Fate DxD

Chapter 54

Saturday, February 4, 2023.

"Welcome back Senji-kun!" Returning from training, Chiyo greets me.

"Um..." I look oddly at Chiyo, who has her apron completely soiled, she has a little on her face too. "What are you up to?" I point.

"Oh my! I tried to prepare dinner but I completely failed, but don't worry I'll get there, what you taught me will come in handy!" She proudly explains.

"I see..." I sigh before stepping toward her. "Let's prepare it together, it'll go faster."

"You... Are you sure? You must be tired?"

"I insist."

"Okay! It'll be more fun with two of us!"

Entering the dining room, I see the mess all over the kitchen. I turn to her, only to see her looking away, whistling.

(...Here she is imitating Fuji-nee...)

I roll up my sleeves and start cleaning with Chiyo's help, then heat up some water. I ask Chiyo to take out some flour and put it in a large bowl. This done, I take the water and pour it into the bowl and start mixing by hand. When the dough takes the shape of a soft ball, I stop and set it aside. Chiyo takes out a white cabbage and cuts it into misshapen pieces, either too thin or not thin enough.

"There's progress, you can cut food properly now." I say.

"Yes! How fun!"

In a bowl, I put ground beef, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar and chopped ginger, which I chopped at the same time as Chiyo was doing the white cabbage, and mix. Seeing that enough time has passed, I return to the dough. I flour a work surface, place the ball on it and flatten it with my hands. Then I take a round cookie cutter and cut about twenty pieces, flattening them again. Then I place them on floured baking paper.

With Chiyo following my instructions, we take a heaping teaspoon of filling into the center of the dough, then close it with another, pinching the sides together. Having finished, and seeing that the girls are about to return, Chiyo takes out the soy sauces and prepares the table, while I prepare the ravioli for cooking and peel a few potatoes, cutting them into quarters.

"Senji-kun? Have you always been passionate about cooking? You do it like it's in your blood." Chiyo asks me.

I stop cutting abruptly, searching for an answer to this question, but the memory sends shivers down my spine.

"The kitchen... it wasn't a place I carried in my heart."

"You still haven't prepared the rice bowls? What the hell are you for?"

"I'm sorry..."

"An extra mouth to feed means more food to prepare."

"Yes, I'm sorry about that."

"We're going to start running out of food because of you dammit!"

"I'm sorry."

"You don't need to help, just sit tight."

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"Most of the time I was sidelined, or an annoyance because I was a mouth to feed on top of it, so the kitchen was more a source of unhappiness than anything else."

"..."

"But today it's different, thanks to Fuji-nee, who accompanied me in learning and especially in overcoming this discomfort and now I'm satisfied to be able to cook for others."