Sparks were flying.
And somehow, crackling away rather adorably.
I couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on, but one thing I could tell: the four of them were in a subtly prickly mood. It wasn't the kind of air that said a full-blown showdown was coming. If anything, all four of them looked a bit like sulking children.
I clapped my hands together.
"Um. Well, since we're all here."
I opened the fridge.
"Why don't we all make something? A late-night meal, together."
The suggestion was accepted more readily than I'd expected. Probably all four of them had been at a loss for how to lower the fists they'd raised.
Rei warmed the oden broth back up. Mahiru beat the eggs. Yume sliced the bread. Rui swayed beside me, keeping an eye on the oil while I fried the cutlets. Frying was the one thing I took on myself, since I was worried about burns.
In between, I worked in the gaps between their hands, checking the heat and adding a pinch of salt here and there.
Before long, a peculiar menu was lined up on the table. Oden steeped in broth. Fluffy, soft omurice. Honey cheese toast. Juicy minced-meat cutlet sandwiches.
Four separate "specials," one for each of them, all lined up together on a single table.
"...Let's eat."
The four of them put their hands together, nobody in particular going first.
A bite of oden, a bite of omurice, a bite of toast, a hand reaching for a cutlet sandwich. They were sneaking tastes of one another's "specials."
"...Oh. This oden is delicious," said Mahiru.
"Right?" said Rei, a little proudly.
"This toast is insane. Why didn't you say anything all this time?" said Rui.
"Because I told you, it was just mine," said Yume, pouting.
And at some point, the four of them were laughing.
Tasting one another's "specials" one by one, they were all chiming in at once—"No fair," "So good." The crackling sparks from earlier had melted away into the steam without anyone noticing.
When I thought about it, it was only natural. If there were four hungry people, I'd make food for four. That was all. I wasn't singling any one of them out for special treatment.
And yet all four of them had convinced themselves it was "just me," and somehow that struck me as funny. And just a little bit endearing.
"...You know," Mahiru said with feeling, her cheeks full of omurice.
"When we all eat together, it tastes even better than usual."
The four of them nodded, again and again.
I watched the scene from across the counter. Deep in my chest, I felt a slow warmth.
"It's lively tonight."
When I said that, all four of them looked at me at once. And then, for some reason, they exchanged a quick glance and smiled.
"Say, Mr. Manager," Rei said, tilting her sake cup.
"There's something we've decided."
"Yes?"
"That we're going to get to know you better. The four of us."
"...I see."
I didn't really understand what I was being told, but I nodded anyway. The four of them smiled broadly.
I had a bad feeling about this, somehow.
That night, after the four of them had gone upstairs, I carried the empty plates to the sink, tilting my head all by myself.
"...Sparks, huh."
I tried murmuring it, but I still didn't understand what it meant.
At my feet, Komugi was looking up longingly at a scrap of cutlet left on a plate.
"Shall I make you a secret late-night snack too?"
When I stroked his golden head, Komugi wagged his tail happily.
The late-night meal we'd made together really had been the most delicious. That, at least, was the one thing I understood clearly that night.
"Mr. Manager, aren't you some kind of psychic?"
One morning, Mahiru said it to me with a perfectly straight face.
It had started three days before.
Early October. There was a night when Mahiru came home looking dejected.
"What's the matter?"
"No... It's nothing. I'm just a little tired."
With that, she went upstairs.
I stood in the kitchen and thought for a while. I glanced at the calendar. October seventh.
Come to think of it.
I took the ingredients I'd prepared out of the fridge.