They sat in the living room with Tibaut looking quite annoyed.

"Alright, so why the hell are you here?"

Louise then got up and went through the front door she was previously banging on.

"?"

He wondered if she was leaving but she soon came back with some white plastic bags.

"These."

"Alright, what are they?"

"Ingredients for pork cutlets."

He squinted his eyes and looked at the bags. They were pretty big. Whatever she bought looked like enough to serve a family get-together.

"Alright, maybe I wasn't being clear enough so I'll be more direct. Why the hell have you shown up at my house at past midnight with ingredients for tonkatsu? Are you gonna cook or something?"

She placed the bags down at a nearby table and explained.

"Yeah actually."

"Huh?"

"You don't really come out much to buy food, so I thought I'd stock you up. Plus you like Japanese food right?"

Miguel was struggling to find words. He always thought she was a cruel harpy who only showed up to his place to either cry, ask for money or annoy him but who knew she had a caring side? As he thought he remembered something. He quickly pulled out his phone and looked through his emails. There it was.

"Stock up my ass, you used my card to buy that. Wait a minute, how the hell do you spend three hundred dollars on food, what did you buy? Diamond-encrusted pork?"

"Alright the costs were more than I expected but trust me, I asked some guy at a restaurant about it and he said this was the good stuff."

"When did you become friends with a chef?"

"Oh, I didn't, I just asked some chef at the Japanese restaurant I went to a few days ago. Man, their cutlets were amazing."

"Ah,"

What had happened soon became apparent to him. She had gotten some good food at a restaurant and wanted to try to make it herself. And she used his wallet to pay for it. He sighed and looked through the bags. There was a lot of pork, a lot of bread crumbs, a meat tenderizer that felt quite hefty and some other ingredients.

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"sigh Whatever, I'll put these in the fridge until you're ready for them."

"What do you mean? We're making it now."

"Now, I think my hearing might be going but did you just say "we're"?" He asked while staring her down.

Notice how he had no problem with her cooking this late at his place.

"Yup, let's get to the kitchen." She said as she picked up the bags. He begrudgingly followed her.

The ingredients were laid out on a counter.

"Alright chef, I'll follow your lead." He said sarcastically.

"Give me a moment, I'm looking for a recipe." She said while scrolling through her phone.

He looked at her as if she was a piece of dogshit he stepped on.

"You're telling me you don't even have a recipe on hand!?"

She shushed him by waving her hand and kept scrolling. After a few minutes, her face lit up.

"This one." She said while pointing the phone in Miguel's face. Happy she finally found an ingredient he pulled out some pork.

"Wha- why are these pork chops with the bone on?"

"Oh, I was told they would work, we just have to cut the bones off."

"But don't you have other parts?"

"Why does it matter, pork is pork isn't it?"

"Yeah but… whatever I could use a midnight snack."

Louise quickly started looking through his cupboards.

"How many of these do I need to debone?" He asked with a knife in his hand.

She looked preoccupied in thought for a moment before responding "12". That would be around six pork chops per person including rice and other sides. This would be quite a bit of food they would be making.

"Alright." He responded.

However, they both possessed stomachs that had never tasted defeat so this was no concern.

When he finished with the pork chops he saw Louise filling a massive pot with oil, he couldn't help but cringe.

"(I've heard that it's pretty sketchy to deep-fry indoors but it should be fine, right?) Hey, what the hell are you doing? We haven't even finished breading the pork."

"Stop complaining, it shouldn't take more than five minutes."

The breading, in fact, did not take five minutes. It took about fifteen with both of them working together.

"Oi Miguel, you got a thermometer?"

"If you drip a piece of breading in the oil and it starts sizzling then it's good to use."

She then quickly googled something.

"Huh, it's true. Are you training to be a house husband?"

He gave her a quick pinch on the cheek before testing the oil. It was ready. With the amount of pieces they had ready, it took over an hour before they were done. Thankfully Miguel put some rice on the stove at the same time they started.

While most of the country was getting a good night's rest, they were gorging themselves on greasy foods and carbs instead.

Louise was scarfing down her meal with soy sauce and a bunch of other Japanese condiments she bought while Miguel was going the extra mile to make tonkatsu sauce for his serving.

"Man, this isn't as good as that restaurant one."

"Complain, and I'll kick you out." He responded.

They continued eating until she had a suggestion.

"Hey, what do you say we go there together sometime."

"W-well, I don't have anything better to do so why not." He said while trying to hide some mild redness on his face.

----------------------------------------

While gutting and skinning the rabbits Tibaut sighed as he put an end to his reminiscing. There was now a sizable pile of them by his feet on a sheet he was using to cover the ground beneath. He had a bitter smile on his face.

"I hope she's doing okay."