Ren walked along the sidewalk from her University, it was relatively quiet and there were trees that offered some shade every once in a while. Finally she merged into the city, where there was more foot traffic, more chattering, and lots of shops. She walked to the bookstore and walked through the sliding glass doors. Kou was surrounded by many women holding up a newly released book. He was using his trademark smile and somehow managed to get a few of them to purchase an extra. Ren chuckled and decided to browse around the bookstore.
"May I help you with something?" A familiar voice caught Ren off guard for a moment.
"Kou-kun, how on earth did you manage to slip away from those girls unnoticed?"
"This is like a daily routine for me. Also, what did I say about honorifics?" He smiled.
"Oops, well I just wanted to stop by to say that I survived my first day of university." Ren announced proudly.
"You were supposed to tell me when you got in, not when you had your first day!" Kou pouted pretending to be heartbroken. Ren could have sworn she saw a pair of dog ears for a split second. Ren laughed and reached up to pat his head.
"You will be the first to know when I accomplish something else, I promise."
"Good! We'll have to celebrate big time." Ren stared at him for a bit, even though he was handsome he was like a little kid with a slight delinquent look.
"You have quite a few piercings, I never noticed." Ren speculated.
"Does that make you uncomfortable?" Kou's face fell a little.
"No way, I came from America for crying out loud. I also have quite a few, but they're hidden by my hair and I hide one of them." Ren lifted her hair to reveal two pairs of lobe piercings on each ear, two double helixes on her left ear, a conch piercing on her right ear including a daith. "I also have a septum piercing, but I keep that hidden."
"I see well you got me beat." Kou smiled brightly.
"Well I have to go, I'm needed for dinner."
"I'll see you around, let me walk you out."
Ren POV
"I'm home!" I called taking off my shoes at the doorway.
No one answered which I expected since dad was still at the hospital and papa was busy finishing up at the university. Both of them said they would try and home around 7pm at the latest. I sighed and went to go put my school bag in my room. I changed into some more casual looking clothes that consisted of a baggy T-shirt and shorts, I braided my hair to one side went into the kitchen to look for some ingredients. The clock read 5:30pm and I knew I should start dinner soon.
Opening the cabinets I saw we had many different types of rice and a multitude of seasonings. The fridge was stocked up on fresh vegetables, fruit, and meat ranging from beef to fish. I figured curry would be a good idea, since there would most likely be leftovers plus they had roux paste in their cabinets as well.
I found three plates that I set on the counter, as I looked in a few other places I found a large and small stockpot and some saucepans in one of the lower cabinets. I washed the rice a few times before cooking it on the stove with the smaller pot. I chopped up celery, carrots, onion, and a clove of garlic. I paced the vegetables aside for the time being along with a prepared mix of seasoning that I put together.
After wiping off the cutting board and took out some of the chicken thighs we had and cubed them. I put a few tablespoons of butter in the stockpot and cooked the chicken, when that was done I added a tad more butter and dumped all of the cut veggies in it to sauté them until the onions we're translucent. By that time the rice was finished cooking and I turned off the heat. I slowly mixed in chicken stock to the stockpot and the room as filled with an amazing aroma that made my stomach growl, I lowered the heat to medium and added the roux paste, and once everything was stirred together nicely I covered the stockpot and let everything simmer stirring occasionally until thick. I dished out the rice onto the plates and put the rest away so I could clean the pot. I checked the time and the clock read 6:55pm just in time. I placed the plates on the table after adding the curry next to the rice. I laid out the chopsticks and continued cleaning up the kitchen when I heard two pairs of footsteps approaching quickly.
"Hiro-san you're so cute, is Ren the reason you wanted to rush home so fast?" I heard dad say from behind the door.
"N-no, I just wanted to go home so we could eat dinner I'm tired and I have work and…" Papa was cut off for a second while he rambled.
"So cute!" I swore I could hear the smile in dad's voice.
I opened the door and smirked when I saw papa's face bright red. "Geez you guys are so embarrassing, please just come in and I won't talk about that passionate kiss outside of the door."
"N-Nowaki, this is all your fault!" Papa grumbled while dad just continued to smile.
"Welcome home." I smiled.
"We're back, Ren!" The two of them said in unison.
"Let's eat before the food gets cold." I made gestures over to the meal I prepared.
"You made this?" Dad looked like he was going to die from happiness.
"Of course I did, I'm not letting my family starve!" I joked.
"T-Thank you." Papa said awkwardly while he was busy taking his shoes off.
"No need to thank me yet, I need both of your approval." I said, before making my way back over to the table.