CHAPTER 6
Just inside our house, James was just standing in front of me for ten minutes.
“Hey! What the hell are you up to this time, making me wait like this?”
“Do you know how to cook?” he asked.
“That’s all you wanted to ask? Yeah, I can cook!”
“What if you didn’t?”
“Then I’d learn.”
“Where?”
“Ask Mother or something?”
James handed me a book. A... cookbook?
“This teaches you how to cook.”
“Obviously…” I muttered.
“Of course you can, Kidmaru, but now let your brain figure it out on its own.”
“Wh-what? Eh? Huh!? You’re not making any sense!”
“What if you weren’t the chef?”
“Then I’d be the one eating?”
“No! Then how would you eat?”
“Buy food, obviously?”
“But where did that food come from?”
“Someone else made it…? Why are we talking about food?”
“You’re almost there…”
“Make someone cook for me?”
“Thank you, that’s all.”
“Huh?! Where are you going?” I grabbed his arm as he turned to leave.
“We’re done. Lesson’s over.”
“You just… Urgh! Why does it always have to be about food? Can’t you just tell me what you mean?”
James rolled his eyes, clearly bored. What a shabby teacher.
“When you read the recipe book, make someone else do it for you.”
“W-wha—!?” But he bolted through the door before I could say anything more.
“WAIT, COME BACK HERE!”
Already fed up with his cryptic nonsense, I grudgingly looked at the book he’d given me. But then… I was completely bamboozled. This wasn’t a normal recipe book—it was filled with weird drawings and sigils! Should’ve just helped Mom with the groceries…
“Make someone else do it for you.”
James appeared out of nowhere, as always.
“James—?” I raised a brow, confused.
“I forgot to bring the food I cooked earlier. It’s in the kitchen.”
“SHABBY MAGE!” I shoved the food he made, with our ingredients, back into his hands.
James peeked into the bag, his face deadpan. “This food is cold. Cook me a new one.”
“Shut up and go cook it yourself!”
“You don’t know how?”
“Of course I know how to cook.”
“But how?”
“Enough with that already!”
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“But how?” he kept pressing.
“Mom taught me, okay?!”
“So you trust it?”
Frustrated, I threw the ingredients down. “Fine! I’ll do it, you damn shabby mage.”
“Yes, I do. And I’d appreciate it if you just stayed silent.” I focused, making a simple soup. It wasn’t perfect, but it was Mom’s recipe.
James poured himself some of the soup. “You made soup because you trusted your mother’s process. What about magic?”
“I get it, okay? Trust the process!”
“Wrong.” He flicked me on the forehead.
“Ow! What’s that for?!”
“Because you know the process is correct. You know it will create soup.”
“It’s still trusting it, though.”
“Completely wrong!” Another flick.
“HEY! That hurts!”
“You know the process is correct, but you don’t trust yourself.”
“I can’t do it exactly the same. Mom will always do it better.”
He looked at me, almost concerned. “The recipe I gave you—do you trust it?”
“You mean that book with all the sigils? Why would I even try to use that?”
“I told you it’s a recipe book. Shouldn’t you trust it?”
“You never said it’d be all sigils… And I can’t even read—”
“You’re dumber than I thought.”
“You’re supposed to teach!”
“If you didn’t trust your mom, you wouldn’t have made that soup.”
“Well, what do you expect me to do? Use these sigils? I might as well blow up the house if I don’t know what they mean.”
“Do you trust me?” James stepped closer.
“Hell no.”
“Then trust the recipe book I gave you.”
“I SAID I DIDN’T TRUST YOU! SHABBY MAGE!”
Reluctantly, I opened the book, letting mana flow into it. “And I’ll have you know, I do know how to pour mana!”
A blob of water formed and suddenly floated over to James, splashing him head to toe.
“That’s… quite rude,” he said, unimpressed.
“I… I cast magic!”
“Yes, wasting way more effort than necessary.”
“So what? I still cast magic!”
James took the notebook from my hands. “Pouring more mana won’t make it stronger.”
He infused a page with mana, forming layers of magic over his palm.
“That’s…”
The water blob twisted, forming a slender, winding shape—a dragon. It hovered near me, controlled and fierce.
“You should’ve been able to do this much, but since you’re that dumb… Sleep well.”
And I blacked out.
“WAKE UP!”
I stirred, seeing a gaping hole in the wall the size of a goat.
“HOW ARE WE GOING TO FIX THIS?” I demanded.
“You pay me to get some planks.”
“SHABBY MAGE!” I gave him a good smack on the head.
Mom entered, saw the hole, and just smiled. “Go get changed, Komeharu. Thank you, James.”
“No problem, ma’am! I’ll get going.” James slipped out before I could object.
“Now, Komeharu-kun, I see what you did.”
“It was an accident! Really! James did—”
“You tried to recreate my soup.”
“Y-yeah?”
“Silly, did you follow everything I did?”
“Y-yeah…”
She chuckled. “You know some ingredients are out of season, right?”
“Y... yeah…”
“There isn’t exactly a recipe I follow.” She cleaned the table, hanging tattered clothes over the hole. “I just use whatever we have. Do you know why?”
“I just… trust that it’ll work…”
“But do you know why?”
I lowered my head, ashamed of the soup I’d made.
“No…” I admitted.
Mom lifted my chin, smiling. “Nothing to worry about. Let me teach you how to really make it.”
Together, we spent the next hour cooking, ignoring the hole in the wall. Mom just comforted me, showing me the proper way.
“We’re out of carrots, Komeharu-kun.”
“I’m sorry! I forgot to buy some…”
It was actually James’s fault. That shabby mage!
“These turnips will work fine.”
“Wh-what?!”
“Look, Komeharu-kun. Just because we don’t have carrots doesn’t mean we can’t make soup. Each ingredient has a purpose, whether it’s carrots, turnips, or spices. Carrots are sweet, but so are turnips. It’s how we cook them together.”
“Woah… that’s…”
“It’s not just about the carrot, Komeharu-kun. It’s about knowing the purpose of each ingredient and cooking them right.”
I took a bowl, and the soup tasted incredible.
“Thank you, Mother…”
Even though it was a small portion, her soup always tasted best.
Chapter 6 end.