Macaroni Gratin.
“Let’s have Macaroni Gratin for our supper menu,” he decided.
Gratin. I somewhat remember it from when I was kid. I don’t remember the specific period, but whenever I came home from school, I often used to eat frozen gratin at night when I was home alone and my father and my sister weren’t here.
I felt like the gratin I ate alone wasn’t very delicious.
But I don’t hate gratin itself. It’s my favourite food.
I was a little surprised because he shouldn’t have possibly known that.
Ever since I met him, we’ve only talked about cooking with fried eggs, so why did he get my favourite food exactly right? I’ve never heard of a Servant who has a contract with a Master automatically knowing their master’s tastes.
Saber: “What’s wrong?”
Ayaka: “Nothing really.”
The number of times he stands in the kitchen is steadily increasing, soon, he may cook more I do during the day. Although it’s fine to say,
“I don’t really mind,” in the magic world, it seems a little too mundane for me to use a Ghost Liner
[1] which materialised bringing an entity, an unprecedented and extremely valuable Heroic Spirit along with it like this.
Be that as it may, he is a being who has intelligence, a will and body.
As long as we live together, it may be natural for us to carry about dinner duty together.
It’s not as if I have a chef or a servant like Misaya.
While thinking about such various things, I am in the middle of finely slicing the mushrooms, finely chopping the onions and preparing the pre-cooking arrangements according to his instructions.
Ayaka: “Saber, the boiling water.”
The water in the large pot for boiling the macaroni was beginning to boil as it simmered and turned into hot water as it was raised over the gas stove, it was already time to add the macaroni, but when I glanced at him―――
He was standing in front of the refrigerator.
At first, I didn’t know what he was doing.
No, he wasn’t doing anything.
Opening the fridge door halfway, he picked up a bottle of red wine that had been left in the fridge for cooking sake, but then he stopped his movements while still absentmindedly staring at the bottle. Chills ran down spine, it felt a little different from stopping while still thinking. What? What happened to him so suddenly? He’s properly connected to my magic circuits and he shouldn’t be having a problem with his prana supply, it’s weird to see him standing so quiet and emotionless!
Ayaka: “Saber!”
Saber: “……Hm? Oh, sorry. We don’t need cooking sake for this menu, do we?”
“Eh.” Ah, thank goodness. Seems he wasn’t out of prana after all. “Y, yeah, that’s right.”
Saber: “It appears I worried you, Ayaka. Sorry about that. I wasn’t thinking
‘I like to enjoy some alcohol’ or anything, I was just thinking a little.”
Ayaka: “I wasn’t really worried about you.”
Huh?
I feel like my tone was colder than necessary.
It’s easy to excuse it as,
“Talking to other people is not my strong point,” we’ve been together for days, but against someone who has avoided the verge of death in battles with other Heroic Spirits a couple of times already, it is surely my problem, not his, that there is still a sense of distance between us.
I’m not really sure how to rephrase it in this situation.
It feels a little weird to say,
“Sorry,” but I think it’s even more weird to explain it as,
“It wasn’t my intention to say it so strongly.” Which is why, the utmost I can hope for is to return to the work at hand and continue my pre-cooking preparations. Probably.
I continue finely chopping the onions.
Before starting on the next onion after finishing chopping one onion, I take a glimpse at how he’s doing.
He is tossing the Macaroni into the pot and mixing it with chopsticks while watching the heat.
‘He doesn’t seem to be particularly upset by what I said.’ I think.
Saber: “Ayaka.”
“What is it?” While still thinking that he hasn’t noticed me watching him with a sidelong glance.
Saber: “You’re amazing. It’s suitably finely chopped, isn’t it? You’re completely ready to cook, Ayaka.”
Ayaka: “Huh? Saber, you act like my big brother at times, you know that, but……”
While being careful not to sound as cold as before,
Ayaka: “I’m not a child.”
Saber: “That is true. Ayaka is wonderful lady.”
Ayaka: “How does determining that I’m a lady have to do with being able to finely chop stuff…………?
Saber: “Hahaha. I didn’t mean it like that.”
He smiles.
At times like this, his smile is completely different from the air of a Servant who fights in blue and silver armour, in that moment, yes, it makes me forget for two seconds that he is the ultimate magical weapon which is said to be the embodiment of mysteries. Before he engraved his existence as a Heroic Spirit into human history, back when he has alive as a human, I would if he often made expressions like this―――
These past few days, although I thought about the same things, countless times, I always end up thinking.
I don’t know his past.
I don’t know his true name.
What kind of Heroic Spirit is he? He…...
Perhaps it has something to do with what happened in his lifetime, but his many words and deeds seem like――― he’s being kind towards me.
I wonder, what about the other Masters and Servants beside us?
To what extent do they share information about each other? Do they talk about everything in detail? Or, do they not talk a great deal, there is no reason for a Master to talk a lot about themselves to their familiar? At the very least, I feel like the Servants that we’ve seen in the ongoing Second Holy Grail War wouldn’t cook with their Master.
I don’t know.
There are a lot of things I don’t know.
Under these circumstances, there is one thing I am convinced of.
I must be the only Master who doesn’t know the true name of their Servant.
Since its dangerous for him to tell his true name to an unskilled magus like me, he won’t reveal his true name to me.
I understand his reasoning. I think it makes sense.
He said he will reveal it to me eventually, but when on earth will that day come―――
Saber: “Ayaka. How’s the white sauce?”
Ayaka: “Wait a second.”
I’m moving my hands precisely while thinking about this or that.
I had long since finished the preparations for the onions, mushrooms and chicken meat, so I was now in the middle of making the white sauce in the heavy pot. After boiling the butter, I add wheat flour and pour in some milk which adjusts to it as I mix it. Without putting it in all at once, I slowly put it in one cup at a time. Then right when it becomes a sticky white sauce. Don’t forget to add salt.
It’s about ready. I take out a small plate and taste it.
Ayaka: “Hm. Is this how it should feel? Saber, do you want to a taste, too?”
Saber: “Sure.”
Ayaka: “Then, I’ll take out a new plate.”
Saber: “There’s no need.”
He silently gestures, he will use the same plate that I used now.
That is…...
Umm……
What should I do?
I think, should I be overly aware of my Servant despite him being a man?
While still maintaining my cool so as to not let him sense my hesitation as much as possible, I take the scooped up white sauce with the ladle, put it onto the small plate and hand it over to him with a
“Here.” I never thought I would wind up in the awkward situation of doing spiritual training in the kitchen at midnight.
I swallow it somehow because it was no place for me to assert,
“I don’t need that kind of tension.”
“Thank you,” he places his lips to the small plate. “Yep, it tastes good. Let’s go with this.”
Ayaka: “It isn’t too watery?”
Saber: “I told you. It tastes good.”
As he says it―――
He shows me another smile. The glittering in his green eyes, were filled with the most brilliance today.
No, even though the white sauce is just a little watery.
Dammit.
Ayaka: “I’m going to put cheese on it and bake it, so I was wondering if the flavour is too strong.”
Saber: “I see. I’m eagerly anticipating the finished product.”
Ayaka: “I think anyone can do that.”
Saber: “You’re completely able to cook, Ayaka. You’re all grown up now.”
Ayaka: “Hey, Saber, you’re……”
Dammit.
Dammit!
[1] Ghost Liner: A boundary recording zone. The greatest type of familiar which includes nature spirits, animal spirits, Guardian Spirits, Daemons, Ploy Kickshaws and Servants.
Source: https://typemoon.fandom.com/wiki/Familiar