Comfortember 2022

Cat's Cradle - Festival Quartet

3. Warm Food

***

It was almost six in the evening. That's what Yoruko had noticed as she took out a pot from underneath their counter and put it on the stove. She could hear Sora talking with Nikei in the other room, and god only knows where Mikado tends to go, so she had to make supper on her own tonight.

After Yoruko had to choose being enrolled in Hope's Peak Academy over jail time, she wasn't in the best place at the time. Her family had found out about her secret activities through her new talent, she had been alone at school, and before that, her upperclassman Karia had scorned her for taking her place at the bar.

She didn't expect to make any friends at Hope's Peak Academy, despite the fact that she knew she'd be there for three years if she passed her Practical Exams. But her class was lively and most of them were friendly enough, and she had no problem finding people that would accept her for who she was.

She stayed there for three years and formed strong bonds with her classmates, but when she graduated, she knew that she couldn't go back to her disappointed family. At the New Year's festival before she graduated, she agreed to share a house and split the rent with three other people.

Sora was her closest friend, and the one who could make Yoruko blush up a storm with just a casual remark. The white-haired girl reminded her of her upperclassman, which was why Yoruko tried to get closer at first, but Sora's friendliness and loyalty made her feel like their friendship was more than just a second chance for her.

Nikei was a man who she always butted heads with, but were both labelled as 'tsunderes' by their classmates - just not towards each other. Their bickering could range from either friendly to mocking, but they always had a comeback for each other's words. In the end, she agreed to let him share a house with her and the other two so he didn't have to live on the streets or find a worse place to go.

The last person she agreed to share the house with was Mikado, which was a surprise even to her. But when she thought about it, they didn't have many differences in some ways. They both loved cooking, they were social people that had lonely hearts, and they were smart in their own right. But the difference between them was that while Yoruko could read people's moods and adjust accordingly, Mikado had no such filter and often was seen as annoying. In a way, he seemed as desperate as her old self, so she let him live with her.

And, speak of the devil, she heard some footsteps approaching as she was getting some ingredients out of the fridge. "Oh, is it dinner already?" Mikado asked, looking over her shoulder. "Do you need a hand with this?"

"Yeah, I'd like that. Thanks, Mikado," she replied, and he assisted her on organizing the ingredients on the stovetop. "I'm thinking of making some chicken stew, with some chicken stock and heavy cream. What kind of vegetables should go with it? You think parsnip might be good?"

Despite the wizard wearing a mask, she could tell from his body language that he had lit up when she asked for his advice on culinary matters. "Yes, parsnip would be good to add. Carrots, potatoes, onions, and some basil would be good too," he offered. "Some flour in the sauce will thicken it, while heavy cream will make the sauce creamy."

"We have those vegetables, I did a grocery run a while ago. Could you debone the chicken while I cut up the vegetables?" the hostess asked, and Mikado immediately got to work. She had a feeling that he would handle the stew appliances once he was done, so she didn't worry about that.

A while later in the other room, Sora and Nikei had been keeping themselves busy with a game that Sora had wanted to teach Nikei. "Damn, the string fell. Hold on a second," Sora muttered as she set up the strings around her fingers again.

"Cat's Cradle is hard..." Nikei muttered, trying to keep the strings around his own fingers in place. "How many goddamn shapes can a person make with just one string?"

"More than you think, actually. I learned this game from Hibiki, she says that there's a two-person version she plays with Kanade. Wanna try it?" the girl inquired, and the journalist quickly shook his head.

"Sora! Nikei! Dinner's ready!" Yoruko called from downstairs. The upstairs duo immediately stopped what they were doing to get up and go downstairs. They had no reason to delay their route, after all, they shared a house with the best cooks in the class.

Nikei slid into his chair while Sora helped get out the cutlery, and he checked out the pot on the table. "Oh, stew tonight? Smells good," he remarked to the wizard. Even when he and the chefs got on each other's last nerves sometimes, he could at least admit that he loved their cooking.

"It's got chicken and a whole bunch of root vegetables," Yoruko explained, setting out the plates. "It should taste a bit like alfredo sauce from the heavy cream."

Once Sora and Yoruko had set the table, they were all seated at the table and began to eat. The room was silent save for the sounds of them eating, and then Sora finally spoke up. "Hey, Mikado. Did you get a reply for that restaurant job you applied for yet?" she asked.

"They haven't gotten back to me in a week. I'm going to guess that means they turned me away," the wizard sighed. "I'm too dumb for school, but they probably didn't hire me because I don't have a culinary degree or something. I should be a stripper."

"Come on, you don't need to whore yourself out. Just keep applying to different places. One of them should be able to accept you," Yoruko comforted him. "Besides, your grades aren't that bad. You can go to college, I'm thinking of doing that too."

"Do you guys have the money for that though? Sure, we've got lifetime cash from Hope's Peak's 'set for life' funding, but is that enough?" Nikei questioned, and worried looks passed over the hostess and wizard's faces.

"Let's not focus on that right now," Sora interrupted, quickly putting an end to the conversation, though it would come up again later. "The stew's amazing, thank you both."

Soon enough, their plates were clean and put in the sink to wash later. As Mikado put the rest of the stew into the fridge, Yoruko noticed Nikei losing focus as he continued sitting in his chair. "Aww, how cute! You're falling into a food coma!" she teased.

Nikei snapped back to attention and gave her a tired glare. "Shut the hell up," he sighed, though it was clear that he was tired before from running around all day.

He was so tired that he didn't even protest when Mikado suddenly picked up up from his chair in a bridal carry. "I'll put him to bed. It'd be cute if he fell asleep next to me," the wizard joked. Nikei weakly tried to protest, but he was shushed as Mikado teleported to their room with him.

In their house, the girls shared one bedroom while the boys shared the other. It wasn't strange for them, and it was likely that Mikado was going to cuddle Nikei as they fell asleep. "With the boys gone, how about we watch a movie? Just the two of us?" Yoruko shyly asked the other girl, looking away with blush on her cheeks.

Sora loved seeing how embarrassed the other girl could be at times, and she smiled in return. "Sure! You choose the movie, I'll get out that microwave popcorn we've had for a while," the white-haired girl replied, and she hurried to the kitchen while the flustered hostess went to the living room to pick out a movie.

***

Art credit: Linuj