Kou should have seen it coming. He really should have. Okay so maybe because she couldn't taste food didn't mean she would be terrible at it? Maybe she had a secret talent or something where she could make delicious meals or something...

Or maybe Kou had set the bar too high. He looked at the disastrous kitchen in front of him. At least Yumeko wasn't blowing up the kitchen like Teru.

Kou sighed and looked at the vampire who had found the floor to be much more interesting. "Nee-chan?" The vampire whined as she was addressed by the younger boy. Okay so she wanted to surprise him for all he did and for helping her bond with Teru a little more and she had overheard some classmates mention how food was always a safe choice for gifting.

Though she couldn't taste human food and could really only drink blood. But those were little details.

Back to the current issue. Yumeko had decided to prepare Kou a bento for the next school day. And though it took some time to gather some simple ingredients and even more time to find some recipes that looked relatively easy, she had still messed up.

Turning the flame too high, not adding enough oil, adding too much oil that when she dropped anything in the pan, the oil jumped. Cue Yumeko initiating a fighting stance.. well, you know. Common mistakes anyone could make.

After hearing her reasoning, Kou couldn't really stay mad. "Nee-chan, you owe me a clean kitchen."

Like that, the vampire ended up cleaning the entire kitchen, not just the mess she had made; Kou ended up helping midway as well because he couldn't let her clean up alone.

"Kou, I'm sorry." She was sitting in front of the blue eyed teen, sulking at her failure on cooking. Kou scratched his cheek while thinking of what to tell the vampire to comfort her. "Um, at least it wasn't as bad as Teru-nii." The two laughed at that statement because it was true. Teru had unfortunately blown up the kitchen multiple times in his quest to "cook".

"Yeah, I guess that's true. But I still feel a little bad about not being able to help you much. I'm the older one, I should be doing things that would burden you. But well, you're great Kou, really." The teen who had just been complimented, bashfully grinned while telling her to stop. He was a humble child, after all.

Though it might be a long shot, a thought occurred to Kou just then. She might not be able to completely taste the difference between something but she could probably learn well!

Or so she and Kou thought.

She could break the eggs well and mix it well with some salt and dashi that Kou added but when it came to actually putting the mixture into the pan; that was something she couldn't handle very well. Even though Kou was instructing the vampire well, she was far too cautious to continue cooking everything in a timely manner. Well, at least she wasn't blowing up the kitchen like his older brother, Kou thought.

"But what if I put in something else than what you taught me? You know I can't exactly taste human food..." The vampire sulked at the thought of further messing up what seemed like a simple thing. But Kou, bless his heart, couldn't let the vampire stay pouting and instead sat next to her whilst poking at the burnt piece of food that was left on a plate.

"Well, even I wasn't perfect when I first began, ya know? I'm not sure if you remember too well but when I first started to learn how to do things, I messed up a lot too! And well, though Nii-chan might look perfect he totally sucks at housework." He laughed at this bit as even when they were younger, it became clear that Teru just would not be a good recommendation for cooking or housework in general.

"Yeah, that's true. He's cute but not the house type." Yumeko giggled. Least she wasn't that bad. Grinning at Kou's encouragement, she stood up with newfound energy.

So there they stood by the kitchen counter again. Six eggs lay in the carton, a cup half filled with dashi next to it. Following closely again to Kou's instructions, the ruby eyed vampire mixed the eggs and dashi, adding a pinch of what she assumed was sugar and whisking again. The pan was heated and some oil was added but this time following Kou's instruction, the silverette turned the flame low and whisked the mixture one last time before pouring some of it into the pan.

She gulped as she rolled the egg into a roll and repeated what she had done before until everything was in the pan. As the last egg roll was rolled one last time, she turned off the flame. Kou gave her a thumbs up as the egg roll was placed onto the cutting board. There were a few sides that were a bit darker but they weren't exactly burnt and Kou would definitely call that a success.

Yumeko grabbed a nearby knife and cute small lines into the roll, eyes widening as steam poured from the slices.

"Thank you for the food!" Kou exclaimed before he took a bite, huffing and puffing as the eggroll was still too hot to eat. A simple mistake but he was excited to try it. He chewed carefully but quickly before putting two thumbs up in approval.

"Well, I can see you two had fun. Kou, did you finish your homework already?" Teru's teasing voice surprised the two inside the kitchen. Kou laughed nervously before he dashed out, muttering something along the lines of, "Uwaah, can't believe Nii-chan was jealous of that."

The younger brother had only eaten one piece of the roll, leaving the rest alone as he fled.

The vampire and exorcist stood in front of each other, waiting to see what the other would do. Yumeko pouted, all she wanted to do was learn how to do something to pay back Kou's kindness and here Teru was butting into their time.

"Did you really have to do that?"

"Hm, I don't know what you mean." He stole a piece of the eggroll off the cutting board before Yumeko snatched the board away from the teen. Her lips were downturned in a frown. While she did want to know what he thought of her cooking (every girl at school would mention how their boyfriends always enjoyed their food), she also didn't want Teru to steal away food not meant for him...

(And as selfish as it may sound, she only wanted to give him her best.)

"W-well?" She admitted defeat to herself internally. Teru paused as he licked his thumb to get rid of the remaining food. He finished chewing and swallowed before opening his mouth to answer. However, his mouth was then covered by Yumeko's hands, preventing him from answering.

"Actually don't answer that." The blonde blinked owlishly before nodding, satisfying the ruby eyed teen in front of him.

Yumeko began to clean up the bowls and pans that had been used, paying no more mind to Teru who sat down and finished the remaining egg. It didn't taste bad but it was far from being as delicious as Kou's. But for her first try (so he assumed), it didn't taste terrible.

He stared at her figure, watching the vampire move back and forth from washing the dish to placing it onto the drying rack. He should probably offer some help. Drying dishes was something even he could- "Teru, please stay where you are. I'm almost done." Oh, did she perhaps have eyes on the back of her head?

So he asked, "Huh? What kind of question is that? I just said what Kou did the other day when you offered to help." Not to mention the three dishes he had broken that one time so long ago. Yumeko hadn't been witness but from what she had heard, one would have thought that a whole cabinet of dishes had been broken.

He smiled wryly before sitting back down, continuing his observation. Teru enjoyed these small bouts of quiet between the two, though it wouldn't be too long before the youngest came around and asked to play or for a snack. He would rather hold a conversation with the vampire but even just enjoying each other's companionship like so, it was nice and relaxing and very much so needed sometimes. Because not always did you need to be speaking to your partner. Just enjoying each other's company was enough.

"It was good by the way."

He didn't turn back as he heard a plate crash onto the floor. Kou rushed into the room after hearing the sound, only to find Yumeko crouching on the floor with her hands covering her face. It looked like visible steam was also pouring from her head. Though the young exorcist could not see the vampire's face, he did see the tips of her eyes a dark shade of red. Kou scratched his cheek, wishing his brother would stop teasing the vampire so much. It wouldn't be too good for her health later on.

Yumeko on the other hand continued covering her flushed face with her hands. Teru really shouldn't tease her so much.