Day of Peace

A sound from hell itself echoed in the not-so-small room. It made anyone who heard it want to throw the source of that sound out the window.

"Sh-shut up..."

Stuttering even as I woke up, I got up to turn off the annoying alarm.

If I could destroy it, I would, but that would only be possible if it were an old model. This one comes as an application inside the nightstand, so the only way to destroy it would be to break the nightstand.

With that inner monologue, I reached out and turned off the alarm on the nightstand's touch screen. I got up from my big, beloved, soft bed.

With everything that happened yesterday, I hardly slept at all, even worse: I didn't change my usual alarm time.

"Ouch... my head hurts..."

With the pain, I looked at my reflection in the room mirror; messy silver hair, cute pink pajamas with fluffy animal drawings.

Seeing my horrible reflection in the mirror every day had become a routine.

"Ah..."

Like a zombie, I rummaged through my closet, grabbed the first cute bra I saw, and put it on.

I took my glasses and went downstairs to the first floor.

I smelled a delicious aroma coming from the kitchen, though it must have been a hallucination.

I live alone, so I'm the one who has to do all the household chores. Well, although the great families hire servants for their children, my family wouldn't bother sending a servant to a waste like me...

Well, leaving aside demotivating talks, I'll have to do something with the instant food I bought the day before yesterday...

"Oh, Good morning, Hazora."

"Huh?"

I went blank at the sudden greeting.

A woman with silver hair and an apron was in my kitchen. The smell of what she was cooking spread throughout the room.

She had fluffy wolf ears on her head that stood out with her silver hair. Below the apron, she seemed to be wearing a fantasy dress that reached her knees.

In short: a complete stranger who seemed to be cosplaying was in my kitchen.

My brain, upon realizing there was an intruder, made me grab the first thing I could see to use as a weapon, in this case: the dining chair.

"Wh-who are you?!"

I lifted the chair above my head, preparing for any move she might make.

The silver-haired woman froze in surprise for a second, then started to laugh.

"Ha, ha, ha! I didn't think you'd make such a funny face! And you'd even lift a chair! Ha, ha, ha!"

The woman stopped cooking to hold her stomach. Her laughter was so brazen that just hearing it, I felt like I'd get gray hairs.

"H-huh, d-do we know each other?"

"Ha, ha," she wiped away her tears. "Of course we know each other, because

I am the great and beautiful Silver Wolf!"

She let out a tremendous shout at the end of her narcissistic self-introduction that I think could be heard throughout the entire neighborhood.

"Ah."

"What do you mean 'ah'? Is that all you can say after my grand introduction?"

Her cheerful expression turned angry when she saw my reaction. It seemed she had taken her time planning her introduction.

"W-well, it's just impossible for such a cute little thing to suddenly turn into a mature woman!"

I blurted out my true thoughts.

The self-proclaimed Arariel froze at the comment I had just made.

"Hah, well, playtime's over."

Suddenly, the comedic aura around Arariel disappeared, and a mature aura began to emerge.

Her eyes, devoid of all seriousness, now showed pressure.

"Why don't you sit down, Hazora?" she said in a serious tone.

She walked over to the dining table and pulled out one of the chairs, inviting me to sit.

"Huh? Oh, y-yes, of course."

Captivated by her demeanor, I timidly approached and took a seat.

"Wait for me a moment," she said with a smile.

"Y-yes."

I swallowed hard from the pressure in the air. Arariel's childish aura suddenly changed to that of a high-society lady. Her aura, movements, and way of speaking left me speechless.

To say I was captivated would be an understatement; deep within me, a feeling of admiration was born.

With that feeling, I carefully watched Arariel's movements.

The sounds of the knife cutting ingredients, the splashing of water, and the fire were the only things that could be heard in the room.

Arariel's gaze was completely fixed on what she was doing, as if she were putting all the effort in the world into that dish; moving her arm like a beautiful dance. Her silver hair swayed with each movement, creating a beautiful sight.

After being glued to watching her for a while, she came over with two plates in her arms.

She placed one in front of me and the second at the other end of the table, where she sat down.

"Aren't you going to try it?"

Inviting me to taste what was on the plate, I realized I had been so focused on observing her that I hadn't noticed what was on the plate.

"O-of course. Enjoy your meal."

Taking the fork from the plate, I observed what she had prepared.

It was a simple dish: rice and ground meat. The meat looked juicy and had the right amount of seasoning. In the rice, I could see shredded carrots.

Even though it was such a simple dish, the smell it gave off was incredible. I carefully took some rice and a bit of meat with the fork and brought it to my mouth.

The moment it touched my tongue, I felt a jolt of pleasure. The meat melted on contact with my tongue, allowing me to taste the butter and milk it contained, which, along with the rice, created a combination that could only be described as wonderful.

"I-incredible..." I let out my thoughts even with the food still in my mouth.

After the first taste, all I cared about was getting more of this wonderful dish into my mouth.

Although many things impressed me, one of the biggest was where she got the ingredients to make this great dish. After all, all I remembered buying was rice, and I think I bought the meat a while ago and left it in the freezer. But anyway, at this moment, my brain couldn't focus on those things.

"Hah~" I let out a big sigh as I finished my plate.

I looked back at Arariel, only to realize that the mature aura had disappeared, and a smug smile was on her face.

"So, what did you think?" she said as if she already knew the answer.

"W-well, it tasted incredible..."

Just as I was about to give my opinion, a large amount of smoke came out of Arariel's body.

"Huh??"

The smoke only lasted an instant. What emerged from her was a small, fluffy figure; yesterday's little silver wolf had manifested.

"Tehje~! My dish was praised as incredible! So you, my vessel, must bow before the queen of cuisine, the great Arariel!"

"..."

"Oh, come on, at least say something like: 'So there you were,' say it!"

"Give her back to me..."

"...What did you say?"

With a blank stare, I blurted out my thoughts.

"Give me back the big sister aura Arariel..."

I prayed for my plea to be heard by any almighty being that existed.