"I'm home, Honey~" I walked back into Yura's house with an armful of groceries. "I got your pregnancy cravings~"
An unintelligible scream echoed from upstairs before Yura came rushing over. "STOP calling it that!" Her face was completely beet red. Even so, she had a wide smile on her face when she saw that I actually got what she asked for.
I chuckled and stepped inside, closing the door behind me. "I met a fan, so I got a great deal on stuff. Hope you're starving, because I've got tons of meat to stuff you with~"
"You...!" Yura covered her face and groaned. "Could you NOT talk so dirty all the time?!"
"You like it though~"
"...E-Even so! Time and place, pervert!"
I laughed and stole a kiss before walking to the kitchen. "It's always the time and place to love you, Wifey~"
"Argh...!" Yura stomped after me, pouting. "Are you always like this? Or is it just around me? And what's with Wifey?!" She paused, glancing at my pockets. "...You're not going to pop the question here and now are you?"
I set the groceries down and then reached for my pocket.
Yura's breath hitched.
Then I pulled out a chocolate bar and handed it over. "Here. Since you liked chocolate so much, I got you some more."
"You...!" Yura glared at me and then swiped the chocolate bar away, angrily chewing on it. "...Meanie."
I smiled. "I also got a ring, but it's a bit too early for that."
"Kuh-!" Yura coughed, choking on a piece of chocolate. After clearing her throat, she stared at me and said, "Is that a joke?!"
"No?"
"...Are you for real?"
"Yes."
Yura stared at me.
I stared back.
"...Just make me breakfast already." Yura gave up first and sighed, walking over to make herself a cup of coffee.
I chuckled and then started getting the food ready. "Yes, Wifey~"
"A-And stop calling me that! I'll take Love, but Wifey's a bit... it's a bit much, okay?"
"Fine, fine." I smiled at her. "Whatever you say, Love."
Yura finally relaxed.
For a moment, we just spent a comfortable silence together.
I pulled out the steak and seasonings, prepping it for the grill.
Yura started up an espresso machine, grinding freshly roasted coffee beans.
As I set the steaks out to warm up a bit, I glanced over and said, "Coffee? When you might be pregnant?"
Yura froze, slowly turning towards me with wide eyes. "Th-That... W-We don't know for sure!"
Even though she said that, she immediately stopped the machine, hand reflexively going to her stomach.
"Just teasing. Even if you were pregnant, our child isn't going to be affected by a little caffeine. You'd have to drink pots and pots of coffee for it to be an issue."
Yura puffed out her cheeks. "You...! I'm going to hate you! For real!"
"Okay, okay." I laughed and said, "I'll stop teasing you, Love. Now, serious talk." I looked at her, steaks freshly seasoned and tuna sliced into fresh sashimi. "Do you have a grill?"
"..."
"...I'll take that as no."
"...I-Is that a problem? C-Can't you cook it on the pan?"
"You want me to cook this quality steak on a PAN? No can do. Don't worry, I have an idea."
There were some trees outback. They looked like dark walnut trees, so if I got some branches, set up a fire pit... then if I grabbed the grate from the oven...
===
Yura stared at Neol with a blank expression.
'When I said I wanted steak and tuna, I was just kind of saying it... This is a bit...'
Expertly lumbered wood. A dug up fire pit. A makeshift- No, a PROPER grill made by using spare metal rods she had laying around the house and scraps from broken training bots and laying the steel rack from the oven over it.
"Mm..." Neol placed the steaks on the steel rack and said, "I would have preferred charcoal, but dried walnut shells and wood is fine too. This might take a bit though, Love. Is that fine?"
"I-It's fine. But..." Yura stared at the expertly controlled fire, the adjustable steel rack, the sizzling steaks, and Neol's completely nonchalant attitude about it. Then she said, "...How do you know how to do this?"
"YouTube." Neol flipped the steak and said, "I'm a big fan of survival channels."
"...YouTube."
"Yep."
"Like, you've never done this before. You just watched someone do it."
"And I put the theory to practice, yes." Neol grabbed a few slices of tuna sashimi to char them before putting it on a plate and handing it over. "Here, to tide you over. Should be perfectly seared."
Yura took the plate with a blank expression. Then she hesitantly took a bite.
Salty, savory. Slight smoky flavor. The perfect texture of chewy but also melt in your mouth...
Yura suppressed a moan knowing Neol would absolutely tease her for it. But she swallowed and then said, "...I'm beginning to think you aren't real. That I hallucinated all of this while I'm trapped in a hellish fate..."
Neol pointed his pair of tongs at her and said, "Believe me, Love. If this was a hallucination, I'd be doing a whole lot more to you, if you catch my drift."
Yura turned a bright red and flung a piece of tuna at Neol.
He casually opened his mouth to catch it. "Mm... tastes just like-"
"DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT SENTENCE."
Neol laughed and went back to grilling.
Yura huffed and then dragged a chair over to sit next to him.
As she did, Yura took another moment to look at Neol.
A plain white dress shirt, black pants...
An ordinary side-part and droopy eyes...
He looked like just a guy.
If Yura didn't know who she was, and if she just saw him in the wild before all of this, she definitely would have just passed him by.
But as everything was right now...
"You know, Neol. You're weird."
"Hm?" Neol shifted the steak over to a side where the flame was weaker, then added a new steak. After that, he glanced over and said, "How so?"
"It's just..." Yura pursed her lips. "...I dunno. You seem ordinary. But you definitely AREN'T ordinary. But... it's like you are at the same time?"
Neol chuckled. "Well, glad that my lifetime of playing as a background character is paying off."
Yura blinked. "...What?"
"What?" Neol parroted her and said, "I don't like the attention. A nice, calm, and peaceful life is my ideal, you know?" Staring in the fire, he tended to the steak and said, "Sitting inside all day, writing, enjoying life with my lovely wife at my side... that's my ideal."
Yura felt her heart warm at that admission. "...That does sound nice."
She could imagine it already.
Just her and Neol, spending lazy days like this. Not doing anything in particular, just being together or cuddling...
But...
"Is it bad then?" Yura hesitated and said, "...That I still want to be a Hunter?"
...Yura couldn't do that.
She wasn't the sort of woman who could just stay inside all day and be a housewife. As nice as it sounded... she was more than that.
Yura was an S-Ranked Hunter. And with time, she would only get stronger.
Considering the Gates were still a threat, she couldn't just stay at home. She couldn't be the woman that Neol had in his ideal.
That fact...