“Whoa. Iluna, you guys are cooking?”
After a surprisingly restful nap on Lew’s lap, I’d woken up to discover that it was just about time to start making dinner.
“What’s with that tone, Yukiki? You don’t think we can handle it?”
“N-No, it’s not that... Uh, can I help with anything?”
“Nope! You just sit over there with everyone else!”
So the little-girl gang went about their business in the kitchen, insisting on cooking dinner tonight. The wife gang sat at the table in comfortable silence.
“Okay, okay. But call me if you need me. Got it?”
“Gosh, Yukiki, we’ll be fine. You worry too much. Even if we get hurt, we have Shii right here.”
“Yup, yup! I’s here, and I just go ‘abracadabra,’ and bam! Pain gone!”
“Besides...you know we don’t get hurt a lot, Master, so just sit back and relax.”
En had woken up from her nap long after me. After she spoke, the wraith triplets bounced around like they were saying, “Leave it to us!” Clearly, the kids were united on this.
I glanced over at the wives, but they just grinned back at me.
“Fine. I know when I’m beat. Take it away, girls.”
Though I was feeling a bit anxious, I didn’t want to be a buzzkill, so like a good little boy, I went to hang with the adult gang sitting at the dining table.
“Dang, they sure are pumped. Don’t tell me they’ve been practicing cooking while I’m away.”
Up until now, they’d helped with prep, but the adults had always been in charge—doing the heavy lifting, so to speak. I couldn’t remember them cooking everything from start to finish. But in hindsight, the kiddos had had the occasional sleepover in their secret base, no adults allowed, so maybe they’d cooked for themselves on those nights. Though Leila must’ve prepped some of the ingredients at least, so I doubted they’d cooked everything from scratch... Then maybe they had been practicing while I was out.
“Indeed they have,” Lefi answered. “I mentioned it before, did I not? They help us in all sorts of ways.”
“Recently, they’ve been assisting us whenever we cook, Master Yuki,” Leila added. “They have a handle on basic dishes already.”
“That being said, if Iluna isn’t supervising, things start to take a weird turn,” Lew chimed in. “Especially Shii, Rei, Rui, and Roh, who always try to add something original to their cooking.”
“Gah ha! Which reminds me, you would expect En to stop them, no? But you would be wrong, for she instead joins in. The expression on her face is quite serious during their hijinks as well. All Iluna can do at that point is scold them with an exasperated smile.”
It was easy to imagine the picture Lefi’d painted. But then I wondered if maybe En didn’t have as much time to practice cooking as the other girls because she went with me on my work trips... That shouldn’t be a big problem though, since she was waaay better at cutting stuff than anyone, even the adults. As long as they divided up the tasks properly, they’d be fine. Still, it probably wouldn’t hurt if I took just Rir with me and left her at home a little longer. Although if I did that, she’d get angry and say something like, “I’m...your weapon, Master. You have to take me with you.”
“I see... Guess I can’t really call them little girls anymore, huh?”
“Indeed. While they are yet young, they are no longer the wee ones.”
Which means I have to call them the girl gang now instead of the little-girl gang, eh? I wasn’t blind. Wasn’t stupid either. I knew Iluna had gotten taller and that her mind was maturing. In this world, each race had a different life span, meaning they all had different ways of developing. It didn’t make much sense to think about this in terms of age like in my previous life. Even so, she’d probably be old enough to have just graduated from elementary school.
As for Shii, En and the wraith sisters, despite their appearances not having changed much in the time I’d known them, they also seemed to be growing up just like Iluna. To me, they still felt like little kids, but no doubt they were experiencing all kinds of things in ways adults didn’t know and figuring themselves out too. I honestly couldn’t help but feel moved.
“We’ve gone from being girls to wives and now mothers too! So, ladies, we need to do our best to act accordingly.”
“Well, that sort of thing comes naturally, so I see no need to force ourselves. Especially when our husband is just as childish as the actual children here, if not more so.”
“Wait, is the pot really calling the kettle black here?”
“Conduct ourselves as wives and mothers, hm? I must admit, I’m a tad worried about how I’ll do on those fronts.”
“Leila, if you are worried, I shudder to think what that says about the rest of us...”
“Ditto.”
“I couldn’t agree more!”
As the adults—minus Nell, who was away on work—continued talking, Iluna and the girls eventually finished cooking, then started bringing what they’d made out from the kitchen. Not counting the wraith sisters since they didn’t eat solids, there was a lot of food for seven people, but when I tried to help carry it, Iluna scolded me, telling me to sit down and let them handle it. So I obeyed. The girls went back and forth several times, carrying everything in carefully. And then, the table was set for dinner. The menu consisted of miso soup, white rice, stir-fried vegetables, chilled tofu, and braised burdock root.
“Whoooa! Everything looks amazing!”