"Tie your hair? I used to help my mom with hers, but it's been a while, so I might be a bit rusty."
Byakuya said.
"It's fine. Just tie it up casually."
Rize said offhandedly.
"Mm..."
Byakuya then attempted to arrange Rize's hair.
Rize usually wore her long hair loose over her shoulders and back, without any particular style.
Of course, Byakuya didn't want Rize to style it any other way either. This "straight black hair" look was already perfect.
Next, with somewhat rusty technique, Byakuya tied Rize's long hair into a bun, then put a proper cooking cap on her.
"That should do it."
Though his technique was a bit rusty, Byakuya was fairly satisfied with the result.
"Good. Then let's begin."
With that, Rize picked up the kitchen knife.
Byakuya watched from the side, somewhat curious yet also somewhat worried. The next scene left him stunned.
Rize wielded the kitchen knife, and with almost every chop, scraps of ingredients on the cutting board went flying. The force behind each cut was so strong that if you didn't know better, you'd think she was chopping at a person...
So Byakuya was immediately taken aback.
But thinking about it, this made sense. A ghoul's strength was simply too great, especially an S-rated ghoul like Rize—her strength was even more exaggerated.
Having just learned to cook, Rize hadn't yet mastered her force control, which resulted in this scene.
"..."
This made Byakuya even more worried about Rize. But he didn't speak up or intervene—he just watched quietly from the side.
By the time Rize finished cutting the ingredients, about 30% had gone flying off as scraps.
But for Rize, this was inconsequential.
By now, Byakuya could already tell—the dish Rize was preparing was curry.
Japanese-style curry was a thick soup made from various ingredients and spices, most often eaten with rice, and sometimes used as a base for noodle dishes.
And now the question arose: how would Rize, as a ghoul, taste for seasoning?
Though she was following the food magazine's instructions exactly, including the salt and spices, when actually cooking herself, she couldn't possibly control ingredient portions exactly like the tutorial showed. That meant she couldn't just blindly copy the spice measurements—she'd need to taste as she went.
But forget tasting—at this moment, Rize's face was already showing signs of difficulty. The smell of this pot of curry was absolutely foul to her ghoul senses.
Being able to eat human food expressionlessly before—that was "fake eating," a skill learned for convenient hunting. In reality, that food tasted absolutely disgusting in her mouth, and the smell was just as bad.
"Fake eating" meant forcing herself to suppress her revulsion and control her expression. But in front of Byakuya, there was naturally no need to hold back, so the discomfort was already written all over her face.
Especially since Rize's sense of smell was naturally more acute than an average ghoul's.
Seeing this, Byakuya quietly left the kitchen.
Noticing Byakuya leaving, Rize immediately thought she'd messed up—that the smell was so bad it had driven Byakuya away.
Her sense of smell was different from a human's, so she didn't know what this pot of curry smelled like to a human.
Rize's mood grew somewhat irritated. She couldn't taste to check, so she didn't know where the problem was. She'd followed the food magazine's instructions as closely as possible.
And she'd practiced on her own before this. The problem was, no one could taste-test for her. Everyone in this house was a ghoul except for Byakuya, and even Byakuya seemed to be some kind of mutant half-ghoul.
Growing increasingly frustrated, Rize thought about grabbing the food magazine to go over it again, to make sure she hadn't missed any steps. If that didn't work, she'd just start over from scratch.
Just as she was about to leave the kitchen to get the magazine, she ran right into Byakuya coming back in.
She could see Byakuya was holding a mask.
"Where did you go?"
Rize immediately asked.
"I saw how uncomfortable you looked. I figured the smell of human food was getting to you, so I went to get you a mask. It should help a lot once you put it on."
Byakuya explained.
"..."
Rize suddenly realized she'd overthought things. But she still wanted to confirm: "So you didn't run away because the smell was too bad?"
"Of course not. The smell is fine—definitely wouldn't call it bad."
As he spoke, Byakuya personally put the mask on Rize. It was a fairly professional-grade mask too—the slightly expensive kind.
"That's good then. Also, you're quite considerate."
Rize could feel Byakuya's care for her. The frustration that had been building up inside her instantly reversed completely.
"It's just a small thing that needed doing."
Byakuya smiled. "Let me assist you. I can taste-test for you so you can make adjustments."
"Mm. It really is hard to manage on my own."
Rize nodded.
She naturally wouldn't be stubborn about something like this—that just wasn't her personality.
Besides, she was making this for Byakuya specifically. She wouldn't eat it herself, and no one else in the house could either, so this way she could adjust the flavor exactly to Byakuya's taste.
Afterward, Rize scooped up a small spoonful from the pot. Taking off her mask, she gently blew on it to cool it down, then fed it to Byakuya to taste.
Byakuya then gave his assessment: "Feels a bit bland. Could use more seasoning for flavor."
Rize added more seasoning according to Byakuya's needs.
They continued adjusting the flavor this way, little by little, until it was just right and ready to serve.
"Finally done. That wasn't easy..."
Rize sighed.
"Yeah. Too bad only I can taste it."
Byakuya added.
"Doesn't matter. This was made specifically for you anyway."
Rize said casually.
If she had to share it with anyone else, she wouldn't be happy about it.
"No, what I mean is—it would be nice if you could taste the curry you made with your own hands."
Byakuya corrected her.
"That's impossible. After all, I'm a ghoul."
Rize shook her head slightly.
Maybe she felt a bit of regret about it, but she didn't have any overwhelming desire to become like a human.
"It's not entirely impossible. One day, I'll make it so you can taste human food normally too."
What Byakuya was referring to was the Infinite Tsukuyomi!