Chapter 32: A Delicious Apology

"By the way, I’m hungry. You can make me something in a little while."

Eris said this while lying across the couch with her bare feet resting on my legs, and it sounded less like a request than an order I was expected to obey.

I turned my head and looked at her.

"You threw your socks around, moved into my apartment, and now you want me to cook for you?"

"There should be a punishment for ignoring my messages for two days."

"Does putting your foot on my face not count as punishment?"

Eris smiled without opening her eyes.

"That was merely how I chose to express my feelings."

"You should learn to express yourself through less physical methods."

"I might consider it if the food tastes good."

I lifted her feet from my legs, moved them aside, and rose from the couch. If I continued arguing, she might use her hunger as an excuse to actually bite me.

As I headed toward the kitchen, Eris sat up. The bottom of her loose shirt rode up again when she stretched, briefly exposing her firm stomach and the thin band of her black sports bra.

I turned my gaze forward.

"You can wait here."

"I’m going to watch you cook."

"Why?"

"I want to notice quickly if you set the kitchen on fire."

"Have a little faith in me."

"You once boiled an egg until all the water in the pot evaporated."

I wasn’t the one responsible for that incident, but since I couldn’t tell her that, I entered the kitchen without replying.

Eris followed on bare feet and sat on the tall stool beside the counter. She crossed one leg over the other, rested her elbow on the counter, and began watching me as though curious about how the kitchen would be destroyed.

I opened the refrigerator and checked what was inside. There was a packet of chicken breasts, several mushrooms, some cream, and a few vegetables I could use. Once I noticed the pasta in the cupboard, I decided what to make.

"What are you cooking?" Eris asked.

"Creamy chicken and mushroom pasta."

One eyebrow rose.

"Really?"

"No. I’m going to throw everything into a pot and watch what it turns into."

"That answer sounds a little more like the Noctis I know."

I filled a large pot with water and placed it on the stove. While the water heated, I cut the chicken into equal pieces before finely slicing the mushrooms and onion.

My movements with the knife were based almost entirely on habit. From the way I held the onion to the thickness of each piece, I didn’t need to think about what I was doing.

I had lived alone for a long time in my previous life.

I hadn’t had enough money to order food every day, and I disliked surviving on prepared meals. At first, I learned only a few simple recipes, but over time, I became capable of cooking almost anything I wanted.

When I felt Eris watching me, I deliberately slowed my movements.

"Aren’t you going to cut your fingers?" she asked.

"I know how to use a knife."

"When did you learn?"

"If I stare at the things I want to cut for long enough, the knife eventually starts moving on its own."

Eris stared at my face for several seconds before moving her stool slightly farther away.

"Sometimes I can’t tell whether you’re joking."

"That’s a good thing."

A sharp sizzle rose from the pan the moment I added the chicken. Once the outside of the pieces began to brown, I added the seasoning and quickly stirred everything together.

Eris watched in silence for a while before resting her chin in her palm.

"I watched your latest streams too."

My hand slowed briefly as I stirred the pan.

"All of them?"

"I watched most of your last two streams. In one, you were screaming while running away from monsters. In the other, you were killing people and calling yourself a professional."

"Technically, I make money from streaming, so I count as a professional."

"You died two minutes later."

"That was because of the random spawn system."

Eris pressed her lips together, but she couldn’t hide her smile.

"’The Great Noctis has blessed you enough for today,’" she said, imitating my voice. "’I’ll probably win again next stream.’"

I grimaced and poured the cream into the pan.

"That isn’t what I sound like."

"That’s exactly what you sound like. I can even show you the expression you make when you toss your hair back."

"There’s no need."

As the smell of cream and chicken spread through the kitchen, I stirred the pasta that had begun to boil. It wasn’t surprising that Eris had watched my streams, but I was worried she had noticed how much my behavior had changed.

The question I feared came shortly afterward.

"Are you doing it deliberately?"

I turned toward her.

"Doing what?"

"Acting like that during your streams. You used to apologize whenever you died in a game, then smile awkwardly when the chat made fun of you. Now you call your viewers mortals, challenge everyone, and swear every five minutes."

"I don’t swear every five minutes."

"You swore seventeen times in the first half hour of your second stream."

"You counted?"

"I became curious after a while."

Eris tilted her head slightly and continued studying me.

"Are you trying to create a new streaming persona, or have you genuinely decided to become this kind of person?"

I pretended to focus on the pan while thinking of the safest explanation. As I stirred the creamy sauce over low heat, I finally answered.

"I tried acting a little differently. My old streaming style was too ordinary, and my viewer count kept dropping. When I act more confident, people have more fun."

"It’s clearly working. More than two hundred people watched your last stream."

"I reached two hundred and seventy."

"I know your numbers." A faintly proud smile appeared on Eris’s face. "People kept sharing your clips after the stream ended too."

I hadn’t checked that yet.

"Really?"

"The clip of you shooting the dragon got quite a lot of views. The part immediately afterward, where you died and lost all your equipment, got even more."

The satisfaction on my face disappeared.

"People are focusing on the wrong part."

"The second part being funnier may have something to do with that."

After tasting the creamy sauce and adjusting the salt, I drained the pasta and added it to the pan. While I stirred everything together for a few more minutes, Eris continued speaking.

"I’m not saying I dislike the new you. Your streams are actually more entertaining than before, but it doesn’t seem like you’ve only changed in front of the camera." Her mismatched eyes grew serious again. "The way you speak, your cooking, the fact that you exercise... It’s as though you became someone else within a few days."

My heart sped up, but I kept my expression calm.

"Maybe I used to think too much about how I should behave. Now I’ve decided to be a little more comfortable."

"You never needed to pretend around me."

The slight hurt in her voice felt worse than any suspicious question she could have asked.

After turning off the stove, I faced her.

"This has nothing to do with you, Eris. I might behave a little differently now, but I’m not trying to remove you from my life."

"You ignored my messages for two days."

"I apologized for that."

"If you apologize a little more, I might forgive you."

"I’m cooking for you. This is part of the apology."

The corners of Eris’s lips curled slightly.

"I need to taste it first."

I divided the pasta between two plates, then added grated cheese and finely chopped parsley on top. After placing a small salad I had quickly prepared beside each serving, I carried the plates to the table.

Once Eris sat down, she studied the food in front of her suspiciously for several seconds.

"Did you really make this?"

"Who else could have made it?"

"Maybe you have a chef hiding in the kitchen."

"If I do, perhaps they can help me pay the rent."

Eris picked up several pieces of pasta and chicken with her fork. When she put the food into her mouth, she showed no reaction at first.

Then her eyes widened slightly.

She chewed slowly, looking first at her plate and then at me.

"How is it?" I asked.

Instead of answering, she took another forkful. This time, she added more mushrooms and sauce before eating a larger bite.

"Eris?"