Youthfulness

Chapter Three

(Author's note: I changed the title, as you can see, because my friend said it sounded too stupid >_<)

With the enthusiasm to see more mesmerizing drawings supporting her, Claire speeded to level 30 after a month of playing, in precise terms only an hour a week, finishing her computer homework. The game was like the seductive siren in Greek mythology, singing and luring her to continue playing, and she never found this kind of voluntary enjoyment except from playing Fantasy Impromptu, Chopin's greatest piece ever. She never liked relaxing or enjoying, but drowning herself in endless seas of works. In short, a typical workaholic she was.

Her duels all went well, winning with ease almost every time. It was clear that she was gifted in gaming too; she controlled the duels most of the time and struck to the fatal spot of the opponent every time, finishing the duels in three rounds at most, no matter winning or losing. It was almost impossible that she would lose, except when she had to fight duels  with players whose level was higher that hers for three times. This was completely impossible for anyone.

Finally satisfied with the level of 30 in two hours, Claire connected it to a charger and turned off her phone. When she looked out to the window, the sun was setting, casting a reddish glow on the horizon. She checked her watch. Great. It was already six in the evening.

She proceeded to the dining room, where Alexander was waiting for her grumpily. He pouted and pulled her sleeves like a three-year-old child.

"Can you cook now? I am starving, sis." Alexander couldn't cook properly, so he always relied on his sister's superb culinary. This was the only thing he didn't excel in. For this reason, he always told his dearest sister that her future husband would be so lucky to have such a wonderful hotel level chef as his wife.

"Be patient, brother," Claire pulled out a chair and sat down next to him, "What do you want? As usual?"

Alexander rolled his eyes dramatically, "Of course."

She sighed expectantly when he sipped his glass of water to swallow his daily testosterone pill, "Your wish is my command, Master Alex."

She loved the surprised choke and sputtering sound of her sibling she got in response, chuckling all the way to the spacious kitchen.

***

Humming to herself, Claire took out a roll of cabbage, large eggs, chicken stock or dashi, granulated sugar, soy sauce, a pint of Japanese wine sake, potato starch, onions, and the jewels of the dish - pork cutlets, and placed them on the chopping board. She knew what her sibling wanted exactly: fried pork cutlets with a sprinkle of onions, served with cabbage and steamed rice. After the first time Claire found this recipe and cooked it for Alexander, he instantly fell in love with the Japanese dish and declared it as their favourite dish.

She speedily worked her culinary magic on the scattered ingredients. Firstly, she mixed the eggs in a beaker until the yolks were broken but still with some separate areas of egg white and yolk. Next, she added dashi, soy sauce, granulated sugar, sake and potato starch to a bowl she grabbed from the cabinet above and stir the mixture. Then, she fried the onions. Seeing that the onions were soft and just starting to turn brown, she quickly pushed them to the edge of the pan and added in the pork cutlets.

She poured the mixture she stirred just now around the pork cutlets. The time to put the cooked food on the freshly steamed rice had come.

She scooped two full ladles of rice out of the rice cooker and put them in two separate ceramic bowls. Then, skilfully and carefully, she poured half of the onions in each bowl and, with a pair of chopsticks, placed three sizzling pork cutlets tonkatsu on top of the steaming rice in each bowl.

Claire drizzled the sauce on the dish and put the bowls on the tray. Finally. Ready to eat. She was starving. And Alexander too.

***

Alexander finally swallowed his testosterone pill, the only thing that halted his period, after Claire's disruption and glanced at the kitchen, where his gaze lingered at Claire's white nightgown enviously for a second then turned away. Her nightgown flowed slightly at the edge so it looked like she was wearing an upturned lily.

I want to wear this pretty dress. A small voice murmured enviously in his mind. At the same time, the blue band on his wrist glistened and caught his attention. He immediately blocked that traitorous voice.

He felt like a boy today, but not completely. Sometimes he wanted to wear jeans, and the next second he wanted to steals a flowery dress from his sister, whom never minded the disappearance of her clothes due to the gender instability of her twin. He just felt 70% boy and 30% girl, even with the testosterone pill now sitting in his stomach. Hopefully it will make him 90% boy later.

He didn't close his eyelids to calm himself because welcoming the darkness meant nothing to a person who had embraced darkness years ago.

He played with the blue band on his wrist, thinking if he chose the right band. He should have chosen the clear band this morning, but he decided against it. Most of his body was feeling masculine, so boy he would be today.

A buzz of a thought flitted through his mind, Jules, not Julie anymore. He sighed and rubbed his temples for comfort. He had used too much energy to think and now he was starving.

***

Claire carried the pork cutlet bowls to the table, finding Alexander creasing his eyebrows, deep in thought and his eyes glazed over.

Once he saw the bowls, his face broke into a huge grin that seemed to make the fluorescent light glow brighter, so huge that it hurt. Claire could see that it was a forced smile, but she acted like she never noticed it.

"Dinner's ready!" Claire smiled at her twin sweetly, and pushed the bowl in front of him, "I know that you are starving."

"Finally!" Alexander sighed in utmost relief, and kissed the bowl exaggeratedly, "My saviour, pork cutlet bowl!" He inhaled the food while Claire ate her food elegantly.

"Free to play an ensemble for fun, sis?" Once Claire finished her food, Alexander asked quietly.

Claire knew something was wrong. Every time when her twin wanted to play ensemble, he was feeling knotted in his heart.

"Always free to play with you. Also, I demand you to press strings with your left hand when you play the cello."

"Deal. Well, I demand you to play the piano."

"Deal." Claire smiled and Alexander smiled in reply, then dashing into his room to fetch his cello.