Shirakawa Mansion

Mia nodded, glad of Masa's sudden conversation change. Nozomi smiled and all was right again, Mia's blushy face fading as she smiled in return. Kneeling down, she didn't let go of Masa's hand but still made sure she was Zomi's height. His coat was still on her...she'd have to give it back to him sometime soon. "Masa is going to show me how he makes curry rice and I'm going to make something with strawberries for desert. Any ideas for the desert? Strawberry shortcake?"

Nozomi smiled happily at the mention of a strawberry dessert, and in response she gave a nod.

"Okay! That sounds really good, I can't wait!" She replied with a small laugh.

Masaru was glad Nozomi was happy with the idea, she loved strawberries, and she had yet to complain about the curry rice but...it was still a concern of his that she'd tire of it; strawberries though, were something she wouldn't tire of, definitely. Her excitement was obvious in her expression.

Mia smiled and returned the nod, standing back up and squeezing Masaru's hand gently. She looked up at him and tilted her head. "We should go start making it then. Did you want to help Nozomi or did you want to stay here?"

Mia's stomach growled loudly and she blushed at that. Shush stomach!

Masaru gave a nod, his smile soft in response. Now that they knew Nozomi was excited for it as well, and had checked up on her, they could go and get the food ready for them all to enjoy. When Mia asked Nozomi if she wanted to come, his eyes returned to the young girl.

"Mm, it'll be fun." He said, hopefully letting her know it would be alright if she wanted to.

"Ah! A-Actually..." Nozomi gave a small laugh. "I'm still working on some of the coloring things I was doing before you got back! Um...Can I work on those instead! I really want to finish!"

Any other time, it would be obvious for her to want to join them...so Masaru was quite surprise she was refusing.

"Oh, um, sure. That'll be alright." Masaru nodded, "You sure?"

"Mhmm! I'll head to the dining room when I'm done, Masa-nii, Mia-nee." She replied, offering the two a small, apologetic smile. She wanted to accept, but she was working on something important!

Looking down at Mia, Masaru's smiled returned, "Shall we head to the kitchen then?"

Mia was surprised as well but she just smiled at the girl, happy she was having fun and doing something she enjoyed. She seemed very happy so Mia had no worries about her for now. Though something secretive caught her interest... Oh well! She'd find out. "All right. Have lots of fun okay? We'll be in the kitchen if you need...us..."

Okay that sounded...rather up parental and such. She flushed a bit and looked away from both Masa and Nozomi before replying. "S-Sure. Lets head there now. I-I don't remember where its at...Sorry Masa, your house is really big..."

She felt bad for this but gave a soft little giggle before waving bye to Nozomi whenever Masa led her away.

"Okay! I will!" Nozomi replied, giving the two a bright smile before she headed back into her room.

At the mention of Mia forgetting where the kitchen was, Masaru gave her hand a small squeeze. "It's alright, growing up it took me awhile to get used to this place...I got lost plenty of times..."

It was...a bit embarrassing admitting that. He had though, and during his much younger years he couldn't deny a tear or two hadn't been shed upon getting lost...

"That's...not too surprising." Mia's voice was a very slight pout, she looked down and watched her feet as she blushed lightly. It was...hard to keep from making stupid comments sometimes... Of course Masa had gotten lost here too! It was so big... And for a child she bet it was even harder...

Her hand squeezed his and she kept looking down as she spoke in a soft voice. "It's really big...s-so I can..understand that..."

Masaru gave a small laugh, "Mhmm, I'm sure you'll grow more accustomed to well...the main locations layout as time passes...ah, like...when you visit and such..."

She visited, she came over to spend time with Nozomi a lot so, maybe with time...well, he was sure as time passed she grow used to at least navigating to those main areas the three of them often frequented.

Masa was trying to reassure her even if his words made her a bit red. She'd...get used to the main areas with time... She could see why he added that last part on. Both of them were so new to this...whole... thing. And honestly they kept making comments that were embarrassing and could be taken to mean...more than they intended like that.

Mia's face was rather flushed as her thoughts went into a long rant in her head of sorts about such things. After a moment or two she finally nodded. "Mhm...thank you. I'm...sure with time I will not get lost...Again."

Do NOT think about the bathing room incident. Do NOT THINK about it. Mia's face was hot enough to fry an egg on as she tried her hardest and failed to not think of that.

"M-Mhmm." Masaru nodded, hoping the tint in his own face wasn't as obvious as it felt. "If-If you ever do though...get lost again, I'll...I'll always be sure to find you. So...So never worry..."

Again, he hoped the tint in his face wasn't as obvious as it felt; at this point it felt like it was burning.

"...I won't worry then." Mia got that out without stuttering, smiling despite her red face. It was such a sweet thing for him to say... He'd make sure to find her... if she got lost...

She looked up to see Masa's face just as red as hers and she let out a small giggle, though her smile was still strong. Her head tilted to the side a bit as she spoke, rather happily. "T-Thank you. With you to find me... I couldn't possibly worry too much Masaru."

"W-Welcome, Mia." Masaru replied, and after a moment, he managed a small chuckle. They were both red in the face, but he couldn't help but smile.

If there was ever a situation where she got lost again, she wouldn't worry, he'd promised he'd find her and he meant that. It...made him happy to hear his words had helped, or seemed like they helped at least.

Mia's smile grew as Masa spoke, she couldn't help it... He had been so sweet... So with a quick glance around and with all this red faced courage spurring her on she leaned up for a moment and kissed Masa's cheek. Or tried to. She was a bit too short and ended up, without his help, kissing his jawline.

She flushed slightly at her failure but... couldn't be too upset. She had almost done it! She hadn't froze like normal!

Not expecting it, a small noise of surprise escaped Masaru, his face feeling as if it were burning even further. He smiled though, once the surprise wore off. Looking down at her, his expression warmed as he gave another small squeeze to her hand.

Looking around, just as she had, he leaned down and planted a small kiss on the side of her head when he noticed no one around. He...he hadn't froze either! That-that was good!

T-That cute noise again! Mia couldn't help smiling, whenever she startled Masa he made...the cutest noise. Not that she would tell him that... She returned the squeeze of his hand and tried not to blush at the warm expression on his face, well add to her blushing.

Watching him look around, she swore her face was going to melt off as he planted a kiss on the side of her head, a sound of just happiness escaping her. She hadn't been surprised but she couldn't help that sound! They should...be heading to make dinner... but... Mia's violet eyes stared up into Masa's pretty blue and she gave him her sweetest smile once more.

Thanks to their distraction with each other, they reached the kitchen in no time. It was in the same, clean and well kept state as it always was. Everything just waiting to be used to make delicious meals.

Masaru's smile remained when they entered the room, he spent a lot of time in here, the cooking he did being fun and honestly soothing when times came where he was swamped with work.

Mia was grinning still as well, her smile getting bigger when she entered his admittedly nice kitchen once more. It was soo large... Letting go of his hand, she knew there'd be room for both of them to work properly... Moving towards the fridge, she went to get out the items she'd need to start strawberry shortcake.

She then realized three important things! First, Masa's jacket was still on her. Secondly, her HAIR! thirdly... Apron? Reaching up, she swiftly took a long bit of hair that tended to fall over her shoulder and wrapped it in a sort of tie back for the rest of her hair, pulling it all away from her face.

Then she turned to Masa and smiled sheepishly as she pulled off his jacket. "Um, where...should I put this? A-An aprons."

"Ah, the apron's are in here." Masaru said, walking over to a door and opening it. Inside were a few aprons, hung neatly in place on the walls. The room had other uses, but mostly it was were the aprons were kept. "I can hang the coat in here for now, when we're done with dinner I'll put it away back in my room. Here."

Having said that, he took two aprons from the room and headed over to Mia, offering her one of them before putting on the one he'd grabbed for himself and giving a small smile.

Mia nodded and listened, trying to memorize where the aprons were at. That door...over there... As Masa put away the coat and took out the aprons, she flushed slightly while waiting for him to come back over to her.

Accepting the apron, she put it on over her head, before pulling her long hair out of it. It would stay tied back like that for now... "Thank you... F-For the coat and dinner."

Giving him a soft smile, Mia then moved to wash her hands before gathering the items she'd need for cooking. It wouldn't take too much effort... Glancing at Masa, she raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "Do you want my help with...the curry rice? Strawberry shortcake is easy to make..."

"Welcome." Masaru replied.

He was happy he'd been able to help her, with the coat when she got cold and he was happy that they were going to be making and then eating dinner together as well. It was nice. After Mia, he moved to wash his own hands after pulling up his sleeves.

"I wouldn't mind some help." He smiled. "So, sure."

Mia laughed happily as Masa said he wouldn't mind, closing her eyes as her hands went behind her back for a moment as she leaned forward. "I'll help then! Let me get you the ingredients!"

Rather happy, Mia bounced around the kitchen. This...was her element. She felt safe and secure here, gathering the ingredients from his kitchen with a pleased little grin and bounce in her step. Okay potato...meat...

Masaru gave a nod in response as Mia moved to gather what the ingredients they'd need. He worked on getting the area set up for what they'd be making. His smile remained on his face, and he was completely at ease.

Mia gathered the ingredients for Masa and started helping with the vegetables. This would be the most annoying part and so he'd probably want help with that out of all steps. Slicing and peeling, Mia handed over the vegetables Masa would need as he worked on other things. She hummed lightly under her breath, doing any prepwork she could for Masa.

"Mm any vegetables you don't like in it? I have the onions and potatoes and such all done!" Looking over with a grin, she wondered what Masa wouldn't want.

"Mmm, I'm rather fine with most vegetables, Nozomi never seems to mind them either..." He replied, looking thoughtful for a moment. He was happy though that Nozomi didn't really mind vegetables, most kids around her age hated them, then again, he supposed after living in the Rukon one learned not to be too picky...

Mia nodded and continued her work, humming more as she finished up all the vegetables. Sliding them over to Masa, she gave him a smile before moving to wash her hands. He could handle the rest from here, it was mostly vegetables that were the pain.

Moving to the sink, she washed her hands before moving over to start making the shortcake. Heating one of the ovens first she then moved onto combining, the shinigami woman was grinning as she held a large bowl and stirred with a spoon. Her humming grew a bit, though she shot Masa glances and tried to hide her blushing when she looked over. Cooking with...Masa... was nice...