Is This Better?

The Incident regarding Miyako's mother was later known throughout the area but was quickly forgotten.

Miyako was forced to pack up her belongings in the apartment to move to the church where she could live.

Her mother was a good friend of a nun in the church who had seen Miyako frequently before, and she remembered her as well, she decided to take Miyako in with the permission of the priest and she moved to live in there.

It took a little less than half a day as there wasn't much to be moved, the whole time Miyako kept the present her mother had given her in her pocket, but she was yet to open it.

After moving everything, she couldn't afford to go to school as she didn't have any money whatsoever, but she wasn't in debt either, the only thing she knew she could do was to earn money so that she could go to a school later on in life, she'd retained memories of her past life so her knowledge was already better than most at her age, the things she had studied before would become useful now.

"I'm sorry for what happened." The nun told Miyako as she passed by in the church, Miyako kept silent the whole time in the church and never spoke a word, everyday life was the same after she got use to it, she had found a way to earn money by delivering newspapers and sometimes helping around the church, she earned money that way for a long time.

Miyako worked hard everyday without saying anything, she worked alone, but she worked harder than anyone else did and succeeded.

She found new jobs along the way, working a night shift as a cashier in a grocery store, delivering newspapers in the morning and working as a baby sitter, for nearly eight years she kept up her pace without missing a single day for no reason.

"You need to give yourself a rest, get some time off and relax, don't work yourself to exhaustion." The nun sounded extremely concerned.

She had been trying to get Miyako to take a break from working for over a year at but she wouldn't listen and kept going, "Do you want to take a break tomorrow, I don't have work that day so I can teach you how to cook."

Her experience with job interviews helped her out a lot so she was fine by herself, but she didn't know how to cook, "Sure." Miyako replied, the nun looked overjoyed "I'm looking forward to it!"

The next day they went off to the somber and silent kitchen, Miyako had never set foot inside most rooms of the church even though she'd lived there for years, the crossed windows were shut tight to prevent cold air from entering the kitchen, the room was very dim, light only shined in through the windows, "It's like back at home." Miyako whispered whilst she explored the area.

Despite the windows being closed off, everything inside was cold, especially the floor and walls.

Miyako went around opening cabinets and drawers, she found multiple sets of utensils but the pantry was not filled at all which Miyako seemed concerned about, "Oh that, we give out food basically every day so it's never full." The nun walked to Miyako.

"Huh..." Miyako was speaking more than usual to the nun's surprise, "Is she finally getting better?" She wondered, ever since the incident, Miyako wouldn't speak more than a few words to other people, especially to those from her school, she only seemed to talk to the nuns more often.

Miyako squatted to open a low drawer, "I'm thinking of moving one day.."

"You're what?" The nun turned around carrying a box of ingredients, "I said I'm thinking of moving from here one day." Miyako slowly placed a knife on the black marble table, "Why?" The nun lifted small bags out of the box, "I want to go to a school nearer to the city." Miyako placed a cutting board on the table as well, "I see... is that what you've been saving money for?" The nun says as she finishes placing all the ingredients on the table, "Yes it is..." Miyako continued to silently clean the knife at the sink.

Before they knew it, they had already finished setting up the ingredients and tools they needed to cook on the table, "Let's get started already then."

"What are we going to cook?" Miyako asked, but the nun seemed like she already knew what to make.

She picked up lettuce and examined it, "This looks like it's still good to go." She handed it to Miyako, "Can you wash this?" Afterwards she placed it to the side towards the cutting board and proceeded to grab the knife, "You cleaned this already right?" Miyako quickly nodded, "Thanks."

The nun started slowly cutting the lettuce into bite sized pieces vertically, the sound of the knife hitting the board followed by silence made it resound through the room, "That should be that, can you hand me the tomatoes after you've washed them?" Their teamwork wasn't good in the slightest but it was still enjoyable, at least for Miyako.

"Here." She placed them on the cutting board and the nun started cutting them vertically as well, "If I remember correctly we should have an oil we can use for the salad somewhere, could you help me find it." Miyako quickly found the bottle after a minute of searching, "With this it should be done." The nun started coating the salad with a small amount of oil.

Miyako stared at the salad bowl and wrote down every step she had to take to make one, "It's quite easy, the next step is much harder." Miyako tilted her head with a straight face, "Aren't we done?" The nun started her finger, "We still need to cook the meat, now come here."

Miyako watched closely as the nun prepared the meat but still couldn't understand anything she did during the process even when she wrote it down, "I have to adjust the heat here.. how?"

"I need to simmer at first?"

"What ingredient is that?"

Perhaps it was because of the lazy writing of the author that made Miyako not be able to understand how to cook meat because it would take too long to explain in detail, or maybe they don't know how to either but they're not going to try and find out.

After the nun showed Miyako how to cook the meat for about an hour, Miyako still couldn't understand and gave up soon after, "And now we have a complete mixed salad bowl!" Miyako was excited as it was the first time she'd watched and tried to learn how to cook, "You can try to do it yourself next time, want me to teach you more?" Miyako considered the offer but didn't respond.

Later they enjoyed the salad with each other in the kitchen and the nun continued to teach Miyako about how the meat should be once it was cooked, but still to no avail, Miyako didn't talk to most people for nearly nine years and now she felt that she was starting to talk to other people more because of her mother's friend who was a nun at the church she lived in. "Is this better?" She wondered, "this is actually quite good..." She gulped a slice of beef.

"By the way." The nun ate a spoonful of the salad, "have you opened your mother's present yet?"