A/N: I do believe I'm getting back into the swing of writing again... sort of. The first thing you'll notice is the change in season. Yep, I'm slowly moving forward.
Quick review answers!
Deidara'sgirl19: I thought going to the kitchen in the middle of a game of hide and seek would seem like a very 'Shinjiro' kind of thing to do, so I went with it. :D
namine23: A hot-headed crybaby and a level-headed tough kid do seem kind of odd as friends, don't they? I'm glad you're enjoying the story!
Rewritten Ennui: My ultimate goal is to coat the world with sugar. But since that isn't possible, I'll just continue writing. Thanks soo much for always catching my typos!
WiltedxBlackxRose: Suggestions are always welcome! There are always times when I absolutely have nothing to write, which was my reason for taking requests. Thanks for reviewing, too. :
This particular chapter was suggested by SourL. Shinji tries a hand at culinary creations! ... Sort of. Most of this chapter is Shinji/Miki interaction, anyway. :/
I don't own Persona 3/FES/Portable and related stuff.
Chapter 12
"Cooking" with Shinji
…
-Summer 1998-
…
Orphanage 2nd Floor, Boys' Room - Evening
"Alright, boys, I'm turning these lights out now!" Suoh announced as she stood by the switch near the door. "It's time for bed, and you've got school tomorrow!"
The boys in the room, save for Akihiko and Shinjiro, all started to groan and complain. Masaru raised his hand as though he were actually in class and called out, "Can't I stay up longer? It's the last day before summer break!"
Suoh pretended to think about it for a moment before telling the third-grader, "No. There's a reason why we have rules. 'Lights out' is the same time every night, no exceptions."
Masaru screwed his face up, but he didn't dare say whatever he had in mind. Satisfied, the young woman huffed lightly, "Is that all? Then goodnight."
"Goodnight, Suoh-san," all the boys except Masaru, Akihiko, and Shinjiro groaned in unison. Once the lights were switched off and the door closed, however, all bets were off.
"'There's a reason why we have rules,' MY 'YOU-KNOW-WHAT,'" Masaru complained. "S'not fair, I'm the oldest in here, I can stay up longer than you babies."
"I can stay up, too!" his brother Kenta shouted. "I can stay up, too, aniki!"
"Me, too!" a boy named Ikuto, who had recently arrived a couple weeks ago, chimed in. "I can stay up all night long!"
"Yeah! Yeah!" a couple of the other boys said.
Masaru smirked. "Fine then. We'll have a bet to see who stays up the longest." He looked over to Akihiko, who was silently perched on his bed across the room, and then Shinjiro, who was starting to bury himself in his blanket. "Aki-freako, Ara-gagface, you're in it, too."
"No," Aki said without a moment's hesitation.
"Bug off, stupid," Shinjiro grumbled from his pillow, "or you'll pay for it in the morning."
The eight-year old's face twisted with anger for a moment, but he recovered quickly. "I see; you're scared of Suoh and the old bat!"
"No."
"Go to sleep, stupid."
"Fine then! Dummies! Freaks! Forget you! I was gonna let you be my underlings, too!"
"Whatever." Akihiko settled on his mattress, pulling his blanket up to his chest as he rested his head on the pillow.
"You're noisy, stupid." Shinjiro fell silent.
Masaru bristled. "All right then, since Aki-freako and Shrimp-jiro are such PANSIES," he said a bit loudly, "It'll be just the rest of us, okay?"
Not wanting to alert the two adults, the rest of the boys simply pumped their fists.
…
Barely an hour had passed when the door to the boys' room opened again. Suoh stepped inside a moment later, walking about the room a final time to make sure no one was still awake. When she reached a certain bed at the end of the room by the window, her gaze lingered its brown, shaggy-haired owner for a few moments before turning about face and heading the opposite direction.
Once the door clicked shut and the footsteps faded away, Shinjiro slowly sat up. Suoh had been pacing the hall outside their door for some time because Masaru and those other stupid kids- except Akihiko, he had already settled in for the night- decided to keep themselves awake by talking about some crappy superhero team show. Birdo Wingman X or something, it was called, the boy didn't care. All he knew was that creaking floors and obnoxious voices had kept him from getting some much-needed rest.
Shinji's line of sight drifted from the empty bed across from him to the boys' room door. So near, yet so far; if he stepped on all the wrong spots on the floor, he would risk waking the other kids. If it were Aki, he wouldn't mind. He was the only one he even dared consider a friend, even though he'd never say so aloud.
It was Masaru he was worried about.
Leisurely, Shinjiro climbed off his bed and crept around his bed towards the door. He was particularly careful with his footsteps; he had an idea of which wooden boards would creak the most, so all he had to do was avoid them.
He was only a few feet from the front door when, all of a sudden, there was a light knocking on the door.
"…!" Shinjiro stopped in his tracks. Who on earth would be knocking on the door this time of night?
"Shinji. Shinji, onii-chan, open the door."
"M-miki?" Shinjiro all but scrambled to close the distance between him and the door. Opening it slightly so he could see the silver-haired girl's large eyes staring back at him, he felt like burying his face in his hands. "Miki, what are you doing? Go back to bed before you get in trouble."
"But… Miki's hungry," the girl protested. "Miki wants azuki ice cream."
Shinjiro's brow furrowed. "Dinner was hours ago. Besides, it's too late to eat ice cream."
"Miki didn't have dinner."
"What do you mean, you didn't have dinner?"
Miki's cheeks puffed, as though whatever she was remembering made her upset. "It fell!"
"What fell?"
"Miki's curry rice fell! It was curry rice Reiko made for Miki, since all the other stuff was gone!"
Shinjiro considered the girl for a moment. "… That's right; you didn't have oden like me an' Aki…"
Miki pouted. "Shinji, I want azuki…"
Shinjiro shushed her with a finger over his lips and a shake of his head. This girl was not going to annoy him tonight about ice cream. Or takoyaki. Or dango. Or something else probably unhealthy.
He looked back for a moment to make sure that no one had woken up, and then muttered, "I'll see what I can do. You'll have to come with me, though." He gave Miki a stern expression. "Try not to make any noise, the last thing I want is Suoh or Reiko findin' out we're up in the first place."
When the girl nodded, the older boy checked behind him one last time before stepping outside the room and closing the door quietly behind him.
…
Orphanage 1st Floor, Kitchen - Late Night
"Shinji, can I have azuki ice cream?"
"No."
"But I want azuki ice cream!"
Shinjiro stopped right in front of the refrigerator door, causing Miki to bump into him from behind. "Miki," he said slowly, "we don't even have azuki ice cream. Even if we did, you're not getting any. It's too late, and it won't be good for you."
Miki puffed her cheeks out defiantly. "So gimme some pocky! I want pocky!"
"No."
"Toppo?"
"No."
"Dango?"
"No."
"Taiyaki!"
"NO."
Miki's small hands balled into fists. She clearly didn't like the fact that Shinjiro wasn't going to let her have her way. She fumed silently as Shinjiro walked over to the light switch and flipped it on. It took a moment for the children's eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness, but Shinjiro set to work right away, dragging a chair towards one of the cabinets.
Miki's anger gave way to curiosity as she wondered what the brunette was up to, seeing him climb on the chair and reach to open the cabinet door with one knee on the counter. After a few careful moments, he had managed to get a salt shaker.
The moment he had climbed back down to the floor again, Miki asked him, "Are you going to make something, Shinji?"
The shaggy-haired youth scrutinized what he gathered so far, and replied mechanically, "Something like that."
As he continued rummaging about where he could reach, Miki pulled out another chair from the table and climbed into it, leaning forward so her head rested in her arms on the surface. Her large eyes followed the brunette as he continued whatever he was doing.
After a few moments, Shinjiro had gathered a small assortment of items: the salt shaker he had retrieved from the cabinet, along with an open jar of pickled plums and a covered, medium-sized bowl. He stood before them, his nose slightly wrinkled. "… This won't work without hot rice…"
"Hot rice?" Miki's head cocked sideways. "What does Shinji need hot rice for?"
"... Onigiri." Shinjiro pointed to the covered bowl. "This rice is cold; it won't be good for making onigiri."
"Can't you make it hot?" Miki asked.
The older boy frowned. "… I'll get in trouble if I use the stove… I can't reach any pots or pans, either. This won't work…"
The girl sat up, her expression determined. "Shinji can make onigiri!" she said. "Miki don't care if the rice is cold!"
Shinjiro smirked. "You're just like your brother," he remarked. "Okay, if you still want onigiri, I'll just have to work with that I've got."
"Miki's gonna help, too!" Miki climbed down from her chair and ran over to the boy as he headed for the sink and climbed on the chair he left there to wet his hands.
"No. I'll do it myself," Shinjiro said, climbing back down from the chair carefully so that he didn't lose his grip. "I wanna know I can make it without help."
Miki looked concerned, but she kept silent as the older boy headed back to the table. As she watched, he sprinkled a bit of salt on his hands and rubbed them together before uncovering the bowl.
"Why'd you do that?" she asked curiously. "With the salt?"
"Keeps it from sticking," Shinjiro mumbled, picking up a handful of rice. "… But it's a little cold…"
Carefully, he molded the in his hands for a moment until he flattened it in one hand. With his free one, he carefully picked a pickled plum from the jar and pressed it in the middle, and then started to mold the rice about some more. Bits of rice fell onto the table as he did so; after a minute, he glared at the crudely formed onigiri in his hands and sighed. Many grains were mashed together, and it looked as though it were going to fall apart.
Miki looked slightly disappointed. "That's not how Reiko made it…"
"I know," Shinjiro snapped, placing the rice ball on the container lid.
"Can I have it?"
"What? No! It's not good!"
"But I'm hungryyyyy," Miki whined.
"Fine, take it! You won't like it, though." Shinjiro shoved the rice ball towards Miki, who gladly picked it up in her small hands and took a bite.
He watched carefully for some sort of reaction from the girl, but she didn't say a word as she bit it again. After a few minutes of what could only be described as awkward silence, Miki finally finished the rice ball, looked him in the eye and said cheerfully, "This is bad onigiri Shinji!"
The brunette sighed. "I knew it."
Miki was still smiling at him. "I want another one!"
"Eh? No!" Shinjiro's expression was aghast. "It's not good for you to eat bad food."
"I'm gonna scream," Miki warned. "Make another onigiri!"
The older boy muttered something under his breath she didn't hear, burying half his face in his hand. Brown eyes boring holes into the girl, he said, "Alright, then, but after this, we're both going back to bed."
…
"Hmm… that's strange… I know I had a full jar of umeboshi last time I checked."
Akihiko immediately looked up from the omelet he was eating. "Umeboshi? Those little things you put in the onigiri for lunch?"
Reiko crossed her arms as she closed the cabinet doors. "Yeah. There was rice all over the table, too. You wouldn't happen to know who'd be messing around in here in the middle of the night, eh, Akihiko-kun?"
The silver-haired youth shook his head. "No." He turned to the boy sitting in the chair next to him with his head on the table. "Shinji, Reiko-san says someone was messing around in the kitchen last night."
"...Shu' up…stu…pid," Shinjiro groaned, "an'…. slee…" He fell silent, burying his head further in the crook of his arm.
Akihiko looked on for a moment longer, and then looked back at Reiko with a confused expression. To his surprise, she was smirking.
"Never mind. My question's already been answered."