Couple months ago

It was a drab day in Spring. It was raining outside. Naoki was walking around the school. Seeing as how he had finished his classes for the day, and was really bored, he decided to hit up Kyouji's room.

"(I wonder what he's doing right now...)" he thought to himself.

"(Probably advancing on those machine schematics he told me about a while ago... either that or the spirit summoning program that he's been working on for years now... or lunch...)"

After roaming the hallways for a bit, Naoki finally reached Kyouji's room. Before entering, he noticed that the blue glow that would typically be seen underneath the door's little "window" had been blocked off by a thick, dark gray smog.

"What the?"

In a semi-worried haste, Naoki kicked the door down and let a blast of smoke escape out of the room.

There, his older brother-figure lay defeated on the ground.

Naoki ran up to Kyouji, fireman carried him down the hall where the smog could no longer catch them, and laid the victim down on his back.

"Kyouji! Dude, what happened?"

"Akwhedlkffggggghhhffffffeeeeellllll"

"...HUH?"

"The...I...Idoneschmokedthebeefzazatooharrrrdddd."

"...What are you saying???"

image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1080766067762270228/1080777149302186024/750fxe.png?ex=65e982a8&is=65d70da8&hm=10addd25c557dc9d6d263a299bf9114d10b79b6f919405f52dbc5b4859e6b9ca&]

.

.

.

After a couple of students calmed the smoke down, Naoki waited for Kyouji to catch his breath.

"Alright so..." started Naoki. "What happened?"

"I failed, that's what happened" responded Kyouji in a rather sour and stifled mood.

"That's...not a concrete answer, but it's a start..."

"I was grilling lunch in my room-"

"Naturally."

"Yeah- and for once, I was using a skillet instead of the griddle this time because lord forbid I try something new."

"Was it Chicken?"

"Yes, it was actuall- how did you know?"

"The smell of your first burnt cooking failure sticks with you..." responded Naoki as he looked down in somber remembrance of his own cooking failure (it happened the week prior).

"Projecting, but okay. Anyway, I tried getting all fancy by trying something new and one thing led to another and in the end... it failed..."

"Hm. Yeah, it happens to everyone, don't sweat it… Also what happened to the fire alarms? Shouldn't we be getting bombarded with blaring noises?"

"I disabled them. The principal knows it's me so he already knows not to do anything."

"Oh- right. I forgot you can just do that because it's... you"

"Anyway going back, I understand what you're saying but-GOD"

Kyouji gritted his teeth as he pounded the ground.

"I did EVERYTHING RIGHT. I don't GET IT."

Kyouji started gnawing on his right hand's proximal phalanges.

Naoki stared at Kyouji with a neutral expression. Not in a disdainful or sympathetic way, rather in a "I'll wait 5 minutes before I'll say anything" type of way.

After 5 minutes of calming down passed, Kyouji re-slicked his frazzled hair back, dusted himself off, took a deep breath and stood back up once more.

"Well, that's annoying. As much as i'd like to remake myself some lunch, my ego is hurt as is, and i'd prefer to eat food now instead of waiting another twenty minutes. Even if it means going the 'Makoto-way' and shamefully cooking myself the edible plastic known as Cup Ramen..."

A voice echoes past the hall. "I heard that."

"We know" they both said in unison.

"But you know what?" Continued Kyouji. "I'll just take this as a learning experience..."

"Exactly dude" responded Naoki. "No matter how experienced you are, on top of how experienced you think you are, especially within the realm of hobbies compared to the actual talented 'skills' that you possess, you're still only human. And face it dude, we're still young. Instead of comparing yourself to grillmasters who have been doing this for longer than we've been alive, it's just a fluke. It all happens to us. Chin up guy, it's not that big of a deal."

Kyouji looked back at Naoki and forced a smile.

"Heh... yeah... I guess you're right. Now, how about that Ramen for lunch. I'm lightheaded as is, so how about I eat before I pass out again" chuckled Kyouji.

"Tch, of course dude."

Throughout the entire walk back to the cafeteria, Naoki noticed Kyouji's clenched fist.

Naoki kept up his cheesy demeanor. Yet the knot in his chest felt otherwise.

"(Oh Kyouji… No matter how hard you try to keep your cool, you can't fool me)."

Stolen novel; please report.

A couple weeks afterwards.

It was a bright and beautiful day. The sun was radiating it's contagious joy more than usual. After weeks of constant rain, the heated payoff commenced. The green grass dried from its prior state of mud. The birds were chirping vigorously. Kyouji was outside with his above-average charcoal grill.

"I have an hour and a half to enjoy myself."

For the first time in a while, he smiled.

He lit up a cigarette, inserted earbuds into each of his ears, began playing some emotional punk music, the ones where teenagers in the 90s screamed into the mic with little actual vocal talent, and began prepping the grill.

He didn't know what it was. He knew he had work to do, and despite being tired, his body didn't miss a beat in putting on his usual tank top, jeans, and boots combo. He worked in the lab for a couple hours and despite feeling physically tired already, he still looked forward to the rest of the day.

As the coals were heating up, he ripped open all of the steak packages and stared.

"Black Pepper, Pink Salt, Cajun, Kosher Salt, Chicago Style, and Adobo..."

Despite making all the possible combinations within his mind, calculating the salt levels, the umami percentiles, the aesthetic, the synergies, despite it all, he still felt as if something was missing...

"..."

He whipped out his phone.

"Uh, hello?" picked up Naoki.

"Are you hungry right now?"

"...Only a little bit..." responded Naoki. The background noise was filled with shuffling fabric. "Why what's up?" continued Naoki.

"I'm in a good mood. Come outside, you'll season your own steak."

"Woah shit, that's one hell of a breakfast but I'm not complaining. What type is it?"

"Filet Mign-"

"Be there in 2"

"Bitchin' "

In a minute and 13 seconds, Naoki walked all the way from his room to where Kyouji stood.

"Did you...walk all the way here?" asked Kyouji.

"...Yeah?"

"In less than two minutes."

"....yyyyyeeaaahhhhh???"

"I don't think that's how that works."

"Uh, I specialize in Ki remember. My walking speed is like- a lot of people's running speed"

"...You are one hell of a character," chuckled Kyouji.

"?????????"

"Come on now, these steaks won't flavor themselves"

"They kinda do but, you're right, I'd prefer if they had a bit more... spice.... eh? ...eh?"

Despite Kyouji's usual response, this time he actually wagged his finger and smiled.

"You know... I actually kinda liked that one."

"...the hell happened to you dude?"

Kyouji stared at the sun.

"I don't know. But I think we're going to find out real soon."

"... ok dude, you're actually starting to freak me out."

Kyouji looked back at Naoki and gave a joking squint.

"Shut the hell up dude-" Kyouji pulled out one of his earbuds and tossed it at Naoki. "-and put this on."

Naoki, in a grossed out manner quickly cleaned any visible ear mucus from the ear bud and put it on.

The next song came up

Despite it not being Naoki's cup of tea, the song itself was inherently good. Coupled with Kyouji's rare yet infectious smile, it wasn't long until they both started head banging to the song's beat.

Pretty soon, as they both poured the coals and seasoned their steaks to their preferred tastes, they began dancing and grooving alongside each other.

In pretty quick fashion, the steaks cooked to savory colors. The grill marks tattooed its innocent and raw flesh. The seasonings glistened and encrusted the broadsides. Beautiful red, brown, black, and gold marked each steak in unique patterns. Perfect amount of marbling on each slab. So thick and so rich it felt as if they were grilling chunks of greek pillars. A chewy, bloody, thick, pungent aroma filled the air; said aroma was so dense, it tricked the brain into believing the person was already eating.

"Oh my god..." wavered Kyouji aloud.

"I KNOWWW" agreed Naoki.

"I realized something, Naoki. The prior times, we always had Well Done steaks, and that's all good and whatever, I love them because lord forbid I eat raw meat but... Medium well has always been my favorite. But the reason that happens is because we're always so busy with cooking 2-5 other things that some of the food will inevitably be disproportionately heated. This time, we'll prevent that. A true experience. We learn from the past, right, is that not what you said?

"...yeah?"

"And thus we shall. Otherwise, what would be the point in learning? We are the best organism on this planet for a reason. And by GOD, WE WILL GRACE GOLDEN MEAT ONTO OUR TONGUES TODAY NAOKI. AM I RIGHT OR AM RIGHT?"

"Hell yeah!"

"You're goddamn right."

Kyouji chuckled.

"You know Naoki, I don't know what's with me today, but I'm glad I spent it with you."

Naoki, caught off-guard from the sudden rubberbanding of personality, couldn't help but blush.

"Tch, naturally..." responded Naoki, looking away and tipping his hat downwards so as to hide his expression.

The process was done. They both saw on the internet that steaks should rest for a bit before consuming so that the juices could be transferred to the rest of the meat.

But no matter how hot it was today, if they waited too long, their steak would inevitably get cold.

...

They let it rest for 20 seconds.

They simultaneously cut into their slabs.

A beautiful gray surrounding a dark pink core. Juices overflowing the necessary amount.

They diced their first cube and inserted it into their mouths.

An instantaneous explosion of flavor and juices gushed into their mouths. The sear crust greeted the tongue elegantly. The overflowing amount of umami triggered the taste buds automatically, letting a sea of saliva pool out of both of their mouths.

"OHHGGGMYYGGAHHHDDD" exclaimed Naoki as said pools drowned his sentence.

"YYOUOOOUUU TOO NNAAOOGGGIIIII???" asked Kyouji.

The sensations.

The sensations, the sensations, the sensations.

His skin being kissed by the sun, the explosion of flavor that graced his mouth, the presence of one of his loved ones, the satisfaction of eating something that he cooked with his own hands, the experience of learning from his mistakes, the joyful noise that played within his ears, the casual yet beautiful sight of summer grass and lively wind, a scenery bestowed by nature. A sight so whole, it will be carried deep into his soul until the day he died. It all unlocked a new level of "awakening" within Kyouji.

Even if only temporarily, Kyouji took a glimpse of the universe.

Despite the wilting body, the late projects, the minor victories, the relationships- both frayed and prospering, the unstoppable forces of nature, the inevitable experiences brought upon by chance, fate, luck, karma, and/or one's own consequences, despite the passions, the roadblocks, and the march towards oneness, despite it all, despite it all,

this stream of water carries on.

Kyouji opened his eyes.

He shed a single tear.

And let out a heartfelt laugh.

"I am here. I am now. I am happy."

For the first time ever, Naoki saw Kyouji glow.

The brother greeted him with a smile.

"(I don't know what's gotten into you. I don't know what you've been going through. And though I may be ignorant to what you're experiencing, seeing you like this makes me happy. In due time, I hope I'll get it too. But for now, I'll enjoy this time with you)."

"Welcome back, dude."

I love you so much.