in square packets and are soft and limp. They're tangled together so simply cutting the square would probably result in fragments of uneven length. Do we have to untangle all the strands first before cutting them?
"Okay, just do what I do." Asuka rinses the knife under the kitchen tap to remove any vegetable juices on it. "Just cut up the noodles into nine sections." The square of tangled noodles is separated into nine smaller squares arranged like a tick tack toe board.
"Huh?" She looks up at me and tilts her head to the side at my outburst. "Oh, uh... I just thought wouldn't they be all uneven if you did it like that?"
Shaking her head she smiles. "It's alright, I only want them to be shorter on average and if one is too long I'll just cut it with the chopsticks before feeding it to her."
"I see." I turn back to my square of noodles and mimic her cutting pattern. It's actually a little harder than I expected. The noodles are soft and sticky so the knife doesn't cut through them easily.
"Be careful with your left hand, Kishinuma-kun. If you squeeze down to hard you'll squish the noodles."
"Ah, sorry."
The cutting was repeated twice more, totaling four packets of udon being separated into thirty six smaller squares. Asuka slipped them into the boiling pot before cracking open the two eggs and putting them inside as well. Covering the pot with a glass pot cover she turned back to face me.
"Now we just wait for a bit." Taking her cutting board she rinses it under the tap before shaking the water off of it and putting it on a rack. She does the same to mine and then cleans both the knives before drying them with a towel and returning them to their racks.
Pausing before beginning to clean the rest of the plates and bowls on the counter she hands me the towel and smiles.
"Could you be on drying duty, Kishinuma-kun?"
"Sure." I take the towel from her and she immediately starts cleaning the various bowls and plates that had contained the ingredients earlier.
After rinsing an item she would give it a thorough clean with the sponge before rinsing off the suds. Briefly inspecting it under the kitchen light would determine whether she sponged it again or she handed it to me. I merely dried what she handed me and waited for her to point to where it was meant to be stored. The udon continued to cook underneath the lid during this time.
"Now, it's probably finished." After the last plate had been stored Asuka wiped her hands with another towel before turning off the stove and removing the lid. Steam came out of the pot along with the sweet fragrance of bonito and mirin.
"Kishinuma-kun, get me a bowl, a spoon, and a pair of chopsticks please. I need to feed Ayumi-chan first."
"Got it." I went back to one of the cupboards and got one. Returning the dried bowls had given me an idea of where a lot of the cutlery was placed. Handing the bowl over she picked up some of the shortened udon noodles before taking some of the sliced carrots. The soup was poured over the solid part of the meal along with some of the diced leek and sesame seeds. I moved out of her way while she replaced the cover. We left the living room together and entered Shinozaki's sister's room.
She kneeled down in front of her and began to feed her as always. Blowing on the noodles lightly to cool them before putting them in Shinozaki's mouth, she did the same with the occasional spoonful of soup.
"Asuka-san." A question had risen in my mind, one that had started to build up from the moment I started helping out.
"Hm? What is it?" She continued to feed Shinozaki, her back turned towards me.
"Was there any reason for me to stir the pot like that?"
"Nope, no reason."
I rub my forehead with my palm again. There was no reason to stir the pot like that after all. The two main reasons you'd want to constantly stir something in a pot is when you're afraid the contents will burn, or when you're dealing with something thicker. For example miso paste or blocks of curry roux. Only then do you need to physically mix in the ingredients. I might not cook but watching Miki has given me the basics at least.
Things like the bonito flakes or the mirin and soy sauce would have mixed naturally from the bubbling of the soup.
"Then why did you ask me to stir it?" I remove my hand from my head and ask.
"Well, I thought the smell would eventually convince you to stay for dinner." Asuka chirps.
"S-seriously." Was that the only reason she called me in to help?
"Seriously." My words are returned without the stutter.
"... Women are scary." I mutter under my breath.
"Don't ever underestimate the power of a housewife." Is she pretending to be a sage or something? Her words seem to be trying to convey something heavy or important.
Sighing I give up trying to understand it. "Right, right. I got it."
"Well, it's not the only reason..." Her voice was so faint my ears almost missed it.
"Huh?"
"So, what's been on your mind this entire time Kishinuma-kun?" She changes the topic instantly.
Pausing I grit my teeth before sighing.
I can't let this go. They say see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil but I can't afford to ignore anything. Especially something this close to Shinozaki... If she meant me or Shinozaki harm there were tons of other opportunities she could have done something. So I don't think she's dangerous. Still...
My eyes close as I build up the courage to say the next few words.
"... Are you really Shinozaki's mother?"
"..."
She's silent, I can feel my fists clenching already. My head starts to pound from the pressure.
"I don't know." She continues to feed Shinozaki. "I'd like to think I was. I certainly loved her as a daughter. But whether I could do anything motherly for her... Hinoe was more of a mother than me, even to the end." I can't see her face but the hands that holds the chopsticks are steady as always. "But don't worry. Ayumi-chan is the one and only reason I am here. I will do whatever it takes for her, just like you."
My hands relax. Asuka continues to feed Shinozaki. Her posture or position hasn't changed at all but the air feels a little lighter than before.
"... You're a lot better parent than mine."
She chuckles lightly at that for some reason.
"Thanks for saying that. How are your parents Kishinuma-kun?" She seems to have finished giving Shinozaki all the noodles and is gently blowing on the surface of the soup to cool it down.
"... They're gone I guess." It's true in a lot of way. First I was disowned, then I literally never existed for them.
"I see, I'm sorry." The spoon is in her hand again. I can feel her sincerity in her words.
"Don't be." Sighing, I lean back against the door frame. "It happened a while ago anyways. I don't think about it much anymore." I'd only thought about it once since I got back the rest was just a blur.
"Still, I'm sorry."
We spend the rest of the time in silence as Shinozaki finishes eating.
I guess to me this answer is enough for now.
As long as Shinozaki is safe it doesn't matter.
Asuka's change in eye color could be something supernatural, it could be something mundane, hell it could even be something medical for all I knew.
We returned to the dining table and I ate my share of udon. The taste was good as always, if a bit plain. I was still hungry at the end of it but I guess I could buy something on the way home. San's offering still needed to be bought after all.
As I was slipping on my shoes another thought went through my head.
"Asuka-san."
"What is it Kishinuma-kun?"
"Was there a different reason for me to help out?"
If she only wanted to make me feel hungry she could have just made some extra and the smell alone might have made my stomach rumble. In fact because I was there the preparation took longer for her. There was no guarantee I wouldn't have screwed up and ruined something as well. She said she just wanted to make me hungry, but the pointing out of different utensils and cooking tips made it feel more like a lesson.
"I guess I've been found out..." A tired smile crosses her face. "I just thought it would be nice to have someone who knew what that girl liked." She closed her eyes briefly as if in thought before opening them again. "In case something happened to me."
"... Asuka-san, if there's anything you need me to do." I stand up with my shoes on in the entrance.
"Thank you, Kishinuma-kun. But it's alright, just visit Ayumi-chan every now and then."
She's smiling but it looks slightly pained. It reminds me of something. I've seen that look somewhere.
"Go home, Kishinuma-kun. Didn't you say you couldn't stay long?"
I grimace. I had said that, but now that I've stayed this late it doesn't really matter anymore. Looking back at Asuka's face leaves me no choice though.
"Yeah, I'll try to come again soon."
"Thank you, Kishinuma-kun."
The door shuts behind me and I begin the cold walk back home through the night.
...
...
...
"You're late." San's voice skips the usual 'Welcome home' part of the conversation, and goes straight for the jugular.
"I ran into something urgent on the way. Couldn't wait." A convenience store bag is in my left hand. Taking out the two caramel puddings I'd bought there along with the small bento box, I placed them on the table.
"So, at least you have some feeling of remorse."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, since you've bought two puddings instead of the one I asked. I can only assume you planned to escape my anger by doubling the offering."
"So it is an offering?" Taking the cling film off the bento box, I put it in the microwave before setting the timer. Walking back to the middle of the room, I sit down in front of the coffee table and lean back against the bed.
"Well, not exactly." San coughs once. You'd think it'd be unnecessary, for someone who doesn't have a throat to clear. I change the snarky comment into a smirk, managing to avoid the potential conflict. "I'm going to use you to taste it."
What?
"Huh?!" Swiveling around, I glare at the general location where San lies.
"As a spirit I can't actually eat anything. Even offerings only give a slight relief and smell but not taste or texture. Therefore I will require access to your taste buds to enjoy them."
"No, freaking way! Anyways I don't want to eat something sweet right now." The bento box I'd gotten was a kimchi one. Spicy kimchi mixing with sweet pudding... Ugh. Just thinking about it was disgusting.
"Well this is surprising."
... I can tell from her tone, I'm not going to like the next words she's going to say.
"I didn't know you were worried about your caloric intake. I wouldn't have taken you to be a maiden at heart."
"For crying out loud! How do you come up with that?!"
"It is the only conclusion I am allowed to draw. Why else would you not want to eat something like that? To think there was a time I thought of you as masculine. Forgive my rudeness."
"That's not the bit you're being rude about!"
"Then what is the problem, Kishinuma? If you really are a man you should be able to deal with a pudding like that with no problem. A man's worth is measured by his stomach after all."
"Only if you're a freaking food fighter! Anyways that's not what I'm talking about!"
"Of course you weren't. You were merely denying a poor spirit their one and only enjoyment in life."
"... Right, take out the words 'poor' and 'life' and we might get that sentence corrected."
"... Kishinuma Yoshiki."
"Wh-what is it?"
"They say the mouth is the source of all disasters..."
"Y-yeah, so what?"
"If I can't convince you with words... Then I shall enjoy my pudding with force!"
"Wait, wait, wait! Isn't that meant to be 'convince you' as well?"
"Prepare yourself, Kishinuma Yoshiki!"
"Wha?! Dammit my arms!"
"Now, where do you keep the spoons I wonder?"
"Let go of me, dammit! Spicy and sweet just don't go well with each other!"
"I disagree, I think our partnership is going splendidly."
"That's not what I was talking about, goddammit! Anyways who's the sweet one! I'm hell as not and there's no way you are!"
"I wonder if there's any expired milk in the fridge..."
"Nghwha?! Wait, calm down! Let's talk this over, okay?!"
...
...
...
Kishinuma Yoshiki would end up going to bed with an upset stomach.
A/N: Well two updates in two days. A semi-serious/funny chapter.
Also for those of you wondering Yoshiki didn't have any milk in the fridge, expired or otherwise.
I suspect his stomach pains are mainly stress related on top of having to eat two puddings. (Which he didn't want)
We might be switching parties for the next couple chapters so I might get to update some tags on my fic! XD Bring in more readers and such. He he he.
I also have an exam tomorrow... wish me luck. 'Everyone! Give me your energy!' Goku, (probably misquoted when forming the Spirit Bomb)
Read and Review as always.