You Will Only Be Mine

"You two can rest until I get dinner ready," I said, walking over to the kitchen with the groceries.

Akira was quite persistent about letting her be the one carrying the groceries, but there was no way I was going to let that happen. I put down the stuff on the table before taking it all out. The meats go in the fridge along with the eggs and vegetables. The snacks need to be stacked in the cupboard for Ai to reach easily. The dairy also has to go in the fridge and…

"What are you two doing here?" I asked the two women standing near the dining table. Ai took a seat and rested her face in her hands, and Akira just stood there staring at me.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Kazuki-sama?" she asked me, her eyes darting everywhere in the room.

"No, you sit down with Ai. Dinner duties are mine, so I'll take care of it," I said, finally putting everything back. She looked at Ai, a little confused. "Don't worry about her, she loves to watch me cook."

"Hehehe, it's Kazu-kun's fault he looks so good when making us food," she said. "Akira, you sit next to me. I normally do this alone, but today I bestow upon you the beauty of Kazu-kun. Don't fall for him, okay?"

"I will keep that in mind," Akira said and took a seat next to Ai. Great, now I have two pairs of eyes staring down my back.

Okay, I need to start with the onions. I started chopping them, and my eyes started to burn, a lot more than usual. Ugh…I guess having heightened senses comes with its own pros and cons. I quickly got done with it and sautéed them in a big enough pan. Have to wait for them to get a light golden before we can use them. While that was happening, I decided to take out the ground beef and pork to prepare the patties. Before that, I'll also get the rice cooked.

"By the way, Akira, did you ever have these before?" Ai started asking her. "I didn't take you for someone who would request this. I thought you would ask for a more traditional type of dinner."

"I just…kept seeing a lot of those boards about it and it intrigued me…" She shyly admitted.

"This is not good, Akira," Ai said, worrying her. "You look too cute when talking like this. Don't ever show this expression to Kazu-kun, okay? I don't want him to look at someone else like that."

"I have eyes for only Ai," I said, turning around and walking over to them before planting a little kiss on her forehead. "So don't worry too much. No one in the world is more beautiful to me than Ai."

"As it should be," she said proudly, puffing her chest.

"You both really love each other, don't you?" Akira commented, and Ai looked at her with shiny eyes.

"I know, right? Kazu-kun and I love each other sooooo much, but it's still not enough. I love him way, way, way, way, way more than I can show, and I can't stop. He takes such good care of me, feeds me every day with delicious food, and always listens to every single one of my requests. Aaah, this is absolutely the best," Ai said, grabbing both of Akira's hands, speaking absurdly fast, but both of us caught what she was saying.

"I can see that," Akira said with a smile on her face.

"I'm happy to see you being more expressive around us, Akira," I commented and went back to getting the patties ready.

"I…have?" she asked.

"Yes, you smile a lot more, laugh a little, and don't stop showing when you are not happy," Ai said happily. "It's like a little kitty finally opening up to us."

"It is quite bold of you to call someone over three hundred years old a little cat," she said, chuckling a little, and hearing her laugh healed something in us. It's nice to have more people at the house. Makes it feel livelier.

"You should hang out here more with us," I suggested.

"Oh, I can't do that, Kazuki-sama, even today I have- "

"You don't have a choice, you know?" Ai said with a cheeky grin on her face. "It's decided, Akira will be here more. Ooh, I can even introduce you to Haruka and all. They will absolutely love spending time with you. Probably also play dress up with you a lot."

"But…"

"It's decided then! Should we invite them tomorrow? That way, they can meet Akira sooner," Ai said, but was pulled by Akira.

"I understand your excitement and happiness about this Ai-sama, but please slow down. It's not that easy for me to get accustomed to people that quickly. You two have already shown a lot of appreciation to me, but please slow down. It is a little too overwhelming for me," she said with the biggest blush on her face.

Didn't know Akira was an introvert, but now that I think about her behaviour, I am not too surprised knowing this. The onions were done, so I added them to the meat along with the other ingredients for the patties before seasoning them well with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. I decided to focus on just cooking for now, not putting too much thought into their conversations, but most of them were just asking all sorts of questions to Akira.

Once I had gotten the patty mixture done, I put some water on my fingers so nothing sticks to them and started moulding the patties into little oval shapes. We will be three people, not to forget vampires, so I think two patties each should be enough. They were by no means small patties either, so I think this should work out well. If anyone needs more, I do have some mixture left to make more. I can already guess what our lunch tomorrow will be. It's enough for me, Ai, and Natsumi-san. I think I went a little overboard with the ingredients, but it was the first time Akira requested something like this, so there was no holding back.

I got the pan heated and oiled before I started searing my patties on it. The sizzling sound filled the room, and personally, I quite like this sound. It is oddly therapeutic to me for reasons I am not quite sure of, but oh well. I like what I like.

Looking at the patties that are left to be cooked, the rice would just be done around the same time I would have finished making the patties and sauce, so that works out well. After searing the patty on one side, I flipped it and repeated the process. Soon, I was done with cooking all the patties. I set them aside as I focused on making the sauce in the same pan with some ketchup, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.

"Wash your sister sauce," I said to myself in English and chuckled a little. I have the mind of a five-year-old.

As I was done with the sauce, the rice was also done cooking. I brought out three plates and bowls and started plating up the food. "Ai, can you please fill up three glasses for us?" I said, and something hit me, and I turned towards Akira. "Do vampires even drink water? How do they hydrate?"

"From blood," Akira replied, and I hit my head. That actually makes sense. Dumb Kazuki. "But please let me get the glasses. I have not assisted Kazuki-sama with anything yet."

"As you say, please get our glasses filled," I said, and Akira stood up.

"As you wish, Kazuki-sama," she said and scurried next to me, taking out the glasses from the correct cabinet.

"How did you…?"

"I have memorized every single corner of your apartment and where everything is," Akira explained. "In times when Kazuki-sama or Ai-sama would need me to fetch them something, I must know where all of it is."

"Wow, that is amazing," I exclaimed.

"Your appreciation is too much for such a little task, Kazuki-sama, but given how you have decided not to listen to such things, I will gladly accept it," she said, filling the glasses with water.

"The noble has learnt sarcasm. Look how much she has grown up," I said dramatically, and Akira pouted lightly.

"I am still far older than Kazuki-sama," she said, and we all chuckled.

Akira helped me with setting up the table and bringing out the food, too, even though she didn't have to. The food was finally before all of us we looked at Akira waiting for her to try it. However, she just waited and didn't pick up her cutlery to start eating. Is something wrong? Was it not looking like how she expected it to be?

"What's wrong, Akira?" I asked her, and she looked at me, a little startled.

"I was waiting for Kazuki-sama and Ai-sama to start," she explained.

"And we are waiting for Akira to start," I said, and she looked unsatisfied with that answer.

"I can't be the one to eat before you two. That would be quite disrespectful," she said, denying my request.

"And leaving such good food that I made uneaten is being disrespectful to the chef, too. Anyway, you wanted to try this, right? Please tell me how it is," I said, and Akira looked at Ai, who had a big smile on her face.

She let out a sigh and picked up her cutlery. "My masters will make me into a lousy servant," she commented before picking up a piece of the steak and putting it in her mouth.

She slowly chewed the piece of meat, and I felt something in my stomach churn in anticipation. I don't know just how different a vampire's palette is from the normal human palette. I did make sure everything was made to perfection, so I hope she likes it. Please say something, Akira, an expression, a little smile, anything. How is it?

A small smile started forming on her face, and little tears fell down her cheek. "It's delicious," she commented, and I let out a sigh of relief, and Ai cheered before we dug into our food too.

Yep, it was perfect.

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