Gilded Ashes-Chapter 294: Nothing Suspicious

The door opened with a wet scrape, and Kenzo’s voice filled the room before he was fully inside.

"Hey, I brought Atman for dinner!"

He stepped through, rain dripping from his hair, grinning like he’d just won something.

Atman followed behind him, quieter, brushing water from his sleeves.

The room went silent.

Raizen looked up from where he’d been sitting at the table. Saffi froze mid-motion, a cloth halfway to the counter. Eiden, who’d been reviewing something on his slate near his mattress, slowly lifted his head. He arrived a few minutes before, saying that the Echelon meetings ended earlier than he expected.

Everyone stared.

Kenzo’s grin faltered. He looked around the room - at their faces, at the general lack of... anything dinner-related that he could see from the doorway.

"...There IS dinner, right?"

Eiden opened his mouth. Then closed it.

Then his eyes landed on the dish still sitting on the counter, partially covered with a cloth.

His shoulders dropped so fast it looked like someone cut his strings.

"Oh thank god" Eiden breathed. "I thought I’d have to cook again."

Kenzo’s grin returned immediately. "See? I knew it." He stepped further in, Atman trailing behind him, and made his way toward the table. "What’d you make, Saffi?"

Saffi blinked. "I didn’t-"

"Wait." Kenzo stopped, sniffing the air more deliberately. "This smells a bit different. Eiden, did you...?"

Eiden shook his head slowly. "Wasn’t me."

A beat of silence.

Kenzo’s eyes swept the room again - Saffi, Eiden, then landed on Raizen.

Raizen sat there, hands elbows on the table, trying very hard to look like he wasn’t the center of attention.

"...Raizen?" Kenzo said slowly.

Raizen cleared his throat. "I made it."

Atman tilted his head, expression brightening with genuine surprise. "You can cook?"

"Apparently" Kenzo muttered, walking closer to the counter and lifting the cloth.

The lasagna sat there, golden and a bit brown at the edges, most of it still intact.

Kenzo stared at it. Then at Raizen. Then back at the lasagna. "You made this."

"Yes." Raizen shrugged.

"You. Raizen. Made a whole lasagna."

Raizen’s jaw tightened slightly. "It’s not that surprising."

"It’s extremely surprising" Kenzo said. He tapped Raizen on the shoulder as he passed. "Good job! Now, let’s hope it’s edible, too."

Raizen’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t respond.

Atman moved closer, peering at the dish with the focused interest of someone who took food very seriously. His eyes - no longer bloodshot, no longer ringed with dark circles - scanned the layers visible through the cut Enya had made earlier.

"This looks legitimately good" Atman said, and he sounded impressed. "Where’d you learn?"

"Found a random cookbook" Raizen answered simply. He stood and moved toward the counter, picking up the serving spoon. "There’s enough for everyone."

Atman smiled - a real smile, not the manic, exhausted grin from before. His whole face looked different now. Rested. Steady. The Chasmis eye wasn’t twitching or flickering. It just... existed, calm and functional.

He looked like himself again.

"Well" Atman said, pulling out a chair, "I’m not going to turn down free food. Especially when it smells reasonably good."

Kenzo sat down heavily, already reaching for a plate. "Yeah, yeah. Let’s eat before I collapse. I’ve been walking around with this guy all day."

"You offered" Atman pointed out mildly.

"I was being polite."

"You dragged me to fifteen different food stalls."

"That’s called hospitality." Kenzo fought back.

Eiden joined them at the table, moving slower, but his expression was lighter than it had been in days. He sat across from Kenzo and folded his hands, waiting.

Raizen served them one by one.

Atman first - a generous square, the layers clean and distinct.

Then Kenzo - an even bigger portion, because Kenzo always ate like he was trying to make up for lost time.

Then Eiden - smaller, but still substantial.

He set the plates down carefully, then returned to his own seat.

Saffi was still standing near the counter, watching with quiet amusement.

Enya sat in the corner, arms folded, her armor making soft metallic sounds when she shifted. She didn’t look at the food. Her gaze stayed on Raizen, unreadable.

Atman took the first bite.

His eyebrows rose.

"Oh" he said, chewing slowly. "This is actually quite good."

Kenzo had already shoved half his portion into his mouth. He nodded enthusiastically, unable to speak.

Eiden cut a precise piece, tasted it, and paused. Then he looked at Raizen with something close to respect.

"You made this" Eiden said. Not a question. A confirmation.

Raizen nodded. This was starting to become too much. Yeah, he cooked for once, what’s the big idea?

"Huh." Eiden took another bite. "Well done."

Raizen’s chest tightened, but he kept his face neutral. "Thanks, I guess."

Kenzo swallowed his mouthful and immediately went for another. "Seriously, this is great. Where’d you even get the recipe?"

"Cookbook in the kitchen, I already told you" Raizen said, slightly irritated. "It’s not that complicated."

"It tastes complicated" Atman said, gesturing with his fork. "The sheets are smooth. The tomato sauce has depth. You didn’t just follow instructions - you actually cooked."

Raizen felt heat creep up his neck. He looked down at his plate. "Weelll... Saffi helped me a lot."

Saffi, from the counter, made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a scoff. "I mostly watched."

Atman grinned. "Then you did this yourself."

Kenzo leaned back in his chair, plate already half-empty. "Alright, enough touching Raizen’s Ego. Story time! You want to know what we did today?"

"Not really" Eiden said mildly, but he was smiling.

Kenzo ignored him. "So, Atman takes me to this place - this vendor, right? And the guy is selling these fried dough balls. Little round things, covered in sugar. Looks fine. Smells fine."

Atman’s smile widened. "Oh no."

"I eat one" Kenzo continued, gesturing dramatically. "And it’s good! Really good! So I buy six more. And I’m eating them, walking around, living my best life-"

"And then?" Eiden prompted.

"And then" Kenzo said, pausing for effect, "Atman tells me they’re made with fermented fruit paste."

Raizen blinked. "Fermented?"

"Fermented" Kenzo confirmed. "As in, slightly alcoholic. As in, I ate seven of them without knowing."

Atman was laughing now, quiet but genuine. "You were fine."

"I was slightly tipsy" Kenzo corrected. "At two in the afternoon. Walking through Ukai’s upper platforms. And this guy-" he pointed at Atman, "-this guy just kept walking like nothing was wrong."

"You seemed happy" Atman said innocently. "Good thing you build an absurd resistance to alcohol."

"I was buying flowers for strangers!" Kenzo protested

Saffi covered her mouth, shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.

Eiden shook his head, smiling into his plate. "That explains why you looked so relaxed when you came back."

"I was chemically relaxed" Kenzo muttered, but there was no real heat in it. He stabbed his mouth with another piece of lasagna. "Anyway. Point is, Atman’s a terrible influence."

Atman raised his glass of water in mock salute. "I’ll take that as a compliment."

"But you always were-"

The conversation continued, light and easy, the kind of comfortable banter that came when people were too tired to perform and too fed to care.

Raizen listened more than he spoke.

He watched Kenzo’s face, still animated despite the relatively late hour.

Watched Eiden’s small smiles, rare and genuine.

Watched Atman’s steady presence, so different from the weird exhaustion he’d carried before.

And he felt the weight in his chest grow heavier.

They were eating his food.

Trusting him.

Laughing.

And in ten minutes, maybe fifteen, they’d start to feel tired.

Nothing suspicious.