"Oh — so it's Mei."
The moment she heard that voice and its familiar cadence, Miko knew exactly who was standing before her.
But that raised the question — where were Makoto and Ei?
"They're in that space together." Before Miko could even ask, Acheron said it first.
She knew. The moment Miko laid eyes on her, that question was inevitable — so she simply got ahead of it.
That space. Miko knew perfectly well which one Mei meant. She just hadn't expected her to volunteer the answer before she'd even opened her mouth.
"Mei, you really do know me far too well." Even if the question had been obvious to anyone watching, Miko still felt compelled to say it.
"It wasn't hard to figure out," Acheron replied, her tone perfectly flat.
And that was the honest truth. It truly hadn't required any particular insight. Anyone could have seen it coming.
"So — did Mei come all the way up here just to watch Kiana cook?" Miko smiled and moved on to her next question.
"Kiana... cooking?" Acheron repeated, sounding faintly surprised.
Having already made up her mind to produce some truly catastrophic cuisine, she needed to play the part accordingly.
"Yes. Is something the matter?" The look on Acheron's face made Miko's sense of dread tick up another notch.
"No, nothing. Just a little surprised, that's all." Acheron shook her head, expression neutral.
Of course, saying "nothing" was guaranteed to make Miko feel like there was very definitely something — and that was precisely the effect she was going for.
"Surprised? Why?" Miko pressed.
"Because it's been a very long time since Kiana last cooked."
Acheron's answer came out just as flat as before, nothing in her face to give anything away. And somehow, the calmer she seemed, the worse Miko felt.
"And does Mei happen to know why Kiana stopped cooking all that time ago?"
Miko couldn't quite bring herself to ask outright whether Kiana's cooking was terrible, so she took the roundabout approach instead.
"Of course I do. Why do you ask?" Acheron decided to play dumb.
"Oh, I'm just a little curious whether that little brat Wendy had impossibly high standards, that's all." Miko kept up her oblique line of questioning.
Either way, she needed to get a read on Kiana's actual skill level before the finished dish arrived at the table. After all — she was going to have to eat whatever came out of that kitchen.
"You'd probably get a better answer asking Wendy directly," Acheron said, clearly aware that Miko was fishing.
"Hasn't Mei eaten Kiana's cooking before?" That response only made Miko more curious.
"Of course I have." Acheron nodded, and said nothing more.
Then say what it was like, Mei...
Silently despairing, Miko decided she had no choice but to be direct: "So — what did you think of it?"
"Me?" Acheron tilted her head slightly, as if reaching back through memory. "It was so long ago... I honestly can't remember anymore."
Miko: "..."
That was not the answer she'd been hoping for. Miko could only sigh inwardly at her own misfortune.
Not that it was entirely unreasonable, she supposed. Kiana had just said herself that it had been ages since she'd last cooked — so Acheron forgetting the taste was, technically, perfectly plausible.
But that didn't exactly help her situation, did it.
What if she just... made a run for it?
The thought surfaced out of nowhere, and Miko was genuinely tempted.
Hm?
What's that smell?
At that exact moment, something reached her nose — the unmistakable smell of something burning.
Is something on fire?
On instinct, Miko glanced around. But no matter where she looked, she couldn't spot any smoke — and none of the shrine maidens had come running to report a fire, either.
So what on earth...?
Miko was baffled.
"It smells like something's burning," Acheron remarked.
She knew perfectly well what it was, but standing here, she was absolutely obligated to pretend otherwise.
"It does," Miko agreed, still scanning the surroundings.
And then she pinpointed the direction the smell was coming from.
The kitchen?!
The moment she placed it, a very specific suspicion snapped into place in Miko's mind.
Kiana-nee... this is a bit much, don't you think...
Her eyes fixed on the source of the smell, Miko felt something between the urge to cry and the urge to laugh.
She'd expected Kiana's culinary skills to be questionable. She had not expected them to be this questionable. This was genuinely on another level.
It was just stir-frying some vegetables. How had it somehow turned into what sounded and smelled like a small house fire.
"Seems like that's where the smell's coming from." Acheron, too, appeared to have traced the scent to its source.
"Yes. Coming from the kitchen." Without turning her head, Miko nodded once.
She would be the first to admit it — she was seriously considering making a break for it right now.
She didn't even need to go and check. She could already picture the culinary catastrophe Kiana had managed to produce in there.
"Hey, Mei — what if we slipped down the mountain for a bit? Just for now."
After turning it over from every angle, Miko decided to see what Acheron thought.
If Acheron agreed, she'd go with her. They'd disappear down the mountain together.
As for what she'd told Kiana — that she'd definitely try whatever she cooked — well. She could figure that part out later.
Under the present circumstances, trying it was clearly not an option.
"That doesn't feel quite right. Kiana's cooking for the first time in ages." Acheron didn't look convinced.
"But — I think she still needs a bit more practice first, you know? It's been such a long time. Surely she needs to ease back into it before serving anyone. Don't you think, Mei?"
Miko refused to give up. She kept working on Acheron, trying to coax her into fleeing down the mountain before it was too late.
"You make a fair point. Unfortunately, she's already on her way over here." Acheron nodded in measured agreement — and then delivered the killing blow.
Miko: "!"
Those words hit her like a bucket of cold water.
Ugh...
Looks like there's no getting out of it...
How is Mei not even the least bit rattled... Has she just gotten used to it somehow?
Thinking this with quiet resignation, Miko slowly turned around.
"What are you two whispering about over here?"
Miko had barely finished turning when Kiana was already in front of her, eyeing them both with mild puzzlement.
"Oh, just chatting. I was going to come check on things, but then Mei showed up on her own, so." Miko said it all with a perfectly sunny smile, as though everything she and Acheron had just been discussing had never been said at all.
Inside, though, she was quietly panicking. Because if Acheron decided to recount every word of that conversation right now, Miko was completely done for.
____
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