Home Life

After a quick shower, while Shiuka was napping on the couch. Hakuta got to work on making the two of them dinner. His skill was nowhere near her father’s, and it was likely she much rather her dad’s pork buns over his. But seeing as the last time they heard that man he was in the middle of crashing onto an abandoned island, this was going to make do.

He set out all the ingredients before him. If there was one thing he had gotten good at, it was being able to cook dinner. As the boy stated before, cleaning was not his forte. In fact, his old room used be quite a mess itself. Though it was clean compared to hers. However, Hakuta got good at cooking since his dad’s left a lot to be desired. Also, despite using the gamer excuse, he also cared deeply for his health. Even if the reason was precisely because he was a gamer.

Carefully, he sliced the beef into thin slices and got them onto the preheated pan. As the sizzling of meat frying filled the room, he quickly got to work on cutting up some cucumber to add into it. On the side, there was lettuce for the buns themselves. At the same time, he was also preparing a side dish loaded with healthy veggies. Chances were, the reason she was still sick was due to her poor eating habits. That much he gathered from the only time they shared a meal.

“Hey, it’s time to wake up now.” He prodded at her after placing the buns into the steamer. Now dinner was practically ready, it was time to get the girl he was trying to care for at the table. “And I’m not carrying you there.”

“Okay, I’m up.” She replied. It seemed Shiuka had felt a little better now as the girl was able to walk on her own to the dinner table. The prospect of getting her favorite food was what gave her the strength to do so. “Ooh, I can’t wait.” She clapped her hands in glee as he went to the kitchen to check on the food. It appeared her table manners were lacking as the sounds of silverware hitting wood like drums were filling the room now.

“Here we are.” He brought over the plate with four buns, a pair for the pair. Quickly, she took one in a flash, but before taking one bite she did one thing that he didn’t appreciate. Shiuka began to open up the buns and pull out the cucumber and lettuce he worked on on cutting and placing. “What are you doing?” He asked, while taking a bite of his own pork bun.

“I hate veggies.” She told him frankly. Honestly, it was a little annoying to him that she’d openly toss out some of the ingredients he worked hard on. “But your sauce is really nice.” The girl spoke while she chewed her food. Another mark as to why he disliked gyarus. They lacked manners.

“This is why you’re still sick.” He berated her as they ate their meal. He was also taking bits from the salad he created, but she hadn’t so much as looked at it. “How can you expect your body to be strong if you won’t eat the appropriate foods?”

“It’s not like it’s a big deal.” He responded, miffed that he had the nerve to be lecturing her. “My figure is still completely good.” The way boys stared at her in class was proof enough for her. “And It’s not like you’re the shining example of fitness.”

“There’s more to health than just appearances.” He retorted. Though admittedly the boy was glad she wasn’t so unhealthy as to have issues with her weight. “Besides, I gotta stay healthy so I can enjoy life to the fullest.” The meaning changed a lot when one considered that he meant more for staying inside to play video games. Even if there was a point to his words.

As someone who openly loved games, there were plenty of genres he enjoyed. A couple of major ones included shooters and fighting games. Those required one to have lightning fast reflexes in order to obtain victory. So therefore, he made sure to keep himself in tiptop share in order to not have mistakes when the timing was tight.

Sadly making sure to get tons of vitamin A was unable to keep the boy from needing to wear glasses for the sake of his vision. Guess his dad was right about staring at a screen all day was bad for his health. “Plus, I spent so much time getting this salad seasoned.” He took a fork and stabbed into it to pick up a mouthful. “Don’t just say vegatables are gross if you’re not going to try them.”

“Well, my dad’s veggies are always terrible.” He would disagree based on the small sample given to him from that dinner. “But…” In a sudden move, Shiuka surprised him by rushing into him and taking the bite right from his fork. “Whoa, this is delicious.”

“Don’t just take people’s food like that!” He scolded her. The shock made him miss her comment at first, and only after a couple of seconds did he understand what had just happened. “Wait, really?”

“I don’t get it, your pork buns are nowhere near my dad’s.” It was confusing to her to see someone who was nowhere near her father’s skills find a win somewhere.

“I don’t really like vegetables either.” He admitted. “So I overcompensate with some of the seasoning.” Though doing something like that might seem as if defeating the purpose of getting healthy with vegetables. So he made sure to learn some tricks to help improve the taste with ways that were not unhealthy. Then Hakuta went and took more of the salad, but right as the food was about to enter his mouth. He stopped and placed the utensil onto his plate.

“Oh?” Shiuka had a mischievous look at her face as she immediately realized why he did that. “You’re so shy that you don’t want to indirect kiss me?” She teased him as he looked away to hide his growing blush.

“Of course not.” He replied, not wanting to face her. “Need I remind us that you’re sick. I don’t want to catch your germs.”

“So you do believe in it.” She giggled cutely at him while pointing her finger. “That’s how it works, right? It’s an indirect kiss because we’d be sharing our saliva.”

“I know that’s how it works.” He sighed at her. She really was going to put him through this for the foreseeable future. “But let’s be real.” Hakuta laughed. “Neither of us are going to be kissing each other any time soon.”

“More like any time never.” The idea was so ludicrous to the pair that they shared in making fun of the idea throughout the rest of dinner. After words, as he was getting the dishes loaded into the dishwasher.

“Now, we need to do homework together.” This caused an audible moan of disappointment from her.

“Homework sucks. The teacher should’ve known that so he wouldn’t get some poor lug to bring it here.”

“I’m the poor lug who had to bring it here.” He didn’t like how she just reduced what he had been through today as if he was some poor sap. “And you need to keep your grades up.”

“Why? You’re not my dad.” Not that her dad saying the same thing got her to be more diligent. “There’s no way you care about me.”

“You’re right about that.” He agreed, but there was a more important reason for his efforts. “But if you keep slacking off like this and missing class, they’re going to want to talk to your dad.” And that would cause problems should they learn of their living situation. There’s no way the school would accept this. “Now come on, I put our homework on the table in the living room. So let’s get started.”

“Ugh, fine.” She reluctantly followed him and they sat down together at the table. He drew a good point, and she wanted to make sure their living situation remained a secret. So despite not being a fan of homework, or him, they did share a common goal.

Then the pair pulled out their assignments and got to work. Hakuta explained to her the things she missed during class. Though she appeared to be listening, the boy did wonder if his words were going in one ear and out the other. “This sucks.” Even with his explanations, she was still struggling on the questions. “Do you know how to do this?”

“Uh…” He took a glance at what she was pointing at. Then he checked out on his own homework. “I don’t know how to do that one either.”

“Eh?” She was surprised to hear him unable to help her. “But, aren’t you like, smart?” Shiuka assumed someone into a geeky activity would be good at school. Not to mention wasn’t this a cliched moment between the pair. Where a dumb girl like her received tutoring from a smart boy like him?

“Not sure where you got that idea.” He responded. As someone who would usually go home and play on his Toystation after school. There wasn’t that much time spent on studying for him. Especially with no goals in terms of his future. Hakuta scratched his head as the boy stared at the question they were both stuck on. “I got nothing.”

“Oh come on!” She was hoping he’d just give her the answer, but it seemed they’d have to take the loss on it. “Guess I’ll just leave it blank.”

“We shouldn’t give up so easily on it.” Even though he would always have a hard time on his homework, he was never the type to allow it get the best of him. “So even if I get it wrong, I can give it a try.” Plus, their teacher was a kind man. If he was off by a little, or a lot, then there would be instruction on where he went wrong so he could learn from it.

“That’s what you do?” She never considered there would be a person who actually knowingly put the wrong answer so they’d get the chance in the future. “But why would it matter after you get your grade?”

“Because there’s more to learning than just a grade.” He told her. “But, I guess it’s because my dad would get mad if he heard I was shirking on homework.” Especially since there was a weapon that man could utilize. That being the threat to take away console privileges until grades were improved.

“Really?” Her dad had never cared too much about her grades. After all, he was hardly around as it was with his adventures to pay attention on even if she was doing well at all.

“You could probably get it too if we do it together.” She turned to look at him, as for the first time since he was here. Hakuta seemed to have a positive vibe to him. “And even if we’re wrong, then we’ll be wrong together.”

“Right.” She smiled back at him as they got back to work. The pair spent quite a bit of time on the questions that challenged them. Time got late into the night and before they knew it, Hakuta and Shiuka had fallen asleep next to each other on the table.