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Reina awoke to the smell of something cooking downstairs. Ignoring the aching in her limbs, she dragged herself out of bed and wandered toward the smell. When she approached the kitchen, it wasn't the sight of Kyo in his signature apron that greeted her. Instead, it was Tomoro attempting to fry an egg and glaring at it with an intensity that could kill.
Oh no. Reina'd had this dream before. It was only a matter of time before her home would go up in flames, and she'd wake up in a cold sweat. No, she was getting out while she had the chance. Reina squeezed her eyes shut and pinched her arm. Much to her surprise, she wasn't in bed when she opened her eyes again. Now that she was thinking about it, she didn't usually feel sore like this in her dreams.
“What are you doing?” Tomoro asked, his brow raised judgementally.
“Tomoro! Didn't see you there,” Reina attempted to laugh the awkward situation off. “You're…cooking?”
“Yeah. You slept through breakfast, and no one wanted to wake you. We meant to save your plate for you, but…” Tomoro frowned.
“Gekkomon?” Reina guessed.
“Gekkomon,” Tomoro sighed and nodded. “Anyway, this seemed like the least I could do, since I couldn't help you yesterday.”
There was something endearing about how concentrated Tomoro was while plating the dish. It was a simple fried egg over rice, but for him, it was an impressive accomplishment.
“Here.” Tomoro smiled shyly while handing the plate over. “I, uh…dunno if it's any good, but I was really careful about the eggshells this time.”
“Thanks.” Reina couldn't resist ruffling Tomoro's hair before taking the plate. The action earned her an indignant pout that only served to make her chuckle.
Hunger outweighing caution, Reina dug into her late breakfast without even bothering to sit down first. Part of her kept expecting to encounter an eggshell, or a bit of burnt egg or rice, but she was pleasantly surprised when that never happened.
“Wow, this is really good. Guess I can't tease you about not knowing how to cook anymore,” Reina remarked with a grin. “Keep it up and you’ll be as good as I am soon.”
Tomoro’s eye twitched, and Reina knew he wanted to make a sarcastic comment about her mediocre cooking skills, yet he held it in.
I must’ve really worried him yesterday if he’s being this nice.
“I also got you something,” Tomoro changed the topic. He went to rummage through the refrigerator for a moment before returning with a container of almond tofu pudding. “I think this was the right kind.”
At first, all Reina could do was stare. The Gekkomon-Fridge-Raid Incident was so long ago, and at the time, Tomoro hadn’t seemed to care at all. Reina couldn’t believe he actually remembered. Noticing that her gaping was making Tomoro nervous, she set her now-empty plate aside and reached out and accepted the gift.
“You really didn’t have to.” Despite her words, Reina had a fond smile. “What’s this for? No offense, but you’re not normally this considerate.”
It wasn’t like Reina was trying to pick a fight or anything—she was just curious. Thankfully, Tomoro chose to believe the ‘no offense’ and didn’t take the comment personally.
“I wanted to apologize for being such a jerk to you before. When you vanished yesterday, it really hit me how much I need you.” Tomoro tugged at his sleeve, his eyes firmly fixed on the ground. “I couldn't stand the idea of you still thinking I don't care. If something had happened, and I never got to tell you…”
Tomoro trailed off, his expression pained. Reina understood now. It wouldn’t have been the first, or even second time Tomoro lost somebody out of the blue. The regret of leaving feelings unsaid was familiar to her, too, and she hated to imagine how Tomoro must have felt while she was gone.
“That was ages ago, of course I know you care now,” Reina assured. “And, while we're talking about it, I've been meaning to apologize, too. I was really impatient with you without considering what you were going through, and that wasn't fair. If you were being difficult, it was at least partly my fault.”
“Yeah, you pretty much sucked, now that you mention it,” Tomoro laughed. What a little punk. “Call it even?”
“Works for me.” Reina nodded. “I was totally wrong about you back then. You’re a good kid, Tomoro.”
Reina expected Tomoro to get annoyed and say something about not being a kid, so when he looked up at her asked, “You think so?” the cuteness aggression that hit Reina was enough to nearly make her scream.
“Of course.” Reina resisted the urge to ruffle Tomoro’s hair again, settling for patting his shoulder instead. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a present to eat before Gekkomon steals it again.”
Without further ado, Reina tore into the almond tofu pudding. It wasn’t until she was about halfway through that it dawned on her how strange it was that she was able to eat in peace.
“Where is Gekkomon, anyways?”
Tomoro’s expression darkened at the mention of his partner. His attitude was more agreeable these days, but his face was as scary as ever.
“Repenting for their crimes,” Tomoro answered in the deep sort of tone he normally reserved for telling the unruly lizard to stay in his bag.
“I’m not even going to ask what that means,” Reina decided.
This was one gift horse Reina didn’t feel like looking in the mouth. She made it home safe to her family, she had good food, and at least for now, everything was okay. Nothing else mattered.