I don't own any characters in the story. All rights belong to Yūto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki! Hope you enjoy if you bother reading this!
Why don't you try making peanut butter roasted squid?
"I don't even have to try to make that to know that it's going to be disgusting you moron," Erina muttered as she tied her honey blonde hair back in a ponytail to prepare her meal for the night.
She opened the fridge and let her amethyst eyes scan through it to figure out just what ingredients she had. She huffed irritatedly when she found that she didn't have that many options.
I reminded you to go grocery shopping before you left this morning.
Her eyes shifted up to the back wall of the fridge where the words were written in red.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to write back there! It's hard to clean out you dimwit!" she shouted out to no one as her voice echoed through the empty apartment. She raised a hand up to her forehead and rubbed it frustratedly before going back to looking at the contents of the fridge.
It's not like I don't clean up after myself y'know!
She glared at nothing in particular at the response even if she had to concede the point as the words began to disappear. It seemed that the being had taken what she had said to heart for now as the next message was written on her arm. She raised a delicate eyebrow in response to the message.
Oh! I have an idea!
"And is this 'idea' going to be better than what you had me make last time you did this?" she questioned with a hint of mockery present.
I swear that you're going to say that it's delicious this time!
"Fine. I'll humor you this time since I'm not really in the mood to come up with something," she sighed as she began to collect the ingredients that had been written on her arms as she spoke.
She brought them all to the kitchen counter and watched as a recipe was written on the metal surface. The more words that were written, the more intrigued she became with it, though she wouldn't voice that thought out loud.
Her body began to move on autopilot around the kitchen, gathering the tools that she needed. Considering her job as a head chef at her own restaurant, it was safe to say that her kitchen was complete with whatever tool she might need. It seemed that she wouldn't need any fancy devices for this particular dish though.
"So where'd this idea come from this time?" she asked as she began dicing the onions skillfully.
Same answer as always. I don't really know. It just popped into my head when I saw the ingredients in your fridge.
She hummed in response as she moved on to grating some ginger.
You have a nice voice when you sing y'know!
She scoffed as she read the message though there was a faint blush present on her cheeks at the compliment.
"I don't need compliments from a ghost… I still appreciate it though," she mumbled as she turned the stove on and put a frying pan on top of it. She then began to prepare some rice to go along with the dish while the pan heated up. Her mind began to wander after she set up the rice cooker.
She had moved to this apartment just a few weeks ago. It was an extremely nice place in a nice neighborhood. The only caveat was that it was cheap. Suspiciously so. She didn't worry much about money since she did run several extremely successful restaurants, but the cheap price was still very enticing. She had found out the reason for the price not long after.
She nearly had a heart attack the first night when a "hi there" had suddenly been written in red on her walls. She was pretty sure her scream that particular night had woken up the entire apartment complex. Thankfully, no one had complained about the noise. And that was how her unlikely love-hate relationship with a ghost had begun.
She'd thought about moving out but decided not to after noticing that the ghost didn't really do anything dangerous to her, though it could be extremely annoying at times. The ghost was helpful and gave her a friend that she had been lacking for a while. Thank her job for that. Being a head chef of a restaurant while running others was a headache and a half with the vast amount of hours that she had to work.
She was broken out of her thoughts when she felt the now familiar trace of coldness on her arms.
Pan's hot enough.
She immediately moved over to the stove and poured some sesame oil on the pan. Once it was hot enough, she began to sauté the chicken wings until they were golden brown on both sides. She could feel her stomach rumbling already as the smell reached her nose.
Once she was finished with that step, she put the chicken wings into a pot along with some bonito broth that she had already prepared. She then poured some sake, mirin, and sugar into the pot as well. Following that, she took out a bottle of light soy sauce and poured a bit in as well. Finally she put in the ginger that she had grated earlier before bringing the pot over to the stove. She turned the stove onto a high heat before waiting for it to boil.
How was your day?
She had to hold in a grimace as she thought about the day that she had had.
Not so good huh.
"That would be an understatement," she began with her eyes staying glued on the pot. "One of my employees messed up the recipe. Had to deal with some rowdy customers that were handsy with the waitresses. I sent them out immediately of course. Then there was the large amounts of paperwork. Even more so than usual since it is the end of the month. Then the car had a flat tire on the way home. So to answer your question. Nope. Not really a good day." By the end of her recollection, the pot had begun to boil. She grabbed a ladle and started skimming the scum off the top before turning down the heat to a low setting.
She then leaned back on the counter as she let the broth simmer. She wrapped her arms around herself as she stared at the pot blankly.
You got through the day at the very least. And think on the bright side! There's no way tomorrow's going to be any worse!
Her mouth twitched upwards in amusement at that.
"Very optimistic of you to say. Though I suppose you do have a point."
Yup! You're way tougher than this Erina!
"Shut up moron," she muttered with a hint of red on her face as she made her way to the pot again.
Seeing that it had been reduced by half, she poured the broth into a container and let it cool for a couple of minutes before putting it in the fridge. She then took the chicken wings, deboned them and cut them into strips.
She cracked four eggs into a bowl and added a bit of sugar and salt before whisking it. Finished with that, she proceeded to take another frying pan out and placed it on the stove before turning it on to low heat. Once it was hot enough, she poured the whisked eggs into the frying pan and started to stir them rapidly until they turned into soft egg curds. Taking out a small bowl, she put the egg curds in them before checking on the broth that she had refrigerated earlier.
Deciding that it had hardened enough, she pulled it out of the fridge and removed it from the container. She then cut it into small squares before placing them in the same bowl with the egg curd. She quickly chopped up some spring onions before putting it in the same bowl.
Pulling out another bowl, she went over to the rice cooker and filled the bowl up with rice. She grabbed the bowl filled with egg curds and the aspic, before heading over to the living room; not forgetting to grab chopsticks on the way.
"So I'm supposed to pour this," she said while gesturing to the bowl with the egg, aspic, and spring onions. "Into this?" she continued while shaking the rice bowl.
Yup!
She shrugged her shoulders as she took a seat on the couch and placed the two bowls on the table in front of her. She took the egg filled one in her hands and then poured it over the rice. She watched as the aspic started to melt into the rice, letting the broth seep into the rice in the process.
Dig in!
She read the message at the same time that her nose was bombarded with the enticing smell of the chicken broth as it melted over the piping hot rice. Her stomach rumbled in anticipation as she looked at it. She grabbed her chopsticks, muttered a quick "thanks for the food", before digging into her meal.
She felt herself being engulfed with warmth as she took her first bite. Her mouth was filled with delicious flavor as she couldn't help the satisfied moan that left her lips.
Is it delicious?
She ignored the message on her arm as she continued her meal, not even stopping for a second until the bowl was absolutely empty. A comforting warmth filled her entire body as she finished her meal while she let out a contented sigh and leaned back on the couch.
She then looked to her arm to respond to the message before her eyes widened in shock as she saw a ghostly hand next to hers, tracing over her skin.
She followed the hand up to see a shock of red hair and a pair of amber eyes looking straight at her arm with a gentle smile on their roguishly handsome face. It seemed that the red headed man hadn't noticed that she could see him yet. She regathered her composure before replying to the earlier message he had written.
"It was better than last time."
She heard the ghostly form beside her let out a happy laugh at her reply as he wrote his own response on her arm; his face scrunching up in determination.
Glad you enjoyed! Next time I'll absolutely make sure you say that it's delicious!
She couldn't help but look forward to the next time he would give her a recipe to cook. She couldn't help the unexplainable pang in her chest as she watched him fade away again. She also couldn't help her mind from thinking that she wanted to hear that laugh of his again.