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"You'd make a great housewife," Karen sighs, "if you were a woman." And, as an afterthought, adds: "And if we weren't stuck here."
Hokuto gives his new friend a wry look. "Housewife or not, it's important to know things like these."
"Medicine and machines are important," Karen admits, peering over his shoulder to watch the meat reaching a boil inside the metal pot. "Cooking...well, it's not essential, is it? Did you cook? Before..." She does not finish but looks at him expectantly, knowing he would understand.
He does. "Yes, of course. I had chores in my...in my old life, well before I arrived here." Hokuto nudges her to get started on cutting the vegetables. He does not like talking about the past and he does not wish to associate it with cooking. Better to think of here and now instead of then, and right now he is preparing their lunch. That is all. "Do you wish to learn?"
Karen makes a face. "My B'T is not equipped with all these high-tech mechanism the Empire decided to grant to your genius," she tells him ruefully.
Hokuto merely shrugs. "You can cook for your sister," he points out. "I think Karin would rather have home-cooked food instead of those microwave-prepared things."
"You eat them when you're on a project yourself," Karen accuses, then adds, "And really, would it taste like home?"
Hokuto turns away. One of the things he finds disturbing with Karen is her insistence on talking about the past. The past is a closed book for Hokuto; there is nothing to return to. Yet Karen has something to live for, someone to go back to. She has a home with someone, and Hokuto has nothing but Max now—the Empire-appointed B'T that he only calls 'his' because it has Hokuto's blood. He does not reply.
Karen shifts and, as if she understands, takes up the knife. "I know how to use these on people, at least," she says lightly.
"Ah," Hokuto at last responds. Finally, death—a topic they are both comfortable with. "But can you use it on vegetables?"
"It's nothing different," Karen replies, shrugging. She lines the potatoes and the carrots on the chopping board. "What's a plant or an animal? The only difference is that one bleeds." And softly, she goes on, "I would love to learn how to cook."
Hokuto turns down the fire to let the meat simmer. It takes him a long time to reply: "I'll teach you."
This is home now.