#so-sake

Sick/Injured Starters

👃 : can’t stop sneezing

The red tint on Maya’s nose and cheeks was as prominent as ever, and it wasn’t because she spent all day in the snow.

“Ah-choo!”

Or maybe it was, perhaps indirectly.

“Ugh…” She pulled a white tissue from her sleeve with the flair of a magician, making a show of shaking it out before blowing her nose. Maya felt a little stuffed up, sure, but she didn’t feel sick. No, really. She never got sick! Not even when she was a little kid eating gumballs off the floor!

Send me “🎁” to see what my muse would give yours as a Christmas present.

[On the outside the present appears to be in a flat but wide box, small enough to be held with two hands. It is wrapped in bright red paper and tied with a sparkly gold ribbon. The tag on it simply reads To Kiki.

Inside is a stationary set with a black ink fountain pen, thick parchment paper, envelops, a pad of red ink, and a small customized stamp with the words S. Yamamoto engraved in it. A plain card about the size of a palm rests on top of the set. It reads:

When it came to cooking, there were plenty of delicate tasks Maya couldn’t pull off. Peeling apples with a knife, getting several measurements correct at the same time, and remembering just how long the pie was supposed to be in the oven are only a few challenges on a very long list. Still, for all her shortcomings, there was at least one thing she could still do.

Boil water.

“Oh! Oh, I see bubbles!” Maya exclaimed as she clapped her hands together. She was so paranoid about messing even this up that she insisted on standing over the stove and watching with her own two eyes as the pot heated. But now her patience had come to fruition. Carefully, Maya took the handle with an oven mitt (the one she slipped on several minutes in advance so she would be prepared the instant the water was ready) and poured into two mugs containing cocoa powder mix.

Her eyes stayed glued to the mugs and her tongue poked out the corner of her mouth. Not even the hot steam that plumed into her face broke her concentration. With a steady hand, Maya moved from one mug to the next, and it was only when the pot was safely returned to the stove that her shoulders finally relaxed. No spills!

“Okay, the hard part is over!” she announced. “Now starts the fun~♪”

Maya grabbed a plastic bag of marshmallows and used her teeth to rip it open. Into her own her own mug, she plopped one, two, three, four of the biggest marshmallows she could find. They floated over the surface and the brown chocolate was hardly visible anymore. Glancing over her shoulder, Maya gave Soseki a bright grin.

wow so cute