Home Sweet Home
The visuals, at least, were a pass. I hadn't tasted it even once while making it, so the flavor was still a mystery...
Looking at the finished cake, I put on a deliberately serious face.
No matter how I turned it over in my mind, I couldn't believe I could make something this good on my first try.
I had never once in my life thought of myself as good at cooking, so entertaining the idea that I might be some kind of baking genius felt ridiculous.
"······."
I picked up a fork to taste it.
Unless I had somehow made this cake with salt instead of sugar, a miracle might really have happened to me today.
The next day.
Lunch was a rich, deeply sweet cake.
I'd had cake for breakfast, and I would probably have it for dinner too.
As a child I had once daydreamed about eating an entire cake by myself.
I never imagined it would actually happen. What on earth had I been thinking, making a whole cake that was more than one person could finish?
The silver lining was that the cake tasted incredible.
And so I no longer had any reason left to doubt that the Manito App was a gift sent by God.
"······."
Then was our Luca an angel? Had God given me a three-year buff period so I could take proper care of a baby angel?
I had grown up in the orphanage attached to the church, but I had never been especially devout. Sitting here stuffing myself with cake, though, I couldn't very well deny it.
Or maybe the people who made this app were wizards.
"That... kind of makes sense too."
Nothing felt impossible anymore.
I briefly considered finding someone to talk all of this over with, then immediately pushed the thought out of my head.
I had already gone to the company development team once, and the app had vanished.
Putting everything together, I decided that figuring out the secret of how this had happened was less important than focusing on what I needed to do from here on out.
Namely, making the most of the conditions I had been given and raising Luca well.
"Aboo!"
I smiled a little at Luca's babbling.
"Our baby's got it good."
I'm glad there seem to be so many people who love you.
That afternoon.
I had already finished every house that needed urgent repairs the day before, so I spent the whole day cleaning the supply room.
"······eup."
And right before leaving work I took another bite of cake, intending to finish it off—only for a greasy richness to hit me hard.
I really shouldn't have planned to get by on cake for three meals a day just because cooking felt like a hassle.
If only I had some close neighbors I could share it with...
The moment that thought crossed my mind, the faces of people I was grateful to floated up.
I had received so much help from Greg and Maria while adopting Luca that I wanted to express even a little of that thanks.
Wouldn't it be proper to invite Greg and Maria over for a meal before too much time passed, just to say thank you?
The house was still far too bare for guests, so once the lumber arrived I would make furniture...
It was the week before Christmas, so everyone would be busy. Maybe after Christmas, before the New Year, I could find a time that worked for both of them.
"······."
I had never once invited anyone into my home.
When I was in school I hadn't wanted anyone knowing I lived at the orphanage, and after moving here there had never really been a reason for anyone to come over.
Suddenly hosting guests would keep me plenty busy, but more than that, I really wanted to do it well.
Swallowing another mouthful of the extremely sweet cake, I opened the shopping app without thinking.
First of all—guest entertaining aside—I needed to buy the lighting I had been putting off.
When I lived alone I hadn't cared, but the apartment was pretty dim.
At least the orphanage I grew up in had a yard and got good sunlight.
As Luca's official guardian, I couldn't let him grow up in a worse environment than the one I had known.
There was no tree, but given the season maybe I should hang Christmas lights on the wall.
Those were seasonal, though. What I really needed were lights for the workshop and a lamp for the living room that stayed gloomy even during the day.
Next came a plate set. I didn't even have decent plates for myself.
"······This looks nice too."
While browsing plate sets I realized the importance of a tablecloth and ordered a cheap one to cover the rough four-person table I already had.
It was the kind of fabric you would use for one season and throw away, but the warm colors and pattern seemed perfect for getting through winter.
"······This is pretty too, right, Luca?"
"Bu."
Once I started caring about interior design, it felt like sinking into a swamp.
Right now the living room still had the blinds that had come with the apartment. If I installed another rail and hung curtains that matched the tablecloth, the place would feel cozier and warmer.
I would have to check the quality again, but there were plenty of inexpensive items that could completely change the atmosphere.
Paying with points was basically the same as getting everything for half off...
The sofa bed, now that I was sleeping alone, could go back to being a sofa with a bright cover... and a carpet too...
Payment complete.
"······."
I had meant to look into a single light fixture and somehow ended up over-shopping again.
I felt a brief stab of guilt, then rationalized that if I had taken everyone out to eat to say thanks, the bill would have been the same or worse.
Anyway, I felt good.
Then a sharp knock made me jerk my head up.
Knock knock knock knock!
Not many residents came to the management office in person. Usually they just called about whatever was broken.
I carefully opened the door. A woman with hair like a lion's mane, blown wild by the winter wind, stood there frowning.
Looking closer I saw a name tag on her chest. Digging through my memory, I thought I recognized her face from when I first moved in.
Slightly flustered, I stood and opened the door fully for the employee who was snorting with irritation.
The tall woman, already large-eyed, glared even harder and strode straight into the room, demanding answers.
"Who are you? Where did Tony or Andy go, and why are you here instead?"
"Ah, about that."
I explained the whole situation as carefully as I could, trying not to give her any reason to complain.
I couldn't lie, so I told her I didn't know about Andy, but Tony had said he would be out of the neighborhood for a week.
"I work part-time sometimes, and I happened to have time this week. I'm helping out with the work."
"······."
The large middle-aged Russian woman pinched the bridge of her nose as if she had a headache.
Somehow she reminded me of Sister Eloise, and I fidgeted with my hands behind my back while she clicked her tongue.
"No, then at least tell people before you leave..."
That was the proper way, yes.
But since I had already received an advance, I stayed quiet and said nothing.
"When people call in, they take forever to show up, so I came in person."
"What's the problem?"
"The doorknob on the office is broken, and if I can't lock the door I can't leave work."
An emergency, then.
"Yes, I'll go fix it. I'll stop by the supply room for the parts, so you go on ahead."
"······."
She looked me up and down with clear distrust but had no choice except to turn and leave.
And in this case I was a little nervous myself.
I had done every repair possible inside houses, but I had never replaced a doorknob.
Luckily, while cleaning the supply room I had confirmed there were spare doorknobs stacked up, and the new doorknob box even came with replacement instructions.
It was just changing a doorknob. How hard could it be? I steeled myself.
Just in case, I grabbed the doorknob box from the supply room and stopped by home to pick up a few of my own tools.
Please let me fix this without any trouble.
"It's old."
"It is old."
The office doorknob clearly had not been replaced once since the apartment was built.
It was so faded you could no longer tell the original color, scratched and dirty all over.
I pulled on gloves and started unscrewing every screw I could find.
The screws were so old they barely turned, but I kept a straight face and worked my hands steadily.
After all, I could feel the employee's irritated breathing on the back of my neck...
The problem was that even after every screw was out, something still caught on the inside and the doorknob hung half-removed.
The instructions in the new box said nothing about this.
Probably because the old doorknob was so ancient, the internal structure was different.
Cold sweat ran down my back, but I refused to show panic and tried simply pulling with force.
It wouldn't come free. I could see a few more screws inside, but there was no space for a screwdriver...
In a last-ditch effort I grabbed every tool I had brought in one hand.
Help me, artisan proficiency!
"······."
And ridiculously enough, several holes that hadn't been visible before suddenly appeared inside the doorknob. I immediately slipped a thin screwdriver in and pressed.
Click!
With a cheerful sound the doorknob popped free from the mechanism.
...Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness.
Maybe because it was old, the whole thing had been pretty complicated.
But I didn't need to understand every detail of the mechanism. I tossed the ancient doorknob in the trash and installed the new one right away.
The new doorknob went on in the blink of an eye. New ones really were better.
After fitting the catch box on the door frame and confirming the door opened and closed smoothly, the whole job had taken hardly any time.
"All done. Here's the key."
I brushed off my clothes, stood up, and handed over the key. The employee spoke with open admiration.
"Young people really are good."
"······Ahaha, is that so."
I didn't point out that age and skill don't necessarily go together, and that it was simply that Tony and Andy—who happened to be older—weren't very good at their jobs.
I just laughed it off awkwardly, and she offered her hand.
"I'm Anastasia. I hope we don't have to see each other again within a week, but see you around."
"Yes, thank you."
I shook her hand and, on the way back to the management office, secretly wiped the relief from my chest.
I had been worried she would tell me to quit on the spot, but it looked like I would be able to finish out the remaining period safely.
Having to give back money I had already spent would have been a real problem.
I had already done all the shopping!
After finishing work safely again that day and riding the elevator home, I found that the lumber I had ordered a few days earlier had arrived.
I grinned and pushed the stroller.
"Luca, the furniture's here."
"Aboo!"
Time flew by.
Before work I caught up on housework, and after work I diligently fed, bathed, and put the baby to sleep, then poured myself into furniture-making as a way of wrapping up the day.
The first thing I started on was, of course, the storage unit for the workshop.
While sketching it I had debated long and hard about wall-mounted shelves fixed with metal brackets.
I liked the design quite a bit, but nailing into the walls could create restoration problems when it came time to move, so I eventually designed everything freestanding.
A two-tier bookshelf with generous height and width. The lower shelves would hold baskets that fit perfectly like drawers, and the top would have a pegboard for hanging tools—that was the key feature.
Filling one wall like that completed half the workshop.
For the desk, anything too large would be a headache when moving, so I made two desks of the same size that I could push together when needed.
Square, clean-lined pieces could be made almost like store-bought ready-to-assemble furniture if you ordered the exact sizes you wanted, and the results this time were quite satisfying too.
Busily making furniture that suited my taste and filling the house with it was more exciting than I had expected.
Of course if my budget had been generous I could have simply ordered pretty pieces from a catalog, but beyond the money, I was discovering unexpected fun in sketching the furniture myself.
Next I poured real care into a dedicated trolley for storing Luca's things.
It would hold diapers, powder, handkerchiefs, wet wipes and other baby supplies, and I added a top board with a shallow guard so I could change diapers on it.
After that I made many more pieces of furniture and accessories.
Assembling the storage hanger took less than twenty minutes. After applying varnish and letting it dry, I could use it the next day, and even though it seemed simple it looked far sturdier than ordinary hangers.
I finished two storage stools with lids, folded the sofa bed back into a sofa, and covered it with a blanket-style sofa cover.
I laid a round carpet between the stools and the sofa, set the small coffee table I had made last in place, and the whole arrangement looked surprisingly decent.
Workshop storage unit, workshop desks, Luca's trolley, storage hanger, two storage stools, and a coffee table.
Over the past few days, with unbelievable skill, I had made a total of seven pieces of furniture, all crafted to highlight the grain of good solid wood, and they coordinated beautifully with one another.
And on the day the lighting arrived.
I realized that lighting is the beginning and the end of interior design.
In the workshop I put a rough but bright work stand for pure practicality.
In the living room I bought and placed a simple floor lamp and a table lamp I could use as mood lighting at night as a set. I also replaced the dining-table bulb with a brighter one and fitted a pretty shade.
Click.
I turned on every light and stood for a moment in the corner, admiring the reborn house.
It looked extremely warm and cozy.
It was hard to believe this space had been gray for years. Now the house radiated a gentle golden glow.
So that was why everyone put so much effort into interior design.
I realized anew that when people get passionate about something, there is always a good reason.
...Has it become a space that suits Luca a little better now?
Ah. Our home is pretty.