Things had settled a bit for the Nishiki and Tenha throughout the next couple of days. One would be hard pressed to call it anything but ordinary. He simply went to work each day while she stayed home to clean. Then he would come home from work on time to find an admittedly mediocre dinner waiting for him. Somehow this was supposed to be considered an improvement over his past life before meeting her.

Admittedly, that was the case.

“Okay, so those people I called the other day are coming in.” This morning, there was going to be something a little bit different when it came to Tenha’s routine. Nishiki was able to find and purchase a new washer for their house so they wouldn’t have to suffer doing laundry at the laundromat ever again. “Just let them in and don’t bother them.” This should be a simple task. In fact, it was hardly a task at all. “I already let them know that you’re going to be here instead of me.”

“Don’t worry.” She waved her hand at him without even bothering to look at the man during their conversation. Instead her eyes were glued to the television screen. “When have I ever let you down?”

“I don’t think you’ve ever let me up.” He responded. “Please, can you take this a little seriously?”

“What’s the big deal? All I gotta do is let them in. You make it sound like I can’t do anything at all.” With that, she ended the conversation by raising the volume on the television.

“Fine, whatever.” He put on his shoes and headed to work again. This was like living an unfulfilled marriage, but without any love between them and practically forced on him.

His morning walk to work went on by with no troubles at all. At least this had stayed the same for him after what happened last week. Though somehow, that disappointed him. One would assume they would want something in their life to be an anchor during some turbulent times. However, his heart didn’t want that for some reason.

Upon clocking in and getting to his desk, there was also another feeling in his heart beyond just disappointment. Not one of disappointment, like before. It was something else he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Worry.

That was odd. Why should he be worried about anything right now? Nothing special should be happening at work. Rather, his mind found itself wandering on what was going on at home. Taking a look at the clock, those men should be arriving to his house soon. This was the matter that had him concerned.

While some might be worried about what he assumed to be a couple of big strong men might do to a little girl like Tenha. That wasn’t the issue for Nishiki. Instead, he was more worried about what she would do to them.

Now if she was justified, then he wouldn’t take issue to that at all. However, given what he’s learned from this girl. She was likely to be in the wrong in about 99 out of 100 possible scenarios he came up with his in mind. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to check in during lunch.” Nishki made up his mind. He was going to do something he traditionally wasn’t known for. That being to leave the office for lunch.

“Oh, you’re heading out for lunch?” On his way out, he was intercepted by a fellow coworker in awe of this sighting. It was Fusa Inami, someone who joined the company shortly after he did. “Is something wrong?”

“I just have to check up on something back at home.” He answered. “There’s just some workers supposed to be installing a new washer right now. If that wasn’t happening, then I’d definitely be staying here.”

“Yeah, you certainly would.” She giggled, but with less emotion than one out of humor.

“Were you planning on handing me some work before leaving?” He asked, taking note of all the paperwork in her hands. Normally, he was used to most of his coworkers handing over some extra work during lunch. Since he hung around his desk during that hour anyway, the man didn’t mind carrying some slack.

“No…” Though she was not one of those coworkers. Throughout her entire time of knowing him at work, the woman never once asked for his aid. She felt bad that he was slung on with a bunch of extra things just because of how he lived his life. To her, it was unfair. “I was just going to do it while I was out eating some lunch.”

“Eh, you might get some food on it.” He dismissed her denial and walked past the woman. “Just leave it on my desk. I don’t think this will take all lunch hour so I can get back early to work on it for you.” With that, his conversation was over and it was time to make sure nothing bad happened while Tenha was in charge of the house. “Tenha, I’m back.” He announced, walking in through the front door. “Sorry it makes me look like I don’t trust you, but…”

That was when he took note of the scene before him. There, two men were laying on the ground in the bathroom. The pair of them groaning and moaning in pain. “I was right. I shouldn’t have trusted you!” He reacted to this sight with horror.

“Wait, wait.” Quickly, she appeared to him from the kitchen. “It’s not my fault. I can totally explain this.” which was what she did for the next 10 minutes…

***

Just an hour before he returned home was when the application men came knocking on the door. As promised, she went and opened the door to let them in.

“Welcome.” She put on a respectable attitude and appearance for the guys. “Nishiki told me you were coming. Thank you so much for installing a replacement washer for us.”

“It’s no trouble at all.” One of the men tipped her hat in greeting her. They had behind them the washer ready to be wheeled in. “He told us you’d be waiting for us, Tenha…” He paused, not knowing how to properly refer to her.

“Just Tenha is fine.” That was the only name to her. While it might seem informal to everyone that they could only call her by what was essentially first name. She had no qualms about that. “Anyway, come on in. Don’t worry about me, I’ll just stay out of your way.” At this point, she believe this interaction to be over.

Tenha figured that now would be a good time to hit the kitchen and begin making some lunch for herself. In a few hours she knew that dinner was going to be prepared for Nishiki and she didn’t want to be starving by then. After some time had passed, the two men were finished with their job.

“Okay, so the payment’s already been taken care of.” Said the other man. “It looks like we’re all set to leave now.”

“That’s nice.” She replied. “Say, since you two gentlemen have been so kind. I’ve made lunch. Do you have time for a break?”

“We were about to head over to grab some lunch, but if you’re offering than thank you so much.” Said the other man. Neither of them could reject free home cooked food from a cute girl. And Tenha was more proud of her cooking thanks to the one time she learned from Nishiki. Because apparently in her mind she had turned into a master after just one session.

“…” That was where her mistake came from. The two men thanked her for the food then both took a bite at the same time. Their eyes shot wide open and their faces turned purple from the absolutely horrendous taste. It was beyond just bad in their mouth. The soup she made tasted like poison ending their souls. This resulted in both rushing towards the bathroom to throw up. Then, from the shock, they both also passed out on top of one another.

Tenha had gotten a bit of a big head over what she viewed to be improvement in her cooking skills. So she wanted to try something new with some weird ingredients that should not be used by amateurs lest they wish those that ate their food died.

***

“And that’s what happened.” She finished her story to him. Nishiki was silent at first. He simply looked back between her and the two men now laying on his floor. After a full minute of not saying anything he finally spoke up.

“So it was your fault!”