Food and Friendships: Part 5
A few days later, Shinji braves the Horakis.
Shinji followed the Class Rep up to the front door. He's never been to her house before. For that matter he's never been to a girl's home before, unless you counted Asuka, and she'd come into his home, as much as he had a home. Also the girl he was following was very unlike Asuka. So other than the impression that her older sister was formidable, which was rather frightening given how the Class Rep was, he had no idea what to expect.
What he wasn't expecting was to be greeted by a small girl who looked younger than Sakura, though he had no clue by how much. Not that he was any good at guessing ages. Asuka seemed much older than him, at least when she was awake, despite being half a year younger, and Hikari was younger again. Something he hadn't known until Kensuke had talked about growing up with Toji and the Class Rep, who had apparently always been bossy according to him. He wouldn't have known how old Sakura was if she hadn't told him.
Before Hikari has chance to introduce her younger sister the girl turns and runs off into the house.
"Koodaamaaa, Hikari's home with a boy!"
Hikari sighs, "Well I guess you're about to meet both of them. That was Nozomi by the way. Come in, lets get these things to the kitchen before we get interrupted."
They had just started unpacking the bags when a running Nozomi precedes a much more casually moving Kodama who isn't really paying attention.
"Oh, hi To... you're not Toji. Did you finally give up on him Hikari?"
Where Nozomi is a ball of energy and Hikari is serious, Kodama reminds him a bit of Misato. If you could make a sensible version of Misato that is. He's probably wrong, having just met her, and having lived with Misato for several months.
Hikari is flustered by the question and wise enough not to admit to anything about Toji in front of one person who might tell him, and one who would certainly tease her even more mercilessly than usual.
"It's not like that! This is Shinji. He's here to help cook so you two can stop complaining about your lunches."
Kodama grins at her younger sister, "As long as your lunch box is the only box he's getting into..."
Shinji, completely missing the innuendo looks confused, "I can do your box too, Kodama. And Nozomi's." He looks back at Hikari, "Isn't that what I'm here for, Class Rep?"
Kodama bursts out laughing.
Hikari grabs a carrot out of the bag Shinji is holding and throws it at her sister.
Nozomi runs out of the room at what appears to be her only speed, "Daaad! Kari and Dama are fighting over a boy!"
Hikari sighs, "I didn't think Dad would be home yet. And Shinji, call me Hikari. We're not at school and the house is full of Horakis."
Nozomi runs back into the room, "Where's Dad?"
"Still at work. Where did you expect him to be at this time in the afternoon, Zoomi?"
"Aww." Her disappointment at not being able to get her sisters in trouble doesn't last long. "So who's the new boyfriend, Kari?"
The response, in almost perfect union, was entirely predictable:
"He's not my boyfriend."
"She's not my girlfriend."
Kodama shakes her head at the pair, then turns an intimidating look at Shinji. Well, it would be intimidating for most people. Shinji had to deal with Asuka on a regular basis and his father on the rare occasions when he could be bothered to even notice him. Even if Hikari's sister is somewhat taller than Asuka, it doesn't feel like it.
"So what is your relationship with my little sister?"
Shinji has to think for a minute. Hikari is the Class Rep, but she doesn't teach anything so sensei doesn't make sense. She's also younger than he is, and he's here to teach her, so...
"I suppose she's my kouhai."
Hikari grins and bows, "The Great Ikari Sensei is here to teach me the ways of high speed cooking."
Kodama looks at him, reevaluating her initial impression, "You mean he's that Ikari Shinji? The murph" she mumbles as Hikari slaps a hand over her mouth.
"Yes, that's him. Just remember not to say what you were about to say, or we'll never get to actually cooking anything. At least we know you will like everything we're going to make, fridge thief."
Kodama mock pouts, "I was hungry."
"Shoo! Both of you! I'm not having you hanging around bothering him, or you're not getting any."
Kodama licks her lips suggestively.
Hikari pushes her out of the kitchen, "Food! Not getting any FOOD!"
Hikari turns back to an utterly confounded Shinji, "I love them dearly, but sometimes my sisters are a bit of a handful."
Then she switches back to her more formal self, belatedly realizing that while Ikari is Toji and Kensuke's friend, he isn't hers and she just brought a strange boy into the house with no warning. A strange boy who was strange for a boy, but a boy nonetheless and at his own declaration not dating anyone. A boy she'd introduced using his first name. Kodama was going to be hell later. Asuka was going to get something for corrupting her with her insistence on using first names.
"Right. Back to cooking."
Shinji looks relieved, this family is unlike anything he's encountered before and he's no idea what he's supposed to do, cooking he can handle.
Soon they are so engrossed in what they are doing, that they don't notice the door sliding open and two faces peeking in on them.
Kodama watched her sister and her new friend with curiosity.
Hikari was behaving strangely. She'd sounded almost exactly like the last time their mother had scolded her for trying to sneak food, she'd been continuously hungry those days. Fortunately she'd been able to wipe away the tears before Zoomi noticed and could ask why she was crying.
He was not at all what she expected of someone who piloted giant robots, even given Hikari's description, she'd expected someone more like Toji, not this small boy who was apparently a better cook than her sister. It was fun to tease her but her sister was most definitely not treating him like Toji, she wasn't at all flustered the way she had become around her childhood friend.
The boy was obviously uncomfortable, which was perfectly normal for a teenage boy the first time in a girl's home, especially one as intimidating as Hikari could be. Hikari on the other had did not look uncomfortable at all, but she wasn't wearing her school face either. He was obviously older than her if they were in the same class, but in the moment he first looked at her he'd looked almost as young as Nozomi. Now he was moving with confidence as he explained things to Hikari. How interesting.
"No, not like that."
"I'm doing what you showed me."
"You're lifting the knife too high, you're going to cut yourself. Then you have to start over and you've wasted food."
Hikari notes the concern in the first part, and the second hand criticism in the second. No wonder he apologizes all the time if he grew up with someone speaking to him like that.
"Here, let me show you."
Shinji is thinking about the right way to do things, not how what he does next looks to anyone else. He steps behind Hikari, reaches around and puts his hands on hers. Her being shorter helps because he can see exactly what she's doing. He certainly couldn't do this with Asuka, even in the very unlikely circumstance that she'd let him, he couldn't see over her shoulder clearly and she'd probably stab him with the knife.
"So you lift the blade just far enough, with the flat against your knuckle. If you can't feel it, then you've lifted too far and you need to restart."
He positions her hands carefully, "There. Now raise up. Stop there." He holds her gently in place. "Now you move the knife sidewards a fraction, keeping it in contact with your finger. That way you know exactly where the blade is and that your fingers are not in the way." He pushes her hand slightly to the side, which presses the flat of the blade against her finger. "See, like that. Then slice down with the blade."
Which is the point he realizes that he's holding the Class Rep who's holding a knife whose sharpness he has just clearly demonstrated. He lets go and backs away carefully. At least he's had practice backing away, but Asuka isn't holding a very sharp knife when he does that.
Thankfully Hikari puts the knife down before she turns to discover a very embarrassed Shinji frantically trying to work out how he's going to apologize for this. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
An equally blushing Hikari puts a hand on his arm and interrupts him, "It's fine. I understood it better than just watching you."
It was fine, up until the point she'd realised. She had reacted as if, well not as if he'd been one of her sisters, he was far more serious than Kodama was most of the time and definitely a lot calmer than Nozomi ever was when she was awake. But she definitely hadn't reacted the way she did when her fingers had touched Toji's when she'd handed him lunch.
A moment later she's back to Class Rep, sounding if anything firmer than usual, "So what's next?"
Shinji rubs his head, then realises that means washing his hands again, so he goes and does that to give him time to think.
"You can practice with things you can't use, like cucumbers that have gone soft. Being precise is more important than being fast and usually quicker than trying to be fast and messing up. Cleaning up after cutting yourself takes a lot longer."
"The other big thing is organization..."
It's another hour before Hikari ushers him out of the house, leaving Kodama and Nozomi in the kitchen stealing the portions they'd left out as a distraction. That wasn't something he'd have thought of to do, even Asuka didn't steal food when he wasn't looking, at least not after she'd gotten a mouth full of unexpected fish. Somehow that had been his fault.
They are standing on the doorstep awkwardly, neither quite certain of the right thing to say.
"Um. See you at school tomorrow I guess."
Hikari nods and smiles, "Thanks for all the help Ikari-sensei."
Impulsively she reaches out and hugs him briefly before dashing inside and closing the door behind her, leaving Shinji standing there wondering what just happened. After a moment he rubs his head and turns to walk down the path. At least she hadn't slapped him or stabbed him with the knife for touching her, and her thanks had actually seemed genuine, though it wasn't as if his judgement there was reliable. But both Asuka and Toji liked the Class Rep and they never agreed on anything.