In a kitchen laid with argyle tiles, a young girl was hard at work.
This room, painted over with red and black is a special room, even in our theatre house.
A special room, to do a single special thing.
It is a room that joins both joy and hurt.
Dangerous accessories hang on the walls as a pale, gentle hand moves along instruments of pain.
Ah, it looks like she has decided.
The teal-haired girl reaches for a single wired instrument.
An instrument... that would not see use outside of this very special room!
Inspecting the wooden handle and the rounded wireframe that makes up this instrument of beating...
The young girl speaks softly to herself, as if winding up the courage to be a dominant player in this space!
That's right! This place is Theatre House Delaroux's most important room!
The House Delaroux kitchen!
A place of great danger, for you could burn yourself on a hot stove!
A place of great joy, for there is no better feeling than cooking your own food!
A place of great pain, for many a sloppy chef might cut their fingers in haste!
Were you... thinking of some other place?
Cease your yabainess! [15]
We are very seiso [21] at Theatre House Delaroux!
"And now... I shall crack some eggs."
With great determination... she does!
(soft tapping of eggshells on kitchen table)
Lumi tilts her head up at the ceiling, hand holding the whisk she picked out.
(soft chime-like whispering to herself)
"Odd... I thought I heard someone speaking up there.
She holds the whisk upright with both hands, afraid of not using enough strength with just one.
Slowly, carefully, deliberately, the whisk makes round trips around the mixing bowl.
(gentle, slow whisking sounds mix with playful excitement)
Harder, Lumi, harder!
The whole point of whisking is to get air into the batter!
Alas, this sage piece of cooking advice was not heard by our teal-haired actress, as she continues to pitter patter around the room, looking for the rest of the ingredients for her mix.
"Sugar... I need the sugar..."
Tip-toeing on her little blue sandals, Lumi stretches her arm to reach for the box of sugar on the top-shelf. Even tip-toeing, the box was a little out of reach. Even so! Lumi still tried--- her little fingers pry at the edges of the top-shelf, pushing aside large jars to reach for that forbidden box of sweet, sweet, sugar---
Oh no! Lumi's fingers were a little too excited, and pushed a large jar off the shelf! The tall glass jar falls off the shelf in slow motion, as Lumi's eyes turn blank in fear!
The jar falls like a glittering package of delight...
Its contents sparkling like stardust plucked from the night sky---
... before cruel reality sets in.
Crash!!!
(A quiet, reflective chime, with a slight tremor)
"Oh... oh dear... I got carried away here."
Luckily, there was no serious damage.
The glass jar had been sealed tight, but the impact caused its cork seal to come off, spilling its contents all over the kitchen table---
Shiny, glittering dust covers the entirety of the kitchen table!
Most troubling to Lumi, a small mountain of glitterdust landed right in the middle of her mixing bowl!
It was a pretty sight, but...
The place is a mess.
Sparkly...
Shiny...
... but still a mess.
Her batter... might be ruined already.
"What should I do here..."
Just before doubt crept into her mind, she heard... voices!
Familiar voices, walking outside the hallway!
Familiar voices, which may be able to help!
(Hurried, chime-like noises)
"E-everyone! Please help!"
Lumi wrenches open the kitchen door to see her three genmates --- Ablam, Mistrál and Piaccta, passing outside the kitchen!
"Ah, Lumi. Where were you during our 'idol meeting' earlier? Eclair was planning the next livestream with us---" Ablam brushes off some glitter stuck on the front of Lumi's blouse, helping to ground the frightened girl!
"As Mistrál, perhaps it can be explained by our fellow genmate [9] taking some needed time off. Are you feeling better after the theatre fire, Lumi? What are you doing in the kitchen? Isn't it usually off-limits?"
"I asked Mr. Dramaturg if I could bake some fox cookies for everyone..." Lumi clutches the side of her blouse; at the same time, both of Piaccta's eyes light up when she hears the word 'cookies', "But... but I made a mess of things... I'm afraid... I'm afraid I'm in trouble..."
(Nervous chime-like noises)
She points to the table filled with glitter...
Before Lumi can even explain, Piaccta slides under Lumi's arm, peeking out from the side of the table! Taking a quick swipe of the dust on the table with a finger...
"Its bueno!"
Bueno means 'good', by the way.
"It... it is?"
Piaccta replies by taking more swipes of the sparkly stardust off the table with a big thumbs-up!
"As Mistrál, I would deduce this to be a form of colored sugar." Mistrál samples a small teaspoonful of the powder in the mixing bowl, taking a cautious test after Piaccta survived hers.
"Oh! That is... wonderful news! But... but... my batter is ruined..."
"There's no problem at all," Mistrál tips the mixing bowl towards our sunny-dressed taste tester, with a hand-motion that suggests that she can 'take a little off the top'!
"We can clean up in the meantime," Ablam tosses Lumi a cleaning cloth, scooping up the excess glitter spilt on the table, while the poor girl grips the side of her blouse...
"Yes...yes! Sorry for troubling all of you---"
"Ah? Why would we not help you out?"
"It... it might be too much trouble for you all..."
"As Mistrál, I find no reason to not help out our genmate." Our blue-haired actress spreads a baking sheet over a baking tray, laying out little fox-shaped baking casts of equal distance from each other;
"Yeah, we are living in the same house, already. You have some strange ideas, Lumi." Ablam's reply is blunt, but it carries warmth and concern for her companion on this difficult red-dust road.
Piaccta makes her reply by enthusiastically vacuuming up the glitter sugar in the mixing bowl!
(A warm, gentle chime, with a feeling of profound gratitude)
In this kitchen of shared smiles, the girls who are close clean up this joyful mess. It was a wonderful, silly moment, and everyone laughed as Piaccta asked if she could 'clean up' the batter as well!
When the mix came out of the oven, little fox-faces glitter with joy--- for they were the most wonderfully messy, wonderfully sparkly, wonderfully beautiful fox cookies!
The story of Hell's Theatre... continues!
"Sometimes, the most beautiful things come from a little bit of mess." - Lumi Tano
