Running After You

Chapter 29: Left Out

"You know, maybe you really should take some time to learn this." Youta continued his cooking, albeit with Mitora by his side as they chatted and enjoyed themselves as if nothing bad had happened prior.

"Maybe if I had a good teacher." She responded coyly as they had plenty of fun. One would almost forget it wasn't just the two of them in the kitchen right now. Even Fuwaka nearly forgot this fact as she sat at the counter, watching them quietly.

She couldn't bring herself to walk up and join them. As despite him allowing her into his home, it felt that the guilt which forgiveness lifts still weighed on her shoulders. So in her mind, it didn't seem right to being in his presence, let alone talk to him.

Though watching Mitora hanging around next to him without a care in the world only served to make her more jealous of their relationship. So this was the power of childhood friend? Where even after a falling out, they could move on like it was nothing. Not to mention she certain was far behind Mitora when it came to interaction with him thanks to all that time.

"Here, how about you cut the carrots?" She continued to watch as he began to show Mitora a few things about cooking. She wished she could've been the one to learn from him, but the last and only time she had seen him cooking had her stuck doing homework. "It's a lot easier than it sounds, so go ahead." The boy stepped aside to allow his friend a chance.

"Yeah, I can do that!" Mitora enthusiastically took his spot and grabbed the knife haphazardly.

"Be careful, that's not a toy." He warned her, his heart skipped a beat seeing her pick the knife up as it wasn't just her own health he was concerned about. If she wasn't paying attention, she could just as easily injure him as she supervised the cutting.

"It's just cutting carrots." She took his advice lightly and began chopping quickly the carrots. She truly found it easy to slice the veggies into more manageable bite sized pieces. However she also went much too fast for her skill level as she slipped up once, cutting into her own finger. "Ow!" She yelped, dropping the knife as it fortunately landed on the counter.

"Let me see." He quickly leaped into action, pulling her injuries hand and checked to see how bad the cut was. "Thankfully it looks like you didn't go deep." He said, taking a close look as blood dripped down. "Hang on, I have a first aid kit." He immediately rushed to one of the kitchen cabinets where such medical equipment was kept.

One would think it was his mother whom kept that there for safety precautions, but it was actually Youta who purchased this and kept it here for his own safety. After all, he still considered himself inexperienced in cooking, so he wanted to make sure he'd be fine when at home alone.

Fuwaka, who hadn't had anywhere else to look anyway, saw his mood change in an instant. One moment he was laughing alone, all relaxed. Yet now that he saw his friend was hurt, he had a dead serious look in his eyes as he produced the first aid kit, placing it on the counter and grabbed all the necessary items. "This is going to sting, but we can't have this get infected."

"Okay..." She grimaced as he applied alcohol on her cut. After applying some ointment, he would then wrap it with gauze to complete the quick fix.

"There." He said once he finished. "That should be all good now, but you really need to be more careful."

"I will." She hung her head down as she replied. Though after all the years he knew her, Youta figured this song and dance would have to happen again.

"You're really good at that." Fuwaka commented once he had completed putting away the kit. "The only people I see that fast are the medical staff that helps the athletes."