Recipe to Satisfaction
"Ow," Megumi hissed as Yuuko snapped, "Who told you to run without watching? Truly, you still act like a little child!"
It was at this point, Nik silently patted Yuuko's shoulder and the woman coughed. Even Megumi looked away quickly as he pointed at the safety kit and then patted his own chest with a smile.
"Really?" Yuuko inquired. A simple word—really— that Nik already grasped. He had already heard the word 'really?' too many times as his 'retro' appearance had caused many similar questions when the customers would purchase something from Yuuko.
He then rubbed his thumb and index finger together, using the universal sign of money, to indicate that Yuuko was needed at the shop.
"You girls tell him which medicine to apply."
Yuuko added before nodding at Nik, however, she quickly looked away and walked out with hurried footsteps.
Opening the plastic box, Nik looked at the compartments built inside. The longest and largest rectangular section had three tubes and one bottle laid down horizontally. A small roll of cotton. And a pack of... stickers?
'I can do it... this should be an ointment,' Nik picked up a tube with a green label and Kurumi slapped her forehead with a mixture of amusement and exasperation apparent in her sigh, "Of course, he picked the rash cream."
Megumi glanced at him because of Kurumi's words and suddenly snorted a chuckle.
Kurumi moved her hand and pointed at the right way to complete the task when Nik realized...
These were just minor scrapes. Is his time really even productive here?
Looking at Megumi who once again didn't meet his gaze and then at Kurumi who looked absolutely done with life and all its mysteries, Nik stood up and silently walked out, shocking the two girls as they once again looked at their scraped knees, sides of the palms, and elbows.
They are hurt, right?
"Ah, did you get it done?" Yuuko inquired, knowing that Nik wouldn't understand but he should realize her questioning intent. At least, this is what made communication with Nik a bit easier and allowed Yuuko to quickly find a retro get-up from the cosplay shop a few stores away.
With a smile, Nik gave a thumbs-up and walked out. Once again holding the banner as women would come up to him, hug him, and enter the shop.
---
"You're lucky that my friend even decided to help your store out."
Kurumi spoke while cleaning her knee with cotton and antiseptic. Her knee bent up as the hems of her skirt slid up naturally. Meanwhile, Megumi scoffed at Kurumi's words and mumbled, "Some mannerless friend he is. I should have known. Shameless."
"Is that so?" Kurumi and Megumi locked gazes while cleaning their knees and then their elbows. "Who do you think made him wear that outfit? Aunty Amano must have thought about it... deeply."
Megumi glared at Kurumi, "Don't you talk about my mother! Besides, if anybody's mother should be shamed, it's yours!"
"Mine?" Kurumi snorted, "At least my mother didn't teach me to just flip my skirt in a bus full of people just because I like some guy."
Megumi blushed angrily, "That wasn't on purpose!"
"And what about popping your cleavage out? Or wetting your skirt? Hmm?"
"At least I don't try to sleep with every senior!"
"Yeah, because that's how a real woman scratches her itch. Of course, you wouldn't understand and would always try these stupid things. Isn't that right? Virginmano?"
Megumi slammed her hands on the table and stood up with a snarl, "Maybe that's why your boyfriend broke up with you and confessed to me on the same day!"
"Yeah, because that asshole cannot handle a woman and thought that you'd just be as sloppy as he is!" Kurumi shouted while standing up herself.
Both of them continued to glare at each other until they heard the sounds of footsteps and they quickly sat down only to find that it wasn't Yuuko who came inside but Nik. However, he wasn't interested in their room and walked past it before entering the toilet for a moment. After a few moments, he walked out, not before curiously glancing at the stuff they were actually using on their wounds. Looking at the bottle and the cotton in their hands, he understood most of it and walked away.
"Hmph, he's too good for this store," Kurumi mumbled.
"Oh, please, if it wasn't for my mother taking him, he won't have anything to eat!"
"Who said that?" Kurumi smiled, "He's living with us. Of course, he will have plenty to eat."
Megumi stopped speaking and looked at Kurumi in shock.
"That's right," Kurumi smiled with a smug expression, "You look at him here all you want. In the end, he will always sleep with me... I mean next to me. In the same bed, but within our sides... you understand, right?" Kurumi looked a little frantic at the thought of it. It was strange, sure. Maybe it was because of simply how withdrawn Nik had presented himself. At least, if there was someone else aside from Nik who could get a chance of peeking at their skirts while touching their legs then they wouldn't have walked away as if they had something more important to do.
"Oh, by the way, while you commence a strip show on the bus every day, Manabu barely looks at you and keeps on staring at my legs while I'm using my phone. At first, it was cute, now, it's just annoying."
"He does not!" Megumi stood once again but this time, Kurumi seemed to have lost her will entirely and looked detached once again.
"Whatever," she silently stuck band-aids to the affected region that Nik so conveniently identified as stickers.
Walking out, Kurumi gazed at Nik being hugged fiercely by a rather large woman as he kept on smiling and hugging everyone back in return. Looking at the equally happy Yuuko continuously charging receipts for the historic books or related fiction, Kurumi walked over to the woman and bowed politely while holding her bag with both of her hands.
"Sorry for troubling you, Aunty," Kurumi spoke before looking outside of the store.
"Nik is going to stay with us for a few days... and mom messaged me to tell him on the way back here that he should just come back with Souko-nee. Since he looks busy, and you are, too, I don't want to keep troubling you."
"He's staying in your house?" Yuuko smiled and nodded, "I will get the message to him, er, after I try and translate it properly. Oh, and do tell Souma-san that I will be making him dinner, as a part of our deal."
Kurumi nodded and walked out.
"Bye-bye," she waved at Nik who smiled and waved in return, instantly causing other women to turn their heads toward her.
"You smell so good~!"
The large woman hugging Nik squeaked softly as Kurumi's expression turned bleak once again. The short smile on her lips faded when she returned to her home once again.
---
"Here, you should try this!"
Megumi watched her mother, Yuuko, serve Nik another bowlful of soup as he quickly raised it and drank the contents directly from the bowl. If she had tried it, she would have earned a strict berating from Yuuko about table manners and whatnot, but when Nik did it...
"Did you see this, Megumi? He doesn't even feel the heat! And he just doesn't stop!" Yuuko laughed. Drunk. Her cheeks reddened and so did the tip of her ears as she once again poured Nik some soup and he drank it all over again.
"So? Do you think it's tasty?" Yuuko elbowed Nik's arm, "Megumi cooked it herself!"
"Mom!" Megumi snapped.
The store had earned a lot. So much so that Yuuko was already planning to turn this into proper employment after some time. They even ordered food from outside to celebrate and this might also be the first time Megumi saw her mother laughing so much. The effects of alcohol, she concluded, but still, this was also the first time she saw her mother drunk after...
Momentary sadness clouded Megumi's eyes.
Anyways, the food brought from the outside was over quickly and this time, since Nik had earned the right to eat, he demanded more... using bowls and constant patting of his stomach to translate and convey his desires.
With Yuuko being unable to cook in her current state, Megumi took the task and prepared the only thing she knew well. The miso soup. It was basic, really. But seeing her mother laughing and Nik drinking the entirety of her cooking, leaving nothing behind, made Megumi smile a bit.
"Excuse me... I'm here to lick~, I mean to pick, Nik. Is he here?"
Nik stopped drinking and looked up. Megumi stood up and walked out of the dining room while Yuuko leaned back on her chair, "Ah... maybe I should order more popular anime or something like that for your cosplay and increase the sales of comic books, too... say, handsome, you wouldn't think of me as a cruel person to only think of you... as a magnet to attract money, right?"
Yuuko looked at Nik while he sipped on the last bits of soup remaining. Seeing him, Yuuko snickered involuntarily, "Haah~ Yakima-san is always uptight. He should learn from you a little."
Or get drunk— Megumi would add.
Knowing that the voice belonged to Souko, Nik finally stood up, feeling content. Hugs and warm food until satisfied, he couldn't ask for more. Smilingly, he said what every girl said to him after hugging him.
"T-thank you," he figured this word once Yuuko also repeated the same words after she returned the change to the customers.
"Hey! You learned a new word! Sigh... they grow up so fast..."
Yuuko waved her hand as Nik left with a smile.
Walking into the store, he found Megumi returning and Souko at the entrance. Seeing Nik already here, she hurriedly sidestepped as he wore his shoes and then walked towards Souko.
"Oh, you're already here. You look happy," Souko smiled at Nik before nodding at Megumi, "Sorry for all the trouble my sister and this guy may have caused."
"N-no, nothing to worry about," Megumi hurriedly nodded.
'So... pretty...' Megumi thought. She had seen Kurumi's mother but only heard of her sisters. Souko looked so different from the inexplicable Kurumi whose entire vibe felt like she was entirely bored. In comparison, the elder sister looks...
'Warm...' Megumi wondered.
Nik smiled and waved at Megumi before leaving, making her think back to the time when he only wore suspenders and Megumi blushed momentarily.
'I don't strip on the buses!'
She closed the door while thinking about what Kurumi said and what... she said.
"I should just apologize for my words. I know Maa-kun would do the same..."
---
"And where do you think you are going?" Kurumi stood guard outside the bathroom as Mitsuko smiled, "I have to teach Nik how to do his laundry. You saw how he doesn't have too many things to wear and he's a grown-up. Even if he can't speak, he can learn to do certain things, right?"
Kurumi smiled, "Don't worry, mom, I will teach him once he is out of the bath."
"Oh? Don't you have your dinner to eat?" Mitsuko wondered out loud, "Nik already ate so that's why I let him into the bath so early."
"We should eat together," Kurumi scoffed and held her mother's hand before dragging her away. Mitsuko finally couldn't help but pout as she gave the door to the bathroom one last look of longing.
'I was going for 'dinner' itself...' she groaned internally.
Who knew her own daughter would become a fierce obstacle to her path of joy? It's as if she...
'Hehe, she's all grown up,' Mitsuko smiled and hugged Kurumi, making her yelp in surprise, as she brought Kurumi away instead of getting dragged by her daughter any longer.
Meanwhile, seeing that nobody was entering the bath, instead of letting the water enter the drain, he placed the stool on it upside down and then placed his palm on the floor. This was something he thought of while accidentally touching one of the customer's chests.
Infinity needed things.
His job, which happened to be the condition for his new life was simple: to provide Infinity with things. There were certain conditions on what could be provided and what not, but...
'This should work, right?' Nik thought silently. He had been doing this the entire day whenever he got the chance but with different items and substances.
*Fssh*
The soapy water quickly disappeared from the bathroom floor.
[Authority Rank: 0.00403/100]
After coming out of the bath and wearing the same nightwear Mitsuko provided last night, Nik returned to the living room and began to set it up like yesterday night before bringing the futon.
"Hey, isn't it just nine o'clock? He's sleeping already?"
Due to the screen partitions folded in, the Souma Family saw Nik setting his bedding as Kurumi shrugged, "He's tired... from the job."
"Oh, yeah, you met with him, didn't you? Did he do well?" Sayoko inquired.
"I... shut up!" Kurumi snorted and ate silently while the other three women exchanged questioning glances.
What happened to her now? They wondered but were not particularly fazed by Kurumi's sudden reactions. She can be shy at times, too.
***
Alternate Title: No Time For Minor Injuries; Got Scratches? Apply the even Itchier Cream of Rash!; The Devourer of Soup!; Drunk Mama is an Eager Mama; Souko is Here to Lick; Nik the Cleaner; Kurumi Takes a Stand; The Fiery Obstacle to Mitsuko's Pleasure— Her Flesh and Blood!; Hero Mitsuko Failed To Save Princess Nik from Dragon Kurumi!