Under The Veil of Night

The next day, Kanae woke up when she heard the sound of the door being opened. She sat down on the sofa and looked towards the source of the sound.

"Did I wake you up?" Clara asked with a worried tone. She was being careful to not make any sound, but it seemed that Kanae woke up even to the slightest sound.

Kanae shook her head. "I’m used to wake up early and then sleep again in the class."

"I don’t think you should be proud of your habit like that."

"He he," Kanae smiled. "Madam, do you need help to prepare for the food or anything like that?"

"As long as you don’t try to cook, I will let you in the kitchen."

The way Clara said it was like she was the destroyer of the kitchen. But when she recalled how she made a complete mess in the kitchen, she knew that there was no doubt that the other party would see her as such. Kanae nodded her head and followed Clara to the kitchen.

After Kanae and Misae finished using the kitchen, Clara had cleaned them once again. The mess left from Kanae was simply too much for her to see.

"Do you have any preferences for the breakfast?" Clara asked as she took out the eggs and other ingredients from the fridge.

Kanae shook her head. "I’m not really picky about what I eat."

Remembering the scene from last night, Clara knew that it was rather true. Compared to most girls, Kanae was rather unrestrained in terms of eating as if she didn’t really care about her diet.

"Don’t you need to make sure you don’t eat too much?"

"I don’t really pay much attention," Kanae answered truthfully.

Clara didn’t ask anymore as she started to make fried rice. She made sure that the amount was a lot because Kanae was simply a big eater.

"It seems that I’m draining your food supplies faster," Kanae scratched her head as she helped washing the cooking tools.

"No worry, its better if they run out fast too cause there are usually a lot of leftovers," Clara answered.

She put everything on the table before taking a seat and started eating. "You can join me in eating. Misae won’t be able to wake up until quite late."

"Okay."

Kanae ate a lot of foods, leaving only one portion for Misae. After Clara finished eating, she departed to her work. "Tell Misae to eat the food when she wakes up."

"Yes, Ma’am."

Kanae looked towards the clock as she noticed that the time was still rather early. She sat down in the living room and closed her eyes to sleep again when the door was suddenly knocked.

"Yes, please wait a moment."

"Ah, Kanae?" Alice was standing in front of the door with a small plastic bag on her hand. She smiled when she saw Kanae stood before her.

"You come rather early," Kanae smiled. "Misae is still sleeping, so it’s better to not bother her for now."

"I’ll do that," Alice giggled.

The two of them walked to the living room, and Alice put the plastic bag on the table. Without even looking inside, Kanae could guess that it was cookies that Alice made for the three of them.

"Does your father allow you to come here when outside is still messy?"

"The fight is basically over last night. There are only a few clashes left, so my father is not really worried anymore," Alice explained as she took a seat in the living room.

Kanae nodded her head. "I see. Oh yeah, can you be the one to teach me how to cook next time? I think I make Misae extremely angry at my poor skill."

"Okay, I’ll teach you next time," Alice smiled. "But I’m only good at making desserts."

"It’s fine."

It didn’t take a long time for Misae to wake up and felt embarrassed once again because her two friends already woke up. She quickly got ready and joined them in the living room.

"You should have woken me up when you come over," Misae pouted.

Kanae smiled. "Your mother doesn’t allow me to wake you up, so I let you sleep longer."

"Are you not sleepy? You’re usually sleeping at this time, right Kanae?"

"I only sleep if I don’t have enough at night before," Kanae retorted.

Misae looked at Kanae suspiciously, but Kanae didn’t continue to talk about this matter as she took out the board game from yesterday. "Let’s play this again. This time, I’m sure that I can beat you."

"With that poor luck in dice, you bet!" Misae grinned.

Alice giggled. "Shall we try?"

The three of them played the game again. In the end, it was Misae who got the luckiest number the most, which resulted in her winning the game lots of times. The other times, Alice managed to finish earlier, but not even once did Kanae won the game.

"Kanae, I think you’re really poor at the game," Misae teased.

Kanae smiled wryly. "This is a game that only requires luck, so you can’t say that I’m poor at playing the game."

Misae shrugged. "It’s already the time for lunch. This time you’re not allowed to touch the utensil. Just watch me and Alice finishes cooking our lunch."

"Sure," Kanae nodded her head.

The three of them went into the kitchen as Misae started cooking. Alice helped from the back and they quickly finished making potato soup and some sandwich.

"Let’s dig in!" Misae said after they put everything on the table.

Without waiting, the three of them started to eat the food. As usual, Kanae ate really fast and also the most.

"You’re the one who doesn’t work, but you eat the most," Misae remarked with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Then I’ll be the one to wash the dishes," Kanae answered.

They agreed and before long the food was finished. Kanae became the one to clean up the plate while the other two rested in the living room.

"It’s really fun, you two should come here more often," Misae said with a grin.

Kanae shook her head. "If I don’t have work to do, I’ll come."

"What? But you literally work every day after school. You even work on Saturday, so how can you say that you’ll come?" Misae complained. She already knew about Kanae’s schedule, and it was close to impossible for Kanae to ditch work.

"I’ll change my work not long after this," Kanae recalled that the Old Man was going to close down the store in around three more weeks. After that, she wouldn’t need to work again after school until she found a new job.

"Why?"

"The Old Man say that he wants to close down the store," Kanae answered.

"That’s too bad," Misae knew that Kanae enjoyed working in that simple noodle store, so she felt bad that her friend had to change her work soon.

Alice nodded her head. "Have you thought where you’re going to work next?"

"Not yet, I’ll think about that in the future," Kanae answered calmly. "Now, I think it’s already the time for me to go home."

"It’s not that late," Misae protested.

"There’s school tomorrow, and the location of your house is quite far from the place where I live. If I didn’t hurry, I won’t be able to go home," Kanae explained.

"Alright, be careful on your way home."

Alice stood up. "I also need to go home. Take care of yourself, Misae. Don’t make us worry about you too much."

"When did I make you worry?"

The three of them laughed at Misae’s reaction. They exchanged a few more pleasantries before Kanae and Alice went back to their home.

When Kanae reached the Mansion of Nali Family, she noticed that the number of guards were still very plenty. It seemed that her uncle was adamant to keep Sakura safe in this house.

Moving to the back, she no longer paid any attention to them. She just wanted to go home and have a rest.