Here is the next chapter of Castanet Life!!!! Hope you like it!

I woke up to a crash downstairs. I jumped and hit my head on the floor and let our a yelp. I looked at the time. It was only 7 in the morning.

"So much for sleeping in." I got up and tiptoed downstairs to see who it was.

I went down and saw Chihaya in the kitchen.

"Chihaya? What are you doing?"

He turned around "Oh, Hikari! Sorry if I woke you. I...I was just making something."

I rubbed my eyes "What are you making?"

"Just something I've been wanting to make for a while."

I looked over his shoulder "Why are you making Onigiri in the morning?" (Note: just in case you didn't know an Onigiri is a japanese riceball! And I hear they are delicious ^_^)

"It isn't just a plain old onigiri, I decided to test it with a new ingredient." He took one and handed it to me.

"Try it." He grinned.

I took a bite, it tasted amazing. I looked up at him "It is great! What did you put in it?"

"Some special bean paste I made."

"This is really good! You should enter it in the next cooking contest we have." I grinned.

"I think that would be a great idea!" He scratched his head and blushed slightly.

We were quiet, I decided to talk "So...do you like Mai?"

"What?! No! Why?!" He looked like he was about to freak out.

"Well, she seems to like you. Just wondering."

"You know well that I don't like her like that, she is annoying, and she stinks at cooking, and she--"

"I think you might like her." I smiled.

"I told you the reasons I don't like her."

"Well, Gill didn't really like me at first. In fact, if you think about it, we are opposites in quite a few ways."

"You are both smart."

"Anything else?"

"You both can have quite a temper."

"Not exactly what I had in mind. Okay anything else?"

He laughed "Sorry...nope nothing really." Then he had a puzzled look "Then how are you guys dating?"

"You will have to ask him. He was the one who told me that he liked me. When he first asked me out I wasn't quite sure how it would work because...well...we aren't alike. Then I figured out that he is actually a really nice guy." I thought about the other night and and smiled, plus I'm sure I blushed slightly.

"What makes you think that that would work with Mai and me?"

I shrugged "You could give it a try like I did. If you don't think it will go well, then you can try Jill or Celia." I giggled. He gave me a playful shove.

"I'm going to get ready for today."

"Alrighty then."

Before I left a room then I turned "Oh yeah, you like to cook, she likes to eat! There is a perfect match--" He chucked a towel at me and I dodged it. I raised upstairs before he could throw anything else at me.

I was enjoying the outside view while drying my hair with my towel.

"That shower felt so nice." I said dreamily.

"Hikari!"

I jumped as Mai ran in "W-What Mai?" I asked.

"I need your advice!"

"For what?" I asked.

"Well um...you know I like Chihaya right?"

This was getting on my nerves, she told me almost every day now that she liked Chihaya.

"Yeah why?"

"Well...um...I want to try and tell him..."

"When?" I asked surprised.

"Making him a bento." (Note: Bento is a japanese lunch box, it's like the stuff you get from your husband/wife in the game ^_^ I heard they are also yummy!)

"Oh okay..." I wanted to say that was a bad idea but I think she got what I meant by the look on my face.

"I know I'm bad at cooking but can you help me? I know you know how to make them! Your dad told me."

I smiled "Sure, in fact, Chelsea, you, Kathy, and I can make them together."

Her expression brightened "Really?"

"Yeah!"

We went down stairs and saw Kathy, Mark, Luke, Chelsea, Owen, and Gill were at the table eating breakfast. I heard Chihaya leave with mom, probably to talk about cooking.

"Kathy Chelsea, do you want to help me and Mai make something?"

Kathy looked up from the newspaper "Sure, what?"

"Mai wants to make a bento, I was wondering if--"

I noticed Gill, Owen, Luke, and Mark were choking and their food and drinks.

"You guys have a objection?"

"No..." Luke managed to squeak then started to laugh.

Gill coughed, though I'm pretty sure it was a laugh "I don't think you will get anywhere with Mai Hikari. She doesn't have an aptitude for cooking."

I frowned "That's why I'm asking for help, plus we will keep trying till we get it right."

Luke started laughing even more, this time Owen and Mark also started laughing.

Gill didn't look phased, he sighed "Alright, good luck then."

We decided to go into the kitchen, though I swear Gill started to laugh when we left the room.

Gill's POV

After we were done joking around and laughing about the whole Mai cooking subject. We went back to eating.

"So are they all going to make bentos?" Luke asked.

"Well that's a stupid question." I said still looking at the book I was reading.

"No seriously. I know the rest of them are good cooks. What if they all make one? That would mean they could give their bento to one of us if they wanted. And you know how mushy girls make bentos for a guy they like. You know, like those romantic Shojo romance novels."

We all looked at him "You've read...Shojo romance novels?" Mark asked.

Luke turned red "I got curious, I wanted to see why the hell girls get all weepy when reading those things."

"Wait, so that one time we were in the mines and you looked like you were crying...was that from the Shojo romance novel?" Owen asked.

"It was sad! Poor Yuki figured out that her crush, Akira was seeing some bitch! She confessed to him and he acted like he didn't...he didn't care. It was so horrible!"

We all just stared at him, he continued "Anyway, the girls could be making bentos for you guys."

I looked down at my book, I never thought of it like that. I started to daydream:

I was busy in town hall and Hikari walked in.

"Hi Sweetie! Um..." She blushed "I made you this bento...I...I hope you like it." She held up a bento, only it was different. It had small onigiris that had a heart on them, there was some toasted seaweed on the rice that was in a shape of a heart as well.

I blushed like crazy and shook it out of my mind.

"Luke just shut up." I muttered.

Hikari's POV

We all watched as Mai cooked the rice "Um...Mai you've cooked it a bit to--"

"No! It's fine!" She snapped. She took it out of the pan and it was hard as a rock.

"Can rice get like that?" Kathy asked.

"No..." I muttered back.

When she was finished, the sausages were green, the rice was black...yes black, the onigiri was also weird in color.

"Um...start over please." Chelsea said.

"It is fine!" She snapped.

"Eat it then." I said.

"Fine." she said. She took a bite of the sausage then she turned pale.

"You are ri--"

"Try the rest of the stuff!"

When she tried the rest of the stuff she looked like she was going to vomit.

"Each time you snap at us, you need to eat the bento you made. It will also give you a hint on what to do right next time."

It took another few tries, still nothing.

"How bout you watch us."

While we made our bentos she watched each of us. I always put a lot of variety on mine.

I had some rice, made some onigiris with soy sauce on them, some octodogs (Note: Octodogs are sausages that are shaped to look like octopuses. Kawaii~) I put some star shaped carrots in it. I also put some breaded shrimp, and some cherry tomatoes on the corners. I put it all together and it looked pretty nice. I also made a heart shaped toasted seaweed on the onigiris.

"Wow yours is so pretty Hikari." Mai said in awe.

"It is important to make sure your bento tastes good and has a good appeal to it as well. You can make it simple by putting some rice and different veggies in them or something more complicated." I closed the bento box and put it in a bag for later.

"Also if you make it for two people, make sure there is enough for both of you."

Mai smiled "I'll try again, only I'll make it simple."

She cooked the rice carefully and chapped a bunch of carrots and other vegetables. When she was done, the bento looked very nice and simple.

I smiled "It looks very good."

"Really!? Thank you so much Hikari!"

Right then I heard the door open. Chihaya walked in.

Mai blushed and walked up to him "Um...here Chihaya."

"Oh, thanks."

We all stared, then I forgot, we didn't taste test.

I felt my stomach turn as I watched Chihaya eat the rice.

Chihaya ended up in the bathroom for an hour.

"Is he still in there?" Gill asked.

"Yep, Mai just went in there to talk to him."

"Well, hopefully he won't kill her."

"That isn't nice."

"I'm just trying to brighten the mood."

"Hmm."

We were quiet then he asked "Hey, he will be in there for a while, do you want to go for a walk?"

I smiled, thinking about the bento "Yeah."

We walked along the sea side.

"You are lucky to live hear." He smiled.

"Castanet is the same thing."

"No I meant your family, your step mother and father are very nice."

"What, you mean your dad wasn't nice."

"No he was but... When my mom past away, he became different. For quite a while...about four months he ignored me and stayed cooped up in his room. I mean, he is better now, it's just that I knew my mother for 7 years, that's it."

"At least your mom didn't act like a slut." I muttered.

"Do you know where your real mom is?"

"I don't want to know. The only time I've heard from her was the time I had to go on that cruise, she left right after I got on the boat. My guess is she probably moved and broke that guy out of jail."

We were quiet, of course both of us were thinking the same thing, if my mom knew where I lived that meant he did too.

"I'm sorry." He said quickly "I shouldn't be asking--"

I grabbed his hand and smiled "It's fine."

He looked around "Do you want to sit down?"

"Sure." We sat on a bench that overlooked the ocean. It was very pretty.

We were quiet, then I decided to take out the bento.

"Do you want some?" I asked smiling.

He blushed "Uh...sure."

I opened it and took one of the tomatoes "Say ah." I grinned.

He took a bite then smiled "It's good."

"That's great!" We continued to eat, it was actually a really nice date, or I guess it was a date.

He looked at the octodogs "What are these?"

"Oh they are sausages actually. They are really good, want to try it?" He looked at it then took a bite. He smiled so I guess he thought it was good.

"Have you ever had a bento before?" I asked.

"No, I've only heard about them in books. I saw a recipe in a cook book one time so I know the basics of what is in it but this is my first time trying it."

"You cook?" I asked.

"When my father went through that phase, I learned everything I could."

"And you were only 7?"

"Yes, I learned to clean, cook, stuff like that because my father was to depressed to do any of those things. I wanted to take those rolls to try and impress him, that and I wanted to take over the roll my mother played."

I smiled "You are sweet."

He blushed "Uh...thanks..." then he smiled.

When we got home Mai ran up to me.

"Hikari guess what chase did?!" She said.

"What?" I asked feeling a bit worried.

"Chihaya asked me out on a date!"

I felt embarrassed because Gill had to catch me because I fell back in astonishment.

I thought the whole bento thing would be cute ^-^!!! Hope you liked it! Please comment and I'll update as soon as possible!

-00Spirited Away00