Chapter 83
Tying up her hair once more with the purple ribbon, she finished putting on her uniform and headed down into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Heading down the creaking wooden stairs, she passed the living room and headed to the back of the house where the kitchen was situated. The aged paintings on the wall stared at her as she walked past, drab grey wallpapers with faint leaf motifs serving as the background.
Once she entered the kitchen, she got to work making breakfast. It was just a bit lonely without her senpai, but she could manage. Still, the bright white tiles of the Matou kitchen chilled her feet through the white socks, unlike the lacquered wooden floor she was now used to.
Pulling out a stainless iron pan from the wire racks in the cupboard, she proceeded to take out the eggs from the fridge, pushing the pack of defrosted bacon to the side as she slid a bowl of flour onto the middle of the kitchen counter top.
Several of the eggs were tapped against the edge of the counter, the hard marble surface breaking through the brittle shell with each tap, Sakura's thin fingers delicately handling the egg so it wouldn't spill it's contents on the floor. The lines spiralled across the egg, creating enough fractures in the calcium carbonate to allow her to crack open the eggs into a small bowl.
The transparent egg whites flowed past her fingers and the shell into the transparent bowl, the yolks kept within the shell as she poured it back and forth between each side of the broken egg shell to make sure the whites were fully deposited. The eggs, just taken from the fridge, were chilly, and the innards even more so. The whites numbed her fingers as they slipped through. With a final pass, she slid the yolk into a separate bowl, the yolk settling at the bottom with a small circle of translucent liquid surrounding it.
*krk...shp*
The process repeated with the rest of the eggs, the whites smoothly sliding with the rest, while the yolks joined their brethren in the other bowl, both glistening under the kitchen lights with glossy surfaces, reflecting Sakura's lone face in them.
The shells rustled as they slid into the plastic bag covering the insides of the trash can, sitting in the corner of the kitchen. Opening the fridge again, she removed the tub of yoghurt and took out a measuring cup from one of the cupboards above her head, standing on her tiptoes to do so. Usually, someone else would help her get the out of reach equipment, but it couldn't be helped today.
Thick, white yoghurt was lifted out with a spoon, then placed into the measuring cup until it reached the required amount. The plastic cap of the tub slid into place with a *crack*, with the yoghurt poured into another bowl after Sakura returned to the tub to its original place, while she grabbed a carton of milk on the way as well.
Milk splashed into the measuring cup, droplets of white staining the sides of the plastic cup. Once she was satisfied with the amount, the stream of liquid ceased, the cup of milk poured into the yoghurt. The white liquid mixed with the creamy whiteness, two dairy products cozying up to each other within the dark brown ceramic confines, two good friends meeting up with each other.
A few drops of amber essence fell on the pool of white, the vanilla floating on top of the milk, a strong fragrance drifting up to Sakura's nose just from those few droplets. Without pausing in her movements as she set down the bottle of essence, she took the whisk in hand and started mixing the ingredients, her hand rotating in a set rhythm as the yoghurt, milk and essence combined, forming a white liquid with the scent of vanilla. Miniature bubbles formed in the mixture, the liquid turning creamy as she beat it. Years ago, she had struggled to mix things quickly and evenly, but she had been taught well, and now she was able to finish beating it in minutes.
Electric whisk...she wondered if it was still where she had left it. After seeing it in action at senpai's house, she had wanted to get one for her own use here, but it had been mostly neglected after she went to his house almost every day.
Ah, the blue cardboard box was there, gathering dust behind the large cast steel pots. Reaching in deep to lift it out, she was surprised to see something glinting at her in the dark recesses of the cupboard below the sink.
The light from outside hit the object, revealing it to be a single veined wing, of the type found on flying insects.
The whisk went into the egg whites, stirring the liquid into a froth at speeds faster than human hands were capable of achieving. The vibrations rattled her arm, the steady hum of the motor calming her heart. Hurriedly, she added the sugar and lemon juice to the egg whites, the froth going faster until it became a big fluffy bowl, air expanding them until they tripled in size.
Flour scattered across the top of the whipped egg whites, her spatula spinning rapidly to turn the mixture into a more solid mass. The yoghurt mixture swiftly followed, dumped into the bowl after mixing the flour with the egg whites thoroughly.
*skreet*
Her hand froze, the spatula stopping in the bowl. Slowly, her head turned, eyes sweeping to where the noise had come from.
There was nothing but the door to the kitchen there, the black painted wood staring back at her with her own reflection.
Turning her focus back to the task at hand, she finished mixing everything and chucked the mix into the pan to turn them into pancakes. In her haste, she knocked over the bowl of yolks, the bowl smashing onto the ground and shattering into various pieces, while the yolks broke into one big yellow puddle, strewn across the white tiles.
"Ah! Sorry sen-"
He wasn't here.
She took a wet cloth and got on her knees to clean the mess. Purple hair fell across her face, hiding her expression from sight.