45 Fried Rice

First she looked up the current state of Japan. It appears the small island country was now overrun by infected with only a small 10% of the population intact. This was the cost of having most of the land surrounded by water.

Searching for Light's family, she saw that they were all still safe and were now running what's left of the government. Light's family had ruthlessly and decisively slaughtered everyone who opposed them and ran the country as a dictatorship. Leveraging their strong connections and inherent fighting abilities as well as the chaos in the country, they were able seize control with relative ease.

Light's family created a safe haven for the remaining uninfected population, but discriminated against any foreigners and refused to allow them into the stronghold. Under ordinary circumstances, this would have sparked international controversy. But in this climate, there was no time for other countries to care about anyone else as they were unable to secure even their own.

It seems Light's family's ruthlessness was not limited to just within the family itself. Aida hacked into his family's emails and social media. She noticed that not one of the family members even mentioned Light or the twins. They clearly didn't care whether the trio lived or died. At least this made the decision to get rid of them very easy.

Having fully caught up with all the news, she leaned back against her chair. There was a lot of information to process. Her main focus for now would be to track down her former master and obtain information to destroy their headquarters. Light's family would get to live a little longer while she took care of business here.

It was already the next afternoon, Aida had pulled an all nighter. Her stomach growled, all that work made her hungry again. The others should hopefully be waking up soon.

***

Light was the first to wake up. When Light first woke up, he immediately shouted the twins names. Aida's eyes lit up the moment she heard his voice. She dashed up the stairs to get to his room and pushed the door open.

BAM! Light was about to open the door as well, so the door directly smashed into his face.

"..." Light held his nose as he looked up.

"My bad," Aida said with a cold expression. Inwardly she felt bad for hitting Light in the face, but she was not accustomed to showing her true feelings on her face except when she was with Xiao Ai or alone.

Waving his hand to indicate that he didn't mind, he asked, "My brothers?"

"Next door, sleeping. You all were unconscious when I woke up with a big human faced spider guarding."

With a sigh of relief, Light nodded. Just then, Aida's stomach grumbled again with hunger.

She turned red but acted like nothing happened, while Light chuckled. "You must be hungry. You're in luck, I am an expert cook after having cooked for my two picky brothers for a few years."

Taking the initiative, Light first went to check his brothers and then calmly walked downstairs to check the refrigerator. It was well stocked with a lot of items including some leftover rice. He decided to make some fried rice with all the leftovers in the fridge along with some additional meat on the side. No sense in wasting perfectly good perishable food. The portion size should be enough to serve everyone.

He put on an apron and went into action. Aida on the side watched on expressionlessly, but inside her mind was doing somersaults. She was super excited to find someone who seemed to know what they were doing in the kitchen. She could finally eat a proper meal again!

Shortly after, he finished cooking the fried rice, and brought it to the dining table in a large pot. Aida sat there appearing indifferent, but inside she was screaming, 'Let's eat, let's eat, let's eat!!'

Light went back to bring some plates and utensils, and ladled some of the fried rice out for her and for himself. Sitting down, he said "Itadakimasu!" and they finally began eating.

Holding herself back, Aida ate in calm, slow bites while trying to maximize the amount she scooped into her mouth each time. She was torn between keeping her pristine image and eating (hogging) as much of the food as possible. The fried rice was delicious and a far cry from her eggshell-filled eggs she had made earlier. As a result, her appreciation towards Light grew yet again.

Light on the side also ate calmly. He was trained from a young age by his family on eating etiquette and ate with grace so he was able to control himself despite his hunger.

They calmly enjoyed this meal in silence. Halfway through, Ace woke up and walked downstairs with a giant yawn, attracted by the food. His eyes lit up when he saw Aida awake and ran towards her excitedly. Seeing him approach, she immediately lifted her foot and planted it firmly on Ace's face.

With a wronged look like a lost puppy, Ace silently sat down and began eating with the other two.

After they finished eating, Light picked up all the plates and brought them to the sink to be washed. He then placed the leftover rice in a container. He was saving it for when the twins and Xiao Ai woke up. After he finished cleaning up, he came back to the table and sat down again.

Aida began speaking, "I have been researching the situation while you all were asleep. My goal is to go to City M to investigate some things. It is a fairly long journey so I won't force you all to come with me if you're not interested. You can just stay here at this house. I will make sure that it is safe for you before leaving and that you have enough food supplies to last half a year."