I might not be any kind of protagonist,
that is living in a fantasy story,
but I do have a special skill:
I can cook.

Its smell is already enough to make me melt. The heat is like the sun crisping my skin to medium rare. The boiling water, like a nice bath in a hot spring.
The pork, prickling in the water,
the garlic like little children,
the ginger and leek as the caring mothers,
finally some Kombu, to top it all off, like a warm blanket before going to rest.                              Kombu: Dried Kelp 
There will always be the dirt, the filthy rest, coming, trying to ruin what we maketh. We are supposed to be cleansing.

Ramen, Shoyu Ramen.
It might sound like a cliche, to make ramen for lunch, yet it's by no means easy to make. It takes patience, expertise and just the right amount of passion. Not too much, as we are making food for enjoyment, not for greed. A beautiful mix of all the different ingredients, found far in the land, separated by nature, yet so gracefully working together, as if made for each other.

"Onii-chaaaan! When are you ready?!" she screamed from the table, although she was about 2 meters away from me.

But I did not bother, as I was in trance. Nothing would keep me from creating this dish to conclude in the form of harmony and prosperity. So I responded.

"Satama, Satama," I said enlightening "you are not on the right sense, the right level, to understand the making of something so magnificent. Calm yourself, as we are all fish in a big sea, dying, to feed an infinite cycle of life."

"Sigh~. Onii-chan, just tell me when you are ready."

"Did I hear something? Must have been my imagination."

This is my revenge you brat.

You see, a good dish takes time to be made, so Satama will be getting desperate after a while, but she knows she can't have it, until it has reached its full potential. She might be treating me like a dog for the rest of the time, but she is helpless against my elevated form of a human being. I am a cook and she would not take the risk to approach me whilst the ritual of my deed. So I play around when I am in my element, even if I only understand half of what I'm saying.

"Oh Lord of food, when will your work be finished?" She asked, sighing once again.

Just my language. A little bit of fun should not be too much.

"Patience, mortal one, I shall be done soon. The "Tare" is yet to have been produced."               Tare: Japanese Sauce for Ramen

"Patience. Na na na." She said mockingly, whilst looking away and gesticulating her hand like talking.
But I was not one to be provoked. I was concentrating. A feast is supposed to be created.

Ah yes, it is coming along nicely. The soy sauce. A big cup should be enough.

And so my thoughts wandered, hand in hand with my gestures. 
It did take a while. After making the Tare, brushing some cooked pork in it, draining the broth from the rest, making the noodles and putting all the ingredients in two bowls, it was finally done. Shoyu Ramen for two. The best way to start a day.
Apparently just in time, because my very own lifelong goblin got at it again.

"Food Lord, please, I am staarving."

Weak. She even called me by my name. I shall show mercy. It is time.

Silence filled the room. Not even a slight buzzing from the lights.

"I have finished."

I came to the table, the smell enhancing the room's atmosphere to a maximum of beauty and wealth, even though our apartment was not that big at all. My sister's eyes were shining, she was drooling from her mouth. One could hear her silently making sounds.

"Waaaaaaaaaaah." A weird quiet and long sound from her whilst breathing heavily. I could not resist any further either.

As I sat down, my Sister grabbed her bowl immediately.

"ITDKMAS!" She said as quickly as possible, already having a bunch of noodles on her chopsticks and an open mouth ready to consume whatever was  in front of her.

"Itadakimasu!" I said as well, with the proper gesture. I clipped my chopsticks. A slight "Crack." aroused, over toned by Satamas eating noises.

"Uwah~! Sho gwood!"

I agreed with her. Another masterpiece at hand. One thing to be proud of indeed. And Since it is food, for a smidge of time I'll be able to receive the recognition I deserve.

Maybe this is even enough to open a restaurant. I am not good at finance, but if someone else was to open one with me as a cook, the money we would have would be incredibly useful. Just imagining all the figures and mangas I could buy. Haaaaah. This food is undoubtedly astonishing.

Indeed I enjoy such meals. The peace, the food. A truly incomprehensible combination.
My mother was the person to teach me cooking. Since I showed interest in my young age, she explained to me how to handle what object, treating with care, what flavor works with which ingredient. What would I have done without her?
back then, I quickly overcame the fact that my parents died, yet I couldn't help but feel their loss just a little bit.

But its past, who cares. I always thought.

As I looked at Satama and me, seeing the situation, us both enjoying the same meal, I felt some kind of Joy. She is a real living monster all the time. Mostly when at home she is in her room. There is no way to enter. She has a key to it, I lost mine.
It is a shame.
When she provokes me to run after her, she hides in her room with her door locked. You could call the whole package of the Fujisawa police, a helicopter, even a complete tank brigade, but you would not get into that room.
She can be very cold-hearted and is not able to do any kind of chores in a natural household.

But looking at her like this, I forget such things. She is my sister after all. She could use some more comprehension. Wouldn't be too bad. I would really wi-

And again, when I was going about my thoughts, I got interrupted. The doorbell rang in its familiar sound.

"Ding-Drong" it had seen better times. It didn't sound the pleasant way it should have. It was already broken when we moved in, yet we did not feel the need to let it get fixed. However something different was more important now.

"Onii-chan, I think something filthy you ordered arrived again."

"No I didn't! Besides, I only order cultural models of perfection."

Satama looked at me with an annoyed face.

"About that bo-"

"Let's look at what is behind the door shall we."

Satama changed her glaring to a smile.

Nonetheless, I was sure that it couldn't be any kind of package for me.

My wallet has been empty for weeks. It can't be something for me. So what is it.
Thanks to that very thought, I was much more than only surprised, when I looked through the peephole of the front door.
In a matter of a nanosecond, a ginormous Shiver went down my spine.

No! No it can't be.

Anxiety, frustration, nothing to describe my state of being. I was scared to death. I would never be able to open that door. It was simply impossible for me to do.

I won't open that door! I won't open that door! I won't open that door! I won't open that door! I...

It repeated in my head, even though I needed no convincing. I turned and wanted to go to the kitchen, pretending, as if no one was there, only a funny joke by some stranger.

That's right. She wouldn't notice. We could just finish lunch and go about our day.

But as I turned to go back, shaking in fear, there she was.
Satama was always significantly smaller than me, but now she felt like a wall.
A huge wall.
The biggest wall to have been ever seen.
She stood there, arms crossed into each other with another huge look of disgust.
She was not just a Monster anymore, she was a giant.
Passing was not an option, my world felt like it was crumbling around me.
And then she asked:

"Who is at the door?"

Her 5 words formed the simplest question to ever have been asked. They felt like echoes in my head. Her presence resembled death itself, as it was about to send me to something far worse than the afterlife. A monstrocity able to destroy me with one move of her hand.
She opposed me in my biggest moment of weakness.

I fell to my knees, rushed close to her, whispering:

"Please don't open the door, I will make you whatever dish you want for the rest of my entire life if I have too."

But Satama, knowing her power, the most unbelievably mad Person in this world, showed no empathy.
She grinned again, looked me straight into my eyes.
She went towards the door.
Reached for the handle.
She was a menace.

I stood up and ran into the kitchen, pretending to cook.

No! I should run into my room! Yes! I can pretend to be sick.

I was about to turn, yet it was already too late. The words that predicted my demise, they came.

"Ohayooo!" spoken by a slightly deep feminin voice.

"Mai-Chan! Ohayo!"
My sister was delighted. She loves Mai-chan like some kind of idol. I did not want this to happen.
To understand my current Situation, imagine a bug. A bug has a hard life in a human's room, trying to dodge all its killers in the world, yet it somehow survives, trying to live on. One day however a friend of the human it lives with comes over. Now two killers are there. The bug could hide, fly, but he had nowhere else to go. The room is filled with monsters, a rat against two lions. What was it supposed to do?

I could not see what the lions did, but I heard them very well.

"Hey Satama-Chan, are we disturbing you and your brother? Is Ken at home?"

Please, I just want to live. Go, leave me. I will do whatever it takes.

But my prays were not heard.

"You're not disturbing." Satama said with a small laughter. "We are eating currently."

"Aaaaah what a beautiful smell. Is that Ramen?" A pretty light feminin voice said. But I did not know that voice.

I never heard that voice before. Can it be? DID SHE TAKE A FRIEND WITH HER?!

A rat could possibly have ran away from two lions, but from three? There was no chance of survival. One could already hear them, laughing about the little animal. I was doomed.

"Who is that Mai-Chan?"

"Oh, this is my friend Hinoiri Ajisai, but you can call her Asa."

Ajisai-San?! But, isn't she supposed to be on...right. Last day of holidays, how could I forget.

Tamadaka Mai, a friend that I have known since the start of highschool. Slim, in good shape, about as tall as I am, a fan of books. Many people, at school mostly, have feelings for her, to no surprise, she is very popular, yet she tries to stay away from such relationships as best as possible. She is part of a literature club, in which she already has invited me into. I declined due to the immense lack of cultural participants in their arsenal of literaturic objects and obviously I was not in the need of socializing about uninteresting ink on pieces of paper. 

I would never meet up with her. The fact that she is a girl is unimportant, but my home is the only safe place against talking with other people who are not inconveniently related by blood.

I could handle her presence, quite possibly, if she was to come alone. But she came with a friend, Ajisai-San and that is far more problematic. I knew her, but she was always around Mai-Chan. She was energetic and slightly smaller than me. She can handle being the center of attention more than any other person. I thought she was still on vacation with her family, I was clearly wrong.

"Ohayo Asa-Chaan." Satama was as happy as ever. "Why don't you both come in, we have room for two more"

NO WAY! NO CHANCE! THEY WOULDN'T DARE!

"Oh no, we don't want to interrupt you two. We just wanted to say hello."

Thank you Ajisai-Chan, I stand forever in your favor. I almost cried in my thoughts.

"Please come in. We don't see each other that much so it would be amazing."

NO! 

I could only hear her, but I knew Satama was secretly trying to scare me with her actions.

"Is Ken alright with it?"

Definitely not.

"Of course he is. You are close friends anyways. Join us."

Pleasesaynopleasesaynopleasesaynopleasesaynopleasesaynopleasesayno.

"If it really is fine. How about you Asa?"

"I-I think we should, i-if they are a-asking for it." She stuttered. Maybe it was her first time visiting someone she hardly knew. But I did not question it. I stood in the kitchen, frozen to the bones, shivers everywhere, I was shaking in fear. My hands were barely holding me.

"This" I said, "is too much."

My hands started hurting.