The Otaku Tastes Progress

“And this is…”

“Kotone desu wa!”

“Oye, you’re not some ojou-sama character, get a grip.”

I sighed at this little brat’s usual theatrics.

“Kotone-chan…” Ichika nodded, still trying to regain her composure after my sister's earlier comment. Luckily, I managed to dispel any misunderstandings and maintain my reputation following Kotone's audacious remark. Seriously, her idea of a joke was way out of line. I had to wonder though, when did she even learn that word, and most importantly, what it MEANT, in the first place?

I made a mental note of checking her browser history later and proceeded with reintroducing my fake girlfriend.

“And this is Ichika.” I finally said, settling back into the couch. Thankfully, we had relocated to the living room, since well, being on the floor was quite uncomfortable.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Haruhi’s…” Ichika began with confidence, but her words trailed off. What were we? And what should we introduce ourselves as? 

She must have thought.

Fake lovers? Friends? Acquaintances? Strangers sharing a secret?

Although the last option might be the easiest, I had an inexplicable desire to avoid it being mentioned.

“Girlfriend, yeah we know…” Kotone yawned, utterly bored. She really had the attention span of a 10 year old.

“What?!” Ichika almost jumped from her seat, flashing me a side eye.

“She’s just pulling your leg, idiot. Don’t go with the flow…” I sighed once more, while Kotone tilter her curiously.

“Hm?” She smiled all adorable and precious, “I bet you’re just faking it, and you’re coercing my brother into this…”

“WHAT?!” Now I was the one to jump from my seat. What the hell is up with this precocious little know-it-all?!

“W-wha?! B-but! You—“

Again Ichika started stammering.

“Heh, don’t worry, I won’t say anything…” Kotone flashed us a grin, bringing a finger to her lips.

“How old was she again… 10? Is she some sort of child prodigy?” Ichika whispered in my ear.

While I entertained the possibility, I doubted it. Or perhaps I refused to believe it. There was no way she got those smarts from our parents. Why wasn't I born a genius too were that the case?

“Onii-chan!” My sister suddenly exclaimed dramatically, throwing herself over my back and wrapping her arms around my neck.

The fact she only used “onii-chan” when she needed something, kind of pissed me off. And yet, I didn’t find it any less adorable. Damn it, she’s always playing the little sister card!

“Can we get pizza for dinner?” She asked, reverting back to a cute 10-year-old girl.

“No pizza for you, you’ve been bad.” I however firmly refused, causing Kotone to tighten her grip around my neck.

“B-But—“

“I can cook!”

Ichika cut the stuttering Kotone off, and raised a hand, her face fighting the embarrassment and pushing through her uncertainty.

“Huh?” Me and Kotone uttered in sync.

Ichika cooking? No bueno...

“Kotone, let’s get it! Pizza gang!” I made up my mind.

“What?! But you taught me how to cook last Saturday didn’t you?!” Ichika huffed, puffing out her cheeks.

"I taught you how to make cookies, with my supervision, mind you! Not dinner!" I shook my head fervently.

“But I found this recipe for curry on the internet and—“

"Oh, spare me, why today? If the house catches on fire, I can't even run out in time with a leg like this!"

“Just sit by the door!”

“That’s your concern?”

I shook my head, and turned to Kotone who nudged me, still hanging from around my neck like some new type of silver-haired monkey.

“I like curry. Onii-chan likes curry too.” Suddenly her eyes sparkled with newfound anticipation.

“Yeah, we like MOM curry, Not Ichika curry. There’s a very distinct difference between those two.”

“Like what?” Ichika looked at me, eyes glaring.

“Like being edible.”

“Hmph!” Ichika turned away with a huff, clearly irritated.

Ah, here we go again…

<><><><><><><><>

“Marvelous, Ichika onee-san! Then you cut the meat in small pieces while…”

I zoned out as Kotone, yes Kotone, gave Ichika a few pointers on her newest cooking endeavor. Believe it or not, there was a possibilty our family had an innate talent for cooking, since both I and the 10 year old Kotone seemed to grasp its secrets fairly easily. Although her little hands and legs didn’t exactly enable her to cook, she possessed a fair knowledge of basic techniques.

Thus, I left Ichika in my sister's care and gazed out the window, propping my chin with my arm as I sat at the counter across from them. I wasn't about to overload the chapter with more cooking details, so I simply observed. However, my leg continued to dampen my mood, leading me to bark a few orders here and there.

“No! Don’t do that!”

“You’re burning it!”

“Quick turn it off!”

“Ah!”

Despite a few mishaps, the cooking proceeded smoothly, and soon it was time to focus on salad prep.

"Are you supposed to be of any help here, Onii-chan?" Kotone crossed her arms over her oversized tee, which served as the dress of the small shut-in princess. "Because you definitely seem more like a nuisance..."

“Me? A nuisance?” I raised a brow, slightly offended.

“Yeah go lie down; you’re barking just like grandpa!”

“Hey, grandpa is alcoholic!” I retorted, while Ichika gave a dry laugh.

“What does that have to do with anything…?” She shook her head, brandishing a knife.

I instinctively gulped.

“Ah-no, Ichika-chan? Maybe put that down… yeah?” I tried to appease her as she turned around and arched a brow.

“Hm?” She looked at me and smirked. “You won’t believe it, but I’ve been practicing!”

With a very proud puff of her chest, she picked up a tomato and got to work.

Slice. Slice. Slice.

Hm, not half bad…

Her technique was raw, but she still seemed capable enough to NOT cut off one of her fingers.

Yikes, why did I imagine that?

Soon it was time for the onion.

“Ah, I’m getting emotional again…” Ichika sniffled, “Do I secretly love onions that much?”

No idiot, you're just experiencing the—

“Ouch!”

With eyes blurry with tears, it seemed Ichika had misplaced the knife and had dug a cut in her index finger.

Wincing, she raised it up to the light, and a droplet of blood dripped down her hand.

“Ah…” I shook my head. “Kotone.”

“Aye.” My sister saluted like a soldier, and brought Ichika to sit opposite of me.

In our house, after mum, I was the next doctor in training. Whenever Kotone or anyone else got hurt, I had taken the responsibility upon myself to help. Why? Because A) My father is incapable of helping anyone with something as delicate as a cut, and B) Kotone was a brat. She got hurt a lot when we went outside together in the past.

Before, she became a shut-in, that is.

“Let me see it.” I gently held Ichika's finger, trying not to cause her any pain as I tended to her wound.

“Tch.” She winced again.

“Huh?” I uttered, taken aback. It wasn’t the cut that caught me off guard though. I mean not just the one, that is.

Upon closer inspection, Ichika had various small lacerations on a few of her fingers, cleverly hidden beneath bandages that matched her skin color. She really did seem to have learned using a knife the HARD way.

I sighed.

Why was she practicing so hard? Did she suddenly take a liking to cooking?

As I inspected that the cut wasn’t deep, Kotone brought over the first aid kit. And of course she knew exactly where it was…

“This will sting.” I I warned as Ichika looked at me and nodded. I pressed a cotton pad against her cut, trying to stop the bleeding, and then applied disinfectant. I carefully dressed it with a penguin-patterned band-aid, the kind Kotone loved.

“There we go. All better now.” I chuckled, remembering the days where I used to say that to my sister.

“T-thanks…” Meek throughout the process, Ichika smiled shyly and withdrew her hand.

“Wait.”

But before she could, I caught ahold of it again.

“Good job on trying. You’ve improved. Just try not to hurt yourself so much…”

I gave a light smile, the likes of which Ichika usually scoffed at.

This time though, her face turned red all the way to her ears, and she averted her gaze.

“I… I will. Thanks.” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Not like you’re one to talk though…”

She muttered that last bit, yet I heard her all the same.

“You know I really was worried about you, back at the game…”

Her tone was low, and her eyes didn’t meet mine as she spoke.

“You… were?”

“That stupid number 17, I hope he hits his baby toe repeatedly against the coffee table and his floor is wet enough so he’ll slip—“

“Pfft!” I laughed at her inward cursing, “You know he DID receive some sort of ominous message back at the dressing room, or so I heard…”

“Heh.” Ichika smirked back at me, eyes glowing like a super villainesses.

“Wait… you were the one who did it?”

Apparently, someone had left a piece of paper with the words "we're looking for you 17," presumably drawn with blood. Their team left in quite the hurry.

I would have never thought Ichika would be the one who wrote it…

I smiled at her weird idea of revenge, while she gave me a knowing thumbs up.

“Bleeeeeeeh… Teenage love is yuck!” Kotone, of course, decided to butt in and threw her tongue out in mock disgust. And also, herself on the counter, like some kind of parkouring, murdering, game character.

“Get down from there you little—“

<><><><><><><>

After that little incident, cooking concluded and the table was set.

It was finally the moment of truth: Tasting

Brandishing a shiny spoon, and wearing my fictional, mandatory monocle, I inspected the food.

“Hm, the golden caramel color of the meat and sauce goes well in contrast to the extreme creamy whiteness of the rice, therefore…”

“Oh crap, Onii-chan is writing an essay again!” Kotone winced, as she saw me flip through my notepad like the seasoned professional that I was.

With an exasperated sigh, Ichika, glared. “Just. Eat.”

“Just do it.” My sister gave a thumbs up.

“Kotone, this isn’t an ad.”

At last, I got to tasting.

With a spoonful of both meat and rice, I prepared to taste HELL, AKA Ichika’s cooking.

As I savored the food, my face contorted in contemplation...

The texture isn’t the best, and the rice, while not machine gun ammo, is still not the best in terms of texture…

The sauce was rather spicy for my taste too, maybe because Ichika dumped a whole lotta pepper on it during prep and tried to play it off?

Nevertheless, there actually was great improvement since the last time. It wasn’t the best, yet it wasn’t the monstrosity she had tried to serve me during our first dinner either.

With a chuckle, I looked at her and smiled.

“Mediocre.”

“Eh?” Suddenly Ichika’s face dropped, looking at her plate.

I wanted to be honest with her.

“But edible. You’ve improved, my kouhai!” I gave a cheeky wink, causing Ichika to roll her eyes and look away.

She couldn’t really hide her smile though, as the corners of her lips curled up.

“Seconds!” While I and the bespectacled tsundere were having a moment, my sister had already licked her plate clean, her face full of sauce and rice grains.

“Stop eating like a brute for once…”

“Oh, Kotone-chan…”

Reaching towards Kotone’s face simultaneously, we started wiping her face clean, having to waste several tissues to get her sparkly clean.

“Double service! Kotone-chan is unbeatable!”

“Just sit still…” I hissed, as Ichika giggled to herself.

What was she laughing about, I couldn’t help but wonder.

Our dinner continued, and I too, came to finish my meal with satisfaction.

I really had a soft spot for curry, so I even asked for seconds.

I had to wonder though, if that soft spot was curry exclusive.