Fuuka looked with fear at the grill iron in front of her. She was planning to make something edible for all S.E.E.S. as a way to thank all of them for their hard work, and specially for being with her since she joined the team. But there was something that was restricting her, the fear of the things not coming the way she expected, Koromaru already proved his disgust on her food. But, what if she forgets some ingredients in the frying pan so that the olive oil catches fire!? That could start a fire in the dorm!
Fuuka quickly denied her thoughts, she couldn't let those feelings ignite inside of her. She needed to make an effort not just for them, but for herself. She needed to improve not just as a S.E.E.S member, but as a person! Fuuka sighed in a way to calm herself before placing the eggs in the bar on her left. She gently walks to the grill and turns the gas knob, looking at the electric spark igniting a small flame in front of her.
"Ok, let's go Fuuka"
Fuuka put a small slice of butter on the frying pan, seeing how it started to spread across all the iron. While she was waiting for the butter to heat up the frying pan, Fuuka walked back to the bar and paid attention to the chicken pieces and garlic placed in a crystal plate. Fuuka took a knife and started cutting the ingredients carefully.
"Fuuka?" A gentle voice took her by surprise, she lifted her face quickly towards the other side of the kitchen's window, noticing her close friend Y/N taking a seat in front of her.
"Oh!, Y/N! What are you doing here? I-I thought you would go out with Junpei and Makoto." Fuuka tried to hide her nerves that his presence provoked her.
"That was the original plan, but Makoto had to stay a little longer in the high school, while Junpei quickly fell asleep in his bedroom. So, I was left alone for the rest of the afternoon." Y/N laughed slightly while paying attention to the girl in a hurry. His curiosity made him get up from his seat.
"What are you doing there Fuuka?" Fuuka quickly looked towards Y/N trying to think in a lie, but seeing that her plan was compromised she had no other choice than spit it out. Besides, maybe his presence could calm her down in the kitchen.
"I-I was planning to make dinner for all of us. I know I'm not the best in the cooking field but I wanted to try at least this one time." Fuuka looked at Y/N with determination. She was serious.
Y/N just smiled, if Fuuka had something, it was her determination in certain moments.
"Need help?"
Fuuka quickly shook her head.
"I need to do it myself Y/N, but you being here is more than enough" Fuuka laughed with nervousness while she was trying to avoid looking directly in his eyes.
The sound of the butter melting bringed to her some weird feeling towards Fuuka, on one side she was feeling excited for doing something out of her comfort zone. Her thing was the technology, the possibility of making something inside of a device so close to her but too away from being human made it so fascinating. She still remembered the moment S.E.E.S came to her rescue, she remembers the fear that was being alone in the gym with all those shadows, the fear of dying and cold she felt when the dark hour started, but above all, the moment Y/N helped her as soon as he find her. Now, she felt warm.
"You have that look you know?"
"W-What look?"
"You know, that look. The one that you have when we are in the dark hour and you navigate us. You are concentrating."
Fuuka looked towards Y/N, a little nervous but happy. Fuuka sighed in a way to calm herself down and keep cooking.
"It's just that I'm putting the same effort into this as the fight against shadows. I-I know this may sound like a joke…"
"Nonsense. I know what you feel. It's good seeing you doing more than you already do. It's something we need to do, all of us."
Fuuka looked directly at Y/N and his words. This was one of the few moments where she could open with him.
"I mean, we are always in a hurry. Not just with school but with all this dark hour thing, we don't have too much time to do other stuff than training or resting. Look at Junpei, he is really tired from the excursion to Tartarus of yesterday, I didn't want to wake him up." Y/N sighed slightly while resting his arm in the bar. "It's just, I'm afraid that maybe one day we won't come back and our lives will be summarized in this routine."
Fuuka dropped the spatula and looked directly towards Y/N. His eyes showed tiredness and heaviness. Signs that really all S.E.E.S showed. Fuuka turned her head towards the frying pan, the sounds and smells of the onions made her realize of her surroundings. Her heart is beating fast, but not for something bad, but for something exciting.
"Come here Y/N. Help me finish cooking. I need you to put the chicken pieces in the frying pan. I'm afraid of burning myself." Fuuka joked slightly in a way to improve the mood. Y/N looked towards Fuuka, perfectly understanding one of her rare jokes.
"Are you sure? You know my hands are kinda sensitive."
"But your persona has fire skills!"
Both of them laughed. Y/N quickly stood up from his seat and entered the kitchen, looking at the small place that Fuuka created in Shinjiro's palace.
"How did you convince Shinjiro to let you use his utensils?" Y/N told her while placing the chicken pieces in the frying pan.
"Mitsuru helped me. She intuited what I was trying to do. Jeez, now that i think about it, my surprise is not really a surprise as i thought." Y/N simply put his hand on her shoulder.
"Maybe not, but what you are cooking is a surprise. Actually, what are we doing?" Fuuka just chuckled.
"Omurice. I found an internet recipe and I'm testing it out."
"Internet?, Wow, i only know how to use it because of Makoto, he usually plays a online game"
Fuuka's heart beated faster, but it wasn't a problem, she was living a fondly memory with Y/N, she smell of the condiments and butter flooded the small room that was the kitchen.
The laughs were the only warm things that the cold damned city could hear. But that wasn't really the moment to think of it, for once they could think of other stuff than how many floors they could reach that night.
Mitsuru walked slowly to the wall, looking at the pair of students.
"Those are Fuuka and Y/N?" Akihiko asked while rubbing his eyes in a way to wake up from his nap.
"That's right, I thought maybe Fuuka could improve in some other things besides S.E.E.S, and I can see that Y/N joined her." Akihiko laughed without removing his view from his strict head of the student council.
"Be honest, was it your idea or Fuuka's?"
Mitsuru just rolled her eyes.
"Draw your own conclusions, today it was supposed to be training day, remember?"
"Yeah, don't remind me. Let's go back when dinner's ready."