Chapter Text
The raven-haired girl has been pacing around the room non-stop, muttering to herself 5W + 1H questions after the news she received from Theresa and Himeko. Kiana skipped her trainings and played hooky, for the fourth time this week. But that's not what worries Mei more than anything. Kiana would usually come back when she's hungry enough, yet the silver-haired Valkyrie skipped her lunch and some dinners lately. She also came home with bandages around her arm, avoiding her gaze from Mei's worried eyes or Bronya's interrogative one.
Did Kiana enters her rebelling phase?
Did she join a gang?
Was she involved in a gang brawl?
Mei was horrified. Her sweet Kiana will soon work under a Mafioso and forget her dreams of becoming a Valkyrie. Before she got deeper into her bizzarre imaginations, the tap on her back brought her back to reality. "Kiana is home." it was Bronya and her HOMU-plush, "Sister Mei is adviced to keep guard around the kitchen because subject Kiana is now around it." having a Kaslana around the kitchen spells disaster and if you can install barb-wires around the area to keep them out, there will be a military grade worth ones around the kitchen now.
"She must be hungry. Thank you for letting me know Bronya." Mei gave Bronya a pat on the head and rushed out of the room, ready to pick-up her apron and fry some chicken wings for Kiana. But when she reached the kitchen, the sight surprised her. The silver-haired girl stood there in white apron, looking very focused. Kiana was cutting ingredients on the chopping board in front of her, rather normally albeit a little messy. Some carrot peels were thicker than the others, same could be said with the potatoes, but it was not bad. "Kiana... are you... cooking?" Mei find it a little difficult to register the information into her brain, but she found it really strange that Kiana melts the butter on the pot with normal stove instead of.... Shamash.
"O-oh, Mei! I will make you dinner tonight, don't worry!" Kiana jolted with surprise when Mei called out for her, but she beamed with her usual happy grin afterwards. "Do you want me to help?" nothing seems to be giving out any emergency alert for now, but the raven-haired girl couldn't help but worry. Now that she looks closely, Kiana got small cut scars on her fingers which probably came from a kitchen knife. "I can handle this one, just sit at the living room and wait. Maybe play game with Bronya." Kiana gave a wink and wave her hand away at Mei. The taller girl blinked once-twice, then she walked towards the living room obediently.
What in the world actually happened?
Mei was staring into space, and minutes gone-by as she pondered about what happened. So far, the sounds that came from the kitchen was normal. No burnt smell, no screams, no fire-alarm going off.... this is historical moment. Bronya saw the statue-like Mei as she walked out of the room, "What happened?" was all that she could ask. "The world is ending." the older girl mumbled out, "Bronya... Kiana cooks." she turned to look at the grey-haired girl, eyes wide with shock. Bronya then felt the need to summon Project Bunny, "Do not worry, The Bronya will stop-"
"Dinner's ready!" Kiana's shout stops Bronya from finishing her sentence. Creamy smell wafting out from the kitchen, inviting the girls to come and taste it. "What are you guys doing? Come eat!" still with her apron, Kiana waved a soup ladle at the girls to come to the dinner table. Mei and Bronya looked at each other, not knowing what to say. The shorter girl dismissed her big robot and walked towards the table with Mei. A bowl of cream soup was already served on their respective seats. Normal cream soup. ".........it looks.... edible." Bronya said as she sits down, earning a tiny glare from Kiana. "Well, why don't you try it yourself?" the silver-haired girl sat down and get her own serving too.
"Let's eat." she said calmly as she begins to get a spoonful of soup into her mouth. Gulping down her saliva, Mei also took a spoonful of soup and eat it. "It's good." maybe missing just a tad bit of salt, but it was a nice cream soup. "The Bronya is genuinely surprised. Subject Kiana can cook." albeit devoid of emotion, the Bronya looks happy. Kiana was just smiling and continues to eat, "I am glad." she looks very relieved and Mei took a notice. Dinner went by calmly, and Mei volunteered to wash the dishes as Bronya goes back into the room to study. Kiana stood beside Mei and helped to rinse the plates.
"I am sure you have a lot of questions.." Kiana placed the plate on the dryer, glancing at the raven-haired girl beside her. "Yes... but I don't know how to begin and what to ask." Mei sighed as she hand Kiana the last plate to rinse, then she washes her hand and dry it on the small hand-towel by the sink. "Can I give you something before I begin explaining?" she rinses the plate and place it on the drier, wiping her hand on the apron. "Sure..." Mei leaned on the sink counter and watches Kiana took off her apron and rummages around her jeans pocket. "Close your eyes please." Kiana had her hand on her back, waiting for the taller girl to close her eyes. "Palms up, no peeking." the silver-haired girl instructed as Mei closed her eyes, eyes struggling to stay shut out of curiosity.
Mei felt something like a plastic over her palm, along with something soft like fabric. "You can open your eyes now." and on her palm was a little charred chocolate chip cookies wrapped in plastic and a ribbon tied over the covering. "A cookie?" she gasped and looked up at Kiana who stood timidly, a small blush on her cheek. "Yes... It's a late valentine gift. A very late one." she didn't give Mei one before because she got stuck with remedial exam during valentine's day, "I took a small crash cooking course that I found on the internet. They don't have weekend lessons so... I skipped trainings and joined their courses. I really want to give you back something because I always eat and never cook for you. Though I only did well on the cream soup for now, and the cookie was a little burned, sorry.." the silver-haired girl was fiddling with her cut-filled fingers.
Kiana didn't dare to look up at the taller girl, but then she heard the rustle of plastic unwrapping and the sound of a bite. "It's a little burned indeed, but it's still sweet and nice. Thank you, Kiana." she then looked up and saw Mei smiling softly at her. "O-oh, I am glad you like it." Kiana blushes and scratch the back of her head. Mei then took Kiana's hand, holding it as she went closer. She gave Kiana one kiss on the cheek, then a long one on her lips. The taste of cookie was still there from Mei's lips. "I am thankful that you went so far to show your love and care for me. Cooking for you is a happiness for me, and I was worried sick when you skip meals you know." Mei poked Kiana's waist as she hugged the shorter girl. "I had to eat all my cooking failures, so that's why I skipped meals.." it was a lot of failures indeed, she had to stomach all.
It was nice to be in Mei's hug.
"This doesn't mean I will let you off easily for playing hooky and worrying me so much though."
Oh no.
"Let's use your newfound skills to bake enough cookies to appease Theresa and Himeko, hm?"
With that, the Kaslana stayed up all night and baked a bunch of heart shaped cookies under the hawk-like observation of Raiden Mei.