Chapter 45 Breakfast

Miya walked down the wide, illuminated halls. She hung her head low, staring at the tiled floors as she walked.

She raised her head, which showed her solemn face. She looked around the empty halls around her.

"Guess everyone's sleeping." Miya thought, looking at the silent, closed doors around her.

Miya continued her walk, unsure of where she is or what she is doing.

After a while of walking, Miya raised her head. She stared at the wall that blocked her path.

A humongous, white wall, towering over her. She looked up the giant wall, somehow making her remember her nightmare.

"Mother..." Miya whispered with a lonely tone.

As if in response to her calls, a lot of different sounds reached Miya's ears. Miya turned to look at the direction the sounds came from.

She saw the dining room they ate at last night. The sounds didn't seem to come from the dining room, instead, it seemed to come from the next room over.

"Someone is... cooking." Miya mumbled, recognizing the distinct sound of the fire sizzling the food.

"And... humming?" Miya added. She walked inside the dining room that is pristine clean.

She then turned her attention to the door that led to the kitchen off to the side. She rushed to the door while a single thought filled her mind. "Mother..."

She opened the door, revealing what you would expect from a kitchen. Counters, cabinets, a sink, organized plates, utensils, and of course, food, which are neatly prepared on the counter tops.

She turned to look at the stove, where the sounds of the sizzling and humming are coming from. But, the one she saw was not the one she was expecting.

Instead of a grown woman, they looked more like a young girl close to her age. Miya let out a sigh upon seeing this.

Noticing the sigh Miya made, the girl turned around.

She moved her feet carefully on the stool she was using to reach the pot which she was using. She turned her head, making the short, white hair adorning it to sway to the side.

Upon locking gazes with Miya using her light blue eyes, the girl smiled and said. "Miya! What are you doing here? It's still a couple of hours before dawn."

Upon receiving the girl's smile and concerns, Miya replied. "Oh, uh, Mis-... Lilly. It is because I c-couldn't sleep?"

The white-haired Lilly stepped down from her stool, wiped her hands on her apron, and said. "Miya, can you come over here for a sec?"

Surprised by the sudden request, Miya nodded nervously as she did as she was told.

Once Miya was close enough, Lilly inhaled, spread her arms sidewards, which caused Miya to stop, as if seeing a ghost in front of her.

Before she could do anything, Lilly slapped Miya's face with both her hands while shouting in her face. "MIYA!!!"

"Aaaah!" Screaming in surpise and fear, Miya fell on the tilled floor, landing on her butt.

Forming one of her hands into a fist, Lilly yelled. "Stop stuttering! Miya! Have I not told you to stop?!"

Miya swiftly picked herself up, bowed to Lilly, and shouted. "Yes, you did! I'm sorry! I'll never do it again! CONFIDENCE!!!"

Lilly's serious expression disappeared upon hearing Miya's response, she gave a carefree smile, and said in a gentle, yet teasing manner. "Okay. Didn't tell you to scream 'Confidence' though, hehehe!"

"Oops, the pot!" Lilly said after hearing the water boil, she went and lowered the heat before she placed the other ingredients into the pot.

Leaving Miya just standing behind her, with her mouth wide open, while her face began to turn red from Lilly's slap and the embarassment that followed.

While stirring the pot, Lilly asked. "Why are you here, Miya? Go back to sleep. Someone will wake you up for breakfast."

After swaying her head left and right, Miya answered. "It's just that..."

Before she could finish, Lilly asked. "Can you hand over the pepper while you speak?"

"...Okay." Miya nodded, grabbed the pepper container before standing beside Lilly, offering her the pepper.

Grabbing the pepper, Lilly said. "Thanks, you can continue."

"Yeah, it's just that... I had a terrible dream, so I don't think I can sleep." Miya said with a pained expression, remembering the dream too vividly.

Lilly placed her hand onto Miya's head and said. "Aww, it will be fine, Miya. You know what? You can stay in the dining room while you wait for me to finish here."

Feeling the warmth of Lilly's hand on her head, Miya asked. "Okay... but maybe I can help here instead of doing nothing?"

Delighted on Miya's willingness to help, Lilly said. "Sure thing, but before you help, can you put on some shoes?"

Confused by her question, Miya looked down on her feet. She saw that she was currently bare footed, as she didn't put on her shoes before she left her room.

"Hold on, I'll go and return with my shoes." Miya said before turning around and facing the door.

"No need, here, use these. I don't need them." Lilly said before flicking her feet, which sent her flip-flops to Miya.

Miya looked at the flip-flops, looked at her own bare feet, and looked the Lilly's feet which are stood on a stool.

Miya then put on the slippers and got to work preparing the ingredients. Lilly would occasionally give her instructions on how to do things before continuing on her side of work.

Although, she was being servant. Miya couldn't help but feel at home. She remembered the times when she would help her mother in the kitchen.

This warmed up Miya's heart, making the heavy feeling the dream caused to slowly disappear.

After working hard on the kitchen, Miya and Lilly nearly finished preparing breakfast, but was caught off guard when they heard glass hitting each other.

They turned around and saw Hela, holding the sugar container. Lilly, looking displeased and disappointed, shouted. "Hela! No pure sugar in the morning!"

Upon hearing Lilly's command, Hela opened the lid with a look of defiance.

"Ah..!" Reacting to Hela's attempt at being rebellious, Lilly wore a strict and serious face.

Hela maintained her look and dipped a finger into the sugar container.

"Ah!" Lilly's face still remained strict and serious.

Seeing Lilly's face, Hela took her finger out of the sugar, closed the lid, placed the container in it's original place before leaving the kitchen with a defeated face.

"Hmph!" After seeing Hela leave, Lilly went back to her pot.

While the exchange happened, one thing was on Miya's mind. "Did she just go straight for the sugar? There's a jar of cookies just next to it."

Beside the suger container Hela returned, sat a jar full of cookies. Miya decided not to think too hard on it as returned to what she was doing.

Almost right after Miya turned her head away, a faint sound of glass hitting and a crunch was heard.

Both Miya and Lilly turned their heads towards the noise. Fully expecting it to be Hela.

To their surprise, it wasn't Hela. It was a red-headed girl with a mouthful of cookies and the cookie jar still in her grasp.

Rose opened her mouth to speak, but only crumbs came out and a muffled sentence. What she said can be roughly translated to. "It's not what it looks like."

Lilly let out a defeated sigh before saying. "Rose, please go to the table. I'll deal with you later."

Rose looked shocked, but eventually accepted her fate. She placed the cookie jar back beside the sugar container and left the room with a defeated face.

Lilly then went back to her cooking while Miya just choose to ignore what happened and continue what she was doing.

In the dining room, Rose sat down on Amber's chair, as she was not there to complain. The only other people who are in the room are Hela, who is sitting on her chair with a joyful smile, and Loki, who is rolled up into a ball on Hela's lap.

Rose opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Rose looked around, hoping for an interaction to chase away the silent atmosphere.

After seeing that there was no one to interact with, Rose was forced to seat down and wait.

As minutes go by, Rose's face looks like she is about to lose it.

As if recieving Rose's distress, Amber walked through the door while still rubbing her sleepy eyes.

Almost immediately after Amber entered the room, Rose shot up from her chair as she looked at Amber with desperate eyes and said. "Amber! Come over here and sit with me! Please!"

After locking gazes with Rose's desperate looking eyes, Amber said. "No thank you. Peer pressure is really bad for breakfast."

After saying that, Amber left the room and closed the door.

Seeing Amber leave, Rose took a glance at Hela, who still has a joy-filled smile.

Rose then ran towards the door and pushed it.

Seeing as how the door doesn't want to open, Rose turned around and saw Hela, looking at her with a curious gaze while still wearing her happy smile.

Rose then managed to open the door by pulling, and immediately left the room. Leaving Hela and Loki inside.

After ten minutes, Morgan, Chrys and V, who was being dragged on the foot by Chrys while smoke raised from his forehead.

Morgan immediately sat down and waited. While Chrys went around the table with V in tow, intentionally hitting every bumb on the floor with V's head.

He set down V's unconcious body by his chair before sitting down on his. Amber and Rose returned a little bit later and sat on their seats.

Miya and Lilly came out of the kitchen with the food. Everyone arranged for their share with V waking up in the middle and causing a tantrum.

Eventually, he calmed down and sat with everyone else. Lilly then clapped her hands together and said. "Thanks for the food."

And the scene from the night before, happened again, just utter chaos.

While the chaos was happening, Miya looked at everyone around the table wearing their casual wear.

She looked down on herself and thought. "Maybe the reason I got that dream is because I didn't change to my sleeping outfit."