Okonomiyaki

Today, Marie, Nicolas, Luke, and I were planning to go gather materials in the forest.

But when I woke up that morning, heavy rain was falling outside.

"Marie, it looks like we won't be able to go to the forest today."

"Yeah. I wanted to go..."

Marie looked terribly downcast and sad. I had to cheer her up somehow, so I hurriedly said,

"M-Marie, um... how about we all cook something today?"

When I said that as a desperate measure, Marie's face lit up, and she vigorously nodded.

"Big Brother! I want us all to cook together!"

"We'd get in the way of business at our place, so why don't we go to Nicolas and Luke's house?"

"Okay!!"

"Marie, it isn't guaranteed that we'll be able to, you know. Besides, we have to ask whether they'll even let us use their kitchen. We need to ask Nicolas and Luke first, okay?"

"I know~! I'm not a little kid anymore!"

Marie pouted and turned away. She was so cute when she got stubborn... My little sister was definitely the cutest girl in the world...

"Then why don't we go to their house after lunch service ends?"

"Okay!"

After lunch service ended, Marie and I went next door to the tool shop.

"Auntie, hello! Are Nicolas and Luke here?"

"Oh my, if it isn't Marie-chan. Hello. Didn't the rain cancel your trip to the forest today?"

"Since we can't go to the forest, we thought we'd all cook together instead."

"Really? All of you cooking together!"

"That sounds lovely~ I'll go call Nicolas and Luke. Feel free to use the kitchen."

"Thank you very much!"

It was great that she let us use the kitchen. What should we make? I thought okonomiyaki would be easy for everyone to make together, but we didn't have any sauce... Maybe it would taste good if we sprinkled salt on it?

It would probably taste good with salt! Probably...

Thinking about it made me crave okonomiyaki like crazy. I wanted sauce...

"What are you and Marie doing, Leon?"

"We can't go to the forest today, huh?"

"Nicolas, Luke. Since we can't go to the forest today, I thought we'd all cook together instead."

"That sounds good, but... Luke and I have never cooked before."

"That's okay. I've come up with a recipe anyone can make easily."

"Leon came up with one...? You can come up with recipes?"

Nicolas and Luke looked at me somewhat doubtfully. I could cook, too, you know!

"I can cook a little, too!"

"Big Brother's cooking is really delicious!"

Marie... You really are a wonderful little sister... Big Brother's going to cry.

"Well, if that's true, then fine. But do we have the ingredients?"

"Do we need to go buy them?"

"It would be hard to go shopping in this rain. Mom! Can we use the ingredients we have at home?"

"If you're making dinner for the family tonight, sure~"

"Really, Auntie!? Thank you!"

Great! Now we could make it. All that remained was to see whether they had the ingredients... If they didn't, I could just go get some from home.

When we went into the kitchen and checked, they had everything we needed for okonomiyaki.

"This is enough to make it. Let's get started."

"What should we do?"

Um, okonomiyaki was made by mixing shredded cabbage, eggs, flour, and water, then cooking it in a frying pan, putting thinly sliced meat on top, flipping it, and cooking it. That was all, right?

I was pretty sure that was right... I had no idea about the amounts, but I could just eyeball it, right?

"Nicolas, could you shred the cabbage with me? Marie, could you get the flour and eggs ready? Luke, could you go fetch some water?"

"I've never used a knife before. Is that okay?"

"It's not that different from a regular knife, so you'll be fine."

"Big Brother, I'll get everything ready!"

"I'll go get the water!"

Once Marie and Luke started getting things ready, Nicolas and I began cutting the cabbage.

"How do I cut it?"

"Watch me. I want you to cut it into long, thin strips like this."

"Got it."

Nicolas struggled at first, but he steadily improved. By now, he looked so natural that it was hard to believe he'd never cooked before. Nicolas is amazing... Maybe he's just good with knives?

By the time Nicolas and I finished shredding the cabbage, Marie and Luke had finished their preparations.

"Next, put the eggs, flour, and water into the bowl with the shredded cabbage. Use two eggs, about half of the smallest bowl of flour, and about half a cup of water."

That should be about the right amount...

"We're just putting the flour in as it is!?"

"I've never heard of cooking anything like that!"

"It'll be fine. Trust me, it'll taste good."

"It'll be fine! Big Brother's cooking is delicious!"

"Well, if Marie says so, I guess..."

Huh!? Is Marie more trustworthy than me...?

I had to do my best, too... For now, if I made delicious okonomiyaki, they'd trust me.

"All right! Everyone, put everything in."

Everyone followed my instructions, albeit warily.

"Next, we need to mix everything together evenly, but it takes quite a bit of strength. Could you do it, Nicolas?"

"Sure, leave it to me."

Nicolas was fairly large and muscular, so he was good at physical work.

As Nicolas mixed it, everything blended together more and more. It was starting to look like the okonomiyaki batter I knew.

"That's enough, Nicolas. Next we'll cook it, but first we need to light the stove."

I should have done that earlier... I kept assuming, as I would in Japan, that the fire would start right away.

"Come to think of it, does anyone in this house have the fire attribute?"

"Yeah, I have the fire attribute."

"You have the fire attribute, Nicolas!? Then lighting the stove will be easy."

"Ever since we found out I have the fire attribute, Mom makes me do it every day. I'm perfect at making a 'fire seed.'"

"Then please do it."

Just as he had said, Nicolas lit the fire right away.

I added a little oil to the frying pan, and once it was hot, I started cooking the okonomiyaki.

"Nicolas, could you slice the pork thinly?"

"Sure. How much?"

It looked like I could make about four okonomiyaki, so three slices each would make twelve. That should be enough, right?

"About twelve slices, please."

"Got it."

I placed the pork Nicolas had cut on top of the okonomiyaki and flipped it over. Apparently slicing the pork thinly had been difficult, and the pieces were fairly thick, so I'd have to make sure they cooked properly.

Thankfully, the shape didn't fall apart when I flipped it.

"Awesome! I want to try, too!"

"Me too!!"

Apparently, Luke and Marie thought flipping it was cool.

"One at a time, okay?"

"Yes!"

After that, Luke, Marie, and Nicolas took turns cooking the okonomiyaki, in that order. Luke and Marie let theirs fall apart a little when they flipped them, but they looked so happy to have cooked them themselves that I decided it was fine.

"Now all that's left is to sprinkle on some salt. Let's save three for dinner and eat one now."

"Okay! I can't wait to eat it!"

"It smells really good."

"It really does smell like it'll make you hungry."

Everyone seemed to be getting hungry. Cooking really did make you hungry.

I told everyone with a wry smile,

"I'll cut this one into four pieces, so could you get out plates and forks?"

"Okaaay!"

I cut it neatly into four equal pieces so there wouldn't be any fighting, and put one on each person's plate.

"Shall we eat? Itadakimasu!"

"Itadakimasu!"

Chomp... Delicious! Okonomiyaki really did taste good with salt.

But now I wanted okonomiyaki with sauce...! I wanted sauce, too, but I had no idea what sauce was made from... I wish someone would develop it.

"This is good."

"This is really good!"

"Big Brother! This is yummy too!"

It seemed everyone thought it was delicious. What a relief.

"I'm glad you like it."

With a relieved smile on my face and huge smiles on theirs, we finished eating the okonomiyaki.

After that, we all cleaned up. Marie and I were about to go home when Nicolas approached me, looking somewhat serious.

"Leon, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Talk...? Sure, I guess."

"Big Brother, what's wrong?"

"Marie, I just remembered I have something to take care of, so could you go home ahead of me?"

"Oh, okay!"

Marie said that and headed home. But what could Nicolas want to talk to me about...?

"Luke went upstairs. How about the living room? No one's there right now."

"Sure, I guess..."

So this was something he didn't want anyone to overhear? Worried about what he wanted to discuss, I followed Nicolas.