000

Screw Butterflies

"There are tens of thousands of species of butterflies. Multiply that by a freakishly large number.

If every flap of a single butterfly's wings caused a hurricane..."

Ah, the landscape would be very interesting.

"No, Sabo! You're too young to elope! Especially with–"

SPLASH!

"…do I even want to know?" Ace asked, failing to conceal a twitching eye.

I looked away, "Er, probably not." Wiping the cold water from my face, I frowned, "What's it with people waking me up like this? I'm not a plant!"

Heedless of my complaints, Ace put the emptied glass on a table and called, "Oi, Sabo! She's up."

At that moment, a young woman kneeled by my side. I muttered a small 'thank you' as she handed me a fluffy pink towel and vigorously scrubbed the water away, along with the lingering traces of drowsiness–and probably a few layers of skin.

"Miss Makino, what do I do with these?" Sabo asked from the kitchen door, balancing a few plates on a tray.

"Can you put them in the sink? I'll wash them afterwards." She smiled and went back to the counter, "Thanks for helping."

"What happened?"

"You fell asleep, dummy." Ace grabbed my hand and pushed me towards the nearest seat. "I won't even ask when you learned how to play an instrument –not now, at least. But this is not the first time you fainted out of the blue. These black outs are getting too frequent for my liking."

'Lil bro… you do care after all!' His worried face made me melt a little inside. I tried my most reassuring smile and held his hand, "I don't think it's really that serious, but I'll go to the doctor tomorrow, ok?"

Ace harrumphed and crossed his arms, "You'd better!"

And then it occurred to me. I hadn't even asked for permission–oh gods, nononono!

"I'm sorry for intruding like that, Miss Makino!" I bowed so low I face planted.

She worriedly helped me up before saying, "Don't worry, I'd have locked it if I really wanted to. As it is, it's nice seeing a young girl who loves music..."

...so nice!

And then, I remembered. Glancing around to make sure the birthday boy wasn't within hearing range, I whispered conspiratorially, "You didn't give that to him while I was out cold, did you?"

"Of course not," Said my darling little brother. He then cuffed me on the forehead. "You pestered me for weeks about that, remember?"

"Oh," Was all I could say in response. 'Well, I may have threatened him a little… ok, a lot.' Reluctantly, I muttered, "Sorry."

"Don't apologize." Ace shivered, "That's just too weird, coming from you."

Ignoring his (hopefully) playful jab, I walked to the stool by the piano and retrieved my bag from the floor. "Let's ask if we can use the kitchen for a while. We can give him our present later."

Ace nodded and followed me.

Surprisingly enough, Makino agreed, and even refused any form of payment. She was absurdly nice, and for a fleeting moment, I contemplated the benefits of marrying her… a thought that was viciously repelled by a blushing Ace. 'Is that the beginning of a crush?'

I checked the small icebox for cake related ingredients. "Strawberry jam, eggs, butter, milk, cream… pickles, bread, cheese…"

Ace stared, "…pickles?"

"Yum, sardines!" Then, his question registered in my mind, "those aren't for the cake. It's just… I haven't eaten anything for a while."

"Aren't you abusing Miss Makino's hospitality?"

"She did say, 'feel at home'," I waved unconcernedly, completely forgetting my earlier faux pas.

Half an hour later, we had a list of available ingredients and utensils. The dishes and sink were washed, and the table was clean. It then occurred to me that place was a bar, and there should be costumers and whatnot… so why did Miss Makino lend us the kitchen?

"Miss Makino said she only opens the bar during the day for any visitors and to clean it, so we don't have to worry.

Had I said that last part aloud? Recently, I had been doing that more and more often. No matter. I nodded absent-mindedly and started listing possible recipes, "Acey, have you got anything special in mind?"

"Sabo likes fruits, so maybe a naked cake filled with strawberry jam and custard?"

"That's a great idea, bro… but there isn't enough jam for an entire cake, and strawberry is out of season now. There are many citric fruits, though."

"Your father's tastes are exasperatingly expensive, so his favorite dessert is really unexpected. You can't go wrong with a hearty cornmeal cake and fresh orange jam."

"Cornmeal cake topped with orange jam…" I mumbled.

He then grabbed my hands. "Ann, stop it. You'll hurt yourself."

"Huh?" Only then did I notice the pain of fingernails digging into my palm. I let out a choked sob and tried to steady my quickening pulse. "Please… can we make that, Acey?"

"Sure, whatever you want, sis," he sighed, grabbed some kindling and went to the oven to start the fire.

"Then… we should start with the mise en place. We'll need four large eggs, one cup of flour, one of cornmeal…"

"Ann, I can't find more wood." 'Did you just dump that enormous pile of wood in the oven, Ace? Do you want to burn the kitchen down? Oh Gods, there's smoke everywhere!'

"Are you sure it isn't ready yet?" 'Watched pots don't boil, silly.'

"Ouch! My hands!" '…you are supposed to use gloves to handle freshly baked goods, bro.'

We suffered no permanent harm, and all our limbs were still attached in their rightful places. So, all in all, it was a success. 'Anyway, who lets two six years old into the kitchen without supervision?'

And the cake was quite good. Of course, with a glutton–some would say we were both gluttons, but I had to disagree on principle–and a gourmand with years of (unexplainable) experience, it was bound to taste good.

(I kicked a suspiciously cake-shaped piece of charcoal away.)

It wasn't until the table was set that it occurred to me Sabo wasn't there. 'Come to think of it, I didn't see him after he finished cleaning the counter, and that was two hours ago.' "Hey, Ace. Where's our birthday boy?"

"Wow, you only remembered him now?" Ace teased, "Well, I asked Miss Makino to distract him for a while." He scratched his chin in thought, "I think they went to the beach."

"Well then, let us find him, dearest brother."

"What about the cake?"

"Put the cake in that basket over there." I pointed to the counter. "I'll bottle the tea and we can have a party outside. It's a bit chilly, but the sky's clear and there's no wind."

There, in the distance, was Sabo's unmistakable blue coat and Miss Makino's green dress. But so was a smaller blob.

As we approached, I could make out the features of a young child. Closer yet, it was clearly a small boy. And when he turned, I let out a small gasp and almost dropped the tea.

"So cute!"

Screw Butterflies end_