Hello, work is bad and my schedule is slipping! Whipped this one up quick and unedited for the April entry. As usual, let me know any thoughts! Love to hear from my [checks notes] single reader from Uzbekistan? Either that's a VPN or that's my most landlocked hit yet
Daisya suited up for the mission at hand. His arms, he plunged into a boiling bath. Over his clothes he tied on a protective coat. The scraps of hair that poked out from under his bandages, he shoved up underneath a bandana that stuck flush along his brow.
"Let's get on with it, old man," he said.
"Young man, what are you-I'm twenty-nine!"
"That's older than Marie!" Daisya snapped back. "I'm talking like you're my senior."
"That's not what that means, do you hear me?"
"Old means senior, senior means old. We've got work to do."
Crossing his arms, Daisya stood to attention by the dish racks. Jerry didn't even bother to try and hide his sigh.
"I suppose I should be grateful you don't try to 'help' more often."
"I come here plenty, just, you know, off hours."
Jerry scanned him up and down. Kanda'd got Daisya up before the crack of dawn like he'd asked, and he was still here late! There were loaves in the big hot bread oven over in the corner of the kitchen, and Jerry's apron was already flecked with half a dozen ingredients from the prep work he'd been doing. Did he even get to sleep?
"Fine. You'll do as I say, and don't you take a step out of line, young man," warned Jerry.
"As long as you let me do something."
"You've washed your hands?"
Daisya waved them in front of him, sunburn-red from scrubbing. "Sure did."
Jerry inspected them closely, then turned on his heel, apron whipping out around him like a flag. He strode off toward the heart of the kitchen between the hanging racks of...weapons? Daisya didn't know the word for all those things when they were meant to be used for food. Long spoons, forks, strainers, all kinds of stuff.
"You can start by separating the eggs," Jerry called back over his shoulder. "You'll find them by the basin. Scoop out each yolk over its own cup, then pour the whites into the bowl, I said only when you've gotten the yolk out without breaking it."
"What do I do if I break it?" Daisya answered back. For as much of a stickler as Jerry was, he sure felt fine leaving him unsupervised. Hah! Maybe he wanted some excuse to kick Daisya out of the kitchen.
Shouldn't be too complicated, he just had to break the egg and let the white fall out first. Daisya had turned to look over the set-up waiting for him.
"Just put the whole egg in with the yolks. The most important thing is that the whites ought to be clear. Like thi-"
"Aaagh!"
Like the worst of the Level Twos, Jerry had somehow come back out of the maze in the second Daisya wasn't watching out for him. How'd he do that?
"Stop jumping! Please, I can't have you breaking anything."
"Then don't scare me like that," muttered Daisya.
Jerry raised a cutting eyebrow. "You're scared by little old me? Then let that be a lesson. Please, each time you walk by me I want to hear you say 'behind.' I'll do the same, so that we don't have any more of this nonsense. Am I clear?"
"Yeah, sure."
The look Jerry gave him told him he wasn't sure at all, but if he wanted Daisya out, then he had to say so. He'd agreed to help in the first place. He should've just said 'no' at the start.
Daisya smiled to himself. Getting Lenalee to ask for him had been another of his great ideas.
"All right then. Don't make me regret this!" Jerry sniffed, and vanished again.
This should be fun. At home Daisya helped out plenty in the kitchen when he was too young to work in the shop, but mom didn't do this kind of fancy cooking. The most he was used to was endless cutting and making sure the pots didn't boil over over the fire.
Daisya gave the bigger of the two bowls set out a spin, feeling the weight as it rolled around the counter. Not too bad. It was beaten copper, light and hard to smash. The other earthenware one didn't give him as good a feeling. Time to push that back to the brick wall. He didn't want to break anything. He just didn't have a lot of reasons to explain to himself why he wouldn't.
Okay. Time for a test run.
He lined up the mug that Jerry had mentioned in front of him and fished an egg out of the crate behind him. Nice and speckled. Eggs, he knew. He gave it a sharp rap against the flat countertop and pulled it apart.
As expected, the white came out first. The yolk got caught in the half-widened crack. Perfect-
"Damn it."
-the yolk slipped out into the mug as well, broken and pooling on the surface of the white. It must've been heavy enough to catch on the eggshell and pull itself through.
Daisya dumped the whole thing into the earthenware bowl with a sigh. He'd figured he could have this done early and still get to the dojo for morning practice with Lenalee. Something gave him the feeling that he might not get out of here until midday breakfast.
Jerry's assistants trickled in over the next half an hour or so, each giving him a double-take. He'd been made to stand right by the kitchen entrance. A warning sign? Each of them had the same apron-and-bandana look he had on, and each of them disappeared the moment Daisya lost sight of them. He could hear people moving around the room, he just couldn't see them. It was weird! There were too many damn shelves.
The next few eggs went right into the breakable bowl as well. He was trying out different things after the first failure. If he dropped the whole egg into the mug he could fish it out with his fingers, but the amount of white he was wiping off on his apron meant the whole thing was going to be stiff as a board if he kept this up. Two dozen whites, said the recipe card Jerry had pinned up on the wall. That was almost a quarter of a hundred! Counting a rate of one dud every four or five eggs, he'd be here...way too long.
Daisya started singing almost the second he realized if. If he was going to get stuck here without anyone to talk to, he was going to entertain himself. He even tried to crack the eggs on the beat, kicking the flagstones with his steel-toed boots for percussion where he needed it.
Eventually, he figured out that you could just cup the yolk in the shell and let it cut the white off. Risky. Daring. Clever. It was his kind of method.
The sun slowly came up while he worked away. By the time he'd filled the copper bowl, the sky was purple-pink out the big window over the washing sink. It did look kind of nice.
Scanning the recipe card again, Daisya felt his fingers turn to ice. They were already chilled and wet from the constant rinse, but this...
He'd only just finished the first step!
"Jerry!" he yelled.
...
Daisya shook his right hand out over the floor before gripping the bowl again. He was the best exorcist in his generation, except for the freakish ones like Kanda and Lenalee. He'd beat death more often than he'd beat his old friends in football. There wasn't any way he was admitting defeat here.
Whisk now in his left hand, he dragged it through the bowl of half-foamy egg white.
"C'mon..."
A light breeze by his ear gave him a warning that Jerry had stopped by to check on him again.
"You can't let your arm slow down. If you do, that breaks the bubbles instead of forming them. You'd have to start over from scratch," he said.
"I know. I'm still-going-fast," Daisya muttered.
"Oh? Don't tell me you've been neglecting your arm exercises. It's very important to maintain those muscles, you know, even if your Innocence doesn't use them all that much," Jerry teased.
He was having too much fun with this. After being trapped in the room for an hour without a change of scenery, Daisya was feeling his will start to fade. He was going to do this, though. There was so much more stuff on the recipe card to get to. He'd get a break from these egg whites soon.
Breathing deep, he sat down on a wooden crate for a better angle. Maybe tipping the bowl to get a deeper pool would help him finish faster.
...
Lenalee leaned hard on Kanda's back, pushing him through another set of stretches on the dojo mats. That gave her a good view of the door when Marie poked his head in.
"Have either of you seen Daisya?" he asked.
"No," said Lenalee.
Kanda grunted. That was a 'no.'
"I thought he'd be here. I haven't heard him all morning," said Marie.
It was odd that he didn't make it to their usual training time, Lenalee agreed, but Daisya had changing schedules more often this year. Kanda had him on a new training routine that mixed in some more hands-on elements.
"He could be on the outside grounds?" she offered. Kanda grunted again.
That one was asking her to change positions. Standing up, she switched with him for the other half of the partner stretch.
"It's too muddy. He'd be risking an injury if he went running in that."
"He won't," Kanda said.
Lenalee stretched her arms out between her legs, watching her fingers inch past her toes as Kanda applied pressure down the centre of her back.
"Did you wake him up today?"
"Yeah," said Kanda.
"Did he say where he was going?"
"Didn't see him."
"You woke him up," said Marie.
Raising a hand, Lenalee tried to keep her breath even as she fought down a giggle. Even Marie got fed up with Kanda sometimes. He had a shorter patience than her, actually. It might just have been the amount of time he had to spend training Daisya.
"I knocked," said Kanda.
"I'll see if he's gone to the library," finished Marie.
"What do you need him for?" Lenalee asked
"I don't, particularly. I just..."
"He should be here." Lenalee finished for him. "I'll tell him to go see you if he turns up."
Marie nodded gratefully. "Please do."
...
Sweating, Daisya levered the cake tin into the oven with the huge wooden paddle that Jerry had handed him. The batter sloshed dangerously inside for a moment as it caught on the rack inside. With a bit of quick thinking, Daisya managed to slow down and push it ever-so-slowly on to an even surface.
"Ta-da!"
He swung the oven door shut with a satisfaction he just couldn't hide.
"What's next? We're just icing it, right?" he asked the suddenly-there Jerry.
The smile Jerry gave him pinged the senses Daisya had honed against Kanda's stoneface.
No.
He couldn't...
"Mmhm, yes. You can leave the baking time to me and get started, hm? Take a peek."
Jerry handed him a recipe card for Swiss Buttercream. With a mounting sense of dread, Daisya read the contents. It didn't try to hide anything. There right up at the top, crisply inked, were the words:
Egg Whites - 24
"You're kidding me!"
...
By lunch time, the quiet was unsettling Marie. It was exactly like Daisya to skip morning rehearsal if he wanted to. The unnerving part of it was that he was nowhere to be seen or heard. Kanda at least kept tabs on him when the both of them were stationed at HQ together. He himself liked to stay aware of his teammates. His reasons weren't complex.
He felt along the edge of the organ's lid automatically. Without his usual tail, he'd taken the time to play the real instrument and not his makeshift imitation. The fingering wasn't hard to return to, though the pedals did pose a bigger problem than he remembered.
Daisya might be able to do it, if he was even still at HQ and not on some top-secret mission he'd have to chew Komui out about later. He certainly had some experience with footwork.
That was what worried him. Daisya didn't skip often, either. Not after Marie had gone through the years picking out pieces that might catch his interest. General Tiedoll had told him he would have a hand in teaching Daisya when he was called away on business. Tiedoll's intensive mentorship meant that he often finished with his students within a year or two.
Marie closed the lid over the keys and stood up, stalking down the aisle back to the Great Hall. The meals was something to look forward to. He was ready for some noise after the eerie quiet of the morning.
Having a warning hadn't soothed the sting either when he'd found himself saddled with a thirteen-year-old who treated him like a nagging uncle. He'd thought at least he should be an older brother. That probably was a position Daisya kept for himself. In the end, Daisya only dropped in to learn when Marie had something new for him, or when he was interested in the practice pieces for their own sake. That method had worked so well that Marie even came to enjoy stocking their folders with the right mix to teach some of his favourites while keeping one whiny teenager happy.
Which made it suspicious that he was missing now. Marie had hoped that at least it would be something like the General's visit that had Daisya cutting loose. He'd been much more restrained since his last birthday. Since the last time he'd scared them all to death.
Marie's strained his awareness to the outermost it could go without activating his Innocence. Nothing but the squeaking of the churchmice and the distant sound of voices.
It was no use.
He had no idea what was going to happen.
Turning into the long, echoing gallery, he prayed that whatever Daisya did wasn't going to cost him money.
...
Sweaty and exhausted, Daisya shovelled his lunch into his mouth where he sat on a wooden crate by the side door. If he ever saw another egg in his life, he was going to scream. There was nothing worse than getting almost two dozen separated and then breaking the yolk on just one tiny bit of shell. He'd got burnt alive and died, and there was still nothing worse. He would swear to that. Seriously, Jerry had given him the most tedious thing he could ever do. He'd watched the kitchens sometimes when Lenalee was there. Today he'd felt his eyes glaze over. His body had shrivelled up like an apple left on the doorstep and his soul was squeezed out into the oven, where it became as dry as the brick walls themselves.
When they finished it and left it in the icebox he'd run here like he was fleeing a house fire. Again, that wasn't just hyperbole. He'd been there. It had felt exactly like this, except for Kanda was there then, so actually this was worse then the flames.
The side door was a little bigger than just a side door, but compared to the huge arched window into the kitchens it was out of the way. The cooks took their breaks here through the morning, all eating at different times. He took his break at actual lunch, since he wasn't a regular.
Still was a good idea to be sitting here. It gave him a view over all the kitchen, and nobody looked in this corner near the inside wall.
He watched the tables fill up in the white summer light. Mostly older Finders in their insular, depressing little groups. There were a few of them that were at least having fun. The adult exorcists had their own sets and trios making small talk.
Daisya kept his eyes on the entrance. There was one guest he wasn't going to miss.
"You missed your mouth," said Kanda, standing in the shadows of the doorway.
"Shut up, I'm paying attention."
"Just eat. I'll watch."
"Like hell! This was my idea."
"Tch."
He inhaled another spoonful of spaetzle.
"Go do your own thing, or whatever. I'm good here."
Kanda scuffed his boot on the flagstones as an answer.
"Suit yourself."
Daisya paused for a moment, then held the bowl up.
"You want any?"
"Later."
"Just keeping me company, eh?"
Looking up, Daisya caught his...Kanda's eye. Him letting it get caught was enough of a statement for to read.
"Don't just stand there."
He shuffled sideways to the edge of the crate. It left just enough room for one skinny teenager to sit next to him.
"C'mon," he said.
The staring contest lasted until Kanda flinched, and Daisya's face broke open in a grin.
As Kanda settled down next to him with a swish of coat, Daisya let himself lean against those stiff shoulders.
"You know when he's gonna get here?" he asked.
"He's not late," said Kanda.
"I guess it's only noon."
The two of them watched everyone wash over the Great Hall like schools of minnows.
Daisya flicked Kanda's leg with a finger.
"What."
"Just checking," he said.
"Checking what?"
"That it's you."
Fast as a snake, Kanda grabbed his hand before he could do it again. He felt a thumb press into the centre of his palm.
"Yeah."
...
They stayed like that for a while. Until a giant figure ducked under the capstone of the entry's arch on the other side of the room.
Lenalee took her cue from where she was sitting at the Science Team's table, leaping up to tug Marie along. She kept him distracted while Daisya ran to the kitchen.
There were a few minutes of commotion that weren't loud enough to reach Marie while he his attention was on something else. Kanda grunted at Daisya. Daisya complained.
Still, nothing went wrong enough that it derailed the plan. Daisya and Kanda got the serving cart into the hall without any jammed wheels or accidents. They dodged around the tables. They even got within three metres before Marie perked up at the sound of both their footsteps together.
"Happy birthday, old man!" Daisya crowed.
"Happy birthday, Noise!"
"Mm."
The three kids circled around the cart proudly.
"Thank you, Daisya, Lenalee. Kanda, I don't think I heard you."
"Happy birthday," Kanda muttered.
The fond smile Marie gave him told everyone that he was only playing along with the game.
"I take it that this is why I didn't see Daisya all morning?"
"You got that right! I'm making this ever again, so enjoy it. Jerry's got it out for me."
"You two covered for him?" Marie asked, ignoring Daisya.
"Tch."
"It's nice that Daisya wanted to do something for you, for once," explained Lenalee.
"Once is enough," said Daisya.
"I don't know if I'd want to know what an interesting cake would taste like, by Daisya's standards," said Marie. "Should I try it?"
"Yeah! Kanda, you cut it up. You know knives."
A few of the other staff had gathered around to watch the event. Today's birthday cake was a lot rougher-looking than Jerry would ever allow out of his kitchens on his watch. Soon enough, it was all in pieces anyway. Daisya handed around the plates to whoever was fastest.
Eventually, way too slowly, if you went by the number of times Daisya's head whipped back around, Marie took a plate and sank a fork into his slice.
"How is it?" asked Lenalee.
"Mmpf," said Marie. "I like it."
Some of the manic edge in Daisya's movements dimmed to just high-energy.
"Of course you do, it's good!"
"Orange?" asked Marie.
"It's an angel sponge with orange buttercream and creme fraiche, that's what it says on the recipe card," said Daisya proudly. "It's in summer, hm?"
Marie paused, like he was testing every part of the sentence for truth. Finally, he nodded.
"It is," said Marie.
Reaching one hand up, he patted Daisya roughly on the head.
"Hey! I don't even have any hair up there, watch it."
"Daisya."
"That's what they call me."
"Thank you."
Unseen, Daisya beamed.
"Like I said, have fun! It's a one-time deal."
"Cooking's boring for you?"
"Boring? I was about to go stick my head in the oven if I saw one more egg. Seriously..."
The rest of Marie's day was louder than his morning. He probably could have escaped it if he wanted to.
Mawie (: