A Taste Shared
The bubbling sound filled the narrow one-room apartment. Glug, glug, glug... I kept my eyes fixed on the pot as I placed half a block of tofu on the cutting board and began slicing it neatly. The plastic knife was dull enough that there was no risk of cutting myself, so I saw no need to look her way.
"Mmm...?"
I felt her gaze on me—soft, almost affectionate. Hehe, how cute...
"...You should come down from there. You might get hurt."
"But watching you cook is so captivating, Counselor. Hehe..."
Her sharp eyes, reminiscent of the Management Team Leader's, carried an added layer of sensuality as they lingered on me. She wore nothing but an oversized white shirt over her underwear—an outfit I had seen plenty of just yesterday on the real Team Leader. Until last week she had flaunted that dangerously alluring body without shame; now she sat like this, in a room that looked suspiciously like my own studio apartment. If I claimed not to understand why, it would be a lie.
"I can see... everything."
"Hm? See what?"
"Your underwear, ma'am."
Her choice of clothing was clearly my fault—born from the desire that had quietly built up after seeing the Team Leader yesterday. Still, with her long legs crossed carelessly on the counter, the view beneath the shirt was dangerously exposed. Every small movement threatened to reveal more, and I had nowhere safe to look.
"Oh, really?"
"If you understand, then—"
"Hehe. Pervert."
She uncrossed her legs as if she were about to get down, only to spread them slightly instead, giving me a clear view of the delicate lavender lace beneath. Then, with a playful little tug on the hem of her shirt, she pretended it had been an accident. The mischievous laugh that followed made my face burn.
"If you don't come down right now—"
Tap. Tap.
I reached out and lightly flicked the black device around her neck with my fingertip, delivering one final warning.
"Then I suppose you'll have to carry me down, Counselor."
"...I'll at least hold your hand."
I set the plastic knife aside and extended my hand. She took it obediently, but the moment her feet left the counter she lost her balance and fell straight into my arms.
"..."
She hugged me tightly for a brief second, then slipped away and sat down properly without another word. The pot continued to bubble. The knife remained on the cutting board. Was she truly only seeking my attention and goodwill?
I pushed the sliced tofu into the pot, trying to gather my thoughts, but the voice crackling through the earpiece refused to let me rest.
"—Not falling for it so easily today, are we~?"
"...She hasn't used her ability in earnest yet."
"—I see. By the way, did something happen between you and the Team Leader over the weekend?"
I flinched.
"—You just flinched. The cameras caught everything."
"N-no, nothing happened. Why are you suddenly asking—"
The Team Leader's voice scratched at my ears like static. I walked over to the rice cooker, which had just finished steaming, and set out two bowls. Even my calm demeanor didn't stop her teasing.
"—Your appearance is different again today. Has your taste changed already, Woong?"
"..."
"—That face and figure... they look exactly like the Team Leader's."
I flinched again.
"—Hehe... You flinched again. Something definitely happened yesterday, didn't it?"
At this point I was starting to suspect I was the main source of the Team Leader's daily motivation. Was teasing me really that entertaining? One day I would get my revenge, even if it was something petty—
Beep!
The rice cooker announced it was done, snapping me out of my thoughts. The Team Leader seemed satisfied with her teasing and didn't press further. Today's menu was the same miso soup and rolled omelet I had made for the real Team Leader yesterday. I rinsed the plastic knife, dried it on a paper towel, and transferred the perfectly golden omelet onto a long plate before cutting it into bite-sized pieces. The finely chopped chili and salt were already enough seasoning.
I turned off the heat under the gently simmering soup, then scooped the freshly cooked rice into bowls without pressing it down. "It's hot, so don't move suddenly."
"Okay~"
I arranged the hottest dishes first, finishing with the kimchi I had brought from home in an insulated bag. Satisfied with the spread, I placed the silicone spoons—issued along with the plastic knife—before us both.
"It smells delicious. It's been so long since I've smelled real food."
"...Cooking isn't difficult. But as I mentioned before, I don't know many recipes."
"May I eat?"
"Ah, just a moment. I'll serve you."
After ladling soup into a separate bowl, I nodded to indicate it was safe to start. For the first time since entering the room, she looked away from me and picked up her silicone spoon. She scooped up a piece of tofu along with some broth, brought it slowly to her lips, and gently blew on it to cool it down.
This time it was me who couldn't look away. Since she didn't need food to survive, the facility had never provided her with proper meals after containment. I wondered if ordinary home cooking would suit her tastes at all.
"...Ahm."
She ate it. She had cooled it with her breath, but the moisture trapped inside the tofu retained its heat far longer than expected.
"Eep... Haaah..."
"Are you alright? Would you like some water?"
She shook her head, still fanning her mouth with quick breaths.
"...Gulp."
She swallowed. I waited with the half-open water bottle in hand, curious about her first impression of my cooking.
"...Haa... It's hot."
Well, of course it was. It must have been very hot.
"But... it tastes good."
Shhh...
Her eyes widened like she was seeing a mirage. The white shirt she wore gradually shifted into a soft lavender hue. When I blinked again, the girl sitting before me was wearing the pale purple dress I had first seen her in.
"...Perhaps because I watched you make it from start to finish? I can feel the sincerity... It feels like something inside me is being filled."
Her voice had softened completely, erasing every trace of the Team Leader's tone. She picked up a piece of rolled omelet, placed it in her mouth, and smiled with quiet satisfaction.
It's delicious... Really delicious.
Her inner voice matched her expression perfectly. Cooking while she watched had been exhausting, but it seemed to have produced a good result after all. I let out a small sigh of relief and began eating as well.
The silicone spoon felt sturdier than I expected. Both it and the dull plastic knife were clearly meant to prevent her from using them as weapons, though her physical strength was weaker than that of an ordinary young girl, so there was little real danger. She had never harmed anyone through direct physical means before. Still, the fact remained that countless people had died because of her—far too many—and I had nearly become one of them. That instinctive wariness refused to fade.
And yet here she was, wearing the form of a beautiful girl, sharing a meal with me. I laughed quietly to myself and focused on eating. Just as I took a spoonful of soup, thinking that my mother's recipe never failed—
...Delicious.
"...?"
A strange sensation washed over me. It wasn't from the soup I had just eaten. The taste of rolled omelet filled my mouth instead. The flavor of the soup was still there, but layered beneath something else entirely.
...Tasty...?
"Huh...?"
I looked up after swallowing and saw the lavender-haired girl awkwardly holding chopsticks, a piece of omelet already in her mouth. Her expression was just as bewildered as mine. We had both felt something foreign at the same moment.
Then I noticed the faint glow beginning to shimmer in her eyes.
"—Oh... I didn't expect it to appear again so quickly."
The Management Team watching the session noticed the glow in the containment subject's eyes as well. Among all known information about her ability, this particular sign had never been recorded before. The only similar case was with Harpy—and even then, it had only happened once during an outing. The only person in the room who knew that detail was the Management Team Leader herself, who had seen the private footage of Harpy and the Counselor. She chose not to interrupt the session, instead focusing on the multiple camera feeds displaying every angle of the room.
Soon she confirmed that the Counselor's eyes were glowing with the same faint light.