Kyoko set the timer on the oven with a satisfying click. "There. The cookies will be done in fifteen minutes." When she turned back, she caught Makoto red-handed with a glob of cookie dough from the bowl still on his counter. "Really?"
He smiled sheepishly, licking a bit off of his finger. "I can't help it, it's good!" He swallowed. "Thanks for helping me make these for Komaru."
"It's no problem. I'm glad to help." Komaru's birthday was coming up the next day, and while Toko had her distracted and out of the house, Makoto was baking cookies to surprise her with. However, the last time he tried to bake anything, it came out horribly burnt and undercooked, somehow at the same time. He figured that if someone else helped him out, then it wouldn't be as awful. At least, that was his working hypothesis. The results had yet to be seen.
They brought the dirty dishes over to the sink, Makoto still eating as much cookie dough as he could from the bowl and spoons. "You're going to get sick if you keep eating that," Kyoko warned, setting up so Makoto could start the dishes. She sounded like a scolding mother. "There's raw egg in those."
Scraping the last bit of dough out of the bowl, he put it under the faucet and started running the water. "Komaru and I have done this our whole lives and we haven't gotten sick yet." He started washing the dishes, handing them off to Kyoko once he finished. Having two people on the job went a lot faster than just one. It only took them about five minutes to do it all, leaving ten minutes left on the oven.
"How old is Komaru turning?" They sat down at the table, ready to just talk for the next ten minutes. They both had homework and studying they could do together, but neither of them really wanted to break out their books if they didn't have to yet. Besides, they could always wait for Toko and Komaru to come back and do their work with them, too. Four heads were better than two.
"Sixteen. She's only a year younger than us." It was hard for him to imagine that Komaru was actually turning sixteen tomorrow. He could still remember when they were little, in elementary school. In fact, it felt like just yesterday that they would spend hours on the couch watching anime together. Well, it kind of was, but they did that back when they were younger, too. It was a sort of tradition.
Kyoko smiled softly. "It must be nice to have a sister." She sounded almost wistful, and Makoto remembered that she never had any siblings. "You two get along very well."
"Yeah, I guess we do." Especially compared to some other siblings he knew- such as Fuyuhiko and Natsumi, and Junko, Mukuro, and Ryoko- he figured that he and Komaru got along exceptionally well. Other times, though… "You can have her sometimes if you want."
Makoto felt like there were a million amusing stories about the two of them he could tell Kyoko, but he could only get part way through one when the oven timer went off. Makoto slipped on oven mitts, taking the cookie sheet out of the oven.
Only, he didn't need the oven mitts. The cookies were still dough.
"How did this happen?" He left the cookie sheet on the counter, not even bothering with hot pads since the pan wasn't hot at all. "They were in the oven for fifteen minutes, wasn't that was the recipe said?"
"It was." Kyoko examined the cookie sheet before turning to the oven. She opened the oven and inspected the settings they prepared. "The oven isn't hot."
Makoto shook his head in disbelief. "It should be, didn't you preheat it at the beginning?"
Kyoko sighed, her arms falling to her sides. "I thought you preheated it. Mystery solved." She turned back to the oven, making double sure that she preheated it this time. "Looks like we have to wait another half hour or so. Should I call Toko to make sure they'll be out of the house that long?"
It was such a stupid mistake to make. He couldn't believe that between the two of them, they couldn't even figure out that neither of them preheated the oven. "I think it'll be fine. Knowing those two, they'll be out until dinner. Speaking of, do you want to stay for dinner? Toko is, too, so I think it'll be fun."
"I'd love to." She looked at the raw dough sitting on the counter as well as their books sitting on the table next to them. "First, though, we need to make the cookies the right way. No use in wasting all of this dough."
Look at me, sneakily adding in some Tokomaru if you squint. This won't be the last time that happens.
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