As for Wendy's side of things...
Should she keep doing what she'd been doing before — telling Kiana that her cooking tasted terrible?
If so... how would Kiana react to that?
Would she throw up her hands and quit again, just like last time? Or would she push through and keep going?
And if she did keep going, how was Wendy supposed to react to that?
Turning these questions over in his mind, Kaito sank deep into thought.
No matter what, he had to think through each version of himself in advance — every possible action, every possible follow-up reaction. All of it needed to be mapped out ahead of time.
And he had to admit — it really was complicated.
Each version of him had his own set of behaviors, and each different behavior meant each version needed a different reaction and a corresponding set of follow-up moves. Stack all those variables on top of one another, and the complexity was unavoidable.
Right, and then there was another thing...
He hadn't told Lumine that Kiana actually couldn't cook. What was he supposed to do about that when they got back?
Because what he'd had in mind at the start was completely different from where things had ended up. The way he'd framed it earlier, there hadn't been any suggestion that Kiana couldn't cook — only that Wendy was a picky eater. That was all he'd implied.
Which meant Lumine almost certainly assumed Kiana's cooking was at least decent — probably on par with her own.
Ugh...
This is exactly what happens when you don't think things through from the beginning. Change course halfway and it all starts getting messy...
Kaito was currently trying to figure out how to let Lumine know that Kiana couldn't actually cook — without making it obvious that what he was saying now contradicted what he'd said before.
Tap tap tap—
Just then, the sound of approaching footsteps reached him, and Kaito instinctively looked up.
Looks like Lumine's finished with the food...
He watched her walking toward him, thinking this quietly to himself. Then he rose and walked over to meet her.
"It's all ready — do you want to eat now, Kaito?" Lumine stopped in front of him and asked.
Since Kaito had mentioned earlier that Wendy liked stir-fried pork with chili peppers, she'd picked up some ingredients on their way back from the walk and made just that.
"Of course I want to eat now, while it's hot. Let's go," Kaito said, nodding.
Most dishes were at their absolute best fresh off the stove — let them go cold and the flavor took a real hit.
The two of them made their way to the kitchen in the small courtyard together.
"It smells amazing." Kaito sat down, took one look at the stir-fried pork with chili peppers on the table — glistening, fragrant, and perfectly presented — and felt his mouth start watering before he could stop it.
He had to hand it to her. Lumine's cooking was genuinely good.
"Try it first. I'll go scoop your rice." Seeing how pleased Kaito looked, Lumine felt her mood lift considerably.
She just couldn't help wondering — when it came to cooking, whose was actually better, hers or Kiana's?
Hmm...
Should I just ask?
Though that might be a little too obvious...
Kaito probably wouldn't know how to answer that one...
Better leave it.
As she scooped the rice, these thoughts drifted through her mind — but in the end, she didn't ask the question.
She really did want to know, but it felt like the kind of thing that would put Kaito on the spot. So she let it go.
Besides, she'd probably find out for herself once they got back to Inazuma. No need to go fishing for the answer.
Right...
That works.
With that settled in her mind, Lumine set the bowl of rice down in front of Kaito.
"By the way, is this your first time making stir-fried pork with chili peppers, Lumine?" Kaito asked, genuinely curious, as she came over.
Her cooking had honestly exceeded his expectations.
"Yeah, but a lot of dishes follow the same general principles, so it wasn't too bad." She nodded and answered with characteristic modesty.
The dish wasn't particularly complicated, so she didn't feel there was anything to be proud about. Though in fairness, complicated dishes were largely beyond her too.
"There are still plenty of differences between dishes though — getting all of them to taste good is no easy feat," Kaito said. He couldn't cook himself, but he was fairly sure that mastering a wide variety of dishes was genuinely difficult.
Getting them all to taste terrible, on the other hand — that was probably a lot easier.
The thought came to him unbidden as he recalled Kiana's little kitchen disaster from earlier.
And right alongside it came the other thing he'd been sitting on: whether or not he should tell Lumine the honest truth about Kiana's actual skill level in the kitchen.
He hadn't meant to imply anything about it last time, so bringing it up now felt awkward — the before and after were clearly at odds.
Even if he hadn't actually said Kiana was a good cook, he had said that Wendy found Kiana's cooking unpleasant — and then Kiana had stopped cooking altogether because of that.
Right...
I'll just say I didn't want to hurt Kiana's feelings, so I left that part out at first.
And I can add that I had no idea Lumine was such a good cook, which is why I didn't say anything.
Now that I know, it makes sense to bring it up — I want her to teach Kiana.
Yeah... that works.
While Kaito was still quietly working this out in his head, Lumine spoke up: "Eat as much as you like. If it's not enough, I can go buy more and make another batch."
She had her own bowl in hand now, eating steadily, bite by bite.
"Absolutely having seconds." Kaito nodded, his chopsticks not stopping for a moment.
And all the while, he was turning over in his mind just how to bring up the matter of Kiana.
"Actually, Lumine — there's something I wanted to mention." After thinking it over for a bit, Kaito decided to just come out and say it directly, without dancing around it.
"What is it?" Lumine paused mid-reach for a piece of pork and looked up at him, clearly curious about what he was about to say.
The way he'd phrased it, something was obviously a little out of the ordinary.
...Is Kaito about to say that Kiana's stir-fried pork tasted better?
The thought crossed her mind while she waited for his answer.
Though whether that was actually the case, she had no way of knowing yet — she'd just have to wait for him to tell her.
"It's about Kiana. Her... cooking... well... honestly, it's not great. I was hoping you could give her some pointers at some point." Kaito looked at Lumine and got it out, a little haltingly.
He'd originally been going to say Kiana's cooking was terrible, but he'd pulled back from that at the last second.
After all, to all appearances, he was Kiana's boyfriend — he had to at least preserve a little of her dignity.
"Oh? Sure, no problem. We can cook together sometime, and I'll show her a few things while we're at it." Lumine blinked — that was clearly not what she'd been expecting — but she recovered quickly and nodded.
So Kiana's cooking isn't that great...
I wonder just how 'not great' we're talking...
____
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