Alice in Borderland

Chapter 22 - Thai curry

Exactly one minute before eighteen o'clock he actually comes into the hotel kitchen, while I still look for some ingredients from the cupboards. We bet, but somehow I doubted that he was really going to show up. He sits on one of the kitchen counters behind me, his hands in the vest pockets and his legs crossed. He just sits there in silence, which makes me a little nervous.

"You wanted to give me company, then tell me something"

He seems to think for a moment and in that time I write the recipe on a piece of paper. In any case, I need the curry spice, chicken strips, carrots and peppers.

"Who taught you the shaft?"

"Me myself, and with you?"

"The Same"

Could I have imagined. He doesn't seem like he's being forced to do something, but he doesn't feel like he's being taught something by someone else. I try to put the chicken strips from the bag into the pan and start cutting the vegetables into small pieces.

"What is the book you are reading?," he says of the book I borrowed from Kuina.

Luckily, he sits behind me and can't see my facial expression. The book is not written youth-free and I find it a little uncomfortable to mention it before Chishiya. In theory, the whole book is all about sex and career.

"A marketing company and skiing," I reply. It is not a lie, these two professions really appeared in the book, if only incidentally. In my mind, I go through various topics of conversation to distract from the book.

"Are you playing again tomorrow?"

"Yes, my visa is still valid for two days, but I like to be on the safe side"

"Do you know if we're back together?" I ask curiously, and I can hear him laugh.

"No, not this time. I have the honour of playing with Niragi," he says sarcastically, and I inevitably have to laugh. I turn to him and hold up the spice bag.

"You're going to have spicy food?"

"Clearly."

"Do you happen to know who I'm with?"

"I didn't know the names"

So it's not any of the leadership or the military squad. Probably some of the new members, or just the inconspicuous. I wonder if Chishiya knows this, because he has some kind of ideic memory, or if he may have been interested.

"When does Kuina come down for dinner?"

"In an estimated twenty minutes"

This fits very well. I put the vegetables in the pan and take a little distance so as not to be hit by the oil splashes. I salt it a little and pour coconut milk into it before sitting next to it on the counter.

I shrug slightly as my shoulder blade hurts during the strain. Two days ago it turned dark blue, apparently from the elevator crash. The ointment of Izumi, which she gave me the last time, relieves a little of the pain. But it is still very difficult to sleep at night. I brush my hair behind my ears and close my eyes briefly to relax.

 The smell of Thai curry rises into my nose and I don't know why, but my thoughts wander back into the past. My father's curry was cooking and the sun shining through the kitchen window warmed my arms. I heard my grandmother in the small salon hear one of her wild stories from her youth and the clattering of stuffed champagne glasses.

No, that was my previous life. I open my eyes again and I put on an emotionless face. I get up again and go to the pan to turn the food. Chishiya's fleeting glance seems to have noticed that I was mentally somewhere else, but he is silent and doesn't address it.