"What's the problem?"
"In-laws" Lala muttered in panic. "They're my in-laws and I'm meeting them today of all days?!"
"Hadn't you already met Clara?"
"Y-yes? But it was different. I wasn't at all in this kind of situation with Yuuji. Besides, I skipped classes today, I'm going to make a terrible first impression on them."
"Will you?"
"I will, parents hate people who break rules. Especially 'their' rules, they like imposing their orders and you can't challenge them or they get angry at you" Lala explained.
"They didn't seem that strict" Yami said, remembering the impression Yuuji's parents, and hers now as well, gave her the last time she saw them.
"This is bad, this is bad" but Lala was no longer listening, only muttering to herself in panic.
"Lala, you're not smiling" Yami reminded her.
"Right, Yami, you have to help me!" Lala turned toward Yami with determination and hope. "When are your parents coming?"
"A little before noon."
"Excellent, we'll go to a store and get Earth ingredients to prepare the best Earth lunch and finally make a good first impression!"
'Cooking again?' Yami frowned, realizing the scientific genius in front of her might not actually be that intelligent.
"Aren't you going to use your inventions?" she asked.
"No, no, no, impossible" Lala shook her head as if the idea were insane. "I can't do that. If something went wrong I'd only ruin their impression of me even more."
...
"Is this okay? Are you sure?" Lala asked while grabbing some vegetables.
"The internet said yes" Yami nodded.
"I see, the internet is very wise so it must be true" Lala agreed before moving to the meat section. "What about meat?"
"Mmmm." Yami thought about it for a moment.
"What is it?"
"I think Eicchi is vegetarian."
"W-what's that? Is it an alien?" Lala asked without recognizing the term.
"It means he doesn't eat meat" Yami explained.
"Then the food can't have meat. That makes it even harder. What should we cook then?"
"...Taiyaki?" Yami said without having any idea.
"...Let's search the internet."
Although she said that, Lala didn't search the internet directly and instead asked Peke to do it.
Within seconds, a list of recipes without meat that could be prepared with common ingredients was projected before the pink-haired alien's eyes.
"Tamago sushi?" she read with difficulty. "Is it like sushi? I know how to make sushi."
"It has egg" Yami said while reading the recipe beside her, and upon seeing Lala's confused expression, she explained, "Egg is meat."
"Eh? Egg is meat?" Lala said in surprise.
[Egg is indeed meat. However, according to Earth's internet, so-called vegetarians still eat eggs] Peke explained.
"Eh? Why do they eat eggs if eggs are meat?" Lala asked in confusion.
At her question, Peke fell silent while Yami shrugged, having no idea either.
"It's fine, sugar, salt, vinegar, soy sauce... it seems we already have most of it, we just need to buy eggs, rice, and nori seaweed" Lala concluded, putting aside the previous topic.
"I'll get the eggs" Yami said, infected by Lala's excitement toward her first normal errand on Earth, running toward where the eggs were.
"I'll get the rest, let's meet at the register!" Lala nodded while heading in the opposite direction.
...
"Is she taking too long?" Lala wondered after a while while waiting for Yami at the register.
[Miss Lala, I believe there may be trouble.]
"Trouble?"
Before Peke could answer, Lala heard the noise around her.
"Hey, what are you doing?!"
"What a mess."
"Why would she do that?"
"Kids these days have no respect."
"That's why I always tell my son not to play with food."
"Exactly, my son..."
Ignoring the arguments, Lala approached the large crowd gathered in a circle.
Using a bit of force, she managed to push her way inside.
There was Yami, standing in front of an older gray-haired man in uniform with a serious and angry expression.
"...and you'd better call your parents."
"I'm sorry."
"Yami?"
Hearing Lala, Yami raised her head and looked directly at her guiltily.
"Lala" she said while showing her hands. "The eggs... are very fragile."
Hearing that, Lala looked around, finally noticing the disaster covering the floor.
The entire egg section had become a complete catastrophe filled with broken eggs, not a single survivor remained from Yami's massacre.
"Are you her sister?" the uniformed man asked after noticing their interaction.
"I'm her brother's girlfriend" Lala denied.
"Fine, I don't care who you are as long as you know her. Can you contact her parents? Unless you're going to take responsibility for this mess."
'Call her parents!' Lala realized.
"I'll take responsibility!" she declared immediately. "Um... Peke?"
[The correct response to this situation would be paying for the broken eggs plus the cleaning] Peke replied, knowing what she wanted to ask.
"Earth money?"
[Besides money, Earthlings also tend to like precious materials and gems such as gold, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, etc...]
"Gold. I understand!" Lala nodded while pulling out a weapon from her device.
"W-wait. You can leave if you want, there's no need to..." The employee immediately stepped back. Although the alien-looking weapon seemed strange, it was still a weapon after all, and his face twisted in fear upon seeing it.
But Lala didn't let him continue before firing.
"Ahhhh! I... I'm alive?" The man sighed in relief after seeing the beam pass beside him without harming him, but when he turned his head his expression immediately changed for the second time. "This... it's gold! Gold! I'm rich hahaha!"
There on the floor, what had previously been a disaster of shells, yolks, and egg whites spread everywhere had transformed into gold, as if touched by the very hand of Midas himself.
"Is this enough?" Lala asked without understanding Earth's economy.
"Enough! Enough!" the employee said excitedly. "You can take whatever you want for free, everyone!"
The moment he said those words, the crowd around them disappeared instantly. No one cared anymore about the disaster or how it had suddenly turned into gold, what mattered was that they could take everything for free.
Five minutes later, Lala and Yami had finally managed to leave the place.
A difficulty caused more by trying not to hurt anyone than by being unable to force their way out.
"I'm sorry" Yami apologized again.
"It's okay, we got all the ingredients for free thanks to that" Lala said before scratching her head awkwardly. "Now that I think about it, I hadn't even thought about how to pay, haha."
"But we don't have eggs."
"That's true. Hmm, Peke, can you make tamago sushi without eggs?"
[Impossible. Without eggs, tamago sushi would simply be sushi.]
"And can't we make sushi?"
[Normal sushi contains fish.]
"Tsk, why do they eat eggs but not fish?" Lala complained, half joking and half serious.
"Yami, what do we do now?" she asked without any more ideas.
"We should bring snacks" Yami said.
"Eh? Impossible! That would make the worst first impression possible. Or make it even worse" Lala immediately refused.
"Lala, you worry too much."
"No, I lived with a strict father my whole life and I know what they're like. They tell you what to do and get angry if you don't obey them, and every time you like something they don't they'll get like this, and then if you want to leave they get angry, but if... No, smile, Lala, smile."
Finally, after taking a deep breath and muttering to herself, Lala calmed down.
She turned toward Yami.
"How's my smile?"
"It looks forced."
"Ugh, that doesn't make me feel better. What time is it?" Lala asked, no longer even trying.
"[12:15.]"
"What?! How is it so late?" Lala exclaimed in shock.
"You woke up late, very late" Yami replied.
"How late?"
"You wanted to make me breakfast at 11."
'But did I check the time before deciding to skip classes? Uhhh, it must've been the work of time-space-andalltheotherthingsthatpeopledon'tusuallymention-kun. And it looks like it affected Yami too' Lala realized in frustration.
Lala stayed silent for a second, then finally...
"Pffft... Ha... hahaha... hahahaha."
"Lala?" Yami said nervously.
[Miss Lala? Are you alright?]
"Yes, I... it's okay, I give up" she finally said while lowering her head. "Let's buy some snacks and go back."
...
"See? You know how to do it, why don't you always do it?"
"I don't want to, it's annoying."
"Just because it's annoying doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, you know?"
"But that's how you raised me?"
"...Maybe" Clara said, clearly defeated. "But don't you want to see Lala eat your cooking? Don't tell me you seriously planned to make her cook all the time."
"...Didn't I?" Yuuji said awkwardly.
"You definitely did" Clara said, knowing her son well.
"She cooks really well and likes doing it, why not let her do what she likes?" Yuuji complained.
"Alright, alright, stop arguing" Eicchi said while approaching them and helping set the table.
"We're back" Yami said while entering.
"Welcome back, did you bring the snacks I asked for?" Yuuji asked.
"Nn." Yami nodded. "Everything's here."
"And where's Lala?" he asked when he didn't see her with her.
"She's hiding outside so she won't make a bad first impression. She said she'd pretend she went to school" Yami replied, confusing Yuuji.
"Why would she..."
"Shh shh shhh." Clara immediately interrupted Yuuji. "It's our turn now, let us show our power as parents."
"Our?" Yuuji asked.
"Yes" Eicchi said while leaving the house with his wife. "Leave this to us, son, you finish setting the table."
Yuuji only looked at them in confusion for a few seconds, unable to understand what was happening.
"So, what happened?" he asked the only other person left in the house.
"Lala is smiling badly" Yami replied.
______________________________________
+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)