Once we returned to the cottage, Fate-san told me she would be the one handling lunch, so I sat back and waited quietly for her to finish.
Fate-san had absolutely no cooking experience. When I had asked her earlier if she needed any recipes or cookbooks, she had given me a confident—if ominous—response: "I don't need any of that. I'm sure I'll manage!" It felt as though she were practically planting failure flags in every corner of the room.
I steeled my resolve. More than anything else, the very fact that the habitually lazy Fate-san was making a meal was a wonderful gesture in itself; the taste could be secondary.
While I was lost in these thoughts, Fate-san emerged from the kitchen with a plate in hand in less than ten minutes.
"It’s ready!"
"Wait, already? That was fast."
"Yeah, well, I manipulated time for part of the process. Here, help yourself."
As she spoke, Fate-san set a dish down in front of me. On the plate sat an omelet with a beautifully golden-brown finish... No, it was Omurice.
"Oh, it looks delicious."
"It turned out quite well, don't you think? Oh, let me draw a heart for you with the ketchup... There! Now it’s perfect!"
"Well then... thank you for the food."
Contrary to my expectations, the dish looked perfectly appetizing. At the very least, nothing was charred; the whole thing seemed remarkably well-made.
After watching Fate-san add the ketchup heart, I took a bite.
"...It’s really good. The eggs are fluffy, and the inside is packed with ingredients. It’s not just 'okay,' it’s actually quite delicious."
"I'm pretty capable when I put my mind to it, right? I'm just glad you like it."
It was far better than I had imagined. In fact, it was probably better than anything I could make. The flavor of the chicken rice was distinct and well-balanced, and the eggs were cooked to absolute perfection. The seasoning was spot on—neither too light nor too heavy.
"Fate-san, you said you’d never cooked before, right? How did you manage to make it this tasty?"
"Fufufu. Kai-chan, I am a Supreme God, you know. I can do anything if I try. I just usually don't."
I see. I suppose it was a matter of her base specs being so high. Still, while the quality was impressive, her choice of dish was unexpected. Omurice was certainly a relatively simple meal, but in a world where rice was a niche ingredient—and considering Fate-san almost never ate—I was surprised she had even known to choose it.
"By the way, how did you even know about Omurice?"
"I feel like I remember hearing about it somewhere. But who cares about that! Kai-chan, since we're here, I'll feed you. Here, say 'ahh'!"
"Eh? Ah, okay... Ahh."
As Fate-san fed me a spoonful of Omurice with a smile, she seemed to be in even higher spirits than usual, appearing genuinely happy.
A few days prior to the trip, Fate had visited Alice's General Store and made a sudden request.
"Hey, Shaltan... Could you teach me how to cook?"
"Wait, what? What’s with the sudden uncharacteristic request? Are you running a fever?"
"Even I felt a bit weird saying it, but I want you to teach me at least one dish. Something Kai-chan would enjoy... and something that isn't too much of a pain to make."
"...That last part is very 'Fate-san' of you."
The fact that Fate, a hardcore lazybones, wanted to learn how to cook was a shocking revelation even to her long-time best friend. Alice looked visibly taken aback.
However, having no reason to refuse, Alice agreed to give her lessons. Even so, Alice expected Fate to get bored and quit halfway through, but Fate remained surprisingly focused.
Because her natural aptitude was exceptionally high, she mastered the techniques almost as soon as Alice demonstrated them. By the time the lessons concluded, she was capable of producing a very high-quality meal.
"I think being able to make it this well is more than enough... but seriously, what’s gotten into you?"
"It’s not for any big reason. It’s just that Kai-chan put so much work into preparing for this trip, so I wanted to do something for him too."
"And so you chose cooking? But Fate-san, if you used your Authority, you could cook without having to go through all this practice, couldn't you?"
Indeed, Fate possessed the Authority to govern destiny. If she wished, she could simply fix "a future where one can cook well" as a certainty.
Fate met Alice's question with a small, wry smile.
"Of course I could. I could fix a future where a delicious meal appears. But if I did that, it would just be me—someone who doesn't know the first thing about cooking—stumbling into a result where things 'just happened' to turn out well. I don't like the sound of that. I don't mind cutting corners elsewhere, but when it's for Kai-chan, I want it to be real."
"...I see."
"Yeah, I know it's really not like me. But working hard for Kai-chan's sake doesn't actually feel like a chore... Just kidding."
The Fate who smiled as she said those words looked as though she was truly enjoying the effort of practicing for Kaito’s sake. Alice, recognizing the change in her friend, wore a warm, heartened expression.
Serious-senpai: "Guhhh, that was actually sweet... The fact that it’s Fate, the queen of laziness, doing this makes the sugar content of this chapter lethally high. And she isn't even going to tell Kaito about the effort she put in!"
???: "Well, I suppose that’s just her personality. Fate-san can be quite straightforward. She likely feels that as long as Kai-chan is happy with the result, that's enough, so she has no intention of going around bragging about her own hard work."