Breakfast

“Shinichi…!” Shuko gripped his limp body. The color had left his face and his clothes were stained red. “I’m sorry…!” She squeezed her eyes closed as the tears flowed. “Th-this…” Lifting her head, she cried out, “This is all my fault…!”

***

The first couple days had been very awkward between Shinichi and Shuko. They barely talked, and they didn’t even eat together. Shuko would always get stuff delivered, but Shinichi would always go out, usually to the convenience store.

But just as Shinichi was about to head out the door one morning, he got a call.

“Hello?” he said as he answered the number he didn’t recognize.

“Shinichi!” the familiar voice of Akagi screeched at him through the line.

“Akagi, it’s you…”

“Yeah, it’s me. Now I KNOW you aren’t about to go to the convenience store, right!?”

“So what if I am?”

Akagi let out a deep sigh. “You know, a family’s not really a family if they aren’t eating together.”

“Who says we’re not eating together?”

“Idiot, I know you’re going to the convenience store everyday without Shuko!”

“And how would you know that!?”

“Because I can see the location of your phone!”

“What!? How!?”

“That doesn’t matter! What matters is that I’m putting my foot down! Go to the grocery store right now and buy some real food! And bring Shuko with you! That’s an order!”

“Ugh… All right…”

“I don’t want an ‘All right’! I want a ‘Right away, ma’am’!”

“What?”

“Say it!”

With a groan, Shinichi resigned and replied, “Right away, ma’am…”

“Good. Anyway, talk to you later!” Akagi hung up immediately.

Scratching his head, Shinichi looked over his shoulder. It was only 9:30, and Shuko usually didn’t get up until 11:00. Should he wait? Or should he just wake her up now? Actually, Akagi was probably expecting them to leave shortly, so he’d better just wake her up.

Quietly, he walked up to Shuko’s bedroom door. He placed his ear next to it, trying to hear if she was awake.

Nothing. She must’ve still been sleeping.

With a deep breath, he knocked lightly on the door.

Still nothing.

He knocked a bit louder. “Shuko?” he called.

He then heard some ruffling and then a muted thud.

“Shuko!?”

“Wh-what is it!?”

“Um… We’ve been given a task, I guess. Basically, Akagi wants us to go to the grocery store.”

“Th-the grocery store!?”

“Yeah, sorry. Just take your time, I’m ready whenever you are.”

“O-okay…!”

Shinichi went back to the living room and sat down. Shuko would probably take a while. She was a girl, after all.

In the meantime, he decided to start putting together a shopping list. If they were to make some food, something simple and easy would be the best option, and what was simpler and easier than scrambled eggs and toast? So all they’d need was bread, butter, eggs, and some seasonings. That would hopefully get Akagi off their backs.

After some time, Shuko had arrived, dressed in the same black outfit she had worn when they first met. “I-I’m ready…”

“Good.” Shinichi stood up. “Let’s get going then.”

The grocery store was thankfully quite close, but the walk there felt like an eternity. Walking side-by-side, not having a word to exchange, the only noise being the wind and passing cars.

And Shuko’s behavior certainly didn’t help.

To call her nervous was an understatement during her best moments, but right now she was incredibly jumpy. Her steps were small and shaky, and she kept her head down.

Before too long, however, the two reached the grocery store.

“I’m only picking up a few things. It shouldn’t take too long.”

“O-okay…”

The two walked in. Shinichi only planned on grabbing a few things, but as he walked through the aisles, something dawned on him.

Him and Shuko totally looked like a married couple!

They technically were, of course, but it was still embarrassing.

Nothing could be done about that, though, so Shinichi grit his teeth as he picked up a carton of eggs.

“U-um…” Shuko mumbled.

“What is it?”

“C-can I have this?” She held up a limited edition package of chips.

“What am I? Your mom?”

Shuko lowered the chips, looking dejected.

Shinichi groaned. What the hell was he doing? “Go ahead…” he said as he rubbed his eyes.

Shuko held the chips close, looking very satisfied. “Th-thanks…”

After only a few more minutes, they had finished their shopping trip.

It was hardly an intense workout, but the trip had actually given Shinichi quite the appetite, so he was more than ready to get breakfast made.

He laid out the ingredients on the counter. Eggs, toast, butter, salt, and pepper. Nothing could possibly go wrong with a meal as easy as scrambled eggs and toast.

But just as Shinichi was about to get started, he heard a murmur, “U-um…” It was Shuko, of course.

Looking towards her, he asked, “What is it?”

“Can… C-can I make it…?”

“You want to make breakfast?”

“Y-yeah…” She looked down. “I’ve been, um, looking up recipes online…”

Letting Shuko cook seemed like a really bad idea to Shinichi. “Uh, maybe it’s not…”

But Shuko looked back up at him, her eyes pleading.

And he just couldn’t find it within himself to refuse, and with a sigh, he reluctantly agreed, “Okay. Go ahead…”

She smiled brightly and nodded her head. “Th-thank you…!”

Having a girl cook for him under any other circumstance would’ve been a dream come true, but he just knew that something was going to go horribly wrong.

The trouble started immediately. She picked up an egg and stared at it intently before tapping it against the counter. As nothing happened, she tapped slightly harder.

Shinichi could barely watch. Surely she can crack an egg, right?

Moving on from taps, she smacked the egg against the counter, causing it to explode everywhere.

She really didn’t know how to crack an egg.

Shinichi really should’ve stepped in, but it almost felt like it was too late.

Shuko, however, was not deterred by her failure. She grabbed another egg along with a spoon. Holding the egg over the bowl, she smacked it with the spoon until it cracked, falling into the bowl.

There were probably some shells in there, but whatever worked, right?

***

“B-breakfast is ready…”

Shinichi sat down at the table, confronted with the specimen before him.

The toast was burnt and had a glob of somehow unmelted butter on top.

The real problem was the scrambled eggs, however. They looked fine at a glance, but the more you looked, the worse they got.

There was obviously way too much pepper, the color was a weird off-orange, they smelled funky, and he could swear there were some egg shells in there too.

Shinichi’s disgust was palpable, and Shuko took notice.

“Y-you…don’t have to, um, eat them…” Shuko hung her head in shame.

“No! No!” He’d feel like a real monster if he just blew off a girl’s cooking. “They look…really good…” Shinichi cleared his throat as he slowly grabbed some with his fork.

He gulped hard as he shoved the bizarre scrambled eggs into his mouth.

They immediately hit him like a train. A cacophony of flavors he couldn’t describe that were equal parts disgusting and bizarre.

But he still choked the “food” down. Letting out a few coughs as it cleared his throat.

“A-are you okay!?” Shuko said, genuinely concerned.

“Of course… Never better!” But Shinichi knew he couldn’t stomach even just one more bite of…that… “D-do you have any ketchup?” he asked, practically pleading.

“Y-yes! I’ll go get it…!” She scrambled to bring him the ketchup, slamming it down on the table in front of him.

Without hesitation, Shinichi poured the ketchup on the scrambled eggs, completely drenching them.

When he was done, he picked up his fork yet again, grabbing a bite that was more ketchup than egg.

Yet that smell still managed to cut through.

But it was too late to go back now. Without another thought, he threw the food into his mouth.

And that was when everything went black.

***

About an hour later, Shinichi woke up. He was lying on the couch with a blanket over him.

“Finally awake, huh?” Akagi leaned over the couch and looked down at him.

He squinted his eyes. “Akagi?”

“That’s right.”

“Where’s Shuko?”

“Just in her room. Give her some time alone, she was bawling.” She sat down across from him. “You really gave me a scare, you know.”

“How?”

“Well, I got a random call out of nowhere. I pick it up and I hear Shuko. ‘Akagi! Akagi!’ she cried. ‘I killed Shinichi!’ So naturally I rushed over. But I wasn’t expecting such an incident.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

“Hey, Shinichi. I’m not blaming you. Food poisoning can be serious business. You really need to be more careful, though.” She stood up. “Although… I can’t say I’m not proud of you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I saw those eggs Shuko made… And you actually tried to eat them?” She smirked at him. ”You’re a real softie, aren’t you?”

Shinichi scoffed as he looked away, his cheeks heating up. “That had nothing to do with it…”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Akagi walked towards the door. “But thanks anyway. This week’s report is shaping up to be very solid.”

Shinichi sighed. “I don’t care about what a stupid report says.”

“Of course you don’t,” Akagi said sarcastically.

He groaned. Akagi had the wrong idea. He didn’t eat that garbage for this stupid program, he ate it…

He ate it for Shuko…