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Sayaka was chilling on the couch. She didn’t have anything planned for the day and she didn’t have to worry about work for the next few days so she had the leisure to lounge for the day.
And even though she could’ve been doing so much more with her day, she’d been spending most of it scrolling on her phone. It was the same old same old, bands trying to get themselves off the ground, weird dance trends that she was a bit too old to get now, the shitstorm that was politics. The whole nine yards of what she’d see on her phone.
She dropped her phone onto her chest and sighed. Nothing interesting… Hmm… Kyoko won’t be back for a bit but Yuma will be back soon probably… Should probably see what I can do for dinner. She sat up and made her way to the kitchen.
As she went to the kitchen she started texting Kyoko.
‘I’m gonna start prepping dinner’
‘Is there anything you want in particular?’
As Sayaka waited on a response from Kyoko she started rooting around in the fridge. Ground beef… red sauce… some of Mami’s leftover cakes… milk… She took out the milk, opened it and gave it a sniff, recoiling almost immediately. “Ooo… throw that out…” She placed the jug on the counter and went back to searching. A few greens… half head of onion… “Hmmm…” She turned her attention to the cabinets as- Vrr-vrr vrr-vrr Kyoko had just gotten back to her.
‘Not really’
‘Long as its cooked I’ll be fine’
Sayaka saw that the texts were sent four minutes ago. Thank god only the faculty have phones there. She turned her attention back to the cabinets and started sifting through them. Like three different kinds of noodles… instant raman cups, those are for Kyoko… throw away cutlery for when we’re lazy… “Hmm…” She pondered again.
‘We have stuff for spaghetti and meat balls’
‘Would that be good?’
‘Yeah’
‘Might be a first timer for Yuma too’
Sayaka was pleasantly surprised by that, it was such a simple and effective meal that she just assumed most people had had it in their lives. But then again Yuma had had a rather turbulent life up until recently.
The familiar noise of the front door opening came from the front of the house. “I’m home.” Yuma softly announced.
“Welcome back!” Sayaka called to her as she walked into view. “How was your school day? Acclimating to the new school?” Sayaka asked.
“Mhm.” Yuma nodded as she opened the fridge and grabbed a yogurt cup.
“Nagisa’s a big help I’m guessing?”
“Yeah.” Yuma smiled. “I wanted to hang out today but she had music club…” She grabbed a spoon and opened her yogurt up.
Sayaka shrugged. “Yeah happens, Hitomi always had extracurriculars that would get in the way of her being able to hang out with us.” Sayaka chuckled a bit at how many times Hitomi would have to cancel her plans to do some form of special lesson or class that her parents had made her do when she was younger. “Also, how are you liking the yogurt we got you?” Sayaka asked.
Yuma pulled her spoon out of her mouth and swallowed. “I don’t really like the peach ones…” She answered in almost a whisper.
“Alright, we’ll avoid the packs with the peach ones in them.” Sayaka saw as Yuma flinched and looked up at her. “Yuma… I’m not mad, sometimes you just don’t like a flavor, I’ll finish them so they don’t go to waste.”
Yuma looked back down. “okay…”
Sayaka patted Yuma on the head. “Yet again, it’s fine, Kyoko will understand too.” Sayaka removed her hand from Yuma’s head. “Now I’m gonna start making dinner and you should probably get a start on your school work.” Sayaka gave Yuma a light smile.
Yuma looked back up at her. “What are we having tonight?” She asked in a meek voice.
“Just some spaghetti and meat balls.” Sayaka answered. “Have you had it before?”
Yuma shook her head. “What’s in it?”
“Just pasta, some tomato sauce and maybe a few meat balls.” Sayaka shrugged. “You’ll probably like it if you give it a try.” Sayaka offered to her.
Yuma took a few seconds to respond, no doubt mulling it over in her mind. “Sure!” She had been able to muster up a little bit of her courage to try something new.
Sayaka smiled. “Alright! But you should probably start your school work… I don’t think you should be repeating me or Kyoko’s biggest misgiving during our time in school…”
Sayaka opened the oven to check on the meat balls. Those look done. She pulled the sheet tray out and started dropping the balls into the sauce when the door opened. “I’m baaaack!” Kyoko hollered from the entrance. She suddenly rounded the corner into the kitchen. “And that smells really good.” She smiled at Sayaka.
“Yeah, the meat balls just finished cooking.” She said as she dropped the final one into the sauce. “I was gonna start the noodles when you got back. Also Yuma’s in her room.”
“Cool.” Kyoko looked around the kitchen. “She’s been eating the yogurt, yeah?” She asked.
“Yeah, she grabbed one when she got home.” Sayaka dumped a box of angel hair pasta into a pot. “Though she told me she doesn’t like the peach ones.” Sayaka informed Kyoko.
“Completely valid.” Kyoko waved her hand in the air. “Peach isn’t a good flavor in most things…” Kyoko looked over to Sayaka. “You’ll eat those though, right?” She asked.
“‘Course. I like peach, though I do agree that it’s a rather hard flavor to like.” Sayaka responded.
“Awesome, anyways I’m gonna go change into something more comfortable.” Kyoko said as she started off to their room.
“I’ll start setting the table. And if you could get Yuma too, that’d be great!” Sayaka asked Kyoko, who responded with a thumbs up.
SayakSayaka spun around and instinctively went to grab some of the paper plates from the cabinets, but she remembered that the noodles would have sauce on them so she grabbed three regular plates and… “Kyokooooooo!” She called.
“Yeah?” She called back.
“Do you want to be responsible or lazy tonight?” Sayaka yelled back.
There were a few seconds of silence. “We can be responsible, I guess.”
“Okay!” Sayaka went to grab the actual silverware, a fork for herself and Yuma while Kyoko got chopsticks. She then checked on the noodles to see they were almost done, so she placed the plates down on the table with everyone’s cutlery next to it. She then grabbed a few cups as Kyoko and Yuma made their way into the kitchen.
Kyoko joined Sayaka in the kitchen. “Almost done?” She asked and Sayaka responded with a nod. “Cool. Anything special you want to drink, my love?” Kyoko flirted.
Sayaka chuckled as she strained the noodles in the sink. “How about we have some of our sparkling water for such a romantic occasion?” She responded.
“As you wish madam~” Kyoko bowed like a restaurant server. “Yuma, would you like anything?”
“Uh… Could I just have water?” She asked.
“Gotcha!” Kyoko opened the fridge and grabbed both the sparkling water and the water filter.
It took another few minutes but the food was distributed around the table and drinks were poured and so the family could sit down. “Tell me what you think of it, Yuma.” Sayaka said as she dug into her plate.
“Mhm.” Yuma nodded as she twirled her fork to pick up some noodles.
Kyoko slurped up a few noodles and swallowed. “I like that you went with small meat balls.” She smiled as she plucked one from her plate and popped it in her mouth.
Sayaka laughed. “Well yeah? If I had made big meat balls we’d all only get like one, this is more bang for our buck!” She said as she speared a ball onto her fork and ate it.
“This is really good…” Yuma suddenly said in her usual soft tone.
Sayaka blushed a little. “I can make it more if you want.” She smiled.
“Really?” Yuma looked up with a glimmer in her eyes.
“Yeah, of course. If you ever want it again just ask.” Sayaka told her.
Her and Kyoko chuckled as they watched her start to scarf down the dish. Vrr-vrr vrr-vrr. Sayaka grabbed her phone from her pocket to see if it was potentially something work related and saw that Madoka had texted the group chat.
‘Me and Homura want to go by Mami’s bakery tomorrow’
‘Anyone want to join?’
Sayaka’s eyes widened. “Kyoko… Madoka and Homura want to go to Mami’s bakery tomorrow…” Sayaka opened her palms in Kyoko’s direction.
Kyoko’s face knit in thought. “Hmmmm… I have a shorter day tomorrow… We could go there a bit earlier than usual…” Kyoko said.
“Uhm… Ca- can I come?” Yuma quietly asked.
“Little family trip to Mami’s bakery after school sounds like a great thing to me.” Sayaka said.
“Nagisa probably wouldn’t argue with going either.” Kyoko shot out into the group.
Sayaka took a sip from her glass. “Then I think it’s decided, tomorrow after school, we’ll go get some desserts at Mami’s bakery!” Sayaka decreed. “Let me just text them our plans.” Sayaka started to type out her response to Madoka as they all talked about what desserts they were thinking of getting the next day.