Episode 18: A Busy Night

How did it come to this?

Things went smoothly at first as Kazumi prepare a big feast for everyone with lobster hotpot being the main course with fried jellyfish and steamed fish as sides. Mikumo helped him cook by following his instructions, mostly by cutting ingredients and preparing the utensils as well as watching the timers he set. It has been a while since he last worked with a lobster so he is feeling excited and in a very good mood, especially since he got a large one at a good price.

And since he's in a good mood and most of the main course are prepared, he happily complied to Mikumo's request to personally cook something. Mikumo had done good with helping him prepare after all, even if it's just mostly cutting and bringing him the ingredients. She could measure her cuts down to an exact millimimeter and it is impressive. And someone who could measure ingredients to that degree must be able to at least make something edible even if they only use random ingredients without an exact recipe. He also did that when he first started out cooking and while what he made was not exactly good, it's not bad either.

Unfortunately, he quickly regreted his decision.

"Wait, that's not salt, that's sugar! Ahh! Mikumo, don't dump so much chili powder! That's too much oil! And you should've poured that on the pan before you put everything else!"

Kazumi frantically move around in an effort to control the damage that's about to be done to his sanctuary in the dorm. Apparently, without any exact instruction, Mikumo prefer to just put in everything that seems edible in reach. Kazumi forgot that it's a common mistake made by beginners who usually think that the measured ingredients and spices are not enough and would lack taste. Her stirring is also so bad that some stuff spill from the pan she's holding.

Mikumo is attempting to make a fried rice. Something simple and one that she had seen Kazumi made before. Using surplus ingredients, Mikumo is attempting to make a seafood fried rice. So far, her attempt is causing Kazumi to get a heart attack. In fact, what she does next might as well cause his heart to stop.

"Don't add wine!"

Kazumi shouted. But it was too late as Mikumo poured the wine he's using before into the pan. The whole pan burst into flame for a moment and… well, he really doesn't want to know what became of Mikumo's obviously first foray into the culinary art. He pushed her aside and switch off the stove's fire. He didn't even dare look at the result as he took the pan and its content and put it into the trash bin.

The ace pilot sighs. He really doesn't like wasting ingredients but it's already unsalvageable. Especially as he had left Mikumo for five minutes to give finishing touch to his feast. He doesn't want to know what she had put in there before he saw her put sugar. Though considering some of the things he saw on the counter, it's bad. With disaster averted for a while, the ace pilot and chef for fun turn to the girl who's looking very uncomfortable.

Without saying anything, Kazumi walk out of the kitchen, leaving Mikumo looking down in disappointment at herself. Kazumi is definitely unhappy with her. This is the second time she tried out cooking. The first time was months ago when Chuck asked her and the other Walkure as well as Hayate and Mirage to help him come up with a new menu after he bought a massive amount of Ragnan jellyfish due to being on sale. It ended up… inedible as somehow the jellyfish are still alive even after she cooked them until they're charcoal black. She doesn't really mind her failure back then.

This time though, seeing Kazumi look disappointed as well as having her cooking be dumped into the trash bin like that really made her uncomfortable. She had never felt like this before, especially the stinging pain in her chest. But she didn't know what she did wrong. She used ingredients that Kazumi usually used. Sure she didn't put it in order but it's fine, right? And the more spices she put in, the better it would taste, right? Besides, he said that he would eat her cooking.

As Mikumo silently stood by the counter where many ingredients and spices are still spread out messily after she used them, Kazumi came back to the kitchen. This time, he came carrying a book with him. A book with brown hardcover that is about as thick as a diary. He then offered the book to Mikumo who's staring at him with wide eyes.

"You should've told me that you've never cooked before. Though it's also my fault for not asking."

"I'm sorry, Kazumi."

Mikumo look down regretfully. She knew that he's very displeased at her. That look on him when he threw away her failed cooking, she never had anyone look so disappointed at something she did. Nobody gave her that look when she wasted the jellyfish Chuck bought in bulk before. Not that she would notice back then. She thought it would be fun to try and if she failed, then that's it.

But this time, she had cooked with the intention to actually make something Kazumi would eat and feel happy about. After all, she always felt happier after eating his food than eating any other food. She wanted to help him a little because he's been worrying about their new enemy, especially after their last skirmish. She could sing for him but she believed that he would be happier if she does something that he likes. It ended up a disaster though.

"Come on, let's start from the beginning once more. Clear the table first."

Seeing that Kazumi is not giving up on her, Mikumo did as instructed and clear out the counter table. Kazumi placed the book on the table and flip it open. There are lots of notes written inside. It took the mysterious venus a moment to realize that the notes were written with his handwriting.

"A common mistake made by those who cook for the first time is that they think they could do better than what's written in a recipe. They're wrong. For beginners, it's always best to follow a proper recipe. You can experiment and make your own recipe only after you learn how to actually cook."

Kazumi flipped through some pages quickly. The book, Mikumo realized, is a recipe book. And since it's written with his handwriting, this must be his personal recipe book. And as he had memorized pretty much all of its contents, Kazumi quickly found the page he's looking for.

"Seafood fried rice. It's simple enough. Now, follow the instructions carefully and remember to measure. Now, first off…"

Silently, Mikumo followed the instructions Kazumi read out loud. It seems that while improvisation was good while on stage, it's not as simple when it comes to cooking. Well, practice makes perfect. And unlike singing and being on a stage, cooking is a totally new experience that she has no ingrained talent to rely on. It's… a rather novel experience now that she's seriously trying it.

Mikumo smiled as she cut up the fish Kazumi instructed her to use. This kind of thing is not bad from time to time.

As the two continue to work together, they didn't notice the others returning. The other Walkure members hidden behind the doors leading to the kitchen and dining room kept their voice down as they watch their ace diva working on something she never did before with a bright smile.

-Chaos main HQ hangar-

Working on a custom unit is not exactly difficult. Usually, it's just a matter of performance tuning and some minor additions or modifications to an easily swapped part of a unit. Usually head, weapons, and primary engine. Most of the time, the basic frame of the customized unit remained the same… most of the time.

Sometimes, Carol Madison can't help but want to curse her old squadmate. If not for some help from Aisha Blanchett in the form of the blueprint for Kazumi's custom VF-25S she built back in Ouroboros as well as the remants of said custom unit, she would be tempted to fly to Ragna to throttle him for giving her so much work.

"Right, so the custom side thruster placement is done. He better appreciates this since I need to make the custom parts to place those thrusters."

Carol mumbled while looking over at the legs as well as main body of the unit she's working on, which is Kazumi's personal unit. Built on the frame of a Kairos unit, she had to replace a lot of the parts on the legs and main body to meet his specification for a fast and mobile fighter to be his personal machine.

If it was a matter of replacing the primary engines then it would've been easy. But Kazumi asked for additional powerful side thrusters to improve sideway mobility and turning speed. That made things much more complicated as that means she has to add more ports for side thrusters. Which means she has to fabricate custom parts as she can't exactly install additional thrusters on a standard Kairos frame.

Carol sighs. If he were any other pilot, Chaos probably won't approve such extensive customization for a single unit. But ace pilots are a rare commodity, especially one of his calibre. The better a pilot is, the more willing a company is to put out more capital to make an expensive custom unit as a single ace, even an ordinary one, is usually worth more than five ordinary pilot, and that is in an ordinary unit. An ace pilot in a powerful custom unit? They're worth their weight in gold. And from the combat data Kazumi sent her about their enemy? He really needs the best unit they can possibly field for him.

That's why while she's pissed at him for the additional trouble, Carol will still strive to make the best unit possible for him. It's better for her to feel annoyed now than hearing him getting killed for piloting an inferior unit against his enemies.

"Right, we've installed the additional thrusters. Now we just need to assemble the parts one-by-one."

Carol mumbled as she looked at the scattered pieces of the Valkyrie she's planning to assemble soon. If only she doesn't have to fabricate those custom parts. She could've finished the unit long ago. Not to mention that she will also have to make those custom spare parts later. But that could wait.

"Knowing him, I should probably switch the standard gunpod container weapon attachment with a laser cannon one. And maybe add a rifle from the YF-30. Since YF-30's frame is similar to the VF-31 being its prototype and all, I should be able to attach it to the unit without problem. He always said that having both maximum speed and maximum firepower is the way to go. That reminds me, I should probably send the new Armored Pack to him and the Delta."

She muttered to herself as she recalled that the newest pack for the VF-31 series has finished its trial run and had gone into production. As Carol was about to give the command to begin the assembly, her terminal rang, telling her that she had just received a mail. Curious on who sent her a mail, though it's mostly Kazumi, she was surprised to see that it's a familiar but very unusual sender.

"Lady M? What does she want with me?"

Seeing as it is a message from her big boss, Carol opened the mail immediately. Inside is a short message of 'use this' along with a file attachement. From the looks of it, it is a schematic. But for what, she didn't know. Carol clicked on the file attachement and when it finally opened…

"T-this is…"

Carol turn to the custom unit still in pieces and then back at the file in her terminal. She repeated the gesture again to make sure what she's reading is right. Scratching her head and then shaking it, Carol sighs.

"At least the parts are already on the way. Still, Kazumi had waited long enough. He needs this unit soon."

Frowning, Carol close the file and made a call. It didn't even take five seconds for her call to connect.

"Hello? This is Carol Madison of R&D. Is there a ship that can take me to Ragna as soon as possible?"

I thought the lockdown due to coronavirus would give me time to write. Apparently not. Originally, I was planning to cover the feast itself but what I managed didn't really turn out well in my opinion so I scrapped it. I'm not really satisfied with it but this is all I can manage at the moment. Anyway, Mikumo is learning how to cook from Kazumi and more bonding moments for them. Then we have Carol working on Kazumi's unit. It is a heavily customized Kairos unit focusing on speed, mobility, as well as firepower. Of course, there are other surprises in store for the unit that I hinted at the end, but that's for later.

Yoshiki-909: I don't remember. It's in the Macross Delta Theatre that came as bonus for the BD.

Clockwork44: Well the overall plot remains the same.