Chapter 10: The End of Peaceful Days
FALL had passed by and thick winter clouds filled the skies for days on end. Mia had continued to spend her days flying, watching over the city from above.
“In a few more months it will have been a year,” she thought.
Although she had trained to fly until the day her father had died, she had never had to do it this much, almost on a daily basis.
“So cold,” she shivered. She never knew that winter skies could feel this terribly icy. “C-C-Cold!”
Her body was shaking, her teeth rattling. Mia was gliding through the air, her form trembling, for a while now. Her outfit was a sight to behold; the girl wore a duffle coat and a scarf, a cape draped over the ensemble, with fluffy earmuffs topping it all off. If not for the cape, she would have looked just like a normal girl, but the cape ruined that image.
Anyway, even though she had taken all precautions against the cold, the skies were freezing and she had had enough of this.
“Ah-choo!” She sneezed loudly.
Mia, deciding she couldn’t bear it anymore, opted for cutting today’s patrol short.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I did not expect this… Why is the winter sky so awful? It has only been a month since Kyoto, so where did this sudden biting cold come from?” Mia grumbled as she picked up her chopsticks while enjoying another meal at Subaru’s apartment.
In front of her, a tabletop burner was placed on the low dining table. Subaru’s face darkened with worry as he placed a big pot on top of the burner grate.
“I can see how it would be much more freezing up there than down on the ground. …Don’t push yourself too hard. I can see your face is flushed, and your voice sounds hoarse. I’m afraid you might have caught a cold.”
“This is just the way I am. I have never caught anything of the sort.”
What was that saying about people who were too slow and dumb to catch a cold?
“’Fat chance,’ is what I’d like to say, but in your case, nothing is impossible. Here, lemme take a look.” Ren, who was sitting next to Mia, gently put his hand on her forehead.
“Let’s see…” He put his other hand on his own forehead, thoughtfully tilting his head to the side. Then, he cupped Mia’s face with both hands and lightly bumped their foreheads together.
“Gah!”
“Well, you don’t have a fever. That’s good news,” he said softly, his breath fanning over her face.
A furious blush crept up her cheeks at that, her mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for air. Her heart beat hard in her chest like a drum; for a moment, she felt mortified, fearing Ren would hear it. He pulled his head away, and took up his chopsticks, mirroring Mia.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, his head inquisitively cocked to the side.
“N-Nothing!”
“Yeah? Well, even though you don’t seem to have a fever, you should probably take it easy for a while. If you catch a cold, you can forget your plans for world domination.”
“Y-Yeah. Th-That’s true,” Mia nodded feebly as Subaru took the lid off the pot.
Steam wafted up, and a delicious smell carried through the room. …Why was she feeling off recently? Until now, her heart only sped up when Ren hugged her or when he was flirting with her as a part of his efforts to rile her up.
Recently, however, something seemed to have changed. Having him sit next to her was already enough to get her heart pounding. Whenever he ate something, she couldn’t help but stare at him, caught in the moment. Even his thoughtless gestures and accidental touches made her face flush red. She would catch herself thinking how cool he looked smoking one of his cigarettes or feel her heart fluttering at the possibility that him bumping their foreheads together just now might’ve grown into a kiss…
“Argh!”
“Wh-What’s wrong, Mia?”
“Nothing, you fool! Dimwit! This is all your fault!”
“Hey, if you keep insulting me with no rhyme or reason I might just get angry…”
Mia cowered, drowning in anguish at an unnamed feeling clawing at her from the inside, surrounded by Subaru, who rubbed her back with confusion on his face, and Ren, who furrowed his brows at the unexpected abuse the girl had showered on him out of the blue.
What is happening to me? For some reason, she felt too embarrassed to voice this question pounding in her head. Mia’s heart seemed lost, as if trapped in a maze it didn’t know how to escape.
She regained her composure, and all three of them started digging into the steaming pot. She had never eaten hotpot before coming to Subaru’s place for dinner, but she couldn’t get enough of the variety of ingredients and tastes and of the way it warmed her body from the inside.
Today, they had tofu hotpot. This was a fun one because they were making fresh tofu skin themselves. First, they boiled soymilk, then using their chopsticks to remove the skin that formed on top they dipped it into sauce lightly fragranced with yuzu before eating it. The sauce perfectly complemented the light sweetness of gloopy soymilk melting in her mouth.
They enjoyed the tofu skin for a while, Ren laughing that it made him crave hot sake. Then Subaru, having had his fill, asked permission from his two guests before adding some meat and vegetables in.
“Just wait until we finish, tofu hotpot can be full of surprises,” Subaru said mysteriously with a hint of amusement in his voice.
Ren and Mia gorged themselves on boiled meat and vegetables, excitedly wondering what it was Subaru was hinting at.
Hotpot was such an amazing dish. Mia disliked bitter vegetables like crown daisies, but somehow putting it in a hotpot made them delicious, making it possible to relish even napa cabbage.
The show playing on TV in the background kept the mood going as they picked at the pot. After a while, Subaru stirred some clear liquid into the broth that had been plucked clear of meat and vegetables.
“What is that?”
“It’s bittern.”
“Bittern?” Mia cocked her head questioningly, to which Subaru grinned.
“Just wait and see.” He gingerly stirred the pot, and covered it with a lid. After some time had passed, Subaru removed the lid, showing Mia the pot’s contents. “Look, we made tofu!”
He gently scooped some of it out with a ladle, revealing a solid glob. Definitely tofu.
“Ohh, so that’s how tofu is made.”
As she was staring at it with wonderment in her eyes, Ren chuckled at her and scooped some of the tofu out for himself with a noodle spoon, promptly eating the piece he fished out.
“Yeah, isn’t it nice how you can still taste the broth in it? And once we’re done making tofu, we can use the leftovers to make rice porridge, and we’ll have another completely different dish.”
Her eyes wide in awe, Mia tasted some of the tofu Subaru had prepared from the noodle spoon too.
It was different from the regular tofu she ate so often; remarkably soft to the point that it was melting in her mouth. It felt like the fresh tofu skin they had eaten at the start of the meal, only rolled into a small lump.
It would probably still retain this delicious creaminess even when made into porridge, Mia thought dreamily, already imagining what the final dish they could make from the same broth would taste like.
“By the way, Misaki said he wants to take us out for a meal sometime soon.”
“Really? Why would he?” Ren’s eyes snapped wide in surprise at Subaru, who had already started cooking the rice porridge.
“Must be his thanks for your help in Kyoto,” Subaru gave a brief reply while adding some beaten eggs to the pot.
“Kyoto… Ah, that thing with Sayoko.”
“Apparently. It seems that he was busy with work or something before, but now that things have settled down a little, he wants to give us a proper thanks, or so he says. Of course, this would include you as well, Mia.”
“All right,” she flushed a pretty pink under Subaru’s kindly gaze and nodded.
“Sometime during spring next year, Misaki will probably be going to Kyoto to pay Sayoko’s family a proper visit. He wanted me to ask you if you’d like to tag along and do some sightseeing.”
“Oh, right, Sayoko did invite me to visit her in Kyoto again. Hm, I shall think about it,” she nodded, as Subaru’s eyes crinkled at the corners while he poured the now-ready rice porridge into her bowl.
“You should do that,” he said, handing her the full bowl.
The three of them feasted on the soup.
In the end, they agreed that Mia would wait for the other members to let her know the place and time of their group outing, since they had to work it around everyone’s schedule.