Soukoku: Country Children

Confession

It was two weeks after the fireworks show and the summer holidays had started at Chuuya and Dazai's school, and Kouyou had planned to take them along with her on a working holiday away for a while by the sea. Kyouka was all better and had thanked them for their care, going back to work for the tea house as usual.

Kouyou, Chuuya and Dazai were all in the car and heading towards the seaside cottage the business had lent to her, the country fields soon replaced by cities, towns and eventually large lakes that flowed smoothly beside the road in a blur of colour.
Eventually they made it to the seafront, seagulls screeching in the clear sky and the small holiday cottage approaching in the distance.
Without saying a word, they entered and went to their rooms. Chuuya's was blue and lined with paintings and Dazai's was red with floral wallpaper.
Both collapsed onto their beds and hid their faces into the crisp pillows.
Before the fireworks show, they were fine. They had a good friendship. In fact it was better than good, it was stronger than friendship. Like brotherhood but thicker than blood.
But then they fell in love with eachother.
Now they didn't know what to do.

"I'm going to walk through town to look for some grocery shops. We can go out and eat tomorrow, but tonight I've got a meeting with some other managers who want to talk about opening more tea shops in the coastal area. I expect you two to be able to cook for yourselves by now so I'm trusting you won't blow up the kitchen." Kouyou explained the night's plan while Chuuya and Dazai were sat on the sofa, listening intently. Every now and then their eyes wandered towards the other but quickly flicked back to Kouyou
"We'll be alright." Chuuya said, standing up and giving his her a hug.
"I know you will." She smiled, feeling bad for having to leave them for work a lot during their holiday. "The owners of the cottage have left some food supplies for tonight so you guys can have some fun with that. I'll be back very late so if you two are still up I'm not going to be too happy." Kouyou pulled back from Chuuya and huuged Dazai before grabbing her bag and heading out the door.

Now they were alone.

Chuuya quietly made his way to the kitchen and looked through the cupboards to find some chicken, rice and some other ingredients. The owners had even left a bottle of wine.
"What is there?" Dazai called from the sofa, flicking through the TV before rummaging through a cabinet to look through the selection of films there were.
"Chicken, carrots, rice, pepper, chilli, a packet of curry sauce and wine. We should be able to make a curry." Chuuya called back, putting the ingredients onto the kitchen counter.
"Okay."
"Are you gonna help me out or what?"
"Huh? Why should I?"
Chuuya mumbled something under his breath.
"What was that?"
"I can't cook."
Dazai had to stop himself from squealing. This guy was so adorable.
"Well then," Dazai sighed dramatically, waltzing towards the kitchen and folding his arms. "I guess I'll have to help!"
Chuuya blushed a bit and nodded, grabbing the equipment needed and washing the vegetables.

The tension between them that had lasted two weeks was slowly melting away as they worked together to cook the curry, focusing hard on making it as good as possible.
Chuuya followed Dazai's advice and quickly got the hang of cutting the chicken into strips and preparing the sauce. Dazai felt rather proud.
"What should we do with the wine?" Chuuya asked, showing him the bottle.
"Um..I guess we can mix some of it in with the sauce."
"What does wine taste like?"
"I don't know."
"Can you open the bottle?"
"Aw, do you need me to open it for you because you don't know how to do that either?"
Chuuya punched Dazai in the arm.
"Okay, okay, I'll open it!"
After a while of searching for the opener and popping off the cork, Chuuya quickly grabbed it from his hands and took a big swig.
"Oi! Chuuya, we're only sixteen you can't have alcohol straight from the bottle yet!"
"I wanted to try it!"
"Well, now you have so let me put some into the sauce!"
"How come you can have it in sauce and not from the bottle?"
He took another swig.
"Because the alcohol burns in the heat! Give me the bottle!"
"Okay, just one more?"
"Fine. One more."
Chuuya took another gulp, but after a while kept on gulping down more and more wine until Dazai had to lunge and take it from him.
"That is the last time I trust you when you say 'one more'!"
Chuuya looked a bit tipsy now and had gone slightly red in the cheeks but still managed to punch him in the arm.