Chapter 10: Meisuke and Omurice

A/N:

...Hey, everyone.

Sorry I've been gone lately; I've been dealing with a severe case of real life compounded with a touch of the old writer's block. I haven't had much of a chance to write because life, and the few opportunities I had to sit down and try to get something out, I just couldn't. I managed to sort of work through the block, at least, but I might not be able to publish to two or three stories weekly or even biweekly. I'll try-and I sincerely apologize to everyone who's disappointed by this-but it's... difficult.

...

"Omelet Rice, you say?" Shouta asked, swishing his cup of coffee as he considered Meisuke's problem. "Is that some delicacy of this world?"

Shaking her hand noncommittally, Meisuke answered, "Eh, it's more of a 'whatever' kind of thing that's mostly about the experience instead of the food itself, but... I'd still like to make it right."

Nodding in understanding, Shouta replied, "Ah, yes, a most noble of struggles: pleasing your master!" The small dragon stroked his chin for a moment before lifting his finger in excitement and crying, "Eureka! I know exactly how to succeed in your great labor!"

Cocking her eyebrow as she braced for a ridiculous, unreasonable plan, Meisuke said, "Alright, then... let's hear it."

Chuckling boldly, Shouta rose to his feet-his short stature rendering the gesture mostly pointless even though he stood on his chair-as he declared, "You must make it with the greatest materials, of course! The finest eggs, the greatest rice, the choicest meats, all must be to an exacting standard."

Blinking in surprise at the unexpectedly feasible suggestion, Meisuke couldn't help but sigh as she answered, "Sure, that'd be great... except that sort of stuff costs money, and enough to meet all of THAT definitely costs WAY more than we could afford."

Shouta shook his head in irritation, flexing his fists as he said, "You misunderstand, goodly Meisuke! I mean not that you should procure the ingredients from the market! I'm certain the bazaar has many fine ingredients, but even that won't do!" Dramatically falling back into his seat, Shouta leaned upon the table as he arched his fingers and fixed Meisuke with a piercing gaze. "I mean," he began, "that you must return to the other world... to our world... and gather them yourself!"

Meisuke furrowed her brow, thinking the suggestion over. While this particular solution wasn't one that had occurred to her, that was for good reason: because it didn't really seem like a good one. Shaking her head, Meisuke answered, "I don't really think that would be a good idea... I mean, wouldn't that make the omurice kinda... well, weird?"

Scoffing at the dragoness's question, Shouta replied, "Normal! What is normal!? Nothing! Certainly not for Miss Tohru! She accepted you into her life, and truly cares for you; she accepts what and who you are, and accepts all of your friends as well! You don't bother her, and I doubt you could. Do you doubt her? Doubt that she could accept something you made with all of your heart to please her just because it's outside of what she would call 'ordinary'!?"

Meisuke blushed at the ancient dragon's words, glancing away and awkwardly scratching at her cheek as she answered, "Well, I would say 'with all of my heart' is exaggerating a bit, but... Tohru really does act like that, yeah." Bolting up suddenly, Meisuke pumped her fist and said, "Yeah... yeah, you're right! How could I just reject her feelings like that! I'll do what makes Tohru happy, and I know that she'll be happy that I tried so hard!" Chuckling as she turned and began to walk out of the room, she added-mostly to herself-, "Heh, she might even feel sheepish about how far I went for her... it'll be sort of cute to see her flustered."

Riko poked her head into the kitchen, having been alerted by the elder dragoness's footsteps that something was happening. Noticing that Meisuke was heading for the door, the young dragoness called out, asking, "Hey, Meisuke, where're you going?"

Glancing over her shoulder, Meisuke replied, "I'm off to the other world. I have to pick up some stuff for dinner-try not to laze around too much while I'm gone, okay?"

Waving her hands in protest, Riko cried, "Wait, what about him!?" She pointed at Shouta, who was still seated at the table, sipping his coffee in satisfaction.

Shrugging, Meisuke answered, "Whatever's fine. Hang out, I guess? You guys are kinda the same age, right?"

Riko spluttered as she replied, "WHAT!? NO WAY! That guy's a complete fossil! An old fogey! Older than Gilgamesh!"

"Well, that sounds like," Meisuke replied as she walked out the door, "your problem."

The older dragoness chuckled to herself as she heard Riko cry out her name.

...

Riko turned, glaring warily at Shouta. The ancient dragon, for his part, was still sitting at the table, drinking the same coffee with the same aplomb. A moment passed, and then two.

Riko found herself incredibly bored.

"So," the young dragoness began, unsure how to approach the far elder dragon, "want to play a game or something?"

As soon as the sentence had left Riko's mouth, the sounds of coffee being drank stopped. Shouta slowly lowered his cup to its plate, a dangerous sparkle flashing in his eye.

"Games, you say...?" he asked, drawing a thick, old wooden board stained with tea and wear from within his cape. "Has anyone ever taught you how to play... Go?"

Shrugging, Riko answered, "Can't say they have, but it's not like we have anything better to do." This said, she sat down before the board as Shouta produced a pair of bowls from within his cloak.

...

The door to the apartment swung open with a bang! as Meisuke collapsed onto the ground, her suit and form covered with dirt, cuts, and blood. Her hair ragged, her horns chipped, and her glasses all but broken, she nonetheless wore a triumphant expression, a broad smirk and narrowed brow adorning her face. In her hands she clutched three bags filled with the spoils of her day, each a hard-won treasure. The oil she had gathered from the Ancient Pit of Terrible Lizards, salt used to ward off 48 demons, pepper taken from the Vine of Bacchus... all of it was nearly irreplaceable, and all of it was, as as far as Meisuke cared, what Tohru deserved.

Meisuke pushed herself to her feet, barely managing to stumble forward, step by step until she had reached the kitchen.

Or what was left of the kitchen, anyway.

"WHAT DID YOU TWO DO!?" she shrieked, surveying the absolutely wrecked room. The floor was blasted and burned, the wallpaper was peeling, the stove was scorched and charred, and laying amidst it all were the forms of Shouta and Riko, collapsed beside a completed Go board.

"You were... you were a fine opponent, Riko..." Shouta managed to groan out, "almost as good as Fujiwara no Sai..."

Chuckling, the young dragoness replied, "Yeah, old man... even if I did lose... it was an honor to play you..."

Cocking her eyebrow, Meisuke reigned in her anger long enough to pull herself over to the board. She was, in fact, impressed with the aftermath of the incredible game played before her, but something seemed off. After a moment, it clicked in her head, and she asked, "Riko's playing white, right?"

Both nodded in response.

"Y'know," Meisuke began, "with the komi, Riko actually won."

Silence filled the room for a moment, quickly dispelled by the prostrate dragons' identical cries of "WHAT?!"

...

A brief explanation of komidashi and a scolding for destroying the kitchen followed by a restoration spell later, Meisuke sat at the counter with the ingredients she had gathered that day spread before her. Glancing at Shouta and Riko, now confined to the corner so that they could reflect on their actions, Meisuke couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. Silently cursing herself for her softheartedness as she began to rub her neck, Meisuke made up her mind.

"Hey, you two," she began, "You want to help me with this?"

The two small dragons' faces lit up with excitement and relief.

...

"Phew..." Meisuke breathed, wiping sweat from her brow as she switched off the stovetop. "Looks like it's finished." With a deft flick of the spatula, she shifted the omelet onto a readied plate and carefully finished the dish before whisking it over to the table. Retrieving the prepared ketchup bottle, she turned to the expectantly waiting dragons with a smile.

"What should we write?"

Riko, Meisuke, and Shouta all thought for a moment before taking the bottle in turn, each writing a small message or offering a quick little doodle.

...

"Welcome back, Miss Tohru!" The three dragons cheered as the young woman in question entered her apartment, a little worse for the wear. Tohru blinked in surprise, not expecting the three-pronged joy assault. Before she could utter a word, however, Riko had already taken hold of her hand, dragging Tohru over to the table where a large covered dish awaited her. Taking a seat at the youngest dragon's insistence, Tohru waited patiently as Meisuke came forward to the table. With a smile and a dramatic swish, she whipped off the cover to...

A delicious, fluffy pile of omurice. It wasn't a normal-looking omurice, not a bit; it had strange lumps, splotches of red and purple, a sharp scent... anything that could be unusual, was. However, that didn't mean it was unappetizing.

With a shining smile, Tohru took a deep breath and said, "It looks delicious!"

Meisuke let out a satisfied huff as she thought to herself that the day's labor was most definitely worth it.

...

"...I'm bored," Riko announced.

Tohru tilted her head, unsurprised by the young dragoness's declaration. She made several such statements on a daily basis, and each time she would have to find some distraction or other to keep her busy. Every once in a while they would have Shouta play with her for a bit, but the ancient dragon was currently banned from the house due to a particularly disastrous game of Shogi. Clearly, whichever show tv show was being rerun at the moment (Tohru herself had checked out several minutes before), it had failed to hold Riko's lasting interest. Stroking her chin for a moment, Tohru raised her finger and suggested, "Would you like to play videogames? Or go out for a bit? Or maybe we could have a snack!"

Shaking her head, Riko rose to her feet and trudged over to the windowsill, plopping herself down onto it as she said, "Nah, I'm boooored of that stuff... I wanna do something new..." As she gazed out the window, however, she noticed something she had always ignored: a group of human children all dressed in the same outfit moving along the sidewalk in a massive crowd, happily chatting and laughing together. Turning to her guardian in interest, Riko asked, "Hey, miss Tohru... what're those kids doing?"

Rising in curiosity, Tohru crossed the room and glanced out at the street. She smiled as she noticed the children and answered, "Ah, those are just some kids going off to school. Pretty sure the semester's ending soon; they're probably really excited about that."

Cocking her head in confusion, Riko asked, "What is... school?"

"Ah, you didn't come across that during your research about this world, Riko?" Meisuke asked, poking her head into the room as she began to wag her finger at the younger dragoness. "Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy."

Riko blushed fiercely at this condemnation, spluttering back, "O-o-of course I did! It-it's just that, well, u-um, I wanted to he-hear what a human had to s-say about it!"

"Suuuuure, that's DEFINITELY true." the elder dragoness continued with a smile, turning to Tohru. "So, Tohru, care to explain for young Riko just what school is?"

Nodding, Tohru answered, "School is where kids go to learn how to learn how to live and make friends." With an awkward chuckle, she added, "...I wasn't really good at either, though..."

Lighting up at the information, Riko began to bounce in place as she said, "Wow! That's DEFINITELY something new! I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna be the best school person! Um, that is..." Riko glanced at Meisuke. "What do you call that?"

The older dragon grinned sardonically as she replied, "But don't you know already that's called a 'student' from your many hours of research, Riko...?"

Laughing awkwardly, Riko replied, "B-but of course! Just wanted to make sure, right!?"

With a shrug, Meisuke replied, "Sure, sure, fine. Anyway, you want to go to school, right?"

Once Riko had offered a nod in response, the older dragoness turned to Tohru and asked, "Hey, if Riko wants to go to school, she'll need some paperwork. Could you grab yours real quick, miss Tohru?"

The young woman nodded once before cocking her head in confusion, asking, "Sure, but... why?"

"Because I'll need to do a little office work," Meisuke replied, her hands beginning to glow as a magical circle appeared around them.

***End of Chapter 10***