3.2

That girl, Willow von Brandt

The light was shinning through the blind of the shaking window, dancing on top of Hiro Hanazawa’s eyelids. The young man, still two third asleep heard a rustling noise and soon there was no light. He decided to wake up nevertheless, greeted with Suiren retreating to her seat. To lay his eyes on this beauty every morning was a blessing, Hiro remembered his room, so barren and devoid of life.

“Good morning” He said, always a creature of habit. Something was off however, out of the ordinary, there was no reply. Of course not Suiren, but from another voice.

Hiro: {Good morning}

Momo-chan: [Ah… good morning]

Hiro: {What’s wrong, sleepyhead? Too busy fantasizing about Suiren’s lips?}

Momo-chan: [Wah, what are you even talking about!]

Hiro: {Do you want to kiss her?}

The young man could practically hear the voice went down in flame. Was he truly that innocent? Hiro could see a face in his mind all red from blushing, but strangely enough, he couldn’t fit his face in at all.

Finished putting on his working clothing, it was time for a new day.

The dining room was rather populated. Doraemon as talking to Jim, their conversation seemed rather one-sided. Conrad and Malcolm were sitting together, doing origami like usual. The von Brandt were all there, chatting among each other. The rest was probably in the kitchen san Fleur who was recovering from a violent hangover. They all turned to look at him, even Doraemon. Hiro stood in place, what happened? Was his zipper still open or something.

“Good morning, Hiro!” Luckily, Willow was there to break the ice. For once, she wasn’t dragged away by her brother immediately.

Speaking of the devil, here he was, appearing from behind the girl. Such serious expression, which was par for the course for Johann, but it was extra tense today like he just drank black coffee in the morning.

“Hiro Hanazawa, there is something I need to talk to you ab…”

“Come on, Jo, let the man has his breakfast first~”

Everyone returned to do whatever they were doing as Willow led her herald into the kitchen. They encountered Eikichi who was on his way out, snacking on some handmade takoyaki. The man said ‘hello’ to Hiro with voice of respect and offered him some. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse, but before the young man could take a bite, it was swiped by an invisible girl.

“I will make some more later then” Eikichi said, looking amused.

“Thanks”

Inside the kitchen, Mara was sitting with Haruka and Hotaru. ‘That’s strange’, Hiro thought to himself, for once he didn’t see Doraemon hanging around the old lady. They all said ‘Hi’ then returned to their own conversation.

“5 minutes, that fast!” Haruka said in amazement.

“Y…ep” Hotaru replied, taken aback by the little girl enthusiasm.

Mara looked at them both, giggling “It’s just like you to fuss over food”

Hearing that made the little girl self-conscious, she tried to deny everything to no avail, getting all flustered. Hiro wondered what they were talking about but his thought was interrupt by the sound of growling stomach, his stomach.

“That wasn’t me!” Haruka felt the need to clarify that.

“Yeh yeh” Mara brushed that off to the little girl distress.

Hotaru laughed awkwardly, all traces of that confident and heroic woman from yesterday was gone. She was like someone straight out of an action movie, completed with one-liner. The Hotaru now was back to her stuttering phrase.

Meanwhile, Willow was whipping something up for her herald, ‘a humble breakfast’ she said. Apparently having set everything up, the cooking started immediately. Soon the room was filled with the smell of crispy bacon, Haruka couldn’t help but drool slightly. Despite his view being blocked by the counter, Hiro could see that Willow was using her own fire power instead of the stove.

The young man turned back and see Mara, cleaning Haruka’s drool, the little girl completely unaware of that.

“Children, they are so absent-minded” The old lady said, a hint of sadness in her voice “Mr. Hanazawa, do you have a younger sibling?”

“Yes, a little sister” He answered politely.

“Really! You never told me about that before!” Willow chimed in from the kitchen “What’s she like, what’s her name!”

Hiro laughed weakly against the barrage of questions. Come to think of it, he never mentioned his sister to his group despite them having travelled with each other for a while. The young man wondered why, guess that no one brought that up. But still, maybe he should have mentioned her before.

“Her name is Yuuko, lovely girl that one, she is still in school though. Her grade is really good and she is a nice girl, umm” Hiro stopped, struggling to find what to say. That was kind of all, really, he was never good at describing. Even Momo-chan couldn’t add anything else.

Luckily, Willow didn’t push further, too occupied with her cooking. Hiro did want to have Suiren made the food to see what it would be like. But he could try this instead, although the young man was filled with doubt.

Mara, however, was still curious “So what was she like, as a kid?”

“Well, she was always nice, listen to her elder and do her homework” Hiro had to hold back trying to scratch his head.

Momo-chan: [Yuuko was also really energetic] The voice added but that was all he had.

‘Oh right’, Hiro thought to himself, his little sister was always cheerful and rowdy. But now… maybe she would be more explosive at school, he wasn’t the most talkative brother after all. That girl seemed like she was doing well at least.

It was now time to dine as Willow brought out his breakfast, humble was definitely not a word to describe it.

The main attraction was the sizzling sirloin steak, well done with sea salt and a hint of pepper. On the sides were strips of crispy bacon, its colour of supreme juiciness, wrapped around a small potato treat. But that wasn’t all, even the pancakes were the prettiest, like temptress luring one in. Hiro could spot multiple thin layers within that dishes. Even the simple egg was transformed into something else, mixed with lobster on top of breadcrust, with a topping of caviar on top. That was to say nothing of the salad, expertly mixed with a tomato on top and sprinkles of… gold dusts!

Needless to say, everyone in the room had their eyes wide open. Even to the Llandudno group, Willow’s reputation as a bumbling overzealous fan of Hiro was soon established. No one, even the young man himself, expected such a luxurious offering.

“What’s wrong?” Willow remained oblivious to her spark of brilliance, as if this was the most common occurrence. Hiro could still remember vividly how she enjoyed Caron’s simple cooking, he didn’t expect the girl to be capable of this.

“Isn’t this too much for just me?” The young man replied awkwardly. Just looking at this meal made Hiro’s remaining kidney screamed out in fear.

“I was so excited that I made too much” Willow put her hands on her face, blushing “But if you don’t like something, you can try you another dish!”

Why was she acting like a normal girl now, everyone in the room thought.

“Well, I don’t mind some help” Hiro looked at Haruka.

The little girl didn’t even try to deny it, she looked at the potato bacon with longing eyes. Mara decided to try out the egg dish while Hotaru settled for the pancakes. That left Hiro with the main attraction, the steak.

They all took a bite, saying it was ‘delicious’ would be a gross understatement. The food tasted even better than it looked. The young man was blown away by the simple steak, it was evenly seared, with just the right amount of seasoning. Hiro could immediately tell this would be the best steak he would ever taste in his world.

The main course was the simplest among the dishes, however, the others were also having a time of their life. Haruka, of course, had the strongest reaction. After taken a bite of the potato bacon the girl could barely stopped herself from drooling. Luckily, Mara was there to place a handkerchief over her mouth. The outer layer was crispy, but the inside was juicy, the steamed potato had absorbed the flavour and fat of the bacon. There must have been other ingredients, but the little girl couldn’t tell what, this was by far the best treat she ever had. She had to hold back from finishing it all to save some from the other.

“This… this is…” Haruka was at a lost for word, she could die for this flavour.

Meanwhile, Mara was also taken aback by the best egg dish of her life. The taste of lobster was unnaturally rich and yet it went well with the main ingredient and the caviar. The outer layer of breadcrust was so thin that it only provide texture to the combination.

There was an overlap among the dishes, however, a sign of amateurism, not like the eaters cared. The pancakes also had thin layers of lobster and caviar and also truffles.

“Th…is is not… how this wo…rk” Hotaru said in amazement, how could all these flavours went with what had to be the softest pancakes. Even the sauce had hint of alcohol but it all just worked, somehow.

Even the salad tasted better than usual even if it tossed vegetable. Hiro wondered if he let the rest affect his taste bud but there was something else in here. All and all, it was a breakfast of their life, but the food ended up rather short, not enough for four people.

“What are you doing?” Hiro asked as Willow had been in the kitchen ever since setting down the tray of food.

“I figure this wouldn’t be enough so I am making some more” The girl answered.

Mara chimed in “Don’t worry, we already had breakfast before” Despite saying that, she still looked forward to what in store. Luckily, Willow made enough for all of them.

This wasn’t a particularly fancy looking dish, paper wrapped around big lump of fried rice. Haruka picked one up, still warm, and poked at the outer layer to find white rice within. The four looked at one another and took a bite almost at the same time.

What followed next was a nuclear explosion.

Everyone senses of taste and smell were assault by the violence of curry, hidden within the rice. It didn’t take long for this offer to be finished, Hotaru practically ate it in one bite even. The woman looked around to find no one was witnessing that act of gluttony.

Meanwhile, Willow seemed like she was making something.

“You don’t have to make anything else” Hiro said, never sounding less convincing.

“This is just something I want to make” The girl said.

The four rested their battered mouths in the meantime, luckily there was tea to tide them over. Then came the final dish which was surprisingly…

“Miso soup!” Haruka exclaimed in surprise, she certainly didn’t expect to see this. Willow answered “I asked Mr. Kira how to make this, had been wanting to try ever since”

Everyone tasted the soup slowly except for Haruka, who gulped it down in one go. The little girl then proceeded to kneel in front of the chef “Please marry me!”. The other laughed, even Hotaru who managed to not be awkward this time. That reminded Hiro of something he once heard, about how a wife must know how to make good miso soup. Willow certainly hit it out of the park on that one.

“Your cooking is amazing, how come you don’t cook more, Ms. Willow” Mara complimented the chef, who was not being zealous for once.

“No, this is nothing, Alva is way better than me!” Willow humbly replied.

That certainly prompted a reaction from Haruka “Wait, she can cook!” That girl was always eating and fawning over others food. No one expected her to be master chef.

“All the daughters of the von Brandt must learn how to cook” Willow explained “I am probably the worst since I skipped that for combat training all the time. All those dishes wouldn’t go together at all!”

No one here really minded that, seeing that it was the best food they ever had.

“I really want to meet with your sisters now!” Haruka said, imagining all the possibilities “And nieces” The little girl remembered Alva, she could tried and ask her to cook some time later, definitely.

Hiro rested his stomach, today already started out explosively. He certainly learnt something about Willow, she always seemed so unbalance it was strange to see her like this. But now that the young man had taken a closer look, she looked just like a normal girl.