Chapter 1: Sumi Suyako

“Sumi, your sandwich is ready!!!” I shouted, I have been making my sister a yummy cucumber sandwich since she obviously can’t deal with toasters or bread, or anything involving cooking and food really. “Coming Kubato!” Sumi said, she then skipped downstairs and I saw her beautiful mage outfit. I may have left out the fact that my little sister was the top mage in our world, somehow, at a young age she ranked up to become LVL 999, the highest level someone has achieved. Sumi had her blonde hair tied in a ponytail and she wore a blue coat on top of her white shirt to go on a mission. When I try to tell her to wear more formal clothes she says that formal clothes are hard to fight in. “Here ya go Sumi,” I said, and she took it from my hands. “Itadakimasu!” She said before taking a big bite of it, “SUMI! Save some for later,” I advised and she put it in her bag. “Well, I am heading out,” Sumi said. “Okay,” I said as she left the front door. Then it was time for me to go to the restaurant I work at, I went outside my house and it was a beautiful day in crystalis, the sakura trees my mom planted recently were really blooming. I breathed in their fresh scent before skipping off to the restaurant nearby, I saw my boss drinking a glass of cider at the entrance. “Hello manager, are any customers here yet?” I asked. “No, I still need to prepare the shop, you help me Kubato, alright?” My manager requested. I immediately started getting to work scrubbing down tables, putting salt and pepper shakers on them and just organizing the restaurant in general, my co worker Miyuki arrived a bit later but the restaurant was already prepped by then and customers were coming in. “ Where were you Miyuki? I organized the restaurant by myself today!” I scolded. “Sorry, slept in,” Miyuki said, she looked kind of angry with me as she blushed in embarrassment at being lectured. “Now now Miyuki it isn’t a big deal, just take the customers orders,” our manager said to Miyuki, Miyuki huffed and put on her apron. She has been being weird recently, me and Miyuki were friends since childhood and her personality was lively back then, I don’t know what changed her. Her brown hair was messy instead of being in a sleek bun and  her clothes were wrinkled. “Well, what are you waiting for, come on and help with the customers!” Miyuki said gruffly, beckoning me towards the counter, I went with her and started serving the customers. After making some onigiri for a family that were all regulars here, my manager wanted to talk to me in private. We went into the staff room and he started talking, “Kubato, I have news: I am retiring soon and I want you to become the manager, you are a good chef and kind to the customers but don’t tell Miyuki, I would like to speak to her privately,” The manager said. “Thanks so much Haru!” I said, I accidentally said his real name in my joy but he didn’t seem to mind. I made some more dishes until it was night time, “I will close up shop, you can go home early,” Miyuki said, I thought of this as her way of apologizing for her gruff attitude earlier. “Thanks, bye Miyuki,” I said. I then walked home, the night felt serene and peaceful and soon I arrived home. I opened the door, Sumi wasn’t back yet but that didn’t concern me, mages usually could take weeks with missions. I made myself some vegetable soup with the carrots we picked from mom’s garden yesterday and ate it calmly while looking out the window. I then heard a knock on the door, “hm, is Sumi back yet?” I wondered. I then walked up to the door and opened it, I saw Sumi’s friend and apprentice, Kiriya, carrying Sumi, she seemed unconscious. “KIRIYA? What is going on?” I asked. “Uhhh, well, we were fighting a dragon, a very powerful enemy and Sumi got injured from fighting it,” Kiriya explained, she was also an advanced mage who was LVL 327, I was only LVL 50 but it made sense since I preferred cooking in the restaurant over adventuring. “Well, come in Kiriya,” I said and Kiriya carried Sumi inside. “You can leave her on the couch,” I said and Kiriya did just that. Then I heard a knock on the door and it was mom, she came back from a meeting with the merchants guild in the city since she was a merchant who liked selling trinkets from faraway cities. She looked very professional, she wore a black suit and had her brown hair in two short fishtail braids. “Hello Kubato and…Sumi?” She asked, confused after seeing Sumi. “She got injured from fighting a dragon,” Kiriya re-explained. “Oh, I will take her up to her room, thanks for taking her back here Kiriya,” Mom said. “No problem,” Kiriya replied while mom took Sumi to her room. Kiriya stayed a bit but when it reached 12:00 she went back home. I went to sleep, wondering if Sumi would wake up tomorrow, ~the next day~ I woke up to hear Sumi and mom arguing. “It is fine mom, I need to get up for work,” Sumi said. “No working, you are clearly sick with a cold, you will stay at home until you heal,” mom said firmly. Sumi whined a bit but mom was firm with her answer, they didn’t notice me at the doorway of Sumi’s room watching their argument. “I will stay here to look after Sumi,” I said, I knew if she was left alone she would sneak off on another mage duty. “That is a good idea Kubato, thanks,” Mom said, going downstairs.