Fiery Hot Salad

Misato let out a long sigh as she reached the door of her apartment. It had been a really long day. Test after test after test at work. And up at four in the morning. All she wanted to do now was relax in front of the TV with a drink.

She unlocked the apartment door and walked inside. After kicking her shoes off she walked into the kitchen. She dropped the pile of papers she was holding onto the table and went to the refrigerator. As she was about to open the door, something caught her eye. Misato groaned when she realized what it was.

It was the chore chart she had made several weeks ago with Shinji. And it was her turn to cook tonight.

Misato groaned again and opened the fridge to get a drink out. She had promised Shinji that this time she would make something when it was her turn. Misato suspected he was getting tired of take out every time it was her turn to cook. She gulped down the rest of her drink and opened the refrigerator again to look at what was in it. Rice, eggs, a piece of bread, half-eaten containers of take out. She reached back further and shoved more containers aside. A square container near the back held some promising shapes, but when she opened it was just some slightly moldy vegetables. On the bottom shelf she came across some lettuce.

A salad, she thought with relief. Even I can't mess up a salad. Next to the lettuce was some bacon and she pulled that out as well. Bacon would make a nice topping for the salad. She got out a frying pan, dropped the bacon into it, turned the stove on, and started looking for a bowl to put the salad into.

She was still looking for a bowl when the phone rang. It was one of the technicians at NERV. One of the tests had not gone well and they needed to repeat it. Due to NERV procedures the technician was required to report all the details to her.

Misato only half listened as the technician slowly listed everything which had gone wrong with the test. Why do they have to call me, she grumbled to herself, they should call Ritsuko, she is the one who understands all of this stuff.

The exhaustion from the day started to catch up with her and she almost fell asleep with the technician still talking, but a strange smell hit her nose.

It took the smell of smoke a minute to penetrate her half-asleep mind. Bacon!, she remembered suddenly. She slammed the phone down on the startled technician and ran to the smoke filled kitchen.

Tiny flames had sprouted on top of the blackened bacon and they grew in size even as Misato watched. Before the flames could get any larger Misato grabbed the tub from the kitchen sink and dumped the contents onto the stove. The flames died down with an enormous whoosh of sound and a rush of smoke which filled the kitchen.

Unfortunately, the lettuce for the salad had been in the sink at the time she poured it on the fire. Ramen again, thought Misato as she surveyed the messy kitchen and opened a window to let the smoke out.

Sounds outside of the door notified her that Shinji had come home early. She hurried to the door before he could open it. Misato threw the door open and cheerfully told the surprised Shinji, "Hey, I thought we could eat out for supper tonight!"

Shinji gave her a confused look as she quickly closed the door and asked "Is that smoke that I smell?"

She laughed lightly and said "Of course not."

As Misato pushed Shinji towards the stairs she thought to herself that she sure was glad that Shinji had kitchen clean up duty today.